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Art, Action Figures, and Phandom with Harry Moore
218 Plays5 days ago
Harry Moore is a secret legend when it comes to toy packaging. Since the 1990s his art has adorned toy packaging from ToyBiz and Disney, to some of MOC collectors favorite pieces like the Marvel Legends retro Spider-Man cards and now the retro Kenner-tribute Ghostbusters line. Enjoy a 90+ min conversation with Harry in the latest episode of Adventures in Collecting!
Follow Harry on Instagram @harrymooredesign
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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 back to Adventures in Collecting. Hi, Dave. Hi, Eric. How's it going? Good.
00:00:38
Speaker
that was That reminded me of our old like bad words intro for a second. Oh, yeah. i Remember that? Yeah. From the pod, Giancarlo used to make fun of that all the time.
00:00:49
Speaker
All the time. All the time. We never we never lived that one ah that went down until we got rid of it.
New Guest Excitement and Giveaway
00:00:55
Speaker
um So really exciting. We have another new guest with two weeks in a row.
00:01:01
Speaker
New guest. Yeah. It's been a while since we've been on a tear like that. So um this is really exciting. We have we have a really fun guest with us today. ah ah' Timely, too. We have some timely news with said guest.
00:01:13
Speaker
But as always, before we hop into our guest, let's take a little ah a quick look at some housekeeping here. um It is still June.
00:01:25
Speaker
It will be June for another roughly 20 days as of the time of this recording. um I think that goes down to like 14 days by the time this airs. um But ah yeah, i we are still giving away a LaBubu.
00:01:40
Speaker
Have a seat. um as i'm I'm going to keep making the same joke. This is Mace Windu's favorite version of LaBubu because it tells you to have a seat. I've been never been more aware of LaBubu.
00:01:55
Speaker
Since you brought LaBubu home. um Yeah, and we now have we now have multiple LaBubu. We have a LaBubu multiverse in the house. um Oh, you found some at the mall near your house?
00:02:07
Speaker
No, one of one of the little ones, friends, moms found some. So um but yeah, that you can you can enter to win labubu on our Instagram page. So at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram, you have until ah June 30th to enter for the very low price of free.
00:02:30
Speaker
Yeah, free free nine free ninety nine. Unheard of in the labubu verse. apparently In this economy. um Yeah. In that in the labubu economy, the labubu economy. Yeah.
00:02:43
Speaker
So um have something else that somebody brought up i was you know talking about this. So I did get a case of these from Vietnam. So I got a case of six. um Out of the six that were in that case, or the five other ones that were in that case, because obviously this is one of them, um we pulled ah five unique Labubu.
00:03:04
Speaker
None of them were the one of 72, like, cocoa brown colored one. So for what it's worth, Maybe you've got a chance at that. You've got
Meet Harry Moore
00:03:14
Speaker
a chance. I don't know what the pull rate is on these. i i I do not know.
00:03:19
Speaker
um But yeah, you have a one in 72 chance to get the the ultra rare Chase Brown Labubu. um The one that I got is enjoying its life hanging off of my work backpack. It is the talk of the office.
00:03:36
Speaker
be the talk of your office at AIC underscore podcast. Look for the pinned post. i Enter to win a labooboo. Or maybe give it to your kid.
00:03:48
Speaker
Like you never know. Sell it. Enjoy it. Open it. Whatever you want to do. Once you win it. you could do whatever you want to do with it. it It's yours. world is your oyster. It sure is.
00:04:02
Speaker
It sure is. Um, yeah, so that's, uh, that's it for housekeeping. Um, some big things coming up, obviously we're headed into con season. So, you know, um,
00:04:15
Speaker
San Diego Comic-Con will be here before we know it, which is a perfect segue into introducing ah this week's guest, actually. um Dave, today's guest is somebody whose work you've likely admired on shelves, on pegs, without even realizing it.
00:04:31
Speaker
His illustrations and designs on classic toy packaging for Hasbro and Toy Biz, as well as a multitude of pop cultural experiences from professional baseball and football, and even Hershey Park,
00:04:44
Speaker
This guy's work is everywhere, including the most recent announcement from Hasbro with their San Diego Comic-Con exclusive Ecto Glow Ghostbusters.
00:04:55
Speaker
Please welcome to the show our new friend, Harry Moore. How's everybody tonight? Hey, we're doing good, Harry. We're good.
00:05:07
Speaker
Thank you so much for for joining us. um we are We are super excited to chat with you. i Big fans of your work.
Harry Moore's Career Journey
00:05:15
Speaker
well We'll be discussing that throughout kind of this episode here. But um yeah, well welcome to Adventures in Collecting.
00:05:22
Speaker
ah Thanks for having me. I'm still kind of new to the the social media thing. My Instagram is relatively new. And I felt like, you know... I'm willing to do these things now. I'm in a better comfort zone and with doing these.
00:05:38
Speaker
And I think, you know there's some interesting stuff that that I can tell, you know, it seems like that, um you know, people collect these things and they like to know, you know,
00:05:50
Speaker
what's going on behind the scenes and, you know, without giving too much away. Yeah, for sure. And we've had, we've had other, other, you know, artists from toy packaging on the show before, and, you know, we always have a good time.
00:06:02
Speaker
and I will say on behalf of myself and my brother, um you are the only person with, uh, the Philly fanatic in their profile that, uh, that, that we, we enjoy, interacting with. and so you know, as two, uh,
00:06:15
Speaker
yeah You know, Mets fans, but ah but no, like jokes aside, we are we are super excited to chat with you. um So the first question that we ask all of our guests before we we get into anything is ah what what do you collect if if you do collect anything?
00:06:32
Speaker
That's a good question. And I do make this note on social media. It's something that I just kind of say, i throw it out there and and more so as like a hats off to the people that will get me to collect because don't have a lot of time and I'm yeah running out of space with having collected for years.
00:06:51
Speaker
Now it's like, it's got to blow me away or or hit the right buttons with me for me to grab. and And now with, you know, where I do a lot of retro things and I'm, you know, being tasked with doing the retro of things and that resonates with me. And one of the the the best things that I've enjoyed, and it seems to fall every comic con is a NECA does the glow um universal classic stuff on the old Remco card. And I'm like, I would love to work on them. and i actually stopped by their booth last year. I'm like, you don't need me You're doing a good job. Like they're perfect. So, but you know, I buy one.
00:07:31
Speaker
I buy two, I buy one to open and, you know, get back to my hotel room in San Diego and I'm, you know, turning off the lights and watch it glow. And that to me was a thrill like a kid again, like to get the creature from the Black Lagoon, you know, in a glow in the dark format. And, you know, they're really well done stuff.
00:07:47
Speaker
I don't collect any of their other items, but that retro Remco card with the glow-in-the-dark features that comes out every Comic-Con, and I think they just dropped, they announced that it's going to be the Bride of Frankenstein, so I'll be stopping by their booth.
00:08:00
Speaker
Yeah, I loved that one. and That was such a thrill to go to Comic-Con and get it in person, to stand in line and pick it up and tell them, you know, that they do a good job on their stuff. I'm looking forward to, I think they're rumored, I think there they're definitely happening, the Superman, ah the movie Christopher Reeve edition by Spin Master. I will probably grab those, probably open a few of them.
00:08:25
Speaker
I think it's hilarious that the Lex Luthor with the toupee and the accessories is spot on. And it's like, why did it take like so many years for... you know, all the license, you know, the, the companies that have had this, you know, the DC license haven't done that, but whatever, you know, that's, you know, i can't control that, but I like seeing things like those. So, um, you know, I don't, you know, scour, but you know, well we don't have Toys R Us anymore, but I don't really go out looking for, for much, but what hits me is when I see that retro thing. And the one that gets me is I, is the NECA Remco cards. And I hope they keep doing them. You know, I hope that they, uh,
00:09:04
Speaker
There's a few more the universal library they can do. you know library that they can do Yeah, I I absolutely I'm so glad you called those out. That is and
Nostalgia in Toy Industry
00:09:15
Speaker
and shouts to ah to Chris Ramo on the ah the NECA team. He's he's the their packaging guy ah there.
00:09:22
Speaker
He that is a labor of love. um I love how thick those card backs are there. They look beautiful on card and, and you know, off card. But these are these are the primary like my primary piece of my NECA collection. i i I have every single one of these.
00:09:39
Speaker
And same thing, I remember like I had the Remco ones, you know, as a kid. i loved those figures. So so being, a you know, having a chance to get them kind of in the modern form and, you know, ah yeah, I'm really excited for Bride of Frankenstein this year.
00:09:55
Speaker
ah Hopefully they have some left by the time they make it to New York Comic Con, because we yeah we we have have yet to to have our first San Diego Comic Con experience. Yeah. It's life changing. I did did my first a couple of years ago, just, you know, we'll maybe get into that later, but busy and this excuses or whatever. And finally i was kind of ah dragged into it. And it's like, then it's like, I'm looking for an excuse to go back. So thankfully the last few years Hasbro has had a reason for me to go out there, but yeah, that,
00:10:30
Speaker
For me, it's those figures are well done, and it's it's the card. and And that's the other thing I see you know online where people purchase these Spider-Man retro cards that I work on, in addition to the ones that I don't work on, things like for the X-Men, the vintage Star Wars stuff, is people love these card backs. And you know, their instant nostalgia and, you know, and some of the things now with Ghostbusters.
00:10:56
Speaker
So it's, you know, not always something that I'm working on, but I think right now that, you know, all these toy companies have realized that nostalgia ah pulls at people's heartstrings and gets them to open their wallets. and And Playmates does a great job with the turtle stuff. I mean, that card with the purple bricks and the turtle, it's just, it's iconic. Yep.
00:11:17
Speaker
you know you'd If it's not broke, don't fix it. I mean, I know you can do different things, but it's like you throw out those first four turtles, Shredder and a foot soldier, April O'Neil, and, you know, you're golden.
00:11:32
Speaker
So um talked a little bit about kind of the things that you like, but um what got you into working in the toy industry? How'd you get your start?
00:11:44
Speaker
um I was an intern and this kind of came full circle. I was an intern out of art school at the Philadelphia Phillies. um And one of the years that I was there, there was the baseball strike. And so they didn't and necessarily need me or it was not much work for me as an intern.
00:12:04
Speaker
But in that area in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, what well, right outside of Philadelphia it was Mount Laurel, New Jersey. And that was the time in the, in the, late nineties was the headquarters of FLIR trading cards, um, Tyco toys and NFL films.
00:12:23
Speaker
So some of the people from the Phillies were like, well, we can hook you up with some of these people and they all work together. So for example, there might be a toy packaging commercial. Uh, I'm sorry. There might be a toy packaging where FLIR is inserting a card for the Tyco product, the trading cards,
00:12:40
Speaker
Or there might be a TV commercial for FLIR trading cards, the NFL films it was shooting. So it's this neat little hub of creativity. and And the one that resonated with me was Tyco Toys going into their offices and never having been you know on a toy industry.
00:12:59
Speaker
you know, building before. And it's like, it was, the you know, kid in the candy shop and then seeing how they really do it and seeing the old artwork on the walls. And, you know, their thing at the time was the Tyco race car stuff. And, you know, that's where, you know, meeting Chris Metzger, who's, who saw like, okay, this guy's got like some kind of potential and at the time. It was like a raw,
00:13:20
Speaker
I was an idiot. um ah You know, not say that I did anything like inappropriate or whatever. But but you're I'm that kid that's like, you know, look back like before you said some stupid stuff.
00:13:31
Speaker
You kept your mouth shut and listen to what Chris had to say and some of these other people instead of trying to do it your way. um And, you know, nothing, you know. you know, earth shatteringly horrible that I did, but it's like, you know, that's a lesson for, you know, artists or just in life in general is that, you know, listen to the people that are there already. Cause I came in like, well, let's do this with Looney Tunes and let's do that. like I'm like, you're an intern, dude.
00:13:56
Speaker
you know that's you know but you do and that's that's going to be hard thing i'm sure there's a there's somebody right now that's an intern or or you know entry level a mattel or hasbro and they've got all of these ideas and it's in the it's you know their heart is bursting to get that out so um that's kind of what got me you know i was freelancing for or interning for these places and whoever needed the work or whatever and um the toy industry bug bit me and I really was torn, like going back to baseball or whatever it was. And then, um,
00:14:34
Speaker
So I learned the toy industry. I did some stuff where production art or instructional art, like on the
Diverse Projects and Adaptability
00:14:41
Speaker
back of a package where, you know, the the Bugs Bunny would have a carrot launcher rocket thing. but you know So I did the grunt work, the the the down and dirty stuff. They're like, here, you know, just do this real quick stuff for coupons.
00:14:55
Speaker
that might be inserted into a Viewmaster pack or whatever. So nothing really, really glamorous. I did get the help with package layouts and things, but I learned a lot. that i mean and That was how I learned like the industry and not saying becoming an expert, but learning you know they you know had a toy company, those catalogs, packaging, the prototype, and all the terms that we all know from the internet, I'm learning them you know you know, on the ground. And it's like, what is this? This is so fascinating.
00:15:24
Speaker
And, um, I had the chance to work there for a little bit. And then, um, I met a gentleman at FLIR who his, dream was to work at Disney. He ended up at Disney in Florida, and that's how I ended up in Florida with Disney was um Disney made me an offer that I couldn't refuse. So in and um some ways, I walked away from the toy industry and in the middle of a couple of decent projects that
00:15:55
Speaker
the Silver Surfer animated series on Fox, i I think that was the last thing I turned in was ah layouts and preliminary work for that. And um I'm like, you know, I'm going to go work in Florida and and and Disney World and I caught some people by surprise. But um but then what Disney was bringing me was to do toy packaging for their theme parks and packaging for their candy and things like that. So when I got there, Disney World, you know, when i I went to Tyco as an intern and I'm like,
00:16:28
Speaker
I knew nothing and I'm learning. I get to Disney World and it was the exact opposite. They knew nothing about packaging. they didn' They didn't know what they were doing. They didn't know about small parts warnings, kosher symbols on candy. you know They you know relied heavily on me to bring that toy experience, which was very, very little.
00:16:49
Speaker
But I dove in and i and I learned a little bit more about toy industry because they still produce stuff in China and things like that. And then then that's where I got to meet some people from Hasbro and Mattel because those companies then partner with Disney for, for toys and things like that. So when the opportunity came back around, I'm like, okay, you know, um, went back to, you know, working for myself and getting, you know, those good, you know, experiences that I had with Hasbro Mattel, those people are like, yeah, know, we, we've got work for you. We saw how you partnered with us in the Disney meetings and stuff like that. And, um,
00:17:27
Speaker
I'm like, OK, you know, I didn't really realize they were watching that kind of stuff. But they're like, you know, you you left a good mark on a couple of managers there. So, you know, if you, you know, when ah they gave me a couple of test projects and then it's not, you know, that here I'm off to the races. And so, yeah, i did this thing where started off as a baseball team.
00:17:47
Speaker
you know, intern, worked a little bit at toy companies, spent a decade um at Disney World and then now decade plus working for myself. So I don't know, you know, life is funny, but I think, you know, I took this weird journey, but it really did prepare me for everything, um you know, that I do. And and when the clients call me, you know, to do certain things, it's like, yeah, he's a good fit for this based on, you know, this life experience that that I've got.
00:18:16
Speaker
And it's it's really interesting, right? Like, you know, we say this about, you know, a lot of our our guests who have kind of like fallen into the toy industry that like it's almost this like, you know, sort of destiny or fate thing.
00:18:30
Speaker
But what I think is really interesting is especially looking at like the timeline of your resume, right? you know, in between some of those toy gigs and and the toy work that you were doing at Disney, you were going, you know, back and forth you between sports. Like you were with the Phillies and I know you're still doing work for them now and with the Eagles too. So like, was it, was it, um was it kind of like whiplash going between, you know, the toy world and the sports world? Is there, are there a lot of similarities? Are there, you know, wholly different sets of challenges there? Yeah.
00:19:02
Speaker
That was totally different thing. When I was an intern at the sports in Philadelphia, I was running what was called their fan division, which would be their big scoreboard. And back in the 90s, I describe it as a giant light bright. So in a way, it tied in with toys.
00:19:18
Speaker
But the technology way today where people use a Macintosh or whatever, they may use the Apple products or Photoshop. This was not Photoshop. This was a completely custom program that you were clicking light bulbs off and on with your mouse. Click off, click on. And you know there was there was more to it than that, but it was not like a artist friendly program. And we were you know creating graphics. A lot of it was scanning in sponsor logos and things like that and cleaning them up for the format.
00:19:47
Speaker
um So it completely two different ah things. And, you know, being at the events to run these, so create these animations and then be at the game to run them at the right time when someone hits a triple and like, oh, I have an animation for a triple and I can run it and and things like that. Now, today it's more so video than than these old school school board cartoons.
00:20:10
Speaker
But, yeah you know, I really, really liked that. And, you know, you know, and I did miss it when I moved to Florida. One of the you know first things I did was, um you know, go see the Phillies in spring training. and And I left on good terms with the Phillies. And that's where, you know, I'm telling so many stories out of out of chronological order. ah But there was the Philadelphia Phillies have a mascot.
00:20:36
Speaker
And despite what Mr. Matt thinks the Philly fanatic is the best. best Listen, listen, i I will not argue with you there. When you think if you it even me as a Mets fan, when I close my eyes and I think sports mascot, the first mascot that comes to my mind is a fanatic. I mean, that's just that's the way that that is like the prototype.
00:20:59
Speaker
Yeah, it's I mean, it it is the I think it I think the fanatic is probably and Dave, you're you're more of a ah sports guy than I am. But like, I think you could easily make the argument that the fanatic is like the most globally famous I would say so. I'd say Philly has two of the most well-known mascots out there right now with yeah the Fanatic and Gritty. But yeah, I would say so.
00:21:26
Speaker
I forgot about Gritty for a second. mean, you think of like, even think of like the Simpsons with the Capital City goofball, like it's based off the Fanatic. 100%. Yeah. I yeah i can't disagree with that. but I'm thinking about, you know, how...
00:21:42
Speaker
we got there to the Phillies, you know, I thought, think about what we were just saying a few minutes ago, you know, like I basically disappeared from the toy industry for like almost a decade and then got right back on the bicycle um and, you know, made it work.
00:22:00
Speaker
I left the Phillies good on good terms. And it was just a couple of years ago, they reached out to me and and I get the phone call and I'm friends with, with a handful of people that are still there. And that's the thing that's amazing about that organization.
00:22:14
Speaker
Um, and I don't have any other experience with any other pro MLB team, so I don't know how it works. I'd like to think it works that way everywhere, but I'm, I'm thinking it's the exception, not the rule. These people still work there and they're like a family.
00:22:28
Speaker
And, um, you know So that helped that I left on good terms. It gave them you know the time to say, hey, I'm going to go you know this Disney World and and didn't you know just quit and leave them hanging. I even helped to try to train the guy that would would replace me at the at the ah game day duties and things like that.
00:22:48
Speaker
But I get this call at my phone and it says you know Philly Fanatic and I'm thinking so he butt dialed me or somebody died. um And he like, well, we've got, and when I say somebody died, I thought like somebody that I worked with or or something, or there was, I don't know. I just thought it was so weird.
00:23:08
Speaker
Yeah. And I honestly didn't answer it.
Artistic Ventures Beyond Toys
00:23:12
Speaker
I just thought, well, he's, he's butt dialed me, you know? So then 10 minutes later calls back. So like, well, let me pick this up.
00:23:20
Speaker
And I say, hey, you know, fanatic, you know, how's it going? Well, yeah, yeah. How you been? You know, and, you know, I've run into him over the years spring training. We have a drink and stuff like that and and catch up on how things are going. And, um you know, and since I've left, the Phillies have been good and bad. They won a World Series and lost a World Series. And he's like, well, you know, this gentleman,
00:23:44
Speaker
He was the fanatic artist and he did all the merchandise art and and stuff and his his name was Len Epstein and I guess he'd been drawing the fanatic and i might be wrong on this number but I think like since 1978 or the he's he'd been drawing the fanatic for merch and for promotions for a long time.
00:24:01
Speaker
He passed away and they did not have a backup plan and sometimes you know that life does that um so they're like you know you're on a short list you know, to do this. And I'm thinking, okay, yeah, whatever.
00:24:13
Speaker
Um, and he's like, you know, you're interested. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I guess. And, um, not to say that I blew him off, but I was like, I'm thinking, why are you going to call someone in Florida to to come do this? And I think I even said that on the phone and he's like, well, you know, you left on good terms, you're still part of the family. And he goes, you know, you know,
00:24:33
Speaker
You've got art experience and we'll make it work. I'm like, you explain that to the Philadelphia media or if someone questions it. He goes, no, we're just going to say you know you're like the crazy cousin from Clearwater, which is their spring training. And he goes, it it'll be good. Don't worry about it. I'm like, okay.
00:24:51
Speaker
So, I mean, five days later, he calls me and says, well, congratulations. You've got the gig. And I i didn't even know, you know, per se, it was a gig or what was going on. and And looking back on it now, I know, like now I know kind of what happened. So he's like, well, so the first thing we need to do is ah we have a children's book that we give out every year. And, ah you know, we give about about 15,000 books. It's called Fanatic About Reading and x Y, and Z. And I'm like, oh, yeah, it sounds good. He goes, yeah, we know you've done some children's books and stuff like, yeah, I did some SpongeBob books and some Paw Patrol and
00:25:21
Speaker
He's like, yeah, you know, that's that's why you're you're the perfect fit. So excited. and I'm like, so, OK, so how much does it pay? When's it due? and And the third part, I didn't even think to ask because I didn't think this would be the number. But he told me the money amount and then told me needs it in three months and then told me it was 32 pages.
00:25:41
Speaker
And I'm like, here. you've got to be kidding. I'm like, there's, and so I don't even know where to start with this. Like, well, first of all, when I said the money, I said, I can't touch it for less than a certain amount. And he said, well, you know, Len did it for the love. I said, well, I do it for the money.
00:25:57
Speaker
ah third pages I'm like, yeah, I said, I've done 16 and on the average and a few 24, but I've had pretty good lead time to getting them done.
00:26:09
Speaker
So I thought about, and you know, I did it. You know, I got the first one out the door at damn near killed me about what my philosophy was. I just started getting up earlier. I started but grabbing two or three hours a day ah in the morning. And that's been my life for the last three years. It's like, you know, December, January and February, I'm up at four in the morning and going to bed at two in the morning just to do this. But, know,
00:26:35
Speaker
um So the payoff was that first year, 2022 or 2023, they fly me up to Citizens Bank Park. Well, I didn't know this was part of the gig. i guess Len would sign books every year at the giveaway.
00:26:46
Speaker
I was like, so that was kind of cool. I'm in a major league ballpark. And I'm sitting there before the gates open and I'm at this table with a little thing behind me. And I'm like, no, one's going to come see me. No one cares. This is going to so embarrassing.
00:27:00
Speaker
Um, then the gates open and it's just nonstop as kids are just dropping the book down to get it signed. And then out comes the fanatic then but completely sideways. And it's just like, you know, it was really neat experience. So afterwards when we're done, the fanatic, um,
00:27:18
Speaker
you know, and he actually, before he did this, he said to me, he before he puts the costume on, he stands by the the concourse where you come in, turnstiles.
00:27:29
Speaker
Yeah. Says, I'm watching these kids get this book because you some of these kids, you don't know, some they're underprivileged. Some, this is their first book that they've ever gotten but that's theirs. Some kids, they've got all of them or whatever it is, or their parents have them. So he just watches it. And then, you know, he he that's something he looks forward to every year.
00:27:48
Speaker
And I thought, yeah okay, you know, whatever, but getting to know him, he really looks forward to this, this event every year. So at the end, when it's all done, we're all backstage and we're done. I'm like, you know, why did you pick me, you know, and not go with someone from Philly or whatever? And he goes, well, we did, we had, we reached out to various ad agencies and artists that were Philadelphia. And they said they were all excited to do it until we told them,
00:28:19
Speaker
32 pages in three months. And they all backed away. Or he says, well, the money was ridiculous. I says, now you see what I was saying. is yeah, yeah, I see. So um we've kind of ironed all that out. And now I'm on the third book.
00:28:35
Speaker
And I do. I kill myself for like three months. But it is worth it to have these kids come up. And I'm like, now I'm like recognizing some of these kids for the third year. Oh, that's awesome. Nice.
00:28:47
Speaker
you know, the the parents are, they know me by name now. Now my name is on the book, but, that but it's a really good feeling. And then, you know, kudos to the Phillies and the sponsor Xfinity who pays for all these books. And I mean, i don't know what they pay for per book, but if they're getting, they're giving away 15,000. I mean, my guess is that's a 45 plus thousand dollar investment. Cause you know, the,
00:29:13
Speaker
the company that's printing them is not printing them for free. So there's a dollar investment for a giveaway. um You know, and to me, it's like, okay, this is, this is pretty neat to be a part of. So, yeah. So how we got to, you know, this long story that I've told you, but it's like the hats that I've gotten to wear and, and things like that. So it's, it's not just toys for me. There's, it's a lot of different things, but now I'm at the point in my life where if you call me,
00:29:42
Speaker
and it doesn't interest me, I'm not doing it. yes So if the the Tampa Bay Lightning called me tomorrow and said they wanted a children's book, I'm like, yeah, sorry. that
00:29:54
Speaker
So, yeah, that's that's how this, if you look on my Instagram or you know you watch this podcast, understand that how there's this toy guy who does sports stuff was he was in the Philly area and there was a company called Tyco Toys, which later got absorbed by Mattel. And I was, I learned a little bit about trading cards, a little bit about, ah I did a TV commercial with NFL films for Kentucky Fried Chicken.
00:30:19
Speaker
There's a lot of different things as an artist. And I think, you know, you can't just say, well, I'm not just a toy artist. you You go to school or art school, you know, to be a artist. And, you know, I'm lucky enough that I landed primarily in the toy industry, but you that's not always
Marvel Legends and Retro Packaging
00:30:35
Speaker
what's going to happen. And you know there's there's other artists that I know that are in the industry, and they also do storyboards for TV commercials and and things like that. So there's you know you want to, it'd be boring probably to do the same thing, although toys does is not boring because there's always something different.
00:30:52
Speaker
ah But yeah, so that's how my Philadelphia Phillies story is. Well, that's ah actually a perfect transition yeah because was going to say it's an upgrade from the vet to Citizens Bank Park. Having been having spent some time in my life down in that area and been to just about every venue. Yeah, for sure. It's a beautiful building. So.
00:31:13
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. um you know you You mentioned you know being an artist and you know having to work across different forms of medium. and you know Real quick, before before we jump you know straight back into toys for the rest of this, you've had the opportunity, like you said, over your career to work with some of these iconic brands and characters, um including some pretty high-profile mediums like ah like a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Balloon. Does...
00:31:41
Speaker
yeah does ah A lot of pressure come with working in in forms of medium like this, like knowing how many eyes are going to be on you know this iteration of the character and and this version. like what Tell us a little bit about what it's like to just kind of work with all of these brands. Yeah.
00:31:59
Speaker
Well, going back to the Phillies book made me more nervous because it's an event and there's a hard deadline. So I was worried about, you know, the pressure. I'm glad they didn't tell me ah some of this stuff because that would have been tough pressure. This one, I was told, you know, they were they I guess the call went to a group of different Nickelodeon artists. So I wasn't the only one working on this. There were other Nickelodeon artists that were in-house. And for me as as a Nickelodeon freelancer, they're like,
00:32:29
Speaker
Can you take a stab at that? and And the thing with the balloon and part of what's going on here was having the the weight distributed evenly for it to make it a good balloon. So I guess what was happening, some of these balloons that Nickelodeon team were doing, they were fabulous, but they didn't make a good balloon.
00:32:46
Speaker
So they just like Harry could take a stab at this. And I'm like, OK, whatever. and I did a few and I'm like, they're not going to pick mine. So there was no pressure. But then I got a call and it's like, well, they want to go with one of yours. I'm like, oh, okay.
00:33:01
Speaker
So then I refined it slightly, but then Macy's does the work. Their team, you know, figures out how to assemble it and all that kind of stuff. And they guided me through things where they liked. I had him, he was either holding a gift in front of him or the fact that he was holding onto the hat.
00:33:17
Speaker
um So there's not a lot of flying appendages and things like that. And how I had, i think one of my concepts, he was on his knees opening a gift. So they talked me through, you know, you know, keeping him as on his knees. But, you know, and we'd like to wear my thought was he was putting on the Santa hat.
00:33:34
Speaker
It kind of looks like when he's in the air, he's holding onto it for dear life. But yeah but, yeah, there was no pressure on that because I didn't think I'm not just like with i said a few minutes ago with the Phillies. i' Like, well, they're not going to pick me.
00:33:46
Speaker
um And I actually think that was when I went on my Disney interview. i'm like, well they're not going to hire me. I guess i if you if I go in with the attitude that it's like, they're not going to use mine anyway, they're going to use mine.
00:34:01
Speaker
So, yeah. um Also, for our audio so only folks, that's SpongeBob we're showing. Yep, yep. um But i speaking of our our audio people, but our listeners, our viewers, um I think they probably best know your work from the Marvel Legends retro lines.
00:34:19
Speaker
So where do you get to flex creatively in something so rooted in um paying homage to a specific past toy line? Um, my initial thought going back to when I first got the call to do these, uh, work on these, I think they picked me the art director at Hasbro because he knew I had worked on some toy biz stuff back in the day, um, and kind of had a feel for it.
00:34:46
Speaker
um and this art director and i get along as well so it was you know a good working relationship and he knew i'd hit the deadlines because i think this got hit last minute and i want to say when they called they told me at the time and like i don't think you know this has been discussed but Spider-Man, ah Fantastic Four, Iron Man. And so in my mind, when the initial indication, I'm like, oh, this is going to be a Toy Biz tribute line.
00:35:10
Speaker
This is pretty cool. I thought, you know, for maybe some anniversary. So I was you know going to do an Iron Man card, a Spider-Man card, you know, and that was early discussion. And that's not quite what it became.
00:35:22
Speaker
i was working on Doctor Doom first, which ended up in the white shipper box. And I forget what. exclusively I think he ended up being New York Comic-Con exclusive or something like that. and um then it was transitioned to doing these six spider-mans and i and i thought okay well i'm going to do six spider-mans and it's going to be done but now we're like we're really deep into these characters and it's and i give the fans the credit for keep buying these things is why hasbro keeps making them and why i'm able to keep working on it but i thought when i turned in that first wave of six and the doctor doom that was it i was done
00:36:01
Speaker
um COVID wrecked a little bit of my plans, because I found out later that some of these things I was working on were to be Comic-Con exclusives. the Iron Man, the Pulse Cannon, and the big pink box.
00:36:14
Speaker
And I believe the Venom and the Black Shipper were supposed to be Comic-Con exclusives. And it' was like, two two years in a row that I had an opportunity to do something with Hasbro at Comic-Con. And you know they became Pulse exclusives. And you know um they did very well. the fan was spen response was great.
00:36:33
Speaker
But for me, i was a little bit like, darn it. I felt like Charlie Brown a little bit where it didn't quite work out, but you know, that's, that's silly in a way to think that way because of how important these things were, but it's just like my shot at comic-con got wrecked by a disease, but you know, we'll jump back to that in a little bit. But when I got the Spider-Man gig, you know, they wanted the purple card and all that stuff. And I'm like, my goal. And when I, as a kid and even the art director from Hasbro, we talked about this,
00:37:08
Speaker
you you hated when an artist changed during a toy line. So one of the things that Hasbro tries to do is keep things consistent using the same art. So, you you know, keeping a good line look. So we went back and looked at those first wave of the Spider-Man cards that I'd known from knowing a little bit about, you know, what I'm working on is that these are mostly done by, ah i think it was studio called Temner Design and ah Neil Adams Continuity Studios were providing the character art. And that was the case where I think the Spider-Man cards and the Fantastic Four were,
00:37:47
Speaker
And it was all overseen by a guy named Chris at Toy Biz as far as the packaging. and And I worked, got to know Chris through Chris Metzger um and going into the Toy Biz offices and seeing this stuff and and things like that. Instant fan of all these things. And I, what I felt with talking to Hasbro about this is to me, this was a love letter to Toy Biz because those cards of which I've gotten to recreate a handful of them, but the X-Men card, the Spider-Man card, the Fantastic Four, the Iron Man, the Ghost Rider, they're all iconic. And, you know there's this one small group of people Toy Biz were managing this, and they were just banging out hit after hit.
00:38:29
Speaker
the The toys were great. Nothing against the toys. I mean, that that's really why people buy them. But the packaging, obviously by the fact that they're now being re-released or, you know we're redoing them for Hasbro, they're iconic.
00:38:41
Speaker
um So my thought was to make them look like they were done 1996 to 98 or whatever it is, um or the Spider-Man stuff. And I i even, you know did a test because Hasbro asked, you know, we'll do it with a little bit of comic book style coloring, you know, more rendering shine and things like that. And I really didn't want to go there. And Marvel has to look at everything Marvel came back and said, nah, you know, because I did where i said this, you know, give the client what they want and then also give them what you want to do.
00:39:20
Speaker
And maybe it'll meet somewhere in the middle, you know. So I gave Hasbro what they thought it should be and I did it the old school way and Marvel said, well, if you're doing it retro, keep the art simple, like the, like the old school stuff where I'm like, yes, you know, that that's exactly what I wanted to, but to do. And I'm glad that Marvel saw it that way, that we were, these are truly not supposed to be a reinvention of the wheel. And, you know, in fact that there was people on social media that have seen some of the the first cards and they just think it's the old toy biz art.
00:39:52
Speaker
Yep. Um, everything was recreated. Um, the Spider-Man logo, the Spider-Man crouching on the top. And a lot of it was, you know, either Toy Biz didn't have the art or if it was it was on transparencies or, um you know, the resolution wasn't good. And if you if you were to grab an old Toy Biz card ah from the 90s and grab one of these new Hasbro cards, like it's almost like because of technology over the years, Hasbro is printing in high definition. It's like 4K, you know, watching a movie ah ah on on, you know,
00:40:25
Speaker
you know, VHS versus watching it on, you know, streaming or DVD or Blu-ray now. So I'm holding these old cards from the, from the Fantastic Four and the Iron Man, and you can really see the moray pattern and in the dot, which, and, and some of the, the ink bleed. And it's like, wow, that these things that Hasbro print are really, really sharp. So a lot of the imperfections would, would, would be seen more obviously. So it was the great thing to do to recreate,
00:40:55
Speaker
the background, the logo, and then, you know, the character. So to me, what was neat was when fans were like, well, they just pulled the toy biz art out of the vault. it's like, no, that's not what happened.
00:41:06
Speaker
But if I fooled you, that means that I did but the job correctly. Cause this is what I wanted. I wanted someone who has these figures still to be able to display them alongside of them. And that was one of the neat things, I guess, at Toy Fair that year,
00:41:22
Speaker
that that was part of their Toy Biz display is that Toy Biz, I'm not sorry, Toy Biz, Hasbro had retro cards yeah along with vintage samples. you know Maybe they were somebody's collection or got them off of eBay and you darn near couldn't tell. and You probably can't really tell the difference other than the fact that the cards are larger. But that was when you said ah you getting the flex or whatever.
00:41:45
Speaker
I didn't want to flex. I wanted these to be like, okay, we... I wanted someone to think we were using style guide or, or something from the nineties run. And then, then that got into, okay, well, there's some characters that didn't exist. So, so for the ones that I'm recreating, I'm trying to be as accurate as possible, but then changing it here and there to match the Hasbro, uh, Deco. Cause Hasbro does ask, you know, we changed the colors of the paint colors to match the toy a little bit better.
00:42:16
Speaker
And then we got into where, okay, we have to create some characters that didn't exist. So that's where I get the flex. But again, that's, that's harder because you're, you're trying to make sure it looks like it it still fits in the line and there's not one that stands out like, Ooh, that doesn't look right. So I keep this big master file while I drop, drop each one into it and to compare, to kind of make sure the line weights are the same and the coloring is the same. And, you know, it's a simple, almost like, you know,
00:42:43
Speaker
not quite vector, but soft airbrush. And watching the the toy biz stuff over the years is that, you know, for the most part that the first, when they use this true purple card with the cityscape, the artwork was very, very consistent. And later on with some of the lines, they did change artists and things like that, which, you know, as a kid, even I'm picking that up, but that was one of the things that Hasbro, you know, as art directors were like, let's, let's keep, you know, this, this consistent as long as we can. So um yeah, I, I, I,
00:43:12
Speaker
I'm glad for this one. I don't have to flex too often, but as you know, with She-Hulk or some other things that it's an opportunity to do something new, you know, for the line, but make it still feel like, well, that would have, that could have fallen right out of 1998.
00:43:29
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, my my favorite thing about this, this particular wave to, you know, you mentioned bringing characters that that don't exist or didn't exist in this form, you know, into that style. And, you know you're you're almost kind of so well oiled and kind of making your own, you know, for the lack of a better term, like style guide for these.
00:43:47
Speaker
For me, it was, you know, seeing something like this, right, like where. Kane was featured on this toy biz packaging back in the day, something that you had an opportunity to work on in this style, taking taking this and turning it into this. And it's like, oh, man, imagine if Kane was in the 90s animated series ultimately.
00:44:06
Speaker
um You know, and it's just it's really cool to see that that progression, you know, seeing him on the back of a package here looking almost more like he does in the comics. And then, you know, getting that that line look, like you said, you know, with like the the consistency with the rest of the characters, it's just it's just really cool.
00:44:24
Speaker
And I think that's right now Hasbro's approach where this line kind of went in two directions. And that was one where I helped them out with the concepts and the layouts for that was the the other Spider-Man card. We're called the the the modern bro. Yeah. Yeah. is So if it's somewhat because I guess these cards sell pretty well and it was how do we find...
00:44:46
Speaker
and And Marvel was right in this. Some of these characters, it didn't make sense for them to be on the retro card. it would It would probably be forced. So Marvel, they've got their eye on this, and they're smart in a lot of the decisions that they they make with this. and you know And they're protecting their brand and and things like that. So I think that was a good move to go to the Neo retro card, as we developed it. That's what we called it And that's how I think Hasbro approaches it, is that there's a very good chance that if the animated series kept going a few more years, Kane would have probably shown up as a character on the show. And he still, you know, fits as a tombstone. and And, well, I think Tombstone did show up on the show. But, you know, you you guys know, you collect the stuff, you know, there are some characters that, like,
00:45:32
Speaker
you know, Spider Boy probably doesn't make sense on the true toy. Hollow's Eve is another one. Yeah. Yep. That was better on the modern retro card. And, you know, we, we tried to use the purples and, uh, I actually did a sketch of, of having a little Spider-Man on the top of the logo.
00:45:50
Speaker
Um, I think that the that didn't get used, but you know, that trying to make it still feel like the same flavor. So I, I believe it works. And I think that's the goal when they do these lines, that there'll be three modern and there'll be three like retro toy, toy vids tributes. So, um,
00:46:10
Speaker
And so yeah there's there's a lot of thought that goes you know behind the scenes and you know and and maybe fans may be like, oh, well, I hate this version or that version. But i ultimately, I think it's the right thing because it allows Hasbro to go deeper into the Spider-Man universe and not, you know, allows Hasbro to go deeper and not have Marvel tell just tell them no to because it doesn't make sense on a Toy Biz card. So I feel like it's a good compromise.
00:46:39
Speaker
And now, a word from our sponsors.
00:46:47
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.
00:47:03
Speaker
Visit them in person at their brand new home at 101 Newark Pompton Turnpike Suite 1 in Little Falls, New Jersey, or online at chubzywubzy.com.
00:47:16
Speaker
That's
00:47:22
Speaker
And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you.
00:47:28
Speaker
And now, back to the show. Yeah, even like the Ghost Rider one as a Ghost Rider fan myself, like that one was just, it took me right back to those.
00:47:40
Speaker
But um speaking of Spider-Man, staying in Spider-Man, the VHS sets in particular were so good. um Did Hasbro come to you with the idea completely in place or did you help them get there as far as like the VHS idea?
00:47:56
Speaker
They came to me with the closed box. I think at the same time they were doing the X-Men ones. I don't think they had hit yet, but and I don't even think that they had showed me because I think they didn't want me being influenced too much by what they were doing on the X-Men ones.
00:48:15
Speaker
But they did. There was an idea with on the one side panel where the the characters are looking each other on the on the side of the VHS box. They said that they wanted to do that as as well. So I took the approach with this that as if this was a style guide, you know, the product, something that you would have seen on ah on a Blockbuster video shelf back in the day. And um Yeah, I'm not sure where the term VHS or if that came came up, because that's what they feel like, but that was not anything I contributed whatsoever.
00:48:51
Speaker
I contributed like the layout, like how we're going to, I did a lot of different concepts for it but it was like, okay, here we can sneak the purple cityscape back in. And I'm like, well, you know,
00:49:02
Speaker
I don't want these characters just floating in outer space. Um, cause the VHS boxes sometimes felt more like a scene. So i'm like, well, let's take that platform from the lower left of the cards and ground that. So they're up on the top of and have it in the same angle as the cityscape behind it. And I think that was a very toy biz type solution.
00:49:21
Speaker
Uh, that's the the hat that I tried to wear. Like what would toy biz have done in that time period? Uh, so that way, when we got to the point where we're doing Aunt May and things like that, that it would, um,
00:49:33
Speaker
you know she would not just be floating in outer space um and then people have asked about the numbering on the side and i remember a conversation where we were going to be numbering them almost like each box one two three four five six but if a certain box didn't come in on time it might throw it off or there was discussion as well as that it might give away how many are being done uh if that that was like something that I did on my earlier runs of these is I was trying to even have the webs line up. So if you put all six on the side of, you know, your shelf and line them up, it would form one image at least the webs would connect. But now they, they totally had this plan because at the time,
00:50:16
Speaker
uh, their Hasbro was looking to reduce the amount of plastic and packaging. And, um, so that this, that was one understanding was we're going to go with X-Men. And I think there was a retailer that was Disney store or somebody like that was, was willing to pick up, you know, in a box and what we're going to call the VHS format.
00:50:36
Speaker
Um, but I tell you, these were a lot of fun, because, you know, I liked the toy biz cards, but the, the box was always neat to do something where, the challenge was to put that Toy Biz hat on and have them almost like they're in a scene, but they are still style guide type poses that they'll work on the side panel.
00:50:55
Speaker
um but yeah Like you see there and and feel like something Toy Biz would have done with the art. So, um And then they and it looks it just looks nice where they're kind of interacting. yeah I thought the Green Goblin one came out pretty nice too. And then the other thing, talking about this you know managing, but not that I manage it, but trying to keep you know some consistency and the you know why some of these decisions are made is that, again, the Toy Biz cards are, like I said, love letter to Toy Biz. So we're trying to make the art look like it toy biz art per se but in the VHS that allowed us to to try to make it feel more like the animated series so the Green Goblin and the VHS and the Mary Jane were more on model with the cartoon at the time which is what they did on the VHS boxes as well yeah
00:51:49
Speaker
Yeah, I this this has been the the VHS line. i I think as as somebody who who has every single one of the like animated series releases, including that that Venom that you had brought up.
00:52:01
Speaker
um This is like my Spider-Man like was was the animated series. So I had some of these VHS like the the the episode compilation VHS is back in the day.
00:52:13
Speaker
And it is just like, it felt like picking those up again, except instead of getting to watch them, I had toys inside, which was win-win. ah Yeah, that was the goal. and and And they still can sit together, mostly because of that big purple cityscape and how I you know handled the characters. But Hasbro ah definitely steered the look, like Aunt May, Mary G., perfect example, is that when Toy Biz...
00:52:39
Speaker
did them, you know, things were different back then. And I'm not sure what the timing of how quick they were trying to get things done, but you know, so the, I think Neil Adams and their group were doing, you know, the artwork based more on what the comics were and things like that. So, but to me, I, I try to keep them separate different hats, the VHS and the, and the retro card,
00:53:02
Speaker
But if you've got them in a collection, they'll still work as if in 1996, seven or eight, you purchased a Toy Biz package and you picked up one of those VHS packs and popped it in and and watched it.
00:53:16
Speaker
You know, so, in there you know, there was a lot of Spider-Man stuff in that 90, 98, you know, era. and eight you know era where everybody had, you know, you know not to say everybody had the license, but there was, you know, Burger King did toys and, you know, that that logo was
Comic-Con and Toy Passion
00:53:31
Speaker
everywhere.
00:53:31
Speaker
yeah So that was my goal is to make sure that that someone who doesn't know any better may pick this up and like, oh, I didn't see this VHS pack when I was, ah and then realized, oh, there's toys in it.
00:53:45
Speaker
Well, speaking of of, you know, Hasbro and, you know, we've talked kind of about length here about Marvel Legends. ah This past weekend was Ghostbusters Day. ah You know, the the day where we celebrate, ah you know, the the the four the four heroes of New York City ah saving the world from ah from a spectral invasion. Yeah.
00:54:09
Speaker
But there was some some San Diego Comic-Con news that came out of that. You are you are back in the world of of Ghostbusters with the the Ecto Glow heroes.
00:54:20
Speaker
um So tell us a little bit about ah what you had to do here for this line, as there's a lot of familiar artwork for people that are are definitely, ah you know, fans of the old counter line. But ah there's some some some newness here, too. So ah what are we looking at?
00:54:36
Speaker
Well, I'll go back to how I got involved with it was again, similar with like the Marvel Toy Biz stuff, the Kenner art wasn't available. So the Ecto-1 that came out a few years ago and a few ghosts, the artwork wasn't available. Like, Hey, can you recreate this? And that was one even more painstakingly difficult project was getting like the fearsome flush and the bug eye ghost and ah fright features and things like that.
00:55:07
Speaker
um Then eventually, you know, the product developer at Hasbro is like, you know, I'd really love to go into some stuff, you know, where we're wherere we're doing some new art.
00:55:19
Speaker
So we did the cards for Ecto Glow. And when I've been sitting on this you know news for almost a year. We were discussing this at Comic-Con last year. um And I think even then we knew, just we can't couldn't tell anybody that, you know, we were going to do these for Comic-Con.
00:55:37
Speaker
And, you know, brilliant on Hasbro's part, because again, I'm, I'm, I had the toys, you know, or had toys or whatever it would be, you know, we all did, but I was i was that packaging guy. I kept the packages, I kept the cards and stuff like that.
00:55:52
Speaker
So I don't really think about certain things. And when the the product developer is like, you know, I'm going to convince them to do EctoGlow. And I'm like, you know, okay, you know,
00:56:05
Speaker
But then when the the thing was they're the original molds. So the tooling investment wasn't huge. Well, duh, I don't think that way. Like I'm thinking about, I'm gonna make these packages look good.
00:56:17
Speaker
You worry about the toys. I don't worry, I mean, I want the toys to look good and I will try to do certain things if you come in and say, you know, especially with the the Marvel ones, I'll get the photo of the toy and in a mo grayscale model and then sometimes later color and then tweak my color to match the figure as best as I can.
00:56:35
Speaker
um But in these cases, I'm you know like, same ah process as the toy biz. Let's make these look like you had the Kenner art on hand. Let's get these as close as possible to what Kenner did. Even as crazy as that hand is, that's what was on the Kenner card back in the ninety s I'm like, let's do this.
00:56:56
Speaker
um And you know he was all on board. And there's a trust, I think, at this point now that Hasbro has with me. And then they call him like, well, if it's there for Comic-Con, let's do something special. So he came up with the idea of putting him in a shipper.
00:57:10
Speaker
And he really, he says, so this is our first opportunity to do something that's not a recreation. there's there's a, that's a pose from the animated series where they, and he said, imagine if this reference art was given to the ad agency in in Cincinnati that did these in the nineties, if you gave them that as a starting point, but make it ecto glow and make it look like the way they do, you know, on the toy packs. I'm like, okay. So as flawed as they may have been, i adore them. I mean, those guns are,
00:57:46
Speaker
garish with the the bright blue and the bright pink um but that's what they were and i that they're they're fantastic i mean and the and the thing is going back to the toy biz stuff uh going back to kenner's these were done traditionally there's no computer you know i mean the beginning of the computer age but there was someone doing these by hand traditional illustration and just and I came in in the era of computers were were coming in, traditional illustration still mattered. So i'm i'm kind of like the best of both worlds. So I took my my learnings from traditional illustration into the the computer and
00:58:25
Speaker
you know, trying to think, well, how would I do this traditionally and using, you know, what's available in Photoshop or whatever, making some brushes and, and and things like that. But um yeah, so this, the, the shipper was the first step into doing something that's not quite a recreation and then putting all four of them in the box, you know, you know, for Comic-Con, you know, that way, you know,
00:58:48
Speaker
you know You've got something to kind of keep them safe when you bring them back from San Diego. and And then that looks, and the box itself looks good. And I haven't revealed, like, the there's, you know, the back of the box and stuff like that. I'm kind of waiting. at You know, my thing is with Hazard, you know, can't show stuff until it's out there. So...
00:59:06
Speaker
I was only able to show what they kind of had revealed ah go on Ghostbuster Day, which, you know, the front of the packs. Yeah, basically that that was all that was safe for me to reveal.
00:59:18
Speaker
um But what they surprised me was they showed the game plan for what was coming up, and they showed the EctoGlo vehicle. And so that would be the second piece where we did a custom piece of art um And the whole car glows in the dark and, and it's a, you know, little bit of homage to there, there was an Ecto-1A where you could put stickers on it and stuff like that with slime and things like that. So ah that was one where it's like, okay, let's, you know,
00:59:52
Speaker
make this feel like it was a Kenner piece of art from the nineties. Um, and then, you know, as those things that are being teased in the, in the other piece, that's, that's our approach is that we're going to keep doing this things like they're, um, from the nineties, but yeah, ah going back to, you know not thinking, not saying that there isn't a cost involved in making these, but I didn't, it didn't dawn on me that when Hasbro recreated the first four Ghostbusters for Walmart a few years ago on the Kenner cards, that the tooling then at that moment existed for the ectoglows.
01:00:31
Speaker
because Because I didn't really think that, oh yeah, that' they're the same mold. And looking back on it now, i I should have known that because... I had all the Batman figures that were the same Batman. They just painted Safari Batman, Arctic Batman, ah Jungle Cruise Batman, whatever that pulled Batman that just came up with a different paint paint job and went with it so i'm like yeah that's so that's pretty smart and i think that they had to you know obviously probably sculpt a few things like the ecto masks that were on them and going back to when they did these for uh walmart was the retailer but when they did the ecto one and how much money on the aftermarket that ecto one vehicle is in the box and for hasbro
01:01:17
Speaker
to give fans that box so even if you had a vintage one you could now display one you could buy one for your kid and the price point was under 30 bucks when that came out yeah one for walmart i'm like that was a really good deal and same thing here i mean there's probably people that are going to be upset that you know their ecto cards may drop in value which i mean i don't think so because you can tell the difference there's there's things we had to do with small parts warnings and stuff and and and things like that to move um to fit the current you know requirements by 2025 standards um but with that being said i think these cards if you find some of these guys on the card they're 500 or more oh yeah this gives collectors you know the
01:02:05
Speaker
the term Holy Grail for Ghostbusters. I mean, this is so cool that Hasbro, and I'm just a small part of it, that's so cool that Hasbro is bringing these back. And, you know, if you're a Ghostbusters fan, you absolutely have to get them. I mean, I would get them if I didn't work, it'd be one of those things where if I wasn't working on them, if someone said, oh, they're going to do the Ecto Glows on retro cards, I'm like, yep, I'm buying them. You know, if i if I didn't work on that, that would be one of those ones like the Remco stuff. It's like, I would be all over it.
01:02:35
Speaker
Yeah, they're super cool. um So speaking of San Diego Comic-Con, um this past San Diego Comic-Con um was your first comiccon San Diego Comic-Con experience.
01:02:49
Speaker
So what was it like at the Hasbro booth and doing like the signing and all that stuff? Well, this would actually be my second. The first one was the year before. And that was the Hollywood writer's strike.
01:03:02
Speaker
So I got a call from Hasbro, and they're like, you know, someone from Hasbro that doesn't usually call me personally and was like, are you going to Comic-Con by the way? I'm like, no, but you asked for a reason. So what, you know, you don't, you know, just call somebody and say, Hey, you know, you, you going to Comic-Con without wanting to know what, you know, there, there's an ulterior motive. So they were like, you know we need some more content because of the, the,
01:03:32
Speaker
you know, the actor strike or Hollywood strike that that their hands were tied, Marvel as well as Hasbro, with what they could do with celebrities and certain things. And again, I'm not a celebrity. So I actually thought, much like I said earlier with the, you know, the Phillies, i was going to sit there and be embarrassed. But um people came there and and they're like, trust me, Harry, that they're like, it's a freebie and it's Spider-Man and it's Comic-Con. So I signed nonstop for however long they had me on the clock.
01:04:01
Speaker
They of printed like postcards of the VHS covers for the Spider-Man stuff. And they they were freebie. And I you know i signed them nonstop. they They turned out really nice.
01:04:16
Speaker
The next year, I don't think I had an exclusive, which would have been last year. But I went out and... was talking with the Ghostbusters team and about, you know, when I think I did a ah video on the Hasbro Pulse channel. So if you go back and see that, you'll basically realize now we were foreshadowing what is going to be this year's exclusive.
01:04:40
Speaker
So just, I'm really looking forward to having, because this year will be the first time I've had probably a true product. Whereas when I was out and two years ago,
01:04:54
Speaker
I was signing postcards, which nothing against that. That was like so super cool. And there were people that came up on the second or third day and they had product that they, that they had. Oh, awesome. Fine. They showed up with their own product for me to sign.
01:05:09
Speaker
ah One guy, he he drove from a Los Angeles with a bag full of stuff, uh, for me to sign. And like, you know, ah so flattering, you know, to have someone that, that threw everything in a bag and, um,
01:05:22
Speaker
you know, search, you know, track me down to have me sign it. So this year will be, you know, to have a real product that's there. I'm um'm curious to see, I'm basically going to be hanging around the Hasbro booth, making circles around it, watching to see, you know, the the reaction, at which again,
01:05:44
Speaker
I was talking to the product developer today. I said, you know, just everything I'm reading in the social media comments, there's not a lot of negativity. I said, everyone's really stoked um about these. and I said to him, you know, ah didn't know you were revealing the Ecto car.
01:06:00
Speaker
You know, that i thought we were going to reveal that at Comic-Con. And. And i so there was a discussion about that. And you know these things are out of my control. Not that I don't care, but I'm just like, okay, there's things that get done for a reason. And I said, well, you know, I think it was kind of a good idea because by showing that timeline of those other of those four items or whatever, you're showing the collectors and the fans yeah there is a commitment from Ghostbusters.
01:06:28
Speaker
Because I had read a few things online that people were like, well, they're just, you know... they're casting the the ghostbusters in ecto glow, which again, it took me 30 years to figure out, but some, some fans know that, okay, those are the same molds and all they had to do is, uh, you know, cast them and glow in the dark.
01:06:47
Speaker
So there were some fans that were like, you to read the chatter online, like, you know, that's yeah probably a one and done. I think it was smart to show the vehicle to show, okay, there's a commitment.
01:06:59
Speaker
I said, you know, it's like, you know, you've got the Batmobile, you know, you're showing them there's going to be more than just four figures as a quick, you know, Comic-Con exclusive and then there's nothing else. So, and the fact that there is a game plan and, you know, and we talked about this, him and I forever. It's like, who doesn't love glow in the dark?
01:07:20
Speaker
I mean, And you throw a glow in the dark on on a toy. I mean, just to me as a kid, like I had to have it. And then Hasbro told me stories that like, and think about this. i didn't I didn't realize until they told me this.
01:07:34
Speaker
the um Glow in the dark was either the kiss of death or what you did when a line was on its last leg. so Yeah. Jurassic Park did it.
01:07:46
Speaker
Batman did it. Swamp Thing. Swamp Thing. Terminator. The turtles, everyone did it. So I never thought of it that way. I mean, I like the Ghost Rider glow in the dark stuff, which is what the retro card is based on. So to me.
01:08:00
Speaker
I think glow in the dark, it's a bad rep. Um, as long as it's, you know, I thought maybe, cause again, where I disappeared from toys for a few years, I thought, well, maybe it was a toxic chemical, you know, maybe that's why there's no glow in the dark toys. and or But I guess there was this thought process that glow in the dark was ah taboo, whatever, like, so stigma.
01:08:21
Speaker
Yeah. and And I didn't really realize that. And then I go back and look at like, yeah, basically everybody's from the nineties, their last wave was the glow in the dark wave.
Collaboration with Hershey Park
01:08:32
Speaker
Yep.
01:08:32
Speaker
Yeah, pretty much. Well, we have two more questions for you. But before we ask those two kind of final questions, there's there is one other thing that we wanted to cover. And um something that actually means a lot to me and my family, one of our favorite places to go.
01:08:50
Speaker
ah we already talked about Disney World, but ah you're also doing artwork for Hershey Park. Cause you're everywhere. Yeah. I'm, I'm dependable, I guess.
01:09:03
Speaker
Um, and then going back to what I tell kids or people that want to work in the industries, you know, don't burn bridges and, uh, things like that. So there's a ah gentleman who was an art director at Disney and he left Disney. I think he went to cranium for a little bit and then he ended up, um, at, um, at Hershey, um,
01:09:28
Speaker
is Ron Burge was his name. o he's He's not past tense. He's still around not through what he's doing now. um But that was one of those examples of not burning bridges. And he's like, you know, Harry, we'd like to refresh these characters a little bit and bring some of the Disney polish and magic to them.
01:09:47
Speaker
And again, one of those things where I just thought it was going to be a couple of characters has turned into something where, I mean, it's on billboards in the city. It's on the banners in the city. You come into the town and it says, welcome to Hershey, the sweetest place on earth. And it's Mr. Hershey waving. Well, we, they have names, but whether the world knows it or not, but that's Hersh, Reese and Miss Kiss. Yep.
01:10:13
Speaker
Those are the three that would be there. Mickey. Minnie and Donald or, you know, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, however you want to look at it. But, yeah know, that's that there's other characters, Twizzler and Jolly Rancher that we've done some work with. But the core group is the three big ones, you know, like basically, I guess, honestly, it'd be more like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. So it's Hirsch, Reese and Miss Kiss.
01:10:39
Speaker
So, yeah, they just, you know, i do whatever, you know, for the most part that they call and ask me to do. And again, that was another one of those things. I think when Ron and I were discussing it, he knew, weren't you from the Philly area? i'm like, yeah, you know, every summer I went to Hershey park. So there was an affinity for that. Um, um,
01:10:58
Speaker
If you look online, you can find that these mascots were abominations decades ago. They're scary looking. And so they're really good looking now. these Their mascots are are like Disney quality now. So Hershey does really good job with their attractions you know and attractions.
01:11:17
Speaker
So the artwork gets used by the city. It gets used at Chocolate World and it gets used at the Hershey Park. So that's kind of neat. is is and that When I went to visit um the new art director, Matt, who's who's there, he's like, you know, I was making my first trip as an adult or or as having done work for them. He goes, I want you to be prepared for, he goes, I don't think you're going to be able to be prepared for the impact your art has. And I'm like, you like I don't know what he's getting at. He's just, just,
01:11:47
Speaker
It's going to be mind-blowing. And and it was. like I'm driving in from Philly um because I flew into Philly and did the Philly's event and then decided, well, I'll rent a car and drive to Hershey.
01:11:58
Speaker
And there's the billboards and there's the banners in the street and then all the signage is utilizing these characters. And it's like, wow. And um it was humbling, if anything, to see to see your work on ah on a billboard. And you asked earlier about pressure.
01:12:14
Speaker
I'm glad I didn't know that. that like the whole i mean Hershey uses on their social media. It's their little social media icon, maybe one of these characters at different times. Or if I do them in a holiday outfit for Easter or Christmas, they're they're you know they're grabbing those on things in addition to all the merchandise that they're moving with it. and And to me, what it is, going back to Ron allowing me to do this, and then Matt now they're trusting me, is that I'm doing their merchandise art, whatever art I'm doing on. I don't know what it always ends up on, but I'm bringing that world-class quality to it that it's it doesn't look like some, well, you know, just theme park stuff. There's yeah this, this competes. It looks as good as Disney merchandise. And, um,
01:13:05
Speaker
you know, with say a little bit of effort, there's a lot of effort, but like ah all, a lot of it also is, you know, um the material they're putting their shirts on and things like that. So little things different from the toy industry is this the care and the quality of the materials that, that there's sourcing for mugs, t-shirts, hats, or whatever it is. And, you know, we created this brand guide, which is what these two guys are from to make sure that whoever's doing a key chain or whatever is is using the right,
01:13:33
Speaker
colors and and the characters are the right format they're not mixing and matches poses and um you know and a lot of the stuff that i learned from disney that prepared me for you know being able to work for hershey so i look forward to going out there again it's a it's a great uh town it's a it's a there's a lot of stuff to do in the area historic stuff and and again you know I think about Disney, you know, you go to Disney, you ride rides, you go wherever you go to Hershey's Chocolate World and they' there's free candy, you know, there's there's samples, you know, so it's like, wow, you know, and so.
01:14:13
Speaker
One year I was out there and I got to try the pink lemonade Kit Kat before probably most of the world had tried it, that Matt had some in his office. And it's like, you know, het he wouldn't let me take a picture or nothing. I had to wait until I think it got announced like July 4th, you know, that that.
01:14:31
Speaker
that year and he's like you can't tell anybody that you saw these or ate these or whatever or i think the big thing was that i didn't take a picture um so i'm like yeah i ate it it was good it it tasted i didn't get as much as the lemonade as much as the pink so it almost tasted like strawberry kitkat but it's like You go to, you see these flavors.
01:14:54
Speaker
Well, you don't i say you don't see these flavors. If you go to Hershey's chocolate world, you're going to see flavors of Kit Kat. You've never, or Hershey bars that you're not going to see at your regular grocery store. And the other thing that's worth the trip is that Reese's peanut butter.
01:15:08
Speaker
You can buy Reese's peanut butter in a jar in the grocery store. It is not the peanut butter they put in the cups. And they have a thing at Hershey's chocolate world called build a cup. And I get it.
01:15:20
Speaker
You can have it with the peanut butter and you can have with sprinkles and you can have with this. I get triple peanut butter and I bring that thing home and I make it last as long as I can because it's the real, you know, when you bite into it it's the real peanut butter from inside the cup. yeah So that's worth the trip.
01:15:37
Speaker
We absolutely did that when we were there. dave Dave has ordered Reese's directly from the factory. but Same thing. Yep. but But yeah, no, I honestly, i was blown away. yeah know, we were were're in New Jersey. you know, when we want to go to a local theme park, we're very close to Six Flags. You know, it's it's an easy trip for us.
01:15:57
Speaker
You know, we wanted I wanted to bring the kids somewhere different one year, and we went to Hershey Park, and I... was so blown away at the level of immersion there. Like it was not what I was expecting. I was expecting like, you know, your typical like roller coaster park, like just, you know, theme park.
01:16:15
Speaker
um And I, we were totally blown away. And like you said, it's, it's actually, it's actually kind of ah vindicating to hear that, you know, some of that,
01:16:27
Speaker
Magic for the but for the lack of a better term, right? Like is coming from somebody who has Disney experience because it's it's palpable there. I mean, like you can feel that kind of same level of connection. Like like ah what we kept saying, you know, as as people who have been to Disney a bunch of times, we kept saying the whole time we were there, it's like, oh, this is kind of like being in Disney. Like you're really, when you're in Hershey, you are, you are in Hershey. We, you know, whether you're staying at the Hershey hotel and you've got chocolate, you know, scented shampoo and soap and, you know, the colors, like the all the Pantone colors in the room, like the Browns are like Hershey chocolate Brown. Like it was just,
01:17:05
Speaker
It was very immersive. So lots of attention and detail there. yeah They do a great job. And the last plug for Hershey, if you if you did the stuff your cup, you also have to do the, you build a bar. It's the it's the Hershey bar. And it's it's almost like educational. It takes a while because you're you're going from station to station and you're you're picking your your chocolate, you're picking your filling, and then you're picking your wrapper. But you're watching this candy bar go on a you know conveyor belt journey.
01:17:35
Speaker
um and then at the end you get to pick a wrapper and i think my art is on some of the wrappers that you get to choose but you that's to me some of the best souvenirs um that i've seen the theme parks or there's a book that we did um for them called uh cupcake the cow which is about this um tour tour ride which is about how the chocolate is made and it's like it's the perfect uh souvenir it ties in completely with the attraction.
01:18:03
Speaker
And of course, then building your own Hershey bar, it's like, how do you, i mean, it's one thing to go, is like, oh yeah, I bought the giant Hershey bar. Now do the tour. You get to put the, um, the mesh lunch lady hat on and put the apron on, like absolutely do it. And, and, and this, you know, to have the the chocolate bar come out and it's warm.
01:18:24
Speaker
So not to knock where you said you buy it from the factory. I've done that as well. But when you go, ah you know, make sure, you know, you're getting that chocolate bar right off the line and then you're, you're, you're destroying it, you know?
01:18:36
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I got to do that. Yeah. It's, it's remarkable.
Career Highlights and Creative Freedom
01:18:41
Speaker
Um, so all, ah all of the, your entire scope of your career, we're we're coming to the end here, the episode, but the entire scope of career, you've worked on so many different brands across so many different, uh, forms of media.
01:18:56
Speaker
What's like the one character or brand that like, if you could, if you could pick something you've never had a chance to work on, um And I know you mentioned the Remco thing up front, so I'm um I'm not going to let you take the easy out there and and pick that again. But if there's one character or brand that you could work with, well, what would that be?
01:19:16
Speaker
That's really hard because at some point I think I've touched almost all of them even. and And so I'd have to almost get more specific, like doing like a universal monsters toy packaging or something like that.
01:19:30
Speaker
Because it's, I, I, one of my clients is NBC universal. So once a while I get to dabble in universal monsters and it may not necessarily be toys or I'm working on stuff with Jurassic park, but the one that would probably get me to put,
01:19:45
Speaker
pump the brakes for everything would be Planet of the Apes. Something with the old school, I mean, not no disrespect to whatever they're doing now, which I mean, I've watched them, but, um, um,
01:19:58
Speaker
the ones with Woody Harrelson, I think, um, yeah, they're on cable, but it's like, to me, it was like watching on Saturday afternoons, the reruns of the Charlton Heston one and, and the, uh, reruns of the animated series and things like that. And, um, you know, well, but being from the area, like, um, my, uh,
01:20:23
Speaker
grand or great grandparents or something i had connections to almost the new york area so i knew channel 9 11 5 yeah i know i went i spent a lot of times with that six flags in jackson new jersey i think that's the same talking about so i split summers in north and then and then in south jersey so um they i think channel 9 or 11 one of them at my great grandmothers or grandmothers would would you know, Planet of the Eight marathons. Before there was, like, Planet of the Eight marathons became a thing.
01:20:56
Speaker
Yep, WPIX. That was 11, right? w pix takes but the love that was eleven right Yep. Yeah, ah war w or was nine box was five cbs was who abc was seven yep wow i four ABC was seven, yeah. And um what but NBC was four, four yeah.
01:21:19
Speaker
And the CBS was two, yeah. I mean, that's, I'm going back decades. But I mean, yeah, so that's, and that hit me hard because, you know, up there, W.O.R., Channel 9, came here, high school or whatever it was, college.
01:21:33
Speaker
to ride the King Kong ride at Universal Studios Florida, the pre-show had the WOR TV broadcasters and it's like it the one older gentleman, but I think he's still on the air. like, that was, like I would ride that ride when I got homesick. I would ride the King Kong ride in New York, New Jersey area. I would ride the King Kong ride at Universal Studios.
01:21:54
Speaker
I could stand in that queue line and not care how long it was because it felt like, and it looked like the, the new york area oh man i miss confrontation when i was a little kid i thought that was the coolest thing because i was like that's like right that's two towns over like that's yep so that's where the planet of the apes marathons grandmoms would be like um you know, that would be something I would love to to work on. i mean, I don't know what what I could or couldn't contribute, but I think there's there's a passion for it.
01:22:26
Speaker
um But yeah for the most part, i've I've gotten to live my dream by really dying tomorrow. If I died tomorrow, like the Spider-Man retro line was, you know, that was like, how do you top that? And then and then then having Hasbro trust me enough to have, you know, when I have the opinions of of like, you know, well, you know,
01:22:47
Speaker
Let's keep it as vintage as possible. And I think for the most part, people in the industry or have a passion for it, they they think the same way. Like when the guy from Ghostbusters asks for this stuff, I'm like, it makes total sense. That's exactly how I would have done it anyway. you know So there's there's no you know i don't know if you hear horror stories, that you know like you know old school stuff with writers and artists you know clashing over the script of a comic book, whatever. There's none of that with when I'm working on this stuff with with most of my clients. There's no argument about creative vision or stuff like that. so
01:23:25
Speaker
if it's It's long a lot of long hours. it's it's It's not easy work, but at the end of the day, when you see something you know off online, Toys R Us, which doesn't exist anymore, or Amazon, or even now, like, I think um seeing people line up to get stuff at Comic-Con is very satisfying, and it's something I'll never take for granted.
01:23:50
Speaker
Well, Harry, this has been an absolutely amazing chat. You know, we're super, super thankful you took the time to be with us today. We do have a we have a tradition here on the show.
01:24:02
Speaker
um So before we let you go, we have a question that we ask all of our guests. um Dave, would you like to fulfill your role as this podcast's James Lipton and ask our final question?
01:24:16
Speaker
I would. Harry, the last question that we ask all of our guests. What is your favorite and or strangest piece in your collection? It can be one of each or it can be both.
01:24:29
Speaker
Something I've worked on or something in my collection. You know what? I think for the sake of this conversation, let's go something you worked with. OK. OK. um One of my clients is Ripley's Entertainment, and they're really proud of their oddities.
01:24:46
Speaker
um So maybe on a different podcast conversation, we'll talk a little bit about that because I think the thing that I worked on isn't quite out yet. It's ah it's it's something helping with a location property at their Gatlinburg attraction.
01:25:03
Speaker
and But their stuff is the stuff that they have me do, the subject matter is odd, and they're proud of it. you know the ripleys brandon being another one of those people that watch the tv show yeah back in the day and reruns with with jack palance uh as the host uh and even later on with with dean kane but i think probably the oddest request i ever got for as an artist i was working with this ornament company and Whatever that, you know, most of it was was Santa Claus, ah reindeer, elves, whatever it may be, gingerbread house. They just say, hey, we've got these ideas.
01:25:41
Speaker
You know, we want, you know, really quick turnaround. They wanted stuff really quick. And um then one year they were like, you know, we have some stuff.
01:25:52
Speaker
and and And so there was the whole warning, you know, basically what you're about to see, you know, is, you know, for kids 13 and what whatever, you know, 18 and old or whatever. They're like, they gave me the disclaimer and basically prepared me for the conversation. Like we have an adult line of holiday ornaments that we would like you to, to do. And they said, we understand if it's something that's out of your, whatever, you know, comfort zone or, or whatever it may have been. I'm like,
01:26:21
Speaker
they gave me a couple of ideas of the first one. it was like sexy Mrs. Santa, you know, leathered up chaps, Santa Claus. I'm like, leather daddy, Santa. All right.
01:26:34
Speaker
So I was like, okay, I, I can go as no, not too out of hand, but then after I turned those in, then some of the requests were like,
01:26:48
Speaker
Santa and the elves or the reindeer were involved. I'm like, no, this oh this is that that was where I'm like, and they were cool about they're like, yeah, we we understand. And I think it was more of a place of humor, I guess, but some of it was like, my kids walk in and they see that on my screen, they're not gonna understand. I cannot explain that one away.
01:27:08
Speaker
Fair enough. Fair enough. I think i think leather Leather Daddy Santa is going to be enough for pete to for people to to kind of chew on. ah think that's... Yeah, that's a good spin on the on the answer to that question. We've gotten we've got a lot of things, honestly, tying back to your planet love for Planet of the Apes.
01:27:27
Speaker
One of our previous guests, ah Marty Abrams, the the the man behind Mego toys. um He has a solid gold Planet of the Apes Mego figurehead.
01:27:39
Speaker
That was his answer to the question. That's the the most unique thing. He's either worked on her has has has in the collection. Yeah, I think it was when they sold X amount of Planet of the Apes figures at some point, like a gift from like the Mego company to Marty was they took the mold ah for. item ah Was it Caesar?
Unique Collectibles and Social Media
01:28:00
Speaker
and believe it was Caesar. um Yeah, so they they they molded him a solid gold Mego Caesar head. And I have a sinking suspicion Harry is about to pull out.
01:28:14
Speaker
One of the oddest things I have. Oh, okay. This unfolded. You can barely see it, but where my finger is, is a Super Bowl logo.
01:28:28
Speaker
If you were at the Super Bowl, whatever year this was, I was there because it was Eagles Patriots. If you got your drinks, you got your drinks served on this tray. this Here's, the I guess, your popcorn. went here I'm not going to unfold it. it you can come Yeah, yeah. Simpsons simpsons tray.
01:28:46
Speaker
Yeah. So they prep they they handed it to you, you know all put together with your drinks and stuff in it. um I was able to ask someone working there yeah for just a couple dollars tip, like, could I have one of those?
01:29:05
Speaker
um unfolded and right on I was told like by by kickoff they were already all gone don't know how that happens I mean not halftime like by kickoff so my guess is there was people that were they either didn't make enough or they were disappearing but all my years looking on eBay I've never seen the Simpsons Super Bowl It's just 2005 on the back box on the back.
01:29:32
Speaker
I'm guessing the game was on Fox or whatever, but yeah, you can see somewhere right below there is the, is the Superbowl logo. That's awesome. Yeah. And not the greatest thing in in my collection. I've got prototypes and test shots and I've got a couple things. I don't want to get into how I got them, but one, since you brought that up, it was always in the back of my mind. It's like, you know,
01:29:58
Speaker
if there's a Simpsons fan out there that has seen that, you know, like, Oh yeah, I've got that. Or, you know, no, they, whatever the story may be behind it, but you see, you, you know, you, you guys have collected for a while.
01:30:11
Speaker
Yeah. There's a lot of things that you've seen. i'm like, Oh yeah, I've seen that. um One of the things I think is neat that I would love to have and, and, uh, talked about Hasbro about redoing it was, I think,
01:30:23
Speaker
I forget what the toy company was, but it was like a dollar store toy of a ghost rider on it. You pulled the string and the cycle would go, but it had a little rubber Johnny, so Johnny Blaze head and a rubber ghost rider head. And it was ah like the rack toys. I'm like, Oh yeah.
01:30:40
Speaker
Cool to do that. And you see them on eBay rarely. And when they do, it's like a couple thousand dollars. So. Wow. yeah there were the rip It was like one of the ripcord ones, right? yeah ah friction and If my memory is correct.
01:30:54
Speaker
Or there's there was the the fun stuff. Did the Hulk in his rage cage and you squeeze the pump and he'd inflate and break out.
01:31:06
Speaker
Well, they they also did the thing, which I that you know ah guess you know probably didn't sell that well. If you can find the thing online, it's it's worth... you know It's a lot of money. I'll probably never own one. But yes, for me, even though it's just a piece of cardboard, it's the one thing that I have in my collection that I haven't seen someone else you know show show up with um and it's you know it's the simpsons and everyone loves the simpsons and you know who who knows and i have it i just happened to know where it was when you were asking so there's nothing really bizarre in my collection and there's some things i can say i have because like from being in the industry much like marty abrams uh
01:31:49
Speaker
golden eight head um and then how do you put a price on that because it's probably the only one exactly it's a 101 it is for sure i want a 101 so well listen harry thank you again so much for for joining us um real quick before you leave please remind our watchers our listeners where can they ah where can they follow you on online Most everything, whether it's Twitter or Instagram is Harry Moore Design. Even the website is harrymooredesign.com.
01:32:20
Speaker
I rarely update that because Instagram is instant. Instagram and Twitter are, I don't have to come up to my computer and upload this, that. I'm like, I can have something on my phone. It's like, oh, good example was that when the Ghostbusters stuff,
01:32:39
Speaker
dropped there there's a folder on my phone that has all of these things it's called Instagram so as soon as I see Hasbro releases it I can do ah a post the post is already pre-typed it's ready to I just have to wait for that clearance so the best place to see my work is Instagram Harry more design Awesome. We'll make sure we put a link to that in the show notes in the video description.
01:33:04
Speaker
um If you are listening to this, watching this, make sure you give Harry a follow. I mean, like I said, the stuff that ah we we we barely tip of the iceberg, tip of the iceberg.
01:33:17
Speaker
But yeah, Harry, and and and as always, you know, we tell all of our other all of our guests, you know, you're welcome back on. Anytime, know, I'm sure there's a whole lot more that we could talk about, but I, I, I think, I think we've, we've taken up enough of your time this evening. So.
01:33:33
Speaker
um Well, that's the thing with, with, with my experience of things that I've done, get not bragging or anything, just like we could have spent one whole podcast on the Spider-Man retro.
01:33:44
Speaker
Yeah. That one whole podcast on the fantastic four or just the Marvel retro on, on, you know, games, Monopoly, whatever it is. And, and, you know, you kind of try to cram it all in into one, which I mean, yeah I understand that. And it's, you know, definitely worth if having me come back on in the future. But I think, you know, we discussed this in the past that the timing for this one made sense because of the Ghostbusters drop. we yeah You had me in your back pocket and you knew,
01:34:17
Speaker
there was going to be the comic-con deal but we couldn't you know i couldn't tell you what it was and then when hasbrook did tease it you kind of figured it out they're like yeah that's let's so let's do something not too far away from comic-con but close enough i mean it's it's damn near in a month from now i think yeah a month and a half so um even if you guys don't go your viewers will and i know that um at least this, i'm not towing the company line, but with the ah the Hasbro stuff, most of it is available on Pulse.
01:34:51
Speaker
Yep. I mean, you have to you know be there you know the next day, but there's, Hasbro wants to sell these things. They don't, you know they're they're not trying to make it so it's so hard for you to get them. So if you're diligent, you will be able to get everything that you know Hasbro does at Comic-Con without going there.
01:35:11
Speaker
I mean, obviously we would all love you to all go to Comic-Con and, uh, but not everyone, know, has that time, you know, it's it's a long flight from the East coast. Um, I only do it once a year, but, um, yeah, it's, it's definitely was the right timing for this conversation was, is that we were able to plug the upcoming um you know ecto stuff and i think that's um you know if we do this again which i'm totally up for is that you and i can just think about oh yeah here you know i'll drop the hint there's an item coming and i think we want to talk in february 2026 something like that that so so that gives you something relevant so that you we're not just talking about you know
01:35:54
Speaker
this old dude's history of pulling stuff from nineties and two thousands. It's like, we can talk about something that's like you did very well was the, the Ghostbusters drop that this is, you know, new and relevant to collectors this moment, you know?
01:36:11
Speaker
People love the history, though. People. Yeah, don't discount the history. It's a history. people But ah look for ah one last plug for the Ecto Glow ah Heroes. Look for the Ghostbusters Ecto Glow Heroes and Ecto One at San Diego Comic-Con this year and ah in limited quantities on Hasbro Pulse dot com ah after the show.
01:36:34
Speaker
ah With that, Dave, send us home. Yeah, don't discount your history, but love love your present stuff, too. Excellent.
01:36:46
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both in our show notes.
01:37:02
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.
01:37:18
Speaker
Don't try this at home. Voidware prohibited in some assembly required. Each sold separately. Not a flying toy. Consult a physician if your toy run exceeds more than four hours.
01:37:26
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Frank Hablaui. This program and many others like it on the Non-Productive Network is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.