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A Flocking Good Time with The Loyal Subjects' Jonathan Cathey and Think 3Fold's Kenneth Siemens
419 Plays5 years ago
On this episode, friend of the pod and previous guest, CEO of the The Loyal Subjects returns along with new guest Kenneth Siemens of Think 3Fold to discuss their partnership, Walmart's push for collectibles, BST AXN, Garbage Pail Kids, and much more!
Follow The Loyal Subjects on Twitter @loyalsubjects and on Instagram @theloyalsubjects.
Follow Think 3Fold's Collection Obsession on Instagram @collectionobsessionofficial and find their listings on Walmart.com/collectibles!
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 to Adventures in Collecting
00:00:02
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.
Guests: Jonathan Cathy and Kenneth Siemens
00:00:26
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. We are back.
00:00:33
Speaker
Hi. Oh, there it is. With a nice little delay. Love the high energy. Eric. Dave's always bringing it. Eric. What's that, Dave? Lead, comma, Barry, question mark.
00:00:46
Speaker
Absolutely not. We are not burying the lead. As you know, when we have guests on, we do not bury the lead. So let's jump right in, right? So joining us today on the show is our friend and previous guest, Jonathan Cathy, CEO of The Loyal Subjects and Kenneth Siemens, co-founder and chief curation officer at Think Three Folds. Gentlemen, welcome to Adventures in Collecting. What's up dudes?
00:01:18
Speaker
Yeah, whatever form of dude you choose to associate with, what's up? Thank you guys for joining us this evening. I'm really excited to talk to both of you. We have a ton of questions. We actually have some questions
Humor: The Story of Dave's Bread
00:01:36
Speaker
a little bit later on from the Instagram followers. We got some fun stuff prepared for you guys today. Right on, man.
00:01:45
Speaker
So, um, no He-Man questions, no He-Man questions. No, no, but maybe a, maybe a one dar question or a wonder bread He-Man question might come up. You never know. Hey man, I'm, I'm doing that seven grain style bread right now. So I don't have a lot of answers on the old wonder bread. I've actually been eating that, that Dave's bread. I don't know if you, his bread is on point, man.
00:02:12
Speaker
It's, it is wonderful. Yeah. I think it's like health bread, but it's not my girlfriend. He's like, we're really healthy is like, no, this is garbage. I'm like, I love it.
00:02:21
Speaker
Yeah, and it's like the story. It's like an ex-con making bread. I'm into it. Is that what it is? Dave is a nut guy? I believe that's what it says on the packaging. I hope Dave doesn't come from me hard here, but I believe it says on the packaging that Dave is like a reformed conflict and now makes bread. Oh, that's rad. I just like how he has like a little guitar on the packaging. He's like jamming. He's like... Yeah.
00:02:43
Speaker
Let me get you your seven grains. I'm Dave. Seven-grain Dave. I just like how my niece, Eric's daughter, was just like, Uncle Dave makes bread. And I'm like, I don't make bread. It would not be good if I tried. To my niece, it's like Highlander. There can only be one Dave. I would say Uncle Dave could pay for a lot of people's new backyard pools then.
00:03:12
Speaker
I think Dave's cranking, put it that way.
Nostalgia: Reconnecting with Childhood Toys
00:03:16
Speaker
So Kenneth, before we jump into the meat of everything, we asked Jonathan this the last time he was on and we asked all of our new guests, what are you currently collecting? That's a fun question.
00:03:31
Speaker
So my favorite part of collecting is the hunt. So once you get it, you're like, oh, I got it. So I like to go for things that are no longer in print or available. So I'm kind of rebuilding my youth through collecting old packaging and stuff from old toys.
00:03:52
Speaker
I also have kids so i buy versions of my kids can play with them so i know i'm really into sorry to bring him back up i'm really really big man so i buy i'll buy like an old original like in package metal but then i'll go and buy like a mondo.
00:04:10
Speaker
a giant Skeletor for myself, right? So I kind of do the parallel collecting, here's one for you, and here's a big one for me. But it's very much like based in a lot of the stuff that I grew up with, like the old Kenner stuff, and the old, you know, like mask and things like that.
00:04:29
Speaker
That's awesome. Yeah, that's all stuff from our youth. Have you been diving into the origins line at all that's been floating around? I have. Yes, I have. I have not decided what I'm going to do with them yet, though. I've got them. I really want to open them and play with them with my kids. But at the same time, I'm like, maybe not yet.
00:04:51
Speaker
It's been super, super tense. So Dave was big into He-Man. Yeah, for sure. He-Man was one of my go-tos when I was younger. So I kind of got some of them as
Toy Manufacturing: The Flocking Process
00:05:05
Speaker
like...
00:05:06
Speaker
I don't want to say hand-me-down toys, but there's seven years between us, so I played with the He-Man stuff after Dave had moved on from it. But there's something about seeing those super retro cards back on Peg, so there has been a couple times where I've been like, maybe I'll just get He-Man and Skeletor.
00:05:25
Speaker
Thinking the can of worms that that would right that would open You know as like they start to put out the rest of the figures. It's there. It's it's a cool line Yeah, see I have like I am so many versions of merman like I just love merman like for some reason He's my he's my my go-to and then you know when you have merman then you also need like trap jaw and tri pops and like so It just keeps you know, just keeps going
00:05:50
Speaker
You need you need stink or like I had I had stink or when I was a kid in a baggie. So I was even doing the baggies back then for for putting figures in. But that was just so he didn't make the other figures smell. Yes. Yes. And actually, after about 30 years, Mossman doesn't smell very good either. Oh, that. Oh, yeah, because he was blocked. Yeah. Yeah.
00:06:16
Speaker
Yeah, that's I was I was disappointed, though. I saw I saw a panther recently on the shelves and I was like, Oh, they didn't. He's not. That's true. What the fuck? What the fuck? It is an expensive pain in the back process. Let me tell you from a manufacturer. And it's insane. So it's basically filling your room with micro particles.
00:06:42
Speaker
It's like a crazy, crazy process. I know people love flocked and they love like, you know, like, uh, um, you know, sort of those really sort of metallic fields, but the process to make that stuff is insane. So you're telling me when we did, when we did gizmo, you filled a room with fur and just ran through it holding like kind of. Yeah.
00:07:06
Speaker
Every single one that came out. It's like blue, furry glue particulate that just comes flying out of a gun, essentially.
00:07:17
Speaker
Well, it's one of the big three variants, right? You have flocked glow in the dark and vac metal, right? Those, those are the three, like the three key variants in any toy line. Well, electric, like, like metallic PMS calls are one thing, but like electroplating, that's a crazy, that's sort of a crazy process as well. So I'm not surprised that Mattel a it's really price sensitive, but I'm not surprised that they didn't do that. I'm sure they'll have something for comic-con,
00:07:47
Speaker
That could be a little bit more realized like that. But flocking in the 80s, I mean, they flocked everything. They flocked socks. They flocked your fingernails, man. Flocking was like a big deal. But now, maybe not so much. Only the little subjects does it. Everyone else can go flock themselves, right? That's basically what you're saying. The punniness is so up my alley right now.
00:08:20
Speaker
Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock of Seagulls. Flocked Flock
00:08:43
Speaker
The fact that you're kind of rebuilding your childhood through, you know, through the collection that you're working on now. But tell us a little bit about your history with toys professionally and what Think Threefold and Collection Obsession is doing right now.
Kenneth's Career Journey
00:08:58
Speaker
My history with toys. Well, you know, I played with toys forever. But no, so I actually used to work at Walmart. I was the director of design for in-store.
00:09:12
Speaker
So I worked with a lot of the buyers on what it meant to like turn the store into specific looks and what the department looked like and kind of helped them do the best that they could do like from a merchandising standpoint. And I also worked very closely with a lot of the movie studios when it came to time for them to kind of try and do big entertainment programs. I did that for a number of years
00:09:40
Speaker
got really kind of into the toy and the entertainment and the electronics and those kinds of spaces just because I love the product. So I just naturally gravitated to it. And then a few years back left to kind of start my own thing, take all the rules that I written, like as director of design and kind of threw them out the window and said, I'm going to start a creative agency and do this all on my own. Like, you know, now that I wrote them, let's break them.
00:10:06
Speaker
And then tried that for a few years and then we kind of kind of evolved into what became Think threefold which is really kind of where the gaps were with from the creative side trying to tell these really cool ideas I realized the ideas fell apart when there just wasn't really the items weren't strong enough to support it, right? Like when you have this cool idea around like Avengers or something and then the items are just not
00:10:33
Speaker
not exciting and you were fresh and then you so the idea was let's fill those gaps from a product standpoint and start to kind of build the whole program from the product up you know and what that looks like and then that recently we you know we launched collectionobsession.com and then also the
00:10:59
Speaker
that we have a tag, you know, the app collection obsession that we use to talk to people. So, you know, for the first about year of our life, we were really just focused on getting the distribution right and making sure the right items were.
00:11:16
Speaker
or in front of people, but now we have kind of this voice where we can say, hey, guys, let's see this cool thing that we're actually working on.
Curating Collectibles at Walmart
00:11:23
Speaker
So it's super fun to kind of see it finally in that place. We can start really talking about the cool, fun stuff that we're building. So you talked about getting stuff in front of people's eyes.
00:11:38
Speaker
Talking about the collectible section at Walmart, there's a lot of options there, a fun variety of options. How do you go about curating what's stocked there? Yeah, so I get to play with a lot of toys to find out what's right. But it's really about, so one way, kind of the mentality for how that department comes together is we realize it's a huge responsibility to bring collectibles into Walmart.
00:12:07
Speaker
because more so than we even expected as last year happened. So as a lot of the smaller shops kind of shuttered and had a hard time kind of making it through, Walmart became a de facto destination for a lot of these folks that really wanted to keep finding those collectibles and the cool things that they love. So we see it as a huge responsibility to make sure that we really are representing
00:12:35
Speaker
the right brands and the fans and then the right licenses. So I spend a lot of time kind of looking at what everyone is doing and then kind of going a couple levels down to really make it so there's this deep collectability to it. So when we talk about bringing, when I talk about from a license standpoint, instead of just another Jason or just another Freddie, we'll look at maybe like a
00:13:01
Speaker
jeepers creepers or killer clowns or something like that to kind of really broaden the expectation of what, of what you would find at a Walmart because there's two, there's two ways that we approach kind of how the space comes together. So we want it to be a destination for people who are already engaged in, in brands like loyal subjects to say, Hey, I can come here and I can get this latest and greatest thing. But then being
00:13:28
Speaker
Walmart and having the huge traffic. We also want to basically Surprise people with their next their their next obsession, right? Like so when they come by and say oh my gosh I didn't even know this existed, but now I need all of it, right? So it's really kind of introducing people to to their new obsession and that's kind of the kind of the positioning of the of all the items that are in there so we so we we try not to have just a
00:13:56
Speaker
the top level, like the big brand, the big licenses and the big brands, we're really trying hard to keep it broad and keep it exciting and new, right?
00:14:11
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there's clearly like a differentiating factor between that collectible section and the regular, you know, toy aisle, because the stuff that's in that section, you know, from the best action figures to Deadpool's head to, you know, the fig pins and the Megal figures and, you know, so on and so forth. Like there's definitely stuff there that like kids can enjoy and stuff that, you know,
00:14:41
Speaker
Younger audiences can can certainly have fun with but at the same time it feels different. It's not the toy aisle You know, you're not gonna find the like the roblox You know that kind of stuff there, you know, you're finding stuff that does kind of serve a little bit of a niche but I get what you're saying it kind of toes the line between
00:15:03
Speaker
being broad, but also like being broad, but with a narrow focus. Yeah, we want it to be accessible, but like we want that brand engagement, right? So we're looking for those items that really bring a brand to life as opposed to what we often call label slaps, right? It's very much looking for something that understands what it's doing and then understands why a collector would want it and then want more of it.
00:15:32
Speaker
So, and we're really, really conscious of the difference between what belongs in toys and what belongs in collectibles. We spend a lot of time kind of on that topic just to make sure that what we are placing is meant for that, that kind of that adult collector that's really looking to kind of get deeper into a brand, whether that brand is like I said, loyal suffix or
00:16:00
Speaker
you know, Friday the 13th, right? So how did the partnership between you guys and loyal subjects come about?
00:16:11
Speaker
So there was a rep agency that had Jonathan in town in Bentonville, Arkansas, which is where Walmart is. And he was in town doing a pitch to the Walmart toy buyer, and they just swung him by and said, hey, you guys should talk. And that was really it. I don't think there was any really preamble or anything like that.
00:16:36
Speaker
This was back when I was still in the creative agency side. We worked with him on putting some visuals behind some lines that he was pitching, and then from there it just snowballed. If I could add a little bit to that story, it reminds me of the band days when
00:16:58
Speaker
When I was a kid, I was going to Santa Monica City College and just a little young punk. Mikey Isengar from Incubus was going there and then all these other guys were going there. Actually, Mickey, the bass player of what became the band Room 5, he was going there. It's just one of those things where you just meet like-minded people and you're like, okay, yeah, let's start a band. Okay, yeah, let's play.
00:17:26
Speaker
all right let's do other stuff you know so there was that kind of vibe with Kenneth and team when I met him where it was like okay kindred spirits these guys are awesome they totally know what's up and and it's good to jam with them so it's when you're creatives you just kind of know that vibe when you see it and you meet the people and you're like yeah yeah I totally want to go on this journey with you
00:17:51
Speaker
I love that analogy because I've been in and out of band since I was in my teens and I get that kind of vibe from the toy community in general.
00:18:06
Speaker
sending a DM to somebody and being like, hey, I really like what you're doing, like, let's talk about it more. Pretty much everybody is like, sure, let's do that. And it does kind of have that feeling of like, you know, like you're sitting in on somebody else's session, you know, it's it is a great, a great aspect to this community. And I love that it kind of
00:18:24
Speaker
exists at the top like where the toys are actually being made and distributed all the way down to like you know the people like us who are sitting in our attics talking about the stuff that you guys are making so it's it's a it's really cool to hear that that that that is you know that's part of the culture there too
00:18:45
Speaker
Yeah, everything starts with energy and vision and being on the same page and a willingness to explore. So that's where all the magic starts from. Not only is Kenneth extraordinarily talented, creative, he also can dig deep down. He can get layers deep on really answering the questions of why does this stuff exist or why does it deserve to exist.
00:19:15
Speaker
you know, he brings that whole other sort of scope into play, too, which is, you know, is an extraordinary, also an extraordinary talent. So when you when you meet when you meet smart, talented people, you know, you try to you try to pretend you're as smart and talented as they are and hang on for dear life, fake it until you make it right. That's, that's, that's good. It's always been, you know,
00:19:41
Speaker
So one of the challenges that has been kind of present, not only through the pandemic, but really pre-pandemic.
Impact of Toy Store Closures
00:19:50
Speaker
We've mentioned Walmart now several times, but we're a few years out now having no dedicated toy stores. And the community has had a lot of feedback about how stores like Walmart and Target handle both toys and collectibles. And with you guys being so involved and kind of
00:20:10
Speaker
the larger scope of things, how are you dealing with the challenges of not having a dedicated toy store to turn to? I could answer. You know, I hope that things like KB and Toys R Us come back just because they're giant sort of laboratories for toy. You get a lot of just off the wall sort of wild ideas in there. And I think that's really good for the industry.
00:20:40
Speaker
And there's just so much shelf space that you can make things that, you know, the size of an elephant down to an ant, right? So it's just this, you know, crazy imaginarium. Go as big or small as you want to, and these sort of, like,
00:20:54
Speaker
those specialty toy only stores could support that. Let's say where toys exist right now, since the standalone toy stores kind of disappeared, but I think it's going to make a return. I think Toys R Us has such good will, I feel like there's a possibility we'll return. And it sounds like some investment group did buy into resurrecting this. So we'll see what happens. I guess we all have to stay glued.
00:21:23
Speaker
But where Walmart or let's say Target or Hot Topic or any of these other stores, they're really a multipurpose store with some toy shelves. Which is also awesome because if you get on those shelves, that means you did something pretty dang cool.
00:21:43
Speaker
You know, you basically got on an NBA team and the squad's only 12 players. Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. It is like a unicorn to get to the store. So you're on to something when you get to those stores, which is awesome. But yeah, like the kid inside of me, it would be all over having that, you know, Toys R Us wasn't really in my store as a kid, though. KB was my store. Same. Yeah, we were big KB kids. Yeah.
00:22:12
Speaker
Well, what do you think? Yeah. I mean, I'd say from my side, like one of our biggest challenges being in this position with Walmart is convincing Walmart to take this department and run it like a boutique versus how it runs like the toy department, right? Like, so it's a completely different model. How a mass retailer runs toys versus how we are managing a
00:22:41
Speaker
from this collective space in the way that we're putting the assortments together to have different works on the child, how there's new items coming in in fresh ways, as opposed to you have an item that has to live there for six months and it's just like 50,000 units of Casey Jones, right? So it's really, I think that's part of that, that our answer to that challenge is bringing that mentality and that thinking
00:23:10
Speaker
of what people are looking for in the boutiques into into this into Walmart and it's just it's unexpected and it's just it's getting a lot of really good reception even within Walmart which is not it not what we expected when we started it so it's very
00:23:30
Speaker
That's kind of, you know, how we're, word is what, like I said before, like we just see it as a huge responsibility, right? Like we owe it to these people who collect and want to fall in love with the new, like the new favorite thing to bring, to bring something unexpected and fun to life.
00:23:50
Speaker
I gotta imagine some of those original conversations have to be challenging. To your point, the store's purpose, they sell necessities. They sell toilet paper and sheets and food and diapers. Like all of the things that people need on a daily basis. And it's like, now let me tell you,
00:24:19
Speaker
about these six inch action figures that I have. Or let me tell you about these enamel pins that look like action figures. And what's really fun is, so not only do we, so there's like what we call this, when you walk in the store and you see that section, that's kind of what we call the everyday space. But what we also do is create these like storytelling moments that are
00:24:44
Speaker
our features, right? So we put together these crazy ideas and then we pull like product themes around it. And what's really funny to that point of like how the conversations go, to earn that we have to convince like
00:24:59
Speaker
Walmart that it's worth more for us to put collectibles on there than for them to put like printer paper or another TV. Right. So it's really interesting. And we luckily we've been able to do that pretty consistently. So we've had some really fun and crazy themes go in through the year. And we're just doing basically monthly. There's just something fresh and new happening in those features.
Storytelling in Collectibles: Loyal Subjects' Approach
00:25:27
Speaker
I mean, to that point, guys, one of our proudest moments of our entire career was being able to sell products into Walmart. I mean, it literally is like being picked on an NBA team.
00:25:41
Speaker
That was one of our major, major career defining moments of, Oh my gosh, you know, they're going to give us a shot. They think our stuff is as good as the stuff that's next to it. And, you know, I mean, you're talking about the, the biggest brands in the world. And then you're everywhere. Yeah. People are like, when we, when we first introduce ourselves, they're like, well, what do you do? Well, we put stuff in about 3,900 stores, such a good number.
00:26:13
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's it's amazing. But, you know, again, it's it's aligning with that spirit of, OK, how do we make great experiences and how how do we tell the story? And as Kenneth was saying, it's like how do you get all those different layers, you know, not just the top layer of the skin, but all the way to the heart? Yeah, that's that's the most important. So the little subjects has always cut our teeth on storytelling.
00:26:36
Speaker
and really kind of being true to the properties that were being trusted with, procuring and telling that story succinctly.
00:26:49
Speaker
Whole identity has always been, okay, these are great characters, these are great worlds, these are great stories, and we want to tell it as authentic as possible, and then connect people close enough so they start telling their own stories. And then their imagination takes over. So when a customer's imagination sort of intercepts the idea and then it really becomes their thing, that's when it works.
00:27:16
Speaker
That's funny. I love, I love that because one of my, you know, we see a lot, we see a lot of things, right? Like we see a lot of people come in with stuff and it's like, if you have to write the word collectible on your product, it's probably not collected. It's like, trust us, this is collectible. Pay attention to me.
00:27:45
Speaker
But collectibles have this weird range now. I think Funko just blew it out of the water, right? So it's like, it does seem that people are diving in on an addition of 50,000 as much as they are in some of these other, you know, addition sizes. It seems like that idea has stretched and collectability or collectibles to me is really about authenticity at this point, you know? So it's not such, and Kenneth, do you correct me?
00:28:13
Speaker
if you think otherwise, but it's not so much like go in the backyard and beat them up, Johnny kind of stuff, but it's like, does that tell that story authentic? Like, you know, you could see that energy, you could see it from NECA and some of the products they're doing and how they're really drawing fans in, you know, they seem to be telling that story really in an authentic manner.
00:28:35
Speaker
And I think, too, it has to do with the intellectual property, with the actual thing. Because now, people are taking things that you would previously think would not be toyetic in any way, shape, or form, or would not be brave enough to try to make toys for it. We use this example the last time you were on, man, which is like, I can't believe it's 2020, and I can buy brand new cowboy bebop figures.
00:29:04
Speaker
like it's just one of those things where it's like i saw those pictures and before you know and when i saw the renders of them at that moment i was like you i don't care i need both of those figures and then please make the rest of them because like it like it's just one of those things where you grab these brands and these these are not even brands these
00:29:26
Speaker
These are these films these TV shows these mangas comic books whatever it is and they have Like we have relationships with that material and to get to interact with them through another medium I think that too lends to the collectability of something like like Dave like you're huge on the office pops and
00:29:49
Speaker
Well, I'll even go further is to say like, yeah, I mean, office pops for sure. But even from like, you know, like what you were talking about with the cowboy bebop stuff, like I have a lightning figure.
00:30:01
Speaker
in 2021. It's amazing. A lot of that, we build the product and we put our entire blood sweat and effort into this to make it as absolutely awesome as we can. You got to give Kenneth and Tim a lot of credit for having that vision of being like, yeah, this deserves to live.
00:30:28
Speaker
I mean, it's really thankful that looked at Big Trouble in Little China and said, yeah, this is awesome. Let's do this. Or even Cowboy Bebop of, yeah, this is a good skill. Let's do this. So it really is truly a partnership of creative, creative development, product development, and then the retail development. So it really is.
00:30:57
Speaker
I know it's truly a giant team effort. It truly is. It's insane. Everybody is swimming or rowing in the same direction. Everybody decides that it deserves to live and breathe.
00:31:14
Speaker
You know, there's, there's a lot of vision that is sort of shared by everybody that makes it a decision and then allows, you know, essentially you could walk into a Walmart and be like, dude, lightning. Not. And it's like one of those things too, where it's like, not, not Kurt Russell, not low pan lightning. Like totally.
00:31:42
Speaker
Yeah, like you'd expect Jack Burton, but like I walked into Walmart and saw lightning. My girlfriend was with me and I was like, Oh, yeah, I need this. This is what I was talking about. That was a that was a collaborative choice. Yeah, you know, I mean, Kenneth has as much weight on that choice as we do. So speaking of choices, let Yeah, these are these are two that are let's talk about
00:32:09
Speaker
flipping the idea of, of Easter eggs into, into xenomorphs and Kenneth's fingerprints are all over that one.
Creating Fun Collectibles: Alien-Themed Easter Eggs
00:32:19
Speaker
And then, and then of course the WWE garbage pail kids. So let the garbage, let's, let's talk a little bit about these. Well, well, I think Kenneth should leave that work is both these, these are, these are Kenneth's brain children, essentially. We, we execute them, but it's really his vision on this.
00:32:39
Speaker
Yeah, it's been, and they've been, they've been a ton of fun. The Easter eggs have been amazing. It was kind of one of those things like, what if we did this and it just kept going and then we're like, Oh, we're doing this. And it's, it just was, it was just a ton of fun. Like, you know.
00:32:55
Speaker
you know, as we were looking at, so one of the, when I was talking about kind of, we put together these features things monthly, right? So we were working on what we would do around Easter, right? And so I said, well, let's, what's the, what's the pop culture? What's the slightly irreverent skew on, on Easter that we could do? Cause that's kind of what we do when we're pulling these things together that are holiday based. So, you know, the first thing that came to mind as we were,
00:33:21
Speaker
looking at, I was like, okay, there's alien eggs, I'm a huge alien fan, right? And I thought, what if we turn these into these these crazy Easter eggs and started talking to Jonathan team and they just kind of ran with it and came back with these amazing day glow Easter eggs with these counter detailed, like, miniature army men, xenomorphs and face huggers and chest bursters and
00:33:49
Speaker
And like, and then, you know, the top it off, they have the little deco wrap on it that had the dots and the stripes. And I mean, they were they were perfect. Like, I can imagine people putting them out for their kids and their kids like screaming in tears, they found that chocolate on Easter, no one can hear you. And then, you know, we tried really, really hard to get the outer wrap, we sold them in four packs, and we tried really hard
00:34:18
Speaker
to get on the outer wrap and put bunny ears on the xenomorph, but not with that approved, unfortunately. We so tried to sneak that pass away. They even rendered it. And I still have that, so I will.
00:34:33
Speaker
Save that. They were OK with the day glow, but the bunny ears were too far. They were totally cool with selling aliens at Easter. It's really awesome. And it's been super successful. People have loved it. And the timing of it is really fun, because now we have Alien Day coming up. So maybe we can turn that into a bug hunt instead of an Easter egg hunt, right? Alien. Create a whole new thing around aliens.
00:35:03
Speaker
You make them all like grimy creepy crawler colors like browns and greens and like rose yellows. You just lose them in your yard.
00:35:15
Speaker
Just become your art fixture. I mean, the whole idea of it being loud was kind of, you know, hearkens back to 80s toys about, you know, how loud they are. Yes. You know, so it's like, and then we wanted to make them as like cool army men so you could actually set them up on your desk and things like that. But yeah, that was a great collaborative, you know, sort of brainchild or brain trust. And super fun, the whole idea.
00:35:43
Speaker
you know, this isn't your average Easter bunnies, essentially a virus that's gonna rip you apart. And hey, little kids, what's inside? Oh, a face hugger? Gee, dad. Perfect. Perfect.
00:36:04
Speaker
So, so what about the, uh, the, the, the kind of, uh, resurgence here of, of garbage pale kids. Like we know we're big WWE fans here. Like there's no secret, no secret. We're, we're big wrestling fans here, but, uh, but how did we, uh, how did you guys get the, uh, the garbage pale kids involved? That's another brainchild between Kenneth and tops. I mean, total, total mind meld. Yeah. So I'm a,
00:36:30
Speaker
I'm a huge garbage hail kid
Creative Mashups: Garbage Pail Kids and WWE
00:36:32
Speaker
fan. Like I have been ever since, you know, I had the collection as a kid and, you know, had teachers tell me to stop sharing it with other kids. Um, so, and so it's just one of those brands that I've always, always loved. I've been like a little bit of like, you know, like, I wouldn't say like, I love it, like in the closet, cause I'd wear t-shirts and stuff with it on all the time. And I actually, I actually met,
00:36:56
Speaker
the guy who runs the license for tops at licensing show one year because I was wearing a garbage pail kit shirt at licensing show and he sat behind me in one of the meetings and he pulled me aside. He's like, Hey, can I get a picture of you? We just kind of started talking when we hit it off and
00:37:18
Speaker
And, you know, as, you know, we just kept talking about what, what guardsville kids is, where it's going and stuff like that. And then, um, as we were working on,
00:37:27
Speaker
Once again, one of those feature programs, we were working on a WWE one and there just wasn't enough product to make the story work, right? Like, so there just wasn't enough to pull together and say, okay, this is worth it, worth the feature. So, you know, tops does mashups of pop culture. Like that's one of the things that they're really good at with Garbage Pail Kids. So like they even did like Bernie Sanders and Mittens as a Garbage Pail Kid, just like, so they are on the ball.
00:37:57
Speaker
And I looked and I was like, hey, you guys have WWE? What if we turned these into figures? Because there hasn't been a ton of 3D of the Garbage Pail Kids. Funko's done it. They've done their mystery minis of it. And then there were some really crappy ones back in the 80s that were the single colors. And then
00:38:18
Speaker
You know, there was, I think, Super 7 did one, they may be doing more, but this is the first that's really what I call a true to form recreation of what's coming out of that art. And so,
00:38:33
Speaker
you know, basically talked to tops and said, hey, we have a partner that we'd like you to work with and said, introduce them to loyal subjects. And, you know, I think they already had the WWE license, which helps because it's a co-licensed thing. Um, and then we just kind of went to town and, and they, the, the scopes they've done had been are just amazing. They're exactly what I was looking for. I was, I'm very, very picking on these, right? Like, so this is like Jonathan said, this is my,
00:39:02
Speaker
baby when it comes to like creating a thing. It's like something I've never seen and always wanted. So I'm really excited to see how they came to life. And I love that we started with the WWE. And then, you know, the potential for that mashup opportunity is huge to kind of do stuff that's still really relevant, but also hyper, it's cute and ugly and gross and all the things that you want. Right. And then even the core garbage for kids, we can have a ton, ton of fun with those as well. So it's, it's,
00:39:32
Speaker
It's got a lot of legs. They look like they left right out of the cards too. They really do. I am very, very proud of how these came out. It's a really fun one. You talk about the conversation with Walmart. We love our lead buyer and it's really fun showing him stuff like this because there's an element of
00:40:03
Speaker
Obviously, he got this one so quickly. It was amazing. I expect him to be so much more of a struggle with that. He was like, oh, no, I get it. It's really exciting. It's just a really exciting one to come to life. Yeah, just extrapolate on them popping out of the card. Yeah, that was Kenneth's concept. It's like, how do we
00:40:31
Speaker
You know, we put them on a base with that classic ribbon with that font and then there's a background. And the idea was like they were essentially popping out of the card. So it was, you know.
00:40:44
Speaker
for us, super fun to execute on that. But yeah, you know, there's the mind meld that that Canada has with tops. It's like, it's like E.T. and Elliott, dude. Definitely more to come in that line. For sure.
00:41:04
Speaker
Yeah, those are those are really cool. Like as a wrestling fan, I'm looking forward to seeing those in real life.
Best Action Line Success and Future Plans
00:41:10
Speaker
Now, Jonathan, we talked to you about Best Action last time, and it was just as Best Action was launching. How's the line doing so far? It's doing great, man. You know, it's like there's always there's always this like hesitancy with your core audience of
00:41:27
Speaker
Oh my God, they're doing something new. Oh my God, the company's gonna be destroyed. You know? But for us, action figure is like the holy grail.
00:41:38
Speaker
You know, it's obviously something we grew up with as kids and something we wanted to do and something that we had a core competency in. And we wanted to do something that was like our own creation. So in our own scale, our own world, you know, we always use that idea of Super Smash Brothers, you know, just like putting a lot of rad characters in a world like, you know, on my desk right now, Ace Freelis jamming out with Slash, Sauron's the lead singer and Spike's people pointing a gun at something.
00:42:08
Speaker
That exists on my desk right now, and it makes total sense. So that's what it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be this great mashup world of action figures all on the same scale. So we're extraordinarily proud of it, and the response has been insane. Definitely at retail, it's been cranking.
00:42:32
Speaker
Um, thanks to the customers and thanks for every, I think we, there's a little bit wider net for this a little bit. So it's like, you could walk into a Walmart and see slash and be like, yeah, I love slash. This is awesome. You know, in the way that we've always put it, it's like they're, they're 15 96 or something on shelf. Like go in, buy an action figure, a slice of pizza and leave. Like that's a pretty good self date.
00:42:59
Speaker
Treat yourself. We are the ultimate self-date product. But it's going excellent. We have a lot of lines, a lot of characters, a lot of figures lined up. Sales are excellent and people are really connecting to it. So extraordinarily proud. Again, it's really an effort of
00:43:25
Speaker
of just so many people, our creative team, our sculpting team, our team in China. They kick so much ass, and I'm literally humbled every day that I get to work with these people. I'm always absolutely inspired by everybody that is team TLS in the TLS ecosystem.
00:43:51
Speaker
I oftentimes say I'm the least talented guy in the room. So I'm just keeping my head down, making sure nobody knows those. So the last time you were on, we had discussed a little bit of the future for the line. You had mentioned Aang from The Last Airbender and that Ace Fraley was coming, and Buffy and Angel. And we've now seen those figures.
00:44:16
Speaker
We're starting to see pictures of them. We've we saw the shots that the loyal subjects posted on on Instagram And then we saw of course those awesome renders for the I can't believe again Put this into the category of the I can't believe we're getting this figure this year Beetlejuice the animated series
00:44:33
Speaker
Which also not only I can't believe we're getting the figures this year But I looked it up and I couldn't believe that this is the first time they have there has been animated series Beetlejuice figures, right? Crazy. Yeah, and then and then of course You know the once again wildly popular never goes away Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures. Yeah When when can we actually expect to see those start to hit? Those those are hitting at Walmart
00:45:03
Speaker
So those will be those will be part of one of those should launch with part one of our features, I believe in July. Yeah, we have a feature going into stores that's themed around Saturday morning cartoons. So that's the storytelling behind that one. And they are definitely a lead in that. There's the Beetlejuice figures are amazing. Those scopes just they're just amazing. Yeah.
00:45:28
Speaker
One one can never have if you are a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan one can never have enough Ninja Turtles and and it's it's age-agnostic like I just got for For Easter for for my daughter who will be six in September. I got her that um
00:45:44
Speaker
that uh that playmates uh movie set that has the the four movie turtles super shredder and splinter and like we were sitting there busting open like the uh the weapons tree and like i'm going over all the stuff with her and she absolutely loves it and it's now is like a permanent staple so like the fact that there will be
00:46:06
Speaker
You know, smaller animated turtles out there that sold. It's perfect. And then, you know, forget it, Beetlejuice. It's just, I can't believe that those figures are going to exist and I can't wait to see them in person. And like the gremlins too. Dude, the gremlins are sitting on my desk right now. Actually, one of the guys that works with the loyal subjects in Ken's team, actually,
00:46:31
Speaker
like a really good friend of Kenneth. He's a badass skater and I was just teasing him that Stripe was like stealing his curbs. He's been crouching on his territory and he needs to step up.
00:46:49
Speaker
But it's funny, he has this awesome video of him just shredding it. And he sent me this video, and he's like, yeah, I skate. And I was like, OK, let's check it out. And he's just like, you know, handrail, double kickflip, 10 stairs. I'm like, oh my god. But can he skate while holding a chainsaw? That's the real question. His hands are like an important part of his job.
00:47:20
Speaker
If anybody can pull it off, I bet he could. So we've seen the recent past and the present for best action. What's next after this?
00:47:34
Speaker
Best Action is kind of like a never-ending story, right? It's everything that releases is dot, dot, dot. So you're making Falcor is what you're saying. You should. Best Action Falcor. There's got to be some rights problem with that because there's zero stuff out there on it.
00:47:53
Speaker
I'm sure there's something wonky going on in that world. But yeah, the Falcor would be totally welcome in the Best Action universe. But we're also working on some really fun, fun, like lower price point items that are really cute and fun. Obviously we have our fashion doll line that is hitting retail and that one's
00:48:16
Speaker
I couldn't be more proud of that. It's all about self-empowerment, love, acceptance, and affirmations, positive thinking. It's really what I would consider sort of our swan song and our passion play. It's called For Keeps and extraordinarily, extraordinarily proud of that line.
00:48:38
Speaker
And then, so we just, we keep building. We keep on doing these, you know, Kenneth is so filled with these brilliant ideas. So it's like, yeah, we try to execute on some, some of his concepts that he brings to the table. And then, you know, we got this really cool thing cooking that is like, like kind of like a vintage playset, which that's awesome. You guys will definitely hear more about that as we get closer, but it's definitely a license that you guys will love.
00:49:07
Speaker
Awesome. It's so killer and probably in about a couple months, hopefully we can start leaking some info on it. But yeah, there's a lot of garbage pill, kid figures that are in the pipeline right now. I mean, it's just about growing the experience and telling the story.
00:49:29
Speaker
you know, trying to bring people into our world of fun and pop culture and enthusiasm and passion and play. And, you know, we always encourage our collectors to play, you know, tell your own stories, you know, flex your imagination. You know, it's okay. Just because you're 35 to 50 doesn't mean that, you know, you're dead. I mean, it's okay.
00:49:58
Speaker
I'm glad to hear I am still living. But there's this idea that we encourage people to be as silly and immature and awesome as humanly possible. So if your wife catches you back in the backyard in the sandpit and doing a pew-pew noise, don't be embarrassed. Like, be like, hell yeah, I'm doing that.
00:50:19
Speaker
Oh, you mean when I was lighting things on fire in my backyard to have actual fire and photos with dragons that I was taking a few weeks ago? Yeah, exactly. Just make sure you have a fire commissioner. Yep. Had some water. We were good. It was a nice wet day. So I didn't have to worry about any New Jersey brush fires. I wasn't going to cause any problems. We were good. It was good. It was control. Love it. Love it.
00:50:43
Speaker
So this portion of our call, before we wrap things up, we'd like to throw it out to our Instagram followers.
Audience Q&A: Future Plans for Collectibles
00:50:52
Speaker
We posted a story asking if anyone had any questions. And we have a few. So would you care for some surprise questions? Yeah, throw them. All right. So Dave, do you want to do the first one? Yes.
00:51:11
Speaker
I am always terrible at reading the handles, but it looks like at Cody Mehta asks, um, are there plans for more garbage pail kids, WWE figures? And I know we briefly mentioned this before. Yeah. That question goes to Kenneth. Yeah. I mean, there's definitely going to be more garbage bill kids and they will probably.
00:51:36
Speaker
be more WWE, it might not be the next thing that comes out of GPK, but it's definitely something we want to revisit. Here, I'll rephrase that even a little bit. So the first four are all legends. Do you see any thoughts for any more modern WWE? I would say if you look up and see what cards Topps has already done wrestlers on, that's probably a good hint at what might come.
00:52:07
Speaker
Good call, Dave. That was a good call. Thank you. All right, next one. So this one is multiple people have asked this. Will we see some of the Wave 1, the early best action figures, will they be made available again in the future? So I think people are asking for the slashes and Gene Simmons and some of the Naruto figures. Will they be made available again in the future?
00:52:35
Speaker
Yeah, I mean we have a full music peg that's going into Walmart where it's a little more diverse. We updated Slash, we put a wallet chain on him, his bandana, and we actually come with, or he comes with four different colorways of his guitar.
00:52:54
Speaker
which show there's like another reason to go hunt slash. It's pretty badass. And then he's freely now in the mix. He has two guitars that he comes with. It's such a beautiful figure. And then, you know, filling in a little bit later in about a couple months is Ozzy and some other stuff. But yeah, Walmart's the spot. Go check it out.
00:53:20
Speaker
And then for spikes Beagle, we updated him, we updated his hair sculpt and we put in two heads. So you have two separate portraits that you can use. And there's going to be some of that in the replant on the Walmart, but you know, the kind of, the kind of idea is like, if it's as long as people are buying it and people are loving it, you know, we'll keep making it. Awesome.
00:53:44
Speaker
um at super game boy adv um asks if you could work with one property that you haven't worked with yet what would it be can i go for it oh i thought that was for you oh that's it that's it it could be for both of you okay i'll do my wish list you do your wish list first i'm gonna go i i want to get some stuff out of like some horror vaults right like so i want
00:54:15
Speaker
on a line of figures from the original creepy movie. That'd be rad. I'm on board. I want my cake. Exactly. Or like Ted Danson and Leslie Nielsen. Even Leslie Nielsen just in the sand. I think, yeah, that would be my box set collection that I want. I think that's cool. I dig that.
00:54:41
Speaker
Man, there's so many great stories that have been told through the Marvel, the DC universe for everything. We've done so many. We've done like 71 licenses. We've never done Star Wars. That would be cool.
00:54:59
Speaker
just because I'm a Star Wars fan. I know there's a quadrillion pieces of Star Wars merchandise out there, but whatever. I was stoked on KISS, you know, just like making KISS figures. I actually posted on my personal Facebook page like last week. I was like, yeah, I can't believe I made KISS figures. It's pretty rad. That is awesome. And we went over this last time, but we're huge KISS fans.
00:55:27
Speaker
Yeah, those are ones I'm looking forward to getting. Gene still has not hit here in New Jersey. We have not been able to find our demon. Yeah, I was going to say, the demon is the one with the chain mail, right? Yeah. That sculpt is amazing. The detail on that thing is insane. Our sculpt team, they're badass.
00:55:53
Speaker
Total kudos to those guys. I'm like twain balls of champagne. They're awesome. But yeah, there's yeah. You know, now we have to, you know, we're kind of toying with the idea. It's like, do we even make the Fox even? Oh, exactly. You know, with the with the furry shoulders and everything. Eric, Eric, Eric needs some love, man. He does. There's only been one. Totally. I'm with you.
00:56:21
Speaker
There was the one McFarland, that was it. I draw the line though, I will not get a Vinnie Vincent figure. Don't do it. What, the Auc? You don't like the Auc? I'd get a Vinnie Vincent, I'm sorry. Yeah, he kind of had the wonkiest of all the face makeups, for sure. But yeah, we're actually working on Paul and Peter right now as well. Awesome.
00:56:44
Speaker
Very cool. All right. So at Mr. Underscore collects underscore it. So Mr. I could have read that much easier at Mr. Collects it asks. You read it like I did. Have you thought about doing some kind of fan polling or utilizing like crowdfunding for characters that might be like larger or to your point earlier that take up maybe too much shelf space. This person suggests the Lord of the Rings Balrog.
00:57:14
Speaker
that that would be awesome but it's it's like making toys and distributing toys is a giant it's such a coordinated quagmire so it's like
00:57:27
Speaker
First of all, you have to go, what shelf can we put that on? Like what retailer is going to go, yeah, here's three feet for you. Two boxes, you know, in theory, yes, it's just it really is a collaborative.
00:57:44
Speaker
We hold decisions of licenses we want to approach and how to manufacture toys and things like that. But there's a whole other decision making engine on the other side. Is it even doable? Is there room for something like this on shelf? But would I like to see one? Heck yeah.
00:58:09
Speaker
Does that mean we'll make it? I don't know, but I would be into it. What do you think, kind of, same idea? Yeah, I think, you know, some of the expansion that we're talking about with some of your other lines, there's potential for some of those bigger things, right? So I wouldn't say no. And I also think, you know, a lot of
00:58:34
Speaker
We're also seeing a lot of success online, right? So on like a walmart.com, we're starting to kind of bring people there and start looking for items like this. And there's no shelf space on walmart.com. It's just if they can put it in a box and mail it to you. So it really is about
00:58:53
Speaker
what will people pay for it because you can only make a certain amount, right? So it's a really, I don't know, I love the, I'm like, you know, I'm a fan of like, the people are fans of lots of things. And it would be amazing to bring these kinds of things to them. It's just getting, it's just getting it right, making sure you make the right number. So people are hunting for it. And it's not like we have, like I said, we don't need 50,000 of that. It is, I don't know.
00:59:24
Speaker
Well, I think, too, there's something to be said for that, you know, that that crowdfunding model, right, where, you know, you have like the I just got mine the other day, Dave got his a few weeks ago, but the Kickstarter spawn figure, you know, that was kind of really made to order or a lot of like what Super Seven is doing with like the the Thunder Tank and some of those some of those ultimate figures that are just kind of up for preorder for an X amount of time and then
00:59:51
Speaker
you know however many get pre-ordered get made. So I mean I don't know if that's something that you guys have ever explored you know an option like that with some you know a larger project but I think I think that's what the person in this question was kind of tiptoeing around.
01:00:06
Speaker
In the very beginning of the little subjects, we used to do stuff like that when we were doing more of the designer vinyl pieces, like the eight-inch pieces. So the pre-order is really an instrument, can you get the MOQ, right? So you're like, okay, I'll leave it up for X. And then you really try to hustle to get those numbers to cover your tooling, your factory bills, and then make a little scratch so you can buy your crude lattes.
01:00:30
Speaker
So that was kind of that instrument. So Brian Flynn and The Little Subjects came from very similar worlds. He had his sort of Japanese inspired a lot of designer toy ideas in San Francisco and The Little Subjects was just starting out and doing things with like
01:00:52
Speaker
upper playground and Alex party and Sam floors and things like that. And that was all pre-order basis, not necessarily like a crowdfund, but you go, okay, you know, we got a month to sell something out so we can get enough units to pay for it, essentially. Well, I think, I think there is definitely, and this could be something we could explore from our end as well on the collection and session side is just like what you were talking about, like the Hasbro Java sale barge, right? Where it's like, you have to.
01:01:22
Speaker
This many people have to order it and then it can become reality. I think there's definitely potential for something like that. Whether that hits shelves at Walmart, that's probably not going to happen. But if we get people to fall in love with these brands, like Best Action or GPK, the sky's kind of the limit.
01:01:47
Speaker
do those kind of things. And I think that's why we set up collectionobsession.com as a resource for those kind of
Crowdfunding for Collectibles: Potential and Challenges
01:01:56
Speaker
things. It gives us an avenue to do that outside of just within the Walmart world, right? So will you confirm that you're doing a life-size Andre the Giant garden? Yeah, maybe.
01:02:11
Speaker
Possibly. We'll be right size to the heart. It's perfect. Well played. It's only $1,500. Excellent.
01:02:22
Speaker
And it comes in a great. Yeah, I guess, yeah, to double on Kenna's point, yeah, we did come from that world to begin with. And yeah, you can't say never, but yeah, I think as collectors, the way that collectors purchase products or how they behave around products or support products, that certainly is an option.
01:02:45
Speaker
And Balrog would be cool. I mean, now I'm just thinking about Balrog is like, yeah, dude, I want that in my Ace Freely slash, uh, Sauron Spike Spiegel band. I mean, he's the drummer, right? He's totally the drummer.
01:03:02
Speaker
Either that or he's just the hype man. But when you do polls in character by committee, you could get pretty, you could get way into the ancillary characters. There's definitely a challenge there. If it's a poll, we'll probably be making the little ball with all the eyes from Big Trouble Little China.
01:03:32
Speaker
Yes. Which we might make now, because that's actually a good idea. I think that's loosely based off of a D&D character, too. Yeah, it's basically a beholder, and I think we absolutely should make that. Dude, Kenneth? I'm totally serious. I'm like a little translucent pole that you can mount, and it comes with low pan. Or I mean, it comes with Jack Burton. I think, yeah. That's like an accessory. That would be hot.
01:04:01
Speaker
We're in. We are in. Yes. That's totally doable. All right. So yeah. OK. The long and short answer to Mr. Collected's question, yes, maybe yes. I have the next one here. atharry0904 asks, are there any more animator collector's packs coming?
01:04:34
Speaker
Yeah, I made a collection. Oh, like the Fox animation problem. Yeah, I think that's what he was getting. I think that's, yeah. Action vinyl is a little bit different. Action vinyls are like one and done. I mean, they're so small run. It's insane. I mean, we're insane to have done them. I mean, we've bought so much tooling. We really kind of just do it to do one and done. I wouldn't say never.
01:05:02
Speaker
We don't have a plan right now to visit that. But yeah, if you have action vinyls, any run we've ever done is really small. So definitely try to hold on to some of those things.
01:05:20
Speaker
So the last question for the Q&A here, and this was another one that was an amalgam of many people asking kind of sort of this question. But you've answered so far with KISS that you guys are working on Peter and Paul. But is there any plans to complete any of the additional teams like the Cowboy Bebop crew?
01:05:46
Speaker
Yeah, we're actually working on additional characters right now. So that is definitely in the plans. Awesome.
01:05:57
Speaker
Awesome. And then very cool. So that that concludes the the Instagram Q&A. You guys did wonderful. It was great. And and and now I'm going to toss it back over to Dave. And we asked Jonathan, we asked you this question last time, but we haven't gotten a chance to ask Kenneth yet. Dave hit Kenneth with the with the James Lipton. The Lipton question. I have to prepare. No.
01:06:26
Speaker
Kenneth, what's the most interesting or weirdest piece in your collection? And it can be both. Oh, I have a... I collect a lot of things, I gotta think. Five hours later. I have a few that I think kind of fit in that. So...
01:06:51
Speaker
One of my favorite things that I have, I just haven't figured out exactly what to do with it yet, is I have, you know, we've talked about Garbage Pail Kids a lot. I have about 10 uncut sheets from the printer of Series 3, you know, from the 80s. Like, they're amazing. Like, we talked about, I'm an artist. At one point, I was actually gonna use them as something I put art on, and then I'm like, no, I just can't do it.
01:07:21
Speaker
Um, so they have these thank you for not doing yeah. Yeah, you're welcome What's amazing is since the man cut sheets like, you know front side is the stickers and then the backside is the puzzle all solid because you know on the backside they have the puzzles that you put together and i'm like, oh my god, it's just amazing so that's one of my one of my um favorite things one of my weirdest ones is so it was I can't remember what
01:07:51
Speaker
company did it. It might have been ToyBiz, but they did a line of Marvel action figures with voice boxes. They came with little gray voice boxes, and they each had little buttons on it, and they spoke. I don't know if you remember that. I think it was ToyBiz. I can't remember. I probably could roll over and look at it. So I had one from back then, but the battery is half melted inside the voice box, and it's Venom.
01:08:18
Speaker
So the three buttons would say, like one said, I want to eat your brains. One said, die, Spider-Man. And the other one said, ah, right? So no matter which button you press on this one, it says, I want to eat your, ah, Spider-Man.
01:08:45
Speaker
That's fun. Oh, that's great. There's an odd piece and a favorite piece from my collection.
Unique Collections: Uncut Garbage Pail Kids Sheets
01:08:52
Speaker
Can if you nailed it nailed it. Oh, yeah, I see what you're talking about. Yeah. Okay, good. I'm glad I didn't fail that test. Perfection. Perfection. Gentlemen, where can we before we let you go? Where can we find you on the internet?
01:09:11
Speaker
Uh, for the loyal subjects of Facebook, the loyal subjects, co Instagram, the little subjects, uh, Twitter loyal subjects, you know, everybody beat us to the punch. We're doing all these things. So we do, we do a lot of Instagram and Facebook for the most part. Um, and then you could go to our website, which is the little subjects.com. And you can also find us at Walmart.com to search.
01:09:35
Speaker
best action or GPK times WWE and alien eggs and things like that. And you'll find a bunch of cool products up there. Yeah, alien Easter. Yeah, and on our end, so we're on like, you know, Instagram and Twitter under collection obsession official is our as our tag. And then our website collection obsession calm is where that's the that's the first place to go to find anything that we're working on. And on the on the Instagram and the
01:10:05
Speaker
the Twitter, we, we monitor it really closely. Um, so we actually had a really fun thing happen recently with the alien, uh, eggs. We actually had someone DM us directly and he was, he was upset because he had shipped his alien eggs to the wrong address and he wasn't going to get it in time for Easter. And so we actually ended up sending him a set, uh, so he could have it in time. So we do, we try to be really,
01:10:34
Speaker
tentative and responsive on our feeds. That's awesome, man. That is awesome. Very cool. Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah, his response was amaze balls, which always makes me laugh.
01:10:53
Speaker
That's good, man. That's good. Love a good amazeball. That's right. I was like, OK, cool. We got an
Conclusion and Social Media Invitation
01:11:00
Speaker
amazeball. Well, guys, thank you so much again for joining us on Adventures in Collecting. We're going to let you guys go back to the rest of your evenings, and we'll keep an eye out for the latest low-subjects goodies at Walmart. And definitely keep an eye on our feed, because as you guys share stuff, we'll make sure that we're sharing it too.
01:11:22
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.
01:11:38
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
01:12:02
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.