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Toy Photography, Hairstyling, and Activism: an Interview with BlainerThings
359 Plays3 years ago
On this episode, Dave and Erik are joined by BlainerThings to talk about his wild journey from toy collector to working for NECA. Did you know that he once styled Erykah Badu's hair? Learn more about Blaine and hear about some of the inner workings at NECA!
Follow Blaine on Twitter and Instagram @blainerthings
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
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 Content Warning
00:00:06
Speaker
Toya Bobs and Dads! Adventures in Collecting is about toys, but it might not be for your children. Especially if you don't like words like f**k or s**t.
00:00:22
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.
00:00:33
Speaker
I'm Eric. And I'm Dave.
Welcome to 'Adventures in Collecting'
00:00:36
Speaker
Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and hauls. Along with our journeys as collectors. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. Hello, everyone. There it is. Love it. Always bring in the high energy. And once again, continuing the ongoing tradition. Intensity. That's what we're talking about.
00:01:02
Speaker
You know, we made the joke last episode, but I think we're past the point, like, this show is now an interview show.
Evolution of the Podcast Format
00:01:10
Speaker
Like, we're gonna have... Wait, that was a joke? I think it was, because I was kind of making the joke that, like, the episodes used to be me and you just talking about the things that we bought. But now, almost every episode, we have a special guest, so what am I not gonna do, Dave?
00:01:28
Speaker
You're not going to waste any time in introducing who that individual is correct. I'm gonna do it right now So you may know Eric's not gonna bury the lead
Introducing Special Guest: Blaine
00:01:40
Speaker
everybody. There we go. That's I mean somebody has to say it Yeah, so you may know him from from Instagram at Blainer things you may know him through his amazing digital mock-ups of
00:01:54
Speaker
awesome X-Men costumes and scream figures that we all want to exist. You may know him from his social media activism. You may know him now from his work at NECA. Heck, he may have even cut your hair at some point. Blaine, welcome to Adventures in Collecting. Hello, hello. I'm here.
00:02:16
Speaker
I'm happy to be here. And we are happy as hell to have you. Thank you for taking the time to join us this evening, finally. Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. I say finally like it was your fault. It took us a long time to actually just ask you and line this up. So it's entirely not your fault. Well, I think we'd also just get into this cycle of normal person-to-person conversation. So it's like, oh, what would we have to talk about? We're already talking about it.
00:02:46
Speaker
I do have to say putting putting together an outline for this episode was challenging because of that very exact thing it's like so when you talk to somebody almost every day. What what's left to ask them no but we're gonna have we're gonna have some fun we have.
00:03:02
Speaker
we have a couple of questions from from instagram from from our our collective audiences because we both shared out the story and and you have an extremely interesting story and an interesting path to where you are so i i think i think we're gonna have a
00:03:20
Speaker
We're gonna have a good time So the first thing that we do blame before we we jump into everything We always ask our guests. What are you collecting right now? And what are some of the the more recent things that you've picked up?
Blaine's Expansive Collection
00:03:37
Speaker
Oh What am I not collecting? That was almost gonna be the question That that one hit me right in the feels
00:03:50
Speaker
I mean, it, it's actually gotten to the point where I'm starting to feel like it's getting out of hand. And that took, you know, very many years. So, um, yeah, I mean, I collect so much, I might sound biased, but before I was a glimmering neck as I, I just love
00:04:17
Speaker
so many different licenses in NECA. I think just because of the artistry that goes into the figure making. So as like a toy fan, as an action figure fan, I'm just drawn to that level of detail and those figures. And then Marvel Legends,
00:04:38
Speaker
Power Rangers Lightning Collection, Star Wars the Black Series, I mean Hasbro basically has an IV direct from my wallet to their bank. And then I actually love the Jurassic line and I love that they're revamping
00:04:59
Speaker
their amber collection. And I just got the version two of Ian Malcolm, where they gave him all new arm articulation, redecored his face, and added
Toy Artistry and New Collections
00:05:12
Speaker
an accessory. So I was hook, line, and sinker. I already had the Ian Malcolm, and really there's nothing wrong with it. But damn it, I wanted the better version. I'm waiting for them to do like a San Diego Comic Con or some sort of exclusive where he's got like the ribbed tape on. And you could make him laying down.
00:05:28
Speaker
You have to, you have to. That's how I have imposed on myself. If we got Dennis Nedry in a, you know, Barbasol came, I feel like that's... Talk about what's got to happen, right? Yeah, it's, I hope, I hope they continue because I think, by way of it from a business standpoint, having Jurassic as a comic con exclusive and really doing those niche
00:05:54
Speaker
Really, really caters to the fans that maybe wouldn't otherwise dive into the line. And now they've got them because of that, that little Easter egg. Yeah. And there are, there are a couple of fun, like moments in, in, in those films that you could do exactly that. There's like little niche sets. So like, you know, a, a rib tape, uh, Ian Malcolm, the lawyer in the, in the porta potty would be a good one too. Oh my gosh. Right.
00:06:23
Speaker
Oh man. I saw too that you picked up a little Lego set recently. I did. I am a Friends fan. I watch like all 10 seasons every year. I got the central perk when it first came out by Lego and then VIP access for the one with two apartments. I'm using air quotes with my fingers. The one with two apartments went up.
00:06:53
Speaker
yesterday for anyone who has LEGO VIP. So I jumped right on that. And I'm very excited to start that build. The central perk one was awesome. I had a lot of fun building that. Oh, for sure. Again, I'm a sucker for detail and the level of detail that went into it. And there's even more Easter eggs for the apartments. So I'm stoked just for that alone.
00:07:21
Speaker
The fact that the Joey is the, could I be wearing any more clothes? It's one of my favorite jokes in the history of the whole series. Yeah, you can tell people that care for the show are in charge of making these sets. Yeah, I'm curious to see, because I've been looking at some of the pictures, I'm curious to see if you can do, since they have the space between the two apartments, if they give you the couch and you can do the pivot.
00:07:54
Speaker
That would be that would be I'm just thinking of like all the different ways that you could leave the minifigures posed like As you kind of go through the different seasons and at the time it couldn't be more perfect with the reunion thing happening on on HBO on the 27th Yeah, right after this episode airs, right? Yeah Yeah shortly after three days after that after you're hearing that if you're hearing this for the first time on on release day on the 24th
00:08:21
Speaker
Three days from now, watch it. Get the tissue box ready, because they're going to be tears. I wish they had the wall unit in there, too, so you could lock Chandler and Joey in there with a hockey stick. Oh, man. I wish the Geller Cup was part of it, although the cheesecake on the ground is pretty great. Oh, my God. There's just so much. They crammed so much into that. They did a lot with it.
00:08:48
Speaker
I don't know if you saw, I believe it's on the back of the box. There's a photo of them out on the balcony and the set does include the makeshift pole that they poke ugly naked man in. Yes. I just saw Phoebe holding this long white stick and I was like, I know what that is. Unreal. So
Toy Art and Community Engagement
00:09:13
Speaker
cool.
00:09:13
Speaker
Um, so you're clearly an avid collector at heart. Um, how did you go from being a collector to making toy art through photography and digital mockups? Oh, um, well, I, yes, I've been a collector my whole life and probably about
00:09:39
Speaker
10 years ago, maybe a little more, I started dabbling in customizing. Um, and I wanted a place to showcase them. And I came across figure realm.com, uh, which is just people develop that they make a profile. It's like a little Facebook and you post your, uh, your customs. So I started doing that and I'm an artist first and foremost.
00:10:07
Speaker
I love to, I love to draw. I love to make content and little sets and dioramas. It's just something I've always done since I was a kid. And I noticed that my photos were looking a little bland and I wanted to put these figures in like cool dynamic poses and have little backdrops and have like small play sets and dioramas. So I started doing that and someone had commented, do you post anywhere on Instagram?
00:10:37
Speaker
And I said no, and I didn't even think of it at the time. And I started looking on Instagram and seeing that people were posting action figures in poses. Um, and so I started a little bit here and there probably around, I think it was like 2000, maybe 12, um, posting on Instagram here and there with like my action figures and then someone,
00:11:04
Speaker
had messaged me on Instagram and said, have you ever done any of the like toy pop sessions? And I had absolutely no clue what they were talking about. So they kind of showed me what it was and what that meant. And now there are, fortunately, there are multiple session pages for toy photographers. And it's just a really great way to be introduced into the community to see other people
00:11:33
Speaker
doing toy photography to be inspired to do your own toy photography and to be encouraged to post it publicly. So that's how I got into it and kind of just flourished from there and learn new tricks and meet new friends that teach you even more new tricks and share what you know.
00:11:54
Speaker
Now, it's interesting because we've said it before, but when we started out on this podcast originally, it was just conversations between Dave and I, where we were just talking about the toys that we were picking up, the things that we were seeing in the aisles, just general, for the lack of a better term, toy stories, stuff from when we were kids and
00:12:18
Speaker
nostalgia aspect of it but as we started to kind of explore really the depth of the the toy community at large on Instagram the the photography aspect of it was just so much more prevalent than we could have ever imagined to the point where it was like in order to show the toys that we're buying in a way that resonates with the community it's kind of like if you're not doing toy photography you're
00:12:48
Speaker
not like communicating to your audience the way that they're expecting you to communicate with them and the amount of talent in the community and their openness to share
00:13:04
Speaker
their successes and what they're doing is just insane. I don't think there's really anything like it. You have these incredible shots, yours included. That's kind of how we really started talking was over toy photography.
00:13:20
Speaker
The fact that you can see this finished piece that's polished, that's amazing, it's well composed, it's edited beautifully, and then you swipe and it's like, oh my God, it started out as this, and then you swipe again and it's like, whoa, and then they did this to get here? It's just this amazing collaborative community and it really is, I think, unique in that sense. Yeah, absolutely.
00:13:48
Speaker
You know, I knew how to hold a phone in front of an action figure and hit click. Um, and I knew how to make little sets up so I could combine them and have like a picture of a toy that looked like it wasn't garbage. Um, but it was the toy community that taught me how to, you know, uh, it was my friend, Steve. We were talking over Instagram and he's the one who.
00:14:17
Speaker
introduced me to these session pages and he was like I use this app this is superimposed this is how you do that so if you don't have a set you can still show your figure off you just find an image you know on the internet or take a picture of an image and you can put the figure on top of it and I started getting into that and that's how I got into making like the digital backgrounds because it was like well if I like to draw why can't I draw
00:14:46
Speaker
and just use that as the background or the foreground, why not put these action figures on a green screen and then draw over them. So that's how you evolve and you recognize, I think most toy photographers anyway, recognize that they learned what they know from watching other people and from having other people openly share what they knew and have that fuse with their own talent. And when you see talent in someone else, I think if you're not encouraging that,
00:15:16
Speaker
I don't know. You're doing something really wrong in your life if you're not encouraging to allow other people what you were given the opportunity for.
00:15:36
Speaker
You know, you're using digital tools and you're drawing and I think part of that too is is a lot of I mean bloody disgusting picked it picked up your Your digital renders of the the screen figures that you had you had mocked up and I mean like they looked crazy Dude, but they looked incredible. I mean And that was like two weeks prior to that
00:16:01
Speaker
the toys that made us shared my demolition man figure design. Yeah. So like to have that within like under two weeks, I was just like, Oh, what is happening? It was wild. Well, we
00:16:18
Speaker
We know that those renders and a lot of that work that you've done has led to where we're going to go next in the conversation, but before we jump into your new official toy career,
00:16:34
Speaker
You are an artistry in another form as well.
Career Transition to Toy Design
00:16:37
Speaker
You have a different canvas that you work on. How did you go from styling hair like Erika Badu's hair to where you are now? How did you translate hair styling to toy design? Like you said, I've always been an artist and I just had a different medium for the last 20 years. I had a very lucrative career.
00:17:03
Speaker
in the salon industry, both behind the chair and I was a stylist for an eco-friendly hair company. Well, I still am a stylist for an eco-friendly hair company. And I just, I don't know, I love sharing and it goes back to how I treat people within the toy community as well. I love to share what I know and I love to learn from other people.
00:17:27
Speaker
And I love helping other people. So I would share that passion and that shone through. And I took some public speaking courses and became an educator and started traveling the country and teaching in places. And then I got offered a position for New York Fashion Week. And Erika Badu was styling with Pierre Moss, who is a fashion designer that puts a lot
00:17:53
Speaker
of advocacy into his clothing and into his fashion shows, which is something that was really important to me. And I was given the opportunity to style for that show. And then I went on to style another show as well for New York Fashion Week and had that published in a magazine, which again is wild.
00:18:17
Speaker
So I just, I don't know that the passion for art was always there. I did it because it was very artistic and I have painted toys longer than I've cut hair. I literally with my mom's nail polish as a child would sit there and repaint my Star Wars action figures and make them my own designs. And I love, I've always loved to draw. So then I would draw out what these new looks for Leia would be or
00:18:46
Speaker
you know, this futuristic design for Han Solo's suit and then I would paint it with nail polish. So I always had this kind of mix between toy and fashion. And that's kind of what drove me to doing these conceptual designs and then adding my friend Jason was like, you love toys and you love like valuing toy design. Why don't you make them look like toys? Why don't you make your concepts art?
00:19:15
Speaker
look like action figures, but started drawing like the articulation cuts. And toys are like, I love the intricacy of a toy. I love the engineering, how it's made, how it works, why they chose to do a disc ball joint for a neck instead of a double ball joint. Like I I'm obsessed with those details. And I always have been, I remember taking apart my superpowers Wonder Woman just to see how her arm work. So kind of showing
00:19:46
Speaker
I think personally kind of showing that I understood the industry, that I wasn't just taking fun pictures and drawing silly drawings as a love and a hobby, that it was something that I understood. And I think that's what was seen and how I came to be where I am today professionally.
00:20:08
Speaker
So speaking of Jason, we have a question from Mr. Atwork more or less himself. Dave, why don't we hit Blaine with our question from Jason. So here is the question from Jason. Can you explain the roller coaster of emotions when applying for and accepting the NECA gig? Well,
00:20:39
Speaker
Yes, I think he could explain it too, because I called him very, very soon after. It was a roller coaster. I was friends with Randy Falk, who is VP of production at NECA. And I'm friends with one of the painters in the studio.
00:21:05
Speaker
Oh, I'm friends with multiple people now. I should say I was friends with them before I had started. And, uh, Randy had called me and like asked how I would feel about taking on some freelance hours. And I guess I probably thought he was joking at first. Um, but I definitely had been putting my feelers out. And like I said, I love the intricacy of the industry. So I would ask.
00:21:35
Speaker
questions that had nothing to do with what was coming out or, you know, I wasn't looking for spoilers. I wanted to know like, Oh, you know, what made you decide to update that articulation or, you know, Oh, is the reason that you're thinking about bringing this figure back into production to do something different with it. And I just loved that. That's really how NECA works. Like it's like a constant.
00:22:02
Speaker
And there's nothing wrong with other companies, but you know, some toy lines are the same reuse parts for years and years. And it is very cost-effective and that's how we get a lot of the awesome characters that we have. Um, but I just really loved that like every single time you get a figure, it's somehow evolved, you know? Uh, so I just would always have these conversations with him. And so it was like,
00:22:31
Speaker
He's got to be joking. Oh, well, he sees that I know what I'm talking about, but how would I get in? You know, I'm just like, I'm just a hairdresser. Uh, and then it would go to like, okay, but everybody can see my social media. So they know, you know what I mean? It's almost like a resume. Yeah. Um, so yeah, it was, it kind of just kept going back and forth. It really was a roller coaster. It was like up, down, up, down, up, down, all within 15 seconds. It was wild.
00:23:00
Speaker
And here you are now. You're working for NECA. It puts a smile on my face to say it, because I talk to you frequently before you worked for NECA, and now you do. And I maintain a sense of pride for you, because it's obvious that you're passionate about what you're doing. And you are extremely talented.
00:23:29
Speaker
For real, it's been fun to see your stuff over the years, going from us starting on Instagram and looking at your posts and going, wow, this is what toy photography can be. And then to the point where I've said it before, when I'm taking pictures of toys, a lot of times I go back to your
00:23:57
Speaker
your Instagram talk show when you had Jason on a lot of those like didgerama techniques and lighting techniques like like it. I mean, it's just it's awesome to see somebody who is passionate about what they're doing. Get what they want. I mean, it's just it's it's a fun story. I appreciate that. Yeah, it hits you every once in a while. You know, it's your job. So after a while, it's like, oh, this is where I go today.
00:24:26
Speaker
Uh, but every once in a while, someone says something like you, you just said it and now I've got, I'm, I'm grinning from ear to ear. Someone says something or you get to see a new toy or something and, or nothing happens. You just think of it and it just hits you and you're like, wow, at least I have this, you know, like there's like, this is amazing.
00:24:54
Speaker
I mean, it's the dream, right? It's fun with the podcast, right?
00:25:04
Speaker
I can recall, and I'm sure Dave can too, we used to take cardboard boxes and actually a rocking chair. It used to be our Titan Tron entrance ring for our wrestlers back in the day. As a kid, you always do what you can to create the moment that you're looking for when it comes to play.
00:25:28
Speaker
I was gonna say, whether it's like, you know, you use a laundry basket as a steel cage or, you know, masking tape and red markers for like blood in a steel cage match, you know, something like that, you know, you just kind of see a constant evolution in what you do and how like that creativity, I guess blossoms, for lack of a better word.
00:25:56
Speaker
Over time and you just kind of see that and you you you notice it from a distance and you think like that's that's amazing and and then but the the difference being right like eventually you realize you know you get to the point where
00:26:10
Speaker
You realize that like, okay, I, you know, I did this and it like, it existed in my imagination and it worked for me like at a certain point. But then there's the people that go to like the next step, right? Like kit bashing and then like full on customizing and molding new parts and, you know, conceptualizing things and like, you know,
00:26:30
Speaker
It's just it's it's amazing to think is like I can tell you right now, like past cardboard boxes and putting masking tape over like G.I. Joe faces and drawing new faces on the masking tape. So it looks like Freddy Krueger, you know, like that's like that's where my skill ended. Yeah, you kind of. Yeah, you can see like, you know, almost where it's like, OK, so I might not be able to do this, but what can I do? Well, all right, I can talk.
00:27:01
Speaker
You know, I can, uh, we could discuss, you know, things like that. So, you know, maybe going into, you know, a podcast is one thing where if it's like, well, I can, I can draw and I can kind of create and I can look at what's what this is made of and think like, Oh, what can I do to kind of evolve this? You know, everybody's got their figures out where that talent lives and where, where you can take it and how you can take it to the next level.
00:27:31
Speaker
Aside from your artistry, one of the other things that kind of defines your presence on social media is your distinct voice.
Maintaining Creative Perspective at NECA
00:27:41
Speaker
How have you been able to use that at NECA so far? Well, first, I should say that the views that I am going to talk about this evening are my own views, not the views of a company. Yes. That is my legal disclaimer.
00:28:01
Speaker
I mean, I try to set aside obviously personal and work. However, I think that we are a fun company because we're all collectors and we're all kind of snarky and dry humored that we like to sometimes have a little fun. If people want to banter at us, we'll banter back. Well, I was kind of hinting at that, but also
00:28:31
Speaker
I feel like you have a very close personal connection with a lot of the, the IPs, right? That, that NECA produces.
Successful Gargoyles License Teaser
00:28:40
Speaker
Like you, you are a fan, you know, especially like in like the horror genre and things like that. Yeah. You, um, you waited until midnight to make a little announcement. Oh my God. Well, I can't really take credit for that, but
00:28:57
Speaker
Um, yes, we very randomly decided to share the very first image word announcement with for anything for the gargoyles license. Um, and Disney's gargoyles was like one of my favorite cartoons. I was literally just talking about it earlier with one of my friends. Um, absolutely love gargoyles and.
00:29:26
Speaker
It was like, oh, you know, we're going to tease it and we're just going to post it. We're just going to post it at midnight in the middle of the night. We're not going to say anything. We didn't put a hashtag on it. We didn't put a title to it. Nothing. Uh, and that wound up, if you go to our, our Instagram, that wound up getting the most likes, uh, of any Instagram photo on our page ever in the history of NECA. It was wild.
00:29:57
Speaker
you basically defied internet physics. It was wild seeing like seeing pre order sell out. Oh, that was that was crazy. It still is crazy. People are still obviously people are still talking about it. And man, yeah, and I'm I got to hold
00:30:23
Speaker
The figures, I didn't get to play with them because we had to like photograph them and everything. And prototypes are kind of just put into place. Yeah. They don't have yet all of the articulation. Um, so I got to hold, uh, Goliath and man, I'm just like staring at it. And I was like, how did we do this? Like, how did you look at it?
00:30:50
Speaker
And I personally, and I talk about this a lot, I'm not huge into stylized. Something has to work really well for me to enjoy a stylized version. And we forget that stylized can go both ways. It can be something realistic that is made to look more cartoonish. And in this case, we took something that was cartoonish and made to look more realistic. And a lot of times it doesn't work for me personally, as a collector.
00:31:19
Speaker
I see other figure lines that are kind of making these insanely realistic versions of animated or comic, and it doesn't fly with me. I don't have an interest in it. And I'm just staring at this. I'm like, how do I love this so much? How? Like, how is it the perfect blend? Like, it looks like the cartoon.
00:31:44
Speaker
But the damn wings have veins. Like, I'm blown away. Like, I'm in amazement still just talking about it. And I've seen multiple now. It's wild. I'm so in love. I'm in love. Sorry. No, I mean. I'm girling over my own job. Listen, it was one of those things where you guys, I don't think I was actually awake for it. I think I had gone to sleep. And I woke up in the morning and I was like, what the?
00:32:13
Speaker
Fuck. Yeah. And I couldn't, like, I actually could not wrap my brain around the fact that it existed. And then on top of it, like the social media brain in my head was like, and these guys just dropped this at midnight with nothing? Like, I think my actual response to you was I sent you a message and I was like, you are out of your goddamn mind.
00:32:42
Speaker
But but now you're on your toes because like okay. Well hold on I gotta stay up till midnight just in case And you know like that that's the thing that I think is particularly and again not not to knock any of the other like Incredibly passionate people that are behind some of you know our favorite brands You know that and some of which we've talked about already, but I think there's this weird
00:33:05
Speaker
sort of closeness with NECA and the IPs that they represent. And I think two part of it, like a lot of the community, a lot of the figures kind of center around that like,
00:33:17
Speaker
kind of horror, sci-fi, cult classic kind of area. Like even to an extent, like with the Turtles and like the way that the Turtles fandom kind of responds to things, I think it's all that kind of same category. So like, and we're huge. Everything fits into a rabid fandom.
00:33:36
Speaker
And we're huge horror fans, like Dave and I as
NECA's Strategic Product Engagement
00:33:40
Speaker
well. So the fact that you wait until the 33rd anniversary of a Friday the 13th movie, the day that it came out to show off packaging, it's such a stupid little touch. But to the community and the fan base, it's like, I respect that because they know their history. They know the history of what they're doing. And it adds just that little extra
00:34:06
Speaker
bit of like magic, if you will, to to the actual product. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's, you know, it's heartbreaking. It's frustrating and heartbreaking when you see you read some of these comments or hear people talking about NECA and like, Oh, they got this wrong. They're just some dumb toy company. And it's like hurtful because I look around
00:34:35
Speaker
everyone. The people putting boxes together in the warehouse, the sales people, a customer service person, everybody is like, oh, I collect this one and I collect that one. They're fans. We sit around the studio watching movies and talking about all of these brands. It's our whole life.
00:35:05
Speaker
So we really are fans. And I'm glad that like, quite, quite honestly, I think the people that say that just clearly aren't as big a fans as they think they are. Because if they were big fans, they would pick up on all these amazing Easter eggs and nuances that are thrown into everything that we do. Oh, you mean, you mean like what happened with mutagen man? Right. I mean,
00:35:35
Speaker
Yeah, there were some people who were saying that doesn't look anything like him and I was like, you know, it probably took you longer to troll on this photo than it does to just Google image a picture of religion man and see that this is a little bit of Mandela effect on you. They're not wrong. It's just the Mandela effect. They remember the action figure that they had. Yeah, not the not the character that appeared in one episode of the show. Exactly. And ours is based on
00:36:04
Speaker
what you saw in the cartoon and it looks exact. It's right there. Even in accessories that we add, that's probably my favorite thing about us are the accessories. We just add so many little nuances and Easter eggs into accessories and have fun with packaging. Did you guys see the April O'Neill packaging for the 1990
00:36:34
Speaker
April O'Neill, like Chris Raimo, one of our graphic artists, built the shredder wall with all the TVs and threw a fucking knife in it. It's so cool. And when you tilt the box, we obviously couldn't show this on video, but when you tilt the box, the TV changes channels. It's insane. How could anyone say that we don't love these brands?
00:37:05
Speaker
Yeah. Again, I'm fangirling over my own company. Like, you know what I mean? Well, speaking of Judith Hogue and April O'Neill, that April takeover was something else. Oh, yeah. We had a lot of fun with that. A lot of fun with that. That one I can take credit for. I'm going to give
00:37:29
Speaker
When we were talking about just dropping gargoyles at midnight, I'm going to give Randy a whole lot of credit. Um, he straight up, you know, we've lived in a digital world the last year and all these other companies are doing these like virtual cons and virtual panels. And we really didn't know how to make it fit our brand. And all of these drops came around toy fair. And Randy was like, you know,
00:37:57
Speaker
How do you do something that surprises people when everybody expects these virtual panels or these reveals and all these like toy fair hashtags and virtual events? But Randy, it really was his idea. He was like, you know, let's do something. Let's expect the unexpected. It's NECA. Let's just drop things randomly with no hashtags and no context. And it was an awesome idea. So I just had to give him credit for that. It was an awesome idea.
00:38:28
Speaker
So many of like, we didn't even announce universal monsters that we had the license. We just randomly would tease like a bee coming out of a coffin or a bear trap on the ground. Like something only fans would get, you know? Um, and then for the April's April takeover, um, that really was kind of my first project, uh, with Neko and something where.
00:38:56
Speaker
as a fan going into it, they were like, you know, what can you bring to the company anytime you start somewhere you want to show what you can add and what you can help with, right? How you can be an asset. So I came on as a fan. And when we were talking, we were in a brainstorming meeting and talking about ideas for social media. And I was like, well, what's happened with
00:39:25
Speaker
Judith Hogue like is the figure going to be delayed because of the last year and They're like no the figures in production and Judith. I don't know if you guys are aware She had wanted when she announced that she was giving her likeness to NECA She got to do this live through NECA's Instagram. Yep and announced that she was actually going to be a part of The process and she was going to document it and make a documentary out of it
00:39:56
Speaker
Of course, COVID lasted so much longer than most people anticipated. And it wasn't feasible for her to come to fly out all these times to the studio. So she still got to be a part of it and none of us knew because it wasn't being documented. So when I found that out and I found out that she really was hands on in a lot of the production,
00:40:22
Speaker
and that she was getting all these passes from prototypes and she was acting as a consultant to make sure we had the right prints on the clothing and the accessories were correct. Once I found that out, I was like, wow, this is something I'd want to know as a fan and as someone who was anticipating seeing her document this. And I think other fans would really want to know
00:40:51
Speaker
Plus, Judith really wanted to get this out to the fans. So I came up with this idea and I love me some dad jokes and I love me some puns and some play on words. So I'm always trying to think of goofy, you know, dad play on words. And I was like, well, I started in February. I was like, well, April's coming. Why don't we get in touch with Judith and do a fun play on words and call it April's April takeover and she'll get to kind of
00:41:22
Speaker
embody April O'Neill and become a news reporter and we'll do it virtually. She can film herself, she can speak to the fans and then we'll edit it and put in the process pictures that we got to speak with her about over the past year and that she got to have a hand in. And I was lucky enough to be able to call her and pitch this to her and she thought it was a wonderful idea.
00:41:50
Speaker
And I got to roll with it and it was amazing and it was a fun way for us to be able to give Judith the platform to in some way shape or form get that documentary type feel out of it before we announced the figure. And then she can go back once things open up and do the entire documentary that she wanted to do. But this was a great way to give her a chance to slowly reveal the figure.
00:42:21
Speaker
And of course, we then finished the series off with surprising everyone with the official pre-order for it. So it was awesome. Which I have mine pre-ordered. Very happy about that, that I don't have to drive around like a lunatic looking for it. So very, very happy. Yep. And Judith wanted to make sure that it would go through a direct pre-order from us. That way, anybody who wanted one would have ample time to get it. So there was a two-week open window.
00:42:51
Speaker
And then we decided even further than that to make it as accessible as possible. So it will be in Walmart in the US later on this year. That's awesome. Yeah. And that entire process, I think, for the, I guess we could say the casual fan, right? The person that's just generally buying an action figure, sometimes I don't think
00:43:23
Speaker
they realize exactly what's going into it, exactly what the process is, how many times you have to go over a sculpt, how many passes you have over things that you might not even look twice at, like a pattern on a skirt or the way that a handbag lays. All of that stuff was taken into consideration, which is just so cool to see that process. Yeah.
00:43:52
Speaker
And I understand not every casual collector is going to care, but I know as an avid collector, I cared and I know that all the people I speak with are like-minded people and they cared. So it was really great to be able to provide that to people and to get to show the people that don't get to make it out to Comic Con. You know, if you go to like San Diego Comic Con, a lot of times you get to see prototypes and you get to talk to people.
00:44:20
Speaker
and you get to hear what's coming next and see early prototypes of it. So this is a really great way to provide that to people who maybe never got to go out to cons or got to speak with industry professionals directly. All right, so we have an amalgam question from a few Instagram followers. We know you're from making what-ifs in your design mock-ups. What if you could make one toy line? What would it be and who would be in the first wave?
00:44:49
Speaker
Oh, man. OK. The world is your oyster. I know, right? But I'm like such an analytical thinker, like I'm like, there are so many variables. Is this a toy line that's never been made before? Is it based off like something that's real? Do I make the toy line up? Ooh. This is asking a creative person question like this is. Right.
00:45:15
Speaker
Um, I don't know if I, if I got to have my shot, you know, it sounds crazy, but I really think I'm in the right place because if I was given permission to make any sort of toy line, it would be like maybe this like icons line, um, and just do like different characters from iconic.
00:45:44
Speaker
I don't know, campy. I love Little Shop of Hars. I love the movie Clue, Serial Mom. I love Golden Girls. I like all these different weird random things that I would want to do like this campy icon line. Oh my God, an eight inch cloth line for the characters from Clue. I've never thought about how badly I need a Miss Peacock figure.
00:46:12
Speaker
like how badly I need like a Wadsworth. Oh, man. Yeah. So like, it would definitely be like that. And I think I work in the right company because we get to do random things like that. You know, we like you just mentioned in the eight inch cloth retro figures. We have
00:46:35
Speaker
The Golden Girls. We have Richard Simmons. We have Ace Ventura. We've got the horror people. Bob Ross. We've Bob Ross. It's so all over the place that we get to really make figures. I mean, even in just in our ultimates, you know, we've got Back to the Future. We have Alien. We have Predator. We had a while ago, like more classic DC, like Reeve Superman and 66th Batman.
00:47:05
Speaker
Um, like we just have all these different things and yet somehow I love them all. Like it's almost like as a collector, I'm like, how do they know what I want? Like, how do they know what I'm missing in life? None of us ever thought we were missing back to the future seven inch, one 10th scale action figures. And suddenly they're announced and it's like, I don't know how I lived without them. Mm-hmm.
00:47:29
Speaker
It's just crazy. So, you know, I never knew I needed clue movie figures until I just said it seconds ago, right? I drew and I haven't posted it because, you know, obviously, now if I ever get to pitch it, I want to be able to actually pitch it and not have to scratch it because it's public. And this is no way no one has ever said anything that it would be approved or that we're even looking into it. This was something that I just did.
00:47:58
Speaker
as a fan, as a hobby. I designed retro cloth figures for Little Shop of Horrors. I did a Seymour and an Audrey. And that would just be like, that would be my first wave. If I could make the toy line, it would be like those campy bee horror comedy movies. And my first wave would be, I would do two two packs. I would do
00:48:31
Speaker
I would, yes, I would do two, two packs. I would do Seymour and Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors. And I would do Gomez and Morticia Adams from the night. Oh my God, that's another one. Oh, I didn't know I needed Adams family figures like that. See? So I want to make, I want to make the figures that you didn't know you couldn't live without. Oh my God. Like, and like, and like a Christopher Lloyd.
00:49:01
Speaker
Fester so right What ends with the brown quote? He's in clue too. I mean, it's really genius. Yeah, and clearly Christopher Lloyd like is is is uh is down to clown cuz I mean We've got the the Doc Brown from part two coming. So we do That'll be our second Doc Brown
00:49:23
Speaker
can't wait for that's that's my favorite so like I love Back to the Future Part one obviously like it's the original is incredible but part two is like it's my favorite I know it is the the lesser of two films from like a film standpoint but that's my favorite too we're in the minority yeah but no because it's so like
00:49:46
Speaker
It's so like just off the rails that it's amazing. Yeah, there's there's this camp to it. Yeah, like he peels like Doc peels his face off in the beginning of the movie and it doesn't you and looks so happy about it. Yeah, it's like. And but here's the thing, all the cool like merch that people love or that people want is from Back to the Future Part Two.
00:50:14
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. 100% the hoverboard. It's more iconic. Mr. Fusion. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Almanac. Like everything is from part two. The actual flying car. Yeah. Yeah. Even though it's technically at the end of the first one. The end of part one. But yeah, you see it.
00:50:31
Speaker
Yeah, so I like I have the Doc Brown from from part one because I couldn't resist when I thought when I when I saw it in person but like I like I cannot wait to have that big ass grin and the yellow trench coat like I just I cannot wait I cannot Yeah
00:50:50
Speaker
It's yeah. Yeah, that that's awesome. And that's the thing that like like we talked about this on our last episode, we had Marty Abrams from from me go on and like it's just it's so weird. The world that we live in now. That has proven that like anything can be a toy like and like like just about anything can can and it doesn't have to be like
00:51:20
Speaker
like you don't have to commit to a whole wave or a whole series or even like two waves like you know some toy lines had to be back in the day like you if there is just like a single thing like McCready is a perfect example like
00:51:36
Speaker
As of right now, that is the only thing Figure announced, like none of the other cast, none of the creatures, nothing has been announced, but if that is the only figure, or like, you know, you guys have the Captain Blake figure from the fog, like there are no other fog figures, but like, it doesn't matter. Although Tom Atkins would rule. There's always room on the shelf for Tom Atkins. You guys made Tom Atkins, didn't you?
00:51:58
Speaker
didn't wasn't it one from the creeps? Oh, yeah. But yeah, like, but still, like, just that one figure, like you if you have figured out a way to make a single thing toy addict, you're good. That's it. You're good. Yep. And, you know, we are the generation of pop culture, right? And we're the generation with expendable income now. Well, I am. I think you guys are younger than me.
00:52:27
Speaker
Dave is not. So yeah, I mean, yeah, these generations, our two or three generations, we really are the ones with expendable income right now. And we grew up in the generation of pop culture, right? So there's so much to love. And we really ate it all up. Everything happened so fast. And it was keeping up with trends.
00:52:54
Speaker
Uh, so yeah, everybody wants an action figure of everything. And I think one of the most slept on things too, is the accessory choices. Like for example, um, Doc Brown comes with the money briefcase, like the first thing you think of it's in one scene for seconds, but the money briefcase, like, um,
00:53:22
Speaker
Or, you know, New Blood Jason with the split mask and the weed whacker. I love that he comes with the weed whacker. It's the little nuances because people are fans that are working on it, you know?
00:53:38
Speaker
What would we want to see put in? Outside of your artistry and all the work that you do with toys and everything, I feel like one of the other big things about your overall presence and something that we have spent an hour probably at this point talking about in each other's DMs is your activism.
Activism Through Toys
00:54:00
Speaker
Why do you think it's so important to use the platform the way that you have given all the challenges that present themselves when being vocal? Well, I think morally anyone with any form of platform should use that platform to help others.
00:54:28
Speaker
It's like what the toy community is about, isn't it? We talked about that earlier, that it's from other people helping other people and lifting each other up. So if you can see that it benefits you selfishly with taking pictures of a couple pieces of plastic, then you should want to do that to benefit the safety and health of other people's lives. So.
00:54:57
Speaker
you know, morally, I feel like anyone with any sort of platform should speak out in defense of others who maybe don't have what you have, the platform that you have or are being talked down to in any sort of way or pressed in some way. And then on the flip side of that, as an artist,
00:55:26
Speaker
you always hear the saying, art imitates life. And it's not always that the art you see is imitating real life. I mean, it is, but also the art imitates life in the sense that artists express themselves through art, right? That's what makes us artists. We express ourselves through art, through whatever our medium is. So that's who I am.
00:55:57
Speaker
And I have a platform. Why can I not express myself through my art? Uh, so that's what I do. I express myself through my art and I, you know, and who I am is someone who, uh, fights for equity and equality and, uh, the, the underdogs. So.
00:56:21
Speaker
And I mean, it's one of those things where, you know, we see it come up time and time again, you know, in the comments sections everywhere where it's like, you know, keep the politics out of the data toys and like keep the politics out of the art. But I feel like what a lot of these people don't understand is that like the art has been sending that kind of message forever. Like whether it's George Romero with Night of the Living Dead, whether it's John Carpenter with They Live, whether it's
00:56:51
Speaker
Everybody who has ever touched the x-men ever wrong, you know, like it's it's all there the the the story Kind of tells itself and you know for for somebody to ask You know whether whether you're a toy photographer a comics writer a film writer with a musician whatever you know, there's always a message there and you know, I I
00:57:16
Speaker
It's nice to see when people are using that platform from moral high ground. And like you just said, you were just naming things off. I challenge people to find in the majority of what we post and what we like. If we kept politics out of things, just because you choose not to see the politics,
00:57:44
Speaker
and the civil rights in the movies and books and comics and shows that you like just because you choose not to see it doesn't mean it's not there. It's blatantly there. And you can't deny that the creators admit that it's there. If you don't want politics, then you can never watch another Star Wars again so long as you live. You know, it is I told someone over the past year, who was trying to like tell me to keep politics out of Star Wars, I'm like,
00:58:13
Speaker
start like literally the textbook definition for Star Wars is a story about a violent rebellion against an oppressive government. Like there's no if ands or buts about it. That's what the fuck it's about. So also like a trade blockade. Right. I mean, legit. Let's not talk about how racist George went with that scene. Yeah.
00:58:39
Speaker
Yeah, we're not going to we're not going to do any impersonations or anything. We're going to we're going to go right. Right. Let's move on. Like way to way to freakin put propaganda. So it's there, you know, people, people went up in arms telling me that I did a anecdotal funny Scooby Doo take on the presidential election using a Captain America and red skull figure.
00:59:08
Speaker
and people had the caucacity to tell me to keep politics out of Captain America, who was literally invented. To punch Nazis. The iconic, yeah, as America punching Hitler in the face. I mean, come on. You just told me to keep politics out of politics. Okay. Yeah, yeah. It absolutely amazes me how misguided and lost people get
00:59:38
Speaker
It's over the funniest things. Yeah, like I someone came at said something about Deadpool and I was like Deadpool is literally pansexual like you you're just choosing like you can't get straighter than Deadpool or something. I think he said I'm like, whoa, if that's what you think straight is, I want to make the friend sad. We need to we need to have a conversation. I don't think you understand what that word means. Yeah.
01:00:08
Speaker
you know, wrestling. I love wrestling. But I mean, let's be real, it's the most homoerotic thing I've ever watched.
01:00:17
Speaker
It's, I mean, it's athleticism. It's the, what's the term? It's the, it's the Adonis, right? I mean, whether you're talking about Rocky Horror or professional wrestling, I mean, and it has nothing to do with masculinity. Like, nobody's calling into any question, anybody's, you know, preferences, but like, you know, the male body and the male form is on display. I mean, what else are you gonna say, you know?
01:00:46
Speaker
I mean, that's what it is. And, and I think people just need to realize that there is no, they pick and choose, you know, if they see, um, a character that is LGBTQ plus and they're in a speedo. Suddenly all of these groups are like hate commenting, but then you look at. They're like, they love WWE.
01:01:12
Speaker
And they find these men in speedos to be the most masculine, straight, presenting people. It's just like, guys, if more people could just see that there really, it is just a social construct and there is no kind of right or wrong in feminine or masculine or whatever people like, uh,
01:01:38
Speaker
I don't know, I think the world would be a better place. I feel like I'm getting on a soapbox now, so I'll step down. I feel the Blainer thing's boiling. It is totally fine. You're in good company. You're amongst friends. For sure. That Kraken is lurking beneath the friendship, okay? Well, we'll call on it if ever needed. Oh, god, if they need to defend some little fun-colored Lego set.
01:02:12
Speaker
Speaking of things with the word color in it. Yes.
Diversity in Toys and Comics
01:02:18
Speaker
So tell us about the colored and comics page and why that's something that you started. Yes. So I just recently started it and it was something where I just noticed in more of the toy community groups that
01:02:42
Speaker
More of the prominent people tend to be cis white gendered men, cis gendered white men, sorry. And there's nothing wrong with any of, well, there's something wrong with some of those people, let's be honest. But there's nothing wrong with having a lot of white dudes work toy photography. I think they, that a lot of diversity gets kind of buried beneath the surface.
01:03:11
Speaker
And I see some really amazing toy photographers who are people of color. And I see some really amazing toy designers and sculptors and just industry professionals that are people of color or part of the LGBTQ plus community. Uh, and then I started like looking beyond that. And as I'm taking pictures, um,
01:03:38
Speaker
more diverse, so it kind of became my mission. And I've always been very diverse in what I'm posting and I've always had my voice. Um, but I kind of found my own niche and stopped trying to impress the wide market this past year. Um, and I was like, just full gung ho, like I'm going to showcase that there's diversity.
01:04:04
Speaker
in everything that people don't think there's diversity in. They want to sit there and say, Superman's not black. Well, there was a black Superman. Why did they make this person this color or this race? And it's like someone told me that they didn't know that one of the Robins was a Chinese-American. It's always been there. It's a sunspot in the New Mutants in, what was it, the late 70s, early 80s?
01:04:33
Speaker
his latent mutant ability was activated during a hate crime because he's Afro Latino. Like it's always been there and I wanted to showcase that. So I started noticing like not just in people that I knew, but in what I was shooting and what I was drawing and what I was reading. And then I started noticing how many amazing, wonderful, like
01:05:00
Speaker
comic book artists and comic book writers and show writers and directors are people of color or part of the LGBTQ plus community. Um, and I was like, well, how do I, how do I showcase that when I'm a toy photographer? Uh, you know, I can reshare the people that I like and I can post things that show off diversity.
01:05:23
Speaker
But how do I specifically showcase these people and give them a platform without drawing attention to myself? I don't want it to be for a selfish reason, and I don't want the attention to be brought to me and have like, oh, Blainer Things is so cool because he posts diversity in action figures. I wanted to show off these people. So I developed Colored in Comics just as a platform where I would show off other people's work.
01:05:53
Speaker
And I would show off diversity in anything nerd pop. Um, so I, and that's what the name of the page, it's colored in comics and it says celebrating representation in nerd pop culture. So anything that relates to the things that we all love, I just want to uplift and showcase, um, the marginalized people already within these stories and already within these industries.
01:06:21
Speaker
Um, so, you know, like things like show showing off toy photographers, showing off industry professionals. Um, it's, uh, Asian Pacific American heritage month this month. So I'm doing a series of celebrate stories where I pick, um, movies, TV, comics, or I'm sorry for the, for the celebrate stories is just TV or movies. It's a watch list. So I do the, uh, APA, AHM watch list.
01:06:51
Speaker
And I try to show people that, you know, these people that are like racist and in love with the Snyder cut, uh, they made the very first Samoan Polynesian, uh, a superhero making Jason Momoa Aquaman. Um, so you couldn't get any wider looking than what Aquaman right. And people love it. They eat it up because he's Brody.
01:07:20
Speaker
Uh, you know, and, um, uh, there was this really amazing movie. I know Eric and I had talked about it when it came out over quarantine. It came out right around the, uh, the lunar celebration was, uh, over the moon and it was this animated film and it indirectly. In a, in a positive way. I mean, I, I'm trying to find for lack of a better word, they indirectly shove Chinese culture down your throat in a very good way.
01:07:47
Speaker
You don't even realize what you're watching. You're just having a wonderful time watching a beautiful story that anyone of any age can appreciate and fall in love with. And all the little details and nuances in it from traditional, you know, talking about the movies based on, it really is like almost how Disney would base their movies on old fairy tales. Exactly. It bases it on an old Chinese fairy tale.
01:08:17
Speaker
Um, but then they put in current pop culture references and, and cultural references in general for the Chinese culture. And it's just a beautiful movie. Um, and then they like, you know, we, we finally have gotten to a point where most animated film and TV are making sure to align the voice, uh, the characters with proper voice actors. You know, if it's a character of color, they're going to hire a voice actor.
01:08:47
Speaker
who is of color. So seeing all these like huge stars, and this came out just on Netflix because it was during shutdown, seeing all these huge stars in this beautifully animated movie with a wonderful story, I was just like, okay, things like this need to be talked about in the way that people don't think about it. And hopefully it opens people's eyes because I bet a lot of people watch that movie and not once thought about the fact that they were
01:09:18
Speaker
being privileged enough to take a look into another culture through this fun animated movie. And we get that all the time. We get these opportunities to look into other cultures and see how other people live through movies and TV and comic books and books and action figures. So I just really wanted to show people that they might not always see what's right in front of them.
01:09:46
Speaker
Yeah, it's an awesome effort. I try to contribute to it as much as humanly possible whenever I find something that I know fits the bill. I try to send it over to you. By the way, we've been saying colored in comics, but it's at colored in comics, but Q-O-M-I-X.
01:10:08
Speaker
I had to be clever. Yeah, I love it. If you're, but if you're looking, if you are listening to this podcast and, and you want to follow it, it's at colored in comics Q O M I X. Um,
01:10:22
Speaker
Yeah, and it is an awesome effort. Especially what you've been doing during this month has been great. Like you said, the showcases are just fantastic. Frankly, I think everybody needs to take some time to learn. I think education is really important.
01:10:44
Speaker
You know even in something as innocuous as as toys and like you know pop culture I think it's it's really important to kind of stop and listen and and learn and it's it's it's awesome to To get a little nugget every now and then it's great. Yeah, absolutely
01:11:00
Speaker
doesn't love a nuggy little nuggy. So before we we ask our final question, we do have one more from our, our Instagram audience. This comes from at power of x men, which by the way, another awesome page, x men, x men page, you're in the book club, right? So cool that they don't count book club.
01:11:25
Speaker
Yeah, I there are a recent recent discovery on our part. They actually he followed us and reached out. And then I started looking into, you know, the interviews and studies. Great page. So at Power of X-Men. So this one, we're all going to answer. I'm going to give this to all of us. Blaine, you're going to go first. What is your holy grail of toy collecting?
01:11:50
Speaker
Oh, okay. So this is another one where I overthink everything. So like the holy grail was like never found. So are we talking a toy that I've always wanted and never got or like the most special toy that I have. So we're going to save the letter, the latter part of that question. This is for the toy that. That got away. Either the toy that got away or the toy you wish existed. This is going to sound so stupid and looking back on it, they're probably absolute crap.
01:12:19
Speaker
So I'd want new versions, obviously, but, um, I love toy fair and always would read the magazines and everything. And sometimes you would get prototypes. Oh, I'm going to, oh, I'm going to say two now. Cause now I, all I had to say was prototype and I know what it would be. All right. So my first one as a, as a kid or a younger person, um, there were prototypes in toy fair magazine.
01:12:48
Speaker
for fifth element action figures. But then I never saw them hit shelves. So I would totally want those. And then what I thought of as I was saying prototype was Diamond Selects did Battlestar Galactica, which was my favorite show ever made ever in the history of television. And the last wave, they canceled the line on the last wave with the three most important characters
01:13:17
Speaker
And President Laura Roslyn looked so good and I needed her so bad and like an articulated prototype was made and what I would not do. I wonder, I wonder, I wonder whatever happened to those. We'll have to, we'll have to. Zach, if you have an extra one.
01:13:40
Speaker
Please. I was going to say, we got to hit up Zach and see if they're still in anybody's possession at this point. There's probably very little I wouldn't do for that President Rosalind, Laura Rosalind action. Zach, I know you're probably listening to this eventually. He's been on the show before.
01:14:04
Speaker
All right, Dave, I'm gonna go next, unless you know what your answer's gonna be. I might pick two because I'm thinking about it, but you can go first. Okay, so mine is I'm going the route of a thing that I wish existed, and this also falls into the category of I didn't know I needed this as an adult.
01:14:28
Speaker
So last year Diamond Select put out a Rocketeer figure, seven inch Rocketeer figure. It's amazing. I love it. It's like one of my favorite figures of all time from one of my favorite properties of all time. It's just like, it's amazing.
01:14:44
Speaker
Neko put out a seven-inch Phantom figure as part of the Defenders of the Earth line. And they look amazing next to each other, having Phantom and Rocketeer, and they kind of have that pulpy vibe to them. It's an amazing duo, which makes me want the other hero for me that falls into that category. And I would even be fine with the Alec Baldwin version of it.
01:15:12
Speaker
but I want the shadow. I want a seven inch shadow figure with the big old honker and the
01:15:21
Speaker
and the red hand scarf and some big-ass handguns. I need that in my life. Once that thought started ruminating in my head and I started poking through the customizer community to see if anybody had done one and there really aren't any out there, very, very few.
01:15:45
Speaker
I rewatch the movie and it is just as bad as I remember it being but like I love I Just love that character design and the concept of that hero like how he operates. Yeah, I need a seven inch pulp comics shadow action figure and I don't even know at this point I know dynamite comics and
01:16:08
Speaker
For a while had the rights to the character I don't know who even has the rights at this point or if he's even he might even be in public domain I have I have no idea but Yeah, I want to I want a shadow action figure nice So for me we briefly talked about it before when Blaine was talking about taking apart his Superpowers series one Wonder Woman
01:16:38
Speaker
But for me, I had every figure from series one and series two. And granted, most of them are still remaining somewhere in the house. I think we found most of them, right? I don't know where you're going with this yet.
01:17:01
Speaker
So I never had, the only series three figures I had were Mr. Freeze and Plastic Man. Oh, okay. Now I know where you're going with this. Go on. So like Cyborg, Cyclotron, Golden Pharaoh, Mr. Miracle, Orion, Samurai, Shazam, Tyr. I never had those. So, and granted like the, and so Secret Wars too was like another one where I had everybody except for two.
01:17:31
Speaker
I never had hobgoblin or falcon. Um, so for me, those were, you know, you go back to what didn't you have when you were a kid, like. You even have Clark Kent. You have the mail away. Somewhere. No, you have it. It's in that. No, it's in that. Oh, I have it. That one we found that one. I know. Okay. And the blue suit. And I feel like Steppenwolf was originally a mail away too, but then was packaged.
01:17:59
Speaker
I know, I know you have him too. He's got like the rope accessory, right? With the axe, yeah. Oh, yeah. But I had like a spiky. Doesn't he have like spikes all over his arm and stuff? Yeah, but like I had like all I had the Hall of Justice for Secret Wars. I had the the Doom Cycle and the I think they just called the Turbo Cycle Captain America's one. But I never had the Tower of Doom.
01:18:28
Speaker
There were a couple other, like, vehicles that I didn't have for each one. Like, I never had the Batmobile. Um... You didn't have that Batmobile. You had men... You had the 89... Well, I had the ToyBiz. Yeah. But, you know, like... So... But the other thing, too, is mine were, like, so heavily played with that, like... I don't know if I'd... I wouldn't wanna go back and try to get them, like...
01:18:57
Speaker
I guess I would, but you know, those are things that like, there's no way, like if I were trying to get like, you know, LJNs or anything like that, like in good shape, like it's super hard to do, but I feel like it can be done or it has been done, but like I've never seen, and I'm sure somebody's got it, but you know, like I never see, I've never seen those
01:19:24
Speaker
like, knew and looked good because on the Secret Wars ones, like, the paint came off so easily when you played with them. And like, the superpowers, like, if you had a Batman whose leg was not broken, you were, that was like the chase variant, was that like you had a Batman with two working legs? Yours are still in pretty good shape, man. They're really- No, Batman, when you squeeze his legs, that one leg comes right off.
01:19:53
Speaker
But I mean, overall, like... Or like the capes, like the little kind of part that stuck around the back of the neck. Oh yeah, the little C-clip. Would it always break or fall off? Yeah. So what is the Holy Grail? Is there a single figure or is it just the ones you're missing? Everything, Eric, everything you just did. Yeah. Mine would be the ones I never had. Okay. I was just trying to put a lasso around an answer there for you.
01:20:29
Speaker
Oh Forget it. Yeah the lasso of what nothing. It's not there Yeah, yeah the tangent sometimes we don't I go on tangents and that was one of them Yeah, but we we but we came back we got there. That's and that's all that matters And Dave, you know what that brings us to, right? So the final question
01:20:55
Speaker
We know this is technically collection number two that you're rebuilding. But in this current collection, what is your favorite or strangest piece or both? Now it can be one, it can be the other, it can be both. I'm gonna have to say...
01:21:21
Speaker
My favorite figure of all time was my grandmother had gifted me an original 1974 Spock action figure that he had hidden away in her home and forgotten about. And it was for my dad when he was younger. So she gifted that to me when I was a kid and kept that all the way to the fire. And my cousin
01:21:45
Speaker
Tract one down and rebought it for me. Oh my god So I didn't realize that that because are you showing pictures of that? I thought that that was your so that's even Wow. Yep Wow So it's you know, it's not it's obviously not the same But that one has a lot of sentimental thought as well just for a different reason So I have to say that that's my favorite just for sentimental reasons and then strangest
01:22:14
Speaker
just I don't you know, I honestly don't know if there's such a thing for me because I like you know, like I like pop culture so much that everything I own while it is so extremely random. It's all very on brand. So I don't think that I have anything that's not on brand. I do have
01:22:43
Speaker
My only MeeGo is, um, I have a Bewitched of MeeGo. I don't, I saw it and it was probably around Halloween time or maybe I was thinking of Halloween time and I love Bewitched. I love the show. Um, but I'm not a big stylized person and I think MeeGo is great in doing sort of the same thing we do just in a different style and scale. Um, MeeGo is great for,
01:23:10
Speaker
And Pops. Migo and Pops are great for providing us all the different nerd pop, you know, all the different pop culture reference characters. But I'm not really into Pops and I'm not really into Migo for no other reason than I don't really do stylized very often. And I don't know what possessed me, but I saw it and I was like, okay, it, you know, Migo is like purposely looking, not realistic. You know, like it's meant to look kind of,
01:23:39
Speaker
cheap for lack of a better word, then they do it well. It's that retro aesthetic. Yeah, so I saw it. But I've passed over so many of them. I didn't get any of the Star Trek ones, which was bizarre for me. I didn't get any of the horror movie ones, which is bizarre for me. So I don't know what possessed me to get
01:24:01
Speaker
Samantha but well the bewitched one doesn't it look like it looks more like I'm like the cartoon at the beginning. Yes. Yes That's what justified the purpose the purchase I was like that like that's how I talked myself into it So I have to say that probably is my weirdest one just because I have no logical Explanation for its purchase. We'll count it Like usually I can talk it like I have
01:24:31
Speaker
I have an Audrey 2, but I actually have 2. I have the Chase as well. The Audrey 2 pops from Little Shop of Horrors. Those are great pops, by the way. Yeah. And I don't have Seymour or Audrey because they're pops. But Audrey 2 looks like the plant. It doesn't look stylized. Yeah. And if you have the Rick Moranis figure from the Ghostbusters Plasma series. I do. And I post it.
01:24:59
Speaker
toy photo of it. And I did a little digital custom and, and resize it and everything. So yes, yes, I do have that on my page. I love Little Shop Afars. It's, it's like a sickness. I probably is literally playing. If I hit play on my Apple music, it's probably Little Shop Afars. Yeah.
01:25:22
Speaker
No, I was gonna say that that said with the with the like stylized stuff and we didn't talk about it too much but like I was actually thinking of dipping my toe into the Toony Terrors because it's like another thing I like is like something where I can get it and it's not gonna be a lot a lot and I can kind of pick and choose but it's new and
01:25:46
Speaker
Mm hmm. That's always one of my like go to items is like, oh, this is a new line. So I'm like kind of getting in at the ground floor. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we made it. We made a Captain Blake eight inch cloth figure. Oh, no, no, we actually have to Captain Blake from from from our owners of fog. Yeah. Yeah. I turn the towers is another one for me where and listen, I don't care if I work for the company. I will get it if I don't like it.
01:26:16
Speaker
I don't like stylized and I am getting suckered into these two new terrors. And I have a ghostface shrine. I have a ghostface obsession. Scream is my favorite slasher film. Always has been, always will be. Well, I can't say always has been. Or 96. So I got the two new terrors of that. And it's like, I was like, I'm just gonna get it just because it's ghostface. And then I got it. And I was like, oh, I get
01:26:46
Speaker
it looks like a Scooby Doo version of Ghostface. It's amazing. And then I didn't even, I had already started at NECA and I was like, I just got to Ghostface just because it was Ghostface. And at the time, my friend Jeff, who's our painter, one of our lead painters, was
01:27:12
Speaker
working on, and I can say it now because it's been revealed, I'm working on Elvira at the time. And I was like, okay, that's one where we'll never get like Elvira figures. You know, I think we were talking about that earlier. I think Dave was talking about that, like just figures that we would like never get. Um, like I was like, okay, I'm going to get that because that's the way I'll get Elvira. It looks amazing. Whatever. And then I'm randomly in target, not at work.
01:27:39
Speaker
randomly in Target and I see the damn Beetlejuice and I'm like, that just looks like such, it's like the gargoyles thing. Like it looked like such a perfect blend of Michael Keaton Beetlejuice and animated Beetlejuice. I like literally, I had like Target syndrome where you go into Target for toilet paper and you walk out with like $175 of shit.
01:28:09
Speaker
I walked into Target and I walked out with Beetlejuice and I looked down and I'm like, how did I get there? I blacked out. I was like, I had to have it. I never really thought about it until just now, but there really is some serious Hanna-Barbera energy coming from that line. It's amazing, right?
01:28:27
Speaker
I never it never clicked until and I'm like just now thumbing through like pictures of him again and it totally looks like they could be chasing Shaggy and like Michael Myers could be waiting in like one of the random doors that Shaggy and school right and in a long hallway like yeah well I saw I saw the new series and that was what made me think like okay I can go back and get some of these because I'm gonna want Herbert West like Elvira is great
01:28:54
Speaker
Harry Warden's great and Captain Blake. Right? Harry Warden is the my bloody villain. Yes. Yes. Um, yeah, but like even like the the Halloween to Michael Myers with like the bleeding eyes, like it's just where the Sam you know, like and how good does Sam look? It just it caters to the style so well. Yeah.
01:29:19
Speaker
I mean, Sam is just a Toyota character to begin with. Right. So like I look at that one and I don't even see it as stylized. You just have a comic version. Yeah. Yeah. It's so well done. So well done. Well, Blaine, before we before we close it down for the evening and let you go, where where can we find you? Is there anything else that you'd like to plug and and anything else that you wanted to say?
01:29:48
Speaker
Uh, gosh, I mean, I could just keep going and going. So don't ask me that, but, um, obviously if you, if you want to follow me, uh, it's Blainer things. I also have colored in comics, which is Q O M I X. Um, I'm Blainer things on everything. So no matter where you want to find me, uh, Instagram, Twitter, Tik TOK club house. I try to be like the cool kids.
01:30:16
Speaker
Tinder? You can find me on Tinder. I will answer you once a month because that's, I forget that I have it. Too many other things going on. Send carrier pigeon, whatever. But yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, know what you're getting into. If you follow Blainer things,
01:30:44
Speaker
Instagram is mostly toy photography and my toy hauls. I do Toy Haul Tuesdays. TikTok is a lot of behind the scenes, so I try to show off how I come up with my shots and the products that I use to further help other people if they want to learn how to do what I do. And Colored in Comics, like I said, is a great place to go.
01:31:11
Speaker
Maybe you've learned some things about characters that you didn't know before or see some artists be showcased. And then go follow NECA official because we make some dope ass figures and you can see all the latest and greatest happening on there. And also if you're a toy photographer and you're listening to this and you love NECA, start hashtagging them.
01:31:37
Speaker
or start tagging them and use the hashtag NECA fan photo and photos F O T O. That's another wonderful thing about NECA is we really love toy photographers and we love when people use our figures in toy photography and we do something really special that not a lot of companies do and we regularly feature toy photographers. Um, so most of, if they're not a solicit, a direct post from something that we're announcing,
01:32:06
Speaker
Most of our posts are actually fan photos that we just really love to share. Yeah, it's awesome. Love to see it. Love to see it. Well, Blaine, thank you again so much for joining us on Adventures in Collecting. We're going to let you go back to watching and or listening to Little Shop of Horrors. Thank you. I'm going to do it because I'm seeing it in my head now. I was thinking of you'll be a dentist.
01:32:38
Speaker
So good. There's actually, there are a couple songs that are in the show that didn't make it to the movie. And one of them was like a piece of the song was in the movie, but it's my favorite song. It's called You Never Know. So that's usually my go to. So now you guys have homework. You're welcome. I'm familiar.
01:33:02
Speaker
We're good. We also do the Broadway. Amazing. Amazing. I knew I liked you for more than your mustache. Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today.
Closing Remarks and Acknowledgments
01:33:15
Speaker
Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
01:33:28
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.
01:33:52
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Frank Kablaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.