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Disney, Auctions, and Action Figures with Nacelle's Brian Volk-Weiss
484 Plays2 years ago
Returning once again to the pod is our good friend Brian Volk-Weiss from the Nacelle Company! Here to discuss his latest show, "Up for Auction" featuring Chris Hardwick, Brian fills us in on the series as well as updates for all of the toys in the growing Nacelleverse.
Follow Nacelle and Brian on Instagram @toysnacelle and @brianvolkweiss
Catch all episodes of "Up For Auction" streaming February 8, 2024 only on the CW
Save 20% on Liquid I.V. by using our offer code at liquid-iv.com
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
Proudly part of the Non-Productive Network
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Transcript
Introduction to Adventures in Collecting
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. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and halls, along with our journeys as collectors.
Brian Voke Weiss on His Busy Schedule
00:00:28
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting.
00:00:33
Speaker
Hi. Dave, we're back and it's almost like returning back the clock here. We do have a special guest and yeah, I think this is one of our earliest guests making his, at this point, umpteenth return.
00:00:54
Speaker
We always miss you. And you know what, frankly, we're beginning to wonder when this week's guest sleeps at this point between producing comedy specials, making super cool toys and cranking out series after series of TV and streaming programming, friend of the pod and returning guest, Brian Voke Weiss.
00:01:13
Speaker
is an infinitely busy human person. Here with us to chat about his latest show up for auction, starring Chris Hardwick, and to update us on some of Nisselle's upcoming toys, we welcome Brian back to the show.
Updates on Toy Lines
00:01:27
Speaker
Brian, welcome back to Adventures in Collecting, man. Thank you for having me. It reminds me of the earliest days of our adventures in pop culture every time I see your names.
00:01:41
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we've expressed this many times, both on the air and in person, but as one of our earliest guests, it's always a pleasure to have you back on. And I know you're making the rounds. We've got a brand new show to talk about, but since this is a
00:02:00
Speaker
first and foremost, a toy podcast. Can you give us a little update on the toys of the Nacelvers?
Challenges in Toy Production
00:02:08
Speaker
How are Robor Force, Biker Mice, Sektors, and Cowboys of Moon Mesa coming along?
00:02:15
Speaker
Well, they're all coming along great. I'll go in order in which you said it. So Roboforce waves two and three are in production as we speak. I could even, is this audio only or is it video?
00:02:34
Speaker
Uh, it's video. Oh, okay. Then maybe, maybe, maybe by the end of this, I'll give you a couple of sneak peaks. Um, but, um, so yeah, robo force, uh, wave one and two, or sorry, two and three are in production. Uh, biker mice from Mars. Wave one is on the ocean. And if you are to believe what we have been told, uh, which
00:02:58
Speaker
50-50, you should. They will be at the port of Los Angeles on February 12th, and then they'll be, you know, it'll take us about two to three weeks to get them to all the pre-orders and all the stores.
00:03:16
Speaker
Two, three, and four are in production now for Biker Mice. I'm looking at Limburger right now. And also the bikes are in production as well. Those are a little bit further along. Moomasa Wave One is in production.
00:03:40
Speaker
Sectaurs, Wave 2, and maybe some bugs are also in production. And let's see... Oh, and Power Lords is also slowly but surely moving forward. Yeah, so when Roboforce comes out, the cartoon, you'll see in the first 20 seconds,
00:04:11
Speaker
sectorians, mumeisa people. So a lot of that from, like I said, the first 20 seconds of our entire cartoon program, that you will see some things that are also in production that I'm not going to bring up right now. Fair. Awesome. So is there anything you've learned from the first few waves of figures that you're applying to future waves?
00:04:38
Speaker
Yes, price is a big issue. So we, you know, when Roboforce wave one came out, you know, we had never made a toy before. And, you know, I've been very open about this. I thought it was insane. We were selling them for 50 bucks a piece, but we had no choice. It just was what it was. We have since learned ways to get the prices down.
Launch of the Expanse Toy Line
00:05:04
Speaker
So Roboforce wave two will hopefully be
00:05:07
Speaker
much closer to $30. Price was a big thing. Biker mice, again, this is tough economic times. You don't need CNN or Fox to tell you that. We really worked hard to get the price down and the quality up, which leads me to the second thing I learned, ab crunch, ab crunch, ab crunch.
00:05:31
Speaker
We initially didn't have ab crunch for biker mice, which was stupid of me. I'll take the hit. When I'm praising the company, it's we. When I'm shitting on us, it's I. When we announced the pictures of biker mice,
'Up for Auction' and Disney Collectibles
00:05:52
Speaker
wave one, the most common comment was, well, how the fuck are they going to sit on the bikes without the ab crunch? I was like, no.
00:06:00
Speaker
That's a pretty good note so so yeah so we added ab crunch and. You know oh and by the way i it's funny i don't know why i do know why i forget this but we also had the expanse wave one production.
00:06:17
Speaker
is our biggest wave. So it's always great that I forget it. But it is our, I mean, we're launching with eight figures simultaneously. Two packs, we have two two packs that are coming. Some of the goals are physical objects that are not characters. It is the biggest craziest thing we have ever done by far.
00:06:44
Speaker
And again, full disclosure, we've only been doing this for two and a half years. So what does it mean when I say we've ever done? But it's a big, big, big, big, big launch. And we have a lot of news, information, videos, pictures coming out. Just looking at the schedule. Where's that schedule? Yeah, this month. Oh, awesome. Very, very cool. Yeah, really cool. So we have some stuff going on.
00:07:14
Speaker
Just a few things. I feel like I just ramble for an hour. No, that's perfect. You actually, it's almost like you've done this spiel before today. Actually, not today. No, really? No, it's all been Disney, Disney, Disney. So this is very refreshing. I mean, I love talking about Disney and I know I'm here to talk about a specific TV show, but I do love talking about toys.
00:07:36
Speaker
Well, I know a lot of the pictures, I think it was just Pasadena Comic Con, the gray models of those bikes, they look fantastic. Really, I know a lot of people are really, really excited to get those in hand. It's one of those properties that has a very, very big fan base. So super, oh, look at that. Look at that guy.
00:08:01
Speaker
Oh, wow. This is terrible. Um, terrible is, and again, I don't think we've actually shown the prototype before. I could be wrong about that, but I don't think we have. Um, so it's interesting. This is why I love doing interviews for my, my office. Oops. That's not good. Oh, don't break anything too late.
00:08:31
Speaker
So, this, I literally just knocked one of his eyebrows off. So, don't be freaked out. It's a one eyebrow. So, this is Comudgeon, who, like I said, normally has two eyebrows. Comudgeon is a character in the Roboforce cartoon.
00:08:53
Speaker
This is our first toy that's based on an original idea from Nacelle and not, you know, a copyright, you know, we acquired. So this is a, he's the comic relief. He's a pretty funny, big character in Roboforce.
00:09:10
Speaker
This is terrible, who has two eyebrows. By the way, my wife's idea to have the eyebrows. He is a character in Biker Mice from Mars, but he's also the character, the toy connected to this is the free giveaway for people that buy all our comic books on day one. So we have a whole comic book series coming out that we're doing with Oni Publishing.
00:09:38
Speaker
And this for people who buy all 13 issues on day one for $89.89. What a great price. Also happens to be my lucky number. What a coincidence. They will get an exclusive terrible figure who has a two on his head for reasons we have not figured out yet. But we wanted to use the same mold. That is a far from terrible deal.
00:10:08
Speaker
Yeah. So you mentioned it before, you're no stranger to the world of Disney, but your latest show blends your penchant for collectibles with the House of Mouse.
Emotional Connection to Disney Auctions
00:10:22
Speaker
So tell us about Up for Auction.
00:10:26
Speaker
So, you know, it's funny, I've known Chris Hardwick for, you know, at least five or six years, and he called me up one day. I mean, this is as cliched a Hollywood story as you'll hear, but it also happens to be true. He called me up. He was like, we're friends. You like Disney? I like Disney. You're a collector. I'm a collector.
00:10:50
Speaker
There's the biggest Disney auction in history coming up. I'm friends with the Van Eaton's who own the auction house.
00:10:59
Speaker
A couple weeks later, we had a meeting with the Van Eetens. They were down to let us film the entire process. And we took pitch meetings. CW was the best home for us. And next week, eight episodes drop all at the same time on February 8th. And it's a show for anybody who has even mild interest in Disney. It's a show for anybody who is
00:11:29
Speaker
does auctions or wonders how auctions work? By the way, I mean, I've been partaking in Hollywood auctions for about 20 years. I had no idea what goes into them. I thought I did, but I didn't. I don't know how they make money. I mean, they have dozens and dozens and dozens of employees. The catalogs they send to everybody cost a fortune to publish.
00:11:59
Speaker
It is a very complicated operation. It also really shows how that works, but it really is about the Disney items that we tell everybody about because, as you know, what we try to do is massive amounts of research and then regurgitate that into a very fun, humorous, and emotional story so people enjoy watching it.
00:12:27
Speaker
I don't mean to use a dirty word, but might actually learn something as well about the stuff that they love. And now a word from our sponsors.
00:12:43
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.
00:12:59
Speaker
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00:13:24
Speaker
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00:13:49
Speaker
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00:14:11
Speaker
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00:14:39
Speaker
Speaking of Disney Parks, we're Disney Parks people. You and Chris are Disney people. What do you think makes the Disney Park items we'll see at the auction in the show special? Again, you know, it's funny, I'm like really biased, but they're Disney. You know, these are, you know, I'll give you an example. I'll use myself as the guinea pig.
00:15:03
Speaker
I bought, while on set and supposedly directing, I bought one of the baskets from the original Star Tours ride. If you remember, when Star Tours first opened, up until they redid it around 2003, when you were on the line in the building,
00:15:25
Speaker
in the ceiling, they had all these baskets going around on a track that were full of toy parts. So I now have one of those baskets in my collection at home hanging from the ceiling.
00:15:38
Speaker
I went to that ride with my grandfather and I remember, you know, I was eight or nine years old and I remember vividly. I mean, it felt as cheesy as this sounds. It felt like I was in the movie. And I remember holding my grand, my grandfather's the greatest person I've ever met in my life. And I'm sitting there holding his hand, waiting to do this for the first time. And I know this is cheesy. I know this is ridiculous, but
00:16:07
Speaker
That basket that's now in my collection, and I want to make sure you can see my quotes, that basket saw me and my grandfather 30 years ago waiting to get on the ride. I'm not going to put down any other parks, but I've been going to other parks my whole life.
00:16:32
Speaker
I'm sure I went to other parks with my grandfather. I don't remember. But I remember, it's something about Disney, and I know what it is, we could talk about it for 20 hours, but there's something about Disneyland and Disney World and all the other parks where you just have an emotional attachment that at least I personally have not found at other parks.
00:16:57
Speaker
You know, like putting these questions together and getting ready for this show, you know, to see the new show, I started to think about it, you know, like,
00:17:09
Speaker
It's interesting, right? Because you have people that collect prop replicas because a film, a certain film means something to them, whether it's a piece of a costume, even something as simple as a cup that's on a desk in a movie or a TV show. People gravitate towards these prop replicas. But I love that you told that story because it's exactly where my mind went. It's like, if you're getting a piece of Disney World, for people that
00:17:36
Speaker
love and like kind of are appreciated into that Disney culture.
Personal Disney Experiences
00:17:40
Speaker
Like it really is. It's like, no, no, like we, me and that piece have a relationship. Like we actually have a physical relationship where like we've been in the same room together and now it's been sitting in a warehouse for God knows how long. Like I want to give that a proper home. It also reminded me how like, you know, Disney in Disneyland star tours lives in Tomorrowland and how like drastically different the presentation is compared to Florida.
00:18:04
Speaker
And like, I immediately remembered like, okay, when the lines too long, they open up that second little holding room for you to weave through and yeah. Have you been to Sydney, Paris? Um, no, not hopefully soon. Hopefully so. I mean, they, they, they have a full size ad ad, uh, out front. I mean, it's, it's, it's unreal. It's, it's unreal. Like full size, like one to one.
00:18:32
Speaker
That's crazy. Yeah, eventually I want to get out there. Dave, luckily, has some travel planned to Europe. So I'm going to live vicariously through you. It is wonderful. It is wonderful. I've been there twice. God, do I love that park.
00:18:53
Speaker
So one of the things that's kind of in the DNA of all of the Nacelles catalog is the very distinct style in which you guys present your programming. With Up for Auction airing on CW as opposed to kind of being on one of the other streaming platforms, can we expect that same kind of signature style of storytelling with this?
00:19:11
Speaker
Absolutely. You know, for better or worse, and so far it definitely seems for the better, you know, we really work with the same team on on all our shows. You know, you'll notice a name on almost everything we do.
Nacelle's Storytelling Style
00:19:24
Speaker
Guy named Ben Frost, Nick Farrell. You know, these are, you know, and I've worked with both of them since Toys That Made Us season one. So you'll see
00:19:38
Speaker
It's not an accident that we tend to use a similar style from show to show to show. Now, again, we do some other shows like Down to Earth with Zac Efron. You will not see their names on that because those are very different shows.
00:19:58
Speaker
I'm not trying to name drop, but I believe in giving people credit for shit they say. Craig Ferguson, we were pitching a show that we did on History Channel back in the day. In the pitch, the way he described the show we were selling, he said, we like to wrap the spinach in ice cream.
00:20:22
Speaker
And that's kind of what we do, except obviously it's not spinach, but people don't like to learn. And I'm the same. I'm not saying that about every human on the planet except me. I'm the same. So if I'm like, oh, if you watch this, you're going to learn. I want to have a good time. I just had a long day.
00:20:43
Speaker
But if you can make it fun, if you can make it enjoyable, but also have pathos, also really try and hit those those tier, get those tiers a little bit going, like every now and then, by the way.
00:21:00
Speaker
That's what gets people to come back and watch every episode. That's what gets people to come back and just really bond with a show. That's what we try to do. But we also try to pick topics that people care about. Before I greenlight anything, my first question is,
00:21:22
Speaker
What's the constituency or who's the constituency? Like we have some shows in production right now that we haven't announced.
00:21:32
Speaker
They're all about things that people care about, but maybe they haven't really asked, wait, where did this come from? My grandma played with it. My great grandpa played with it. I play with it. My five year old plays with it. But what is this? And that's the worlds we try and go into.
00:21:57
Speaker
Well, I know we're both really excited for this new show. As is traditional on the show, we do like to ask all of our guests a final question. And since we have asked you so many different versions of the final question, we did come up with an additional one to close us out here. Dave, hit Brian with the final question. So the final question for today is, if you could only experience one Disney attraction for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
00:22:30
Speaker
You know, it's funny, my favorite attraction is the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. But I'm trying to think if that, yeah, I mean, if I could only do one. Yeah, I mean, there's a bunch tied for second place.
00:22:55
Speaker
But yeah, if I had to only do one, yeah, it'd probably be Indiana Jones at Disneyland. I don't know why it's not, like everybody loves it.
00:23:07
Speaker
But I've never met anyone else. It's their favorite attraction. But to me, God, it's just real. It feels real. Rise of the Resistance, you literally feel like you're in the movie. Actually, to be honest with you, I feel like I'm in three movies when I'm on that meeting. It's mind-blowing.
00:23:34
Speaker
The effect when you're backing away from the ball in the Indiana Jones ride, as amazing as Rise of the Resistance is, there is
Brian's Favorite Disney Attractions
00:23:49
Speaker
nothing like that moment where backing away from the ball and then accelerating forward and the ball rolls over your head. It's one of these things like,
00:24:03
Speaker
Rise of the Resistance, the first time I did it, and it was before it had officially opened to the public, I was lucky I got snuck in. By the way, by snuck in, I was brought by a high-ranking member of the Disney Corporation, so if that's for counts, I'm doing all right.
00:24:23
Speaker
I remember getting off a rise of the resistance and it was me and about five other people, including my then five-year-old or four-year-old son, and we just sat there looking at each other for like 30 seconds. No one talked. We were just like blinking like, oh my God.
00:24:44
Speaker
But the second time I did it, the third time I did it, each time I did it, that feeling diminished a little bit because I knew what to expect, I knew where to look, and I could say, I have never done the Indiana Jones ride and not gotten the same exact feeling I did the first time I went on it in 1998 and went under the ball.
00:25:09
Speaker
It's never gone. And the craziest thing is I now have seen how that effect works with the lights on. I know exactly how it works. I still get that feeling. Yeah. And like, that's why it would be my favorite ride. It's, it's such a great experience too. Like even the immersion because of the way it's laid out, the queue is so deep.
00:25:38
Speaker
and you're just walking through that cave forever, like.
00:25:41
Speaker
And then the ride just hits you like it's so good. It's the best cue. I forgot to even mention that when you drive past the snake, you can feel the fire cause it's real fire. The blow darts again, simple gag, simple gag. You got compressed air. You got a compressed air tank. It's a simple gag, but God damn, does it work? It just works. I mean, Tony Baxter at his best. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:26:12
Speaker
That's awesome. Awesome answer. My answer is crazy. Mine is easily the carousel progress, easily. Like without, that's my answer. If I could sit in that rotating theater for the rest of my life once a day,
00:26:26
Speaker
I think if an asteroid hit you today, there would be nobody left on this planet who would say that. I do love the carousel though. I'm not even trying to be funny. I salute you because 90% of the people would answer that question with Haunted Mansion. Yeah, definitely. I love Haunted Mansion. I get it. But why does everybody love this ride so much?
00:26:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I got those same feelings for rise of the resistance, but like I just haven't gone on Tron for the first time. I'm really curious to see how that hits me every subsequent time moving forward because I really loved that. Like that just was, you know, kind of one of my, my movie dreams come true. Like, Oh, I'm in Tron.
00:27:22
Speaker
I did Tron also before it opened and it was mind-blowing.
00:27:35
Speaker
I don't want to get into any details, but I definitely saw some stuff that I don't think made it to the actual ride that opened, so I am very curious to see what it's like. The interesting thing about making behind the attraction was I frequently saw these attractions from the inside with all the lights on before I rode them when they were new.
00:27:59
Speaker
So it was always interesting cosmic rewind i mean i was there at five in the morning filming the behind the scenes stuff and then like only like eighteen hours later actually wrote it so i'm very curious to do tron is a civilian. Yeah i love the queue with the grid so good.
00:28:21
Speaker
Yeah, I can't wait. We're planning a trip to Disney World in the fall, so I'm very excited to bring the kids and get on some of these new rides that I haven't been on yet, so very excited.
Closing and Listener Engagement
00:28:30
Speaker
But before we let you go, just remind our listeners, where can they catch up for auction?
00:28:36
Speaker
It is up for auction, eight episodes that all drop on the same day, which is February 8th, only on the CW, and it's their digital service that they're transitioning to. So it's free, you just have to sign up. I signed up myself a couple months ago, about 45 seconds.
00:28:58
Speaker
Awesome. Brian, thank you so much for stopping by today and chatting with us. We're super excited for the show. Super excited of course for new toys. And we'll talk to you soon. All right. Thanks guys. Have a great weekend.
00:29:14
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
00:29:30
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.
00:29:54
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Franca Blaui. 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.