Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
The Latest WWE Figures with Mattel's Steve Ozer and Bill Miekina
872 Plays3 years ago
It's so real it's like being in the ring! This week Dave and Erik are joined by returning guest Steve Ozer and first time guest Bill Miekina of the WWE team over at Mattel. Bill has been making WWE Elites, Basics, and Ultimates since the line launched 12 years ago, and this year at San Diego Comic Con, they blew the doors off the event with a ton of releases. Hear about them, the design process, and the limited time window on the special Ultimate Cody Rhodes.
Save $5 off of your Magic Spoon order - visit magicspoon.com/aic and use code AIC at checkout!
Preorder your Ultimate Cody Rhodes before the window closes! Order Cody below before 11:59P PT on 7/29/22
https://creations.mattel.com/collections/wwe/products/wwe-cody-rhodes-ultimate-edition-figure-hph44
Follow Bill on @billmiekina and Steve @actionfigureattack on Instagram
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
Recommended
Transcript
Healthy Cereal Alternative - Magic Spoon
00:00:02
Speaker
Dave, remember the feeling of watching Saturday morning cartoons with your favorite bowl of sugary cereal? Sure. Well, what if I told you that you could recapture that feeling, but without the guilt of eating cereal, it's bad for you? I'd say you must be talking about magic spoon. That's right, Dave. And now you can get a variety pack with four featured flavors, cocoa, fruity, frosted, and peanut butter. This pack has zero grams of sugar,
00:00:30
Speaker
13 to 14 grams of protein and only four net grams of carbs. Each serving is only 140 calories. They're keto-friendly, gluten-free, grain-free, soy-free, and low carb. My favorite flavor is the Frosted.
00:00:46
Speaker
spice up your peanut butter cereal by slicing up some fresh banana in it. That's what I did. Go to magicspoon.com slash AIC to grab a variety pack and try it today. And be sure to use our promo code AIC at checkout to save $5 off your order. And Magic Spoon is so confident in their product, it's backed with a 100% happiness guarantee. So if you don't like it for any reason, they'll refund your money. No questions asked.
00:01:14
Speaker
Remember, get your next delicious bowl of guilt-free cereal at magicspoon.com slash AIC, and use the code AIC to save $5.
Introduction to the Podcast and Special Episode
00:01:25
Speaker
Thank you, Magic Spoon, for sponsoring this episode. 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.
00:01:45
Speaker
I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and hauls. Along with our journeys as collectors. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. Dave, we're back. I didn't even get to say hi. I know. I wanted to throw you for a loop. Yeah, you jumped on top of what I was saying this time.
00:02:14
Speaker
Right. It's it's a special episode in that regard, but it's also a special episode because Eric's not going to bury the lead. I'm not. So coming in hot from a from a rather show stealing set of reveals during last week's San Diego Comic Con. And just before one of the biggest pro wrestling events of the year being SummerSlam, we are thrilled to welcome returning guest Steve Ozer and first time guest
00:02:40
Speaker
Bill McKenna of the WWE team at Mattel, welcome to Adventures in Collecting, guys. Hey, guys. Great to be back. Yeah, thank you for having us. I mean, it's especially during any circumstance, it would be fun to welcome you guys to the show. But considering the event that you guys just had, my goodness. Yeah. We have quite a bit to talk about, right? We tried. We tried. I think we delivered.
00:03:10
Speaker
And you succeeded. So Steve, as you're aware, the first question that we ask all of our guests really before we dive in, this goes to both of you.
Toy Collecting with Bill McKenna and Steve Ozer
00:03:20
Speaker
What are you guys currently collecting right now?
00:03:25
Speaker
Uh, let me begin. Uh, I'm trying to finish a Popi collection of the original, uh, 10 Japanese Popi action figures from 1980. Uh, and as it stands right now, uh, after this week, I am only missing one. So if anyone has a basically mint Bob back when Popi, uh, hit me up. And I'm also, as of today, I think I just started the seven inch GI Joe collection from Hasbro.
00:03:54
Speaker
I think the Antlion trap sprung today. This could be problematic, but, you know, hey, you only live once. I see the seven inch line or the or the the classifieds or the super sevens, the the Hasbro, like the ones that look like the old figures, like the one that the ones that they came out a few years ago, I really wasn't feeling those. I thought they were a little too off model from the original appearance, which is what I really wanted. But then
00:04:24
Speaker
I saw their display at San Diego Comic Con with a whole bunch of them that looked exactly like just big versions of the three and three quarter inch. I'm like, oh, well, that's kind of what I wanted all along. So. Well, enjoy that rabbit hole. And congrats on that. Triple A, Kellyanne. Yeah, it was a good collection that that ruled. I saw that. I'm like, whoa. Yeah, that was a lucky break. So I'm I'm happy that I was able to basically finish that all at once.
00:04:55
Speaker
Bill, I don't know if you saw, speaking of classified, I'm also collecting classified. The gung-ho, Lady J, and Destro are all available now for end shipping at Walmart.com. Oh, I ordered gung-ho and Destro today. If Lady J is still on there, I'll have to add her to the order. And they're on those nice retro cards too? Yeah.
00:05:23
Speaker
And I don't know when this area is, I might have to go ahead and fund that hiss, too. Well, I mean, that's the only way you're going to be able to get that retro Cobra Commander. Yeah, he looks cool. I don't know. Steve, what about you? What are you collecting these days?
00:05:39
Speaker
The real question is, what am I not collecting? So it was a bill and I had a combo. He's always trying to talk me out of buying stuff. But then he'll push for one thing and really try to get me to buy it. But I'm collecting classified. I'm collecting Super 7, Thundercats, Silver Hawks are on pre-order, Masterverse, Origins.
00:06:03
Speaker
WWE, of course, you know, everything that we do practically. And I can look around the room here. I just got the Frostbitten Lion-O at Comic Con. This was kind of my prize of the show. Yeah, I mean, I'm an action figure guy. Marvel Legends, you name it, I buy it. Very cool. Steve, we asked you this during your last appearance, but Bill, what got you into designing toys and how did you get to Mattel?
00:06:34
Speaker
I always liked toys. Even as a kid, I kind of held on to buying toys longer than other people my age. So I kind of aged out of it later, but I never really aged out of it. I always kind of liked them, but never bought them. But then one day, gosh, I think it was actually the
00:06:57
Speaker
When ToyBiz started putting out the X-Men and X-Force stuff around 1991, back when that comic was out, I just thought the figures were really cool, so I bought a few of them, and then just fell back in with buying toys. I was buying a lot of Marvel, ToyBiz, and then about a year and a half after that, KB was having their clearing of the
00:07:24
Speaker
the Hasbro WWF stuff at the time. And I picked up a Kamala for three for $10. I only picked up the Kamala I remember, but like afterwards I was like, man, I probably should have bought more. So I went back and bought more. And then like the floodgates just all basically, they were all ripped open after that. And then it's been a huge part of my life for at least 25 years now, a long, long time.
00:07:51
Speaker
So that love for figures, how did you turn that into design? It was around 1999. And I was kind of unhappy with the way my career was going. I was a previous career as assistant manager at a pharmacy. And I just realized at some point, I wouldn't be happy doing this. So I had to figure out what would I be happy doing.
00:08:20
Speaker
I always had a little bit of an artistic skill. I'm a serviceable artist. I can get an idea down on paper. So I thought, why don't I try to see if I can translate this into toy design? Because I had ideas for toys that I would draw and think, maybe, is there a career in this? So I applied to FIT Toy Design School.
00:08:44
Speaker
And was not accepted which was fine because I I knew at the time my portfolio was not the greatest But I did ask like okay. What do I do so that the next time I apply? the answer changes and the lady that ran the toy design program suggested that I Go to FIT for illustration for two years, so I did that
00:09:04
Speaker
and then applied for FIT toy design in 2001 and got in and graduated two years later. And I was at that point, I had a degree in toy design. And was the obvious goal at the outset that you wanted to work on specifically wrestling figures, or was there something else that led you there? It's funny. When I decided I wanted to get started in toy design, I sent two letters to two different companies
00:09:34
Speaker
I sent a letter to Jax about how do I work on WWE. And I sent a letter to ToyBiz how to work on Marvel. And then it was actually the lady at ToyBiz. Her name was Joanne McLaughlin. She was an incredibly nice person who basically took my call and talked to me for like a half hour. And I was a nobody. And she was like, you know, pretty bigwig in design. And she just told me, it's like, if this is something you're really serious about, you should apply to FIT toy design school.
00:10:03
Speaker
So I did. And so there were two jobs that I really, really wanted to do. And I got one of them. Like I literally got one of my dream jobs that I got into the industry for. It's like, that's crazy. It seems like we have a through line whenever we have designers on that.
00:10:22
Speaker
everyone kind of chases their passion with this, this like tenacity and ends up either like starting working adjacent to the thing that they want to actually work on or ends up working on the actual thing that they want to work on. And it's just, it's incredible to hear it because like here you are now, you know, all these years later and you're responsible for so many wrestling figures. It's just, it's, it's mind blowing. Yeah. I've been, I've been busy when I look at all like, uh,
00:10:53
Speaker
When I see people, when I see the show photos of their collections, and it covers an entire wall, and it's loose, and it's like, I've probably worked on everything on that person's wall.
00:11:08
Speaker
Like that's when it starts to like really, you know, like, wow, like I have, you know, I've been doing this a long time and, you know, I'm, I'm responsible for creating a lot of figures and, you know, it seems that people enjoy, uh, what I've been, what I've worked on. So that's, um, that's satisfying.
00:11:25
Speaker
Speaking of projects coming to fruition, a year ago we were talking to Steve about the ultimate new gen arena.
New Gen Arena Project Discussion
00:11:35
Speaker
The project was still in the process of getting funded and we recently saw you guys do an unboxing of the final product. Do you have an update on when backers can expect her to start receiving these?
00:11:47
Speaker
So I believe we're still on track as communicated for end of August. That's kind of the best I can give right now. Those guys on the Mattel Creations team, they get the latest. You know, obviously that stuff ships via boat, then has to be potentially trucked somewhere.
00:12:08
Speaker
and then prep for shipping. So I have received no indication that that's changed at this time. So I'm hopeful we're still completely on track with that schedule. And how did it feel to just finally kind of see the finished product and see what everything kind of looked like, do that, almost that kind of unboxing experience for the first time?
00:12:31
Speaker
Well, I was incredibly impressed. Everything exceeded expectations. Like you kind of don't know, right? Like how final product is going to turn out. You can have the best intentions and sometimes things don't work out for various reasons. But like I actually walked.
00:12:51
Speaker
maybe just from room to room or across the hall or something with both an older ring from another company, one of the more recent scale rings. And this one and it just it felt hefty and sturdy. And it was just so well done. So hats off to Bill for that. But Bill got to do the actual unboxing on video. So let him go into detail on on some of that.
00:13:18
Speaker
It's funny, the most impressive thing to me about the unboxing was something that really wasn't able to be shown on the video. It's just how they were able to get all the pieces of that ring in the box. Because the box, I mean, it's a big box, but for what you're getting, it's not a big box. They have to fit a lot in there, and it has to fit in tight, and it's just kind of amazing.
00:13:39
Speaker
Like the spatial engineering to get all those pieces in that box and I would all fit together and then not have it. So it's a, you know, nothing's getting crushed. Nothing, you know, you're not getting, I was worried about getting like a severe crease on the ring that because they jammed it to the side or something. It's like, no, they put that in properly. They did. They placed everything in there that we were able to get two package ultimates in the box.
00:14:02
Speaker
which I was skeptical of at first when I heard it's like, that's the actual plan, we're actually able to fit them. They fit, they fit perfectly, it's kind of like, yeah, that was, I guess because I was so familiar with just with designing it, like what the actual product was, I wasn't as familiar with like how they were gonna actually get this to consumers who ordered it, you know, because when you build it out, it covers a big surface area, and then being able to like get that all in a,
00:14:30
Speaker
in a box that you can actually get to people's houses. It was kind of amazing to see it. Yeah, hats off to Jacob and George who worked on that. And I was in a lot of those meetings. And it was a lot of work and a lot of back and forth. But those guys are best in the business. So you can see the results here.
00:14:51
Speaker
Yeah, I was surprised at that unboxing video when you guys just had that kind of like, I guess you call it a monolith right next to you. And I was like, oh, that whole like, and I know that.
00:15:03
Speaker
The Macho Man early bird stuff is going to be a separate package, right? That's gonna be separate from the actual arena itself. But even still, same thing. I saw that box standing next to you and I was like, oh, that must be just the box for the archway. And there's a separate unit for the rest of the ring. But the fact that it's all in there is crazy.
00:15:28
Speaker
Yeah, it looks amazing. I'm very, very excited for the day that thing arrives. It looks awesome. It's big, but it's not so big that you can't place it in your room somewhere or store it somewhere or put it in the closet. So that was kind of one of the side goals, to not have this box and packaging be so intimidating once you have it in your hands. So I think they accomplished that.
00:15:57
Speaker
I've been backfilling my wrestling figure collection over the past year, focusing specifically on new gen and earlier stuff, knowing that that ring is coming because I cannot wait to shoot. I cannot wait to shoot figures in that ring. I literally have a spreadsheet with a list of matches and moments I'm going to try to recreate. I cannot wait.
00:16:21
Speaker
Yeah, I have a personal list of figures I want to take shots of next to the entrance and the ring. And I mean, you know, I don't want to jump ahead. I'm sure we'll talk about Comic Con soon, but there's lots of figures in the pipeline that Ultimate Sean that's coming out and the Jeff Jarrett that'll be perfect, you know, with the ring in the entrance. And those raw letters, too. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:16:52
Speaker
So speaking of Jeff Jarrett returning, we had also another huge return earlier this year.
New Releases and Pre-orders: Cody Rhodes and Retro Figures
00:17:00
Speaker
Cody Rhodes made his return to the WWE at WrestleMania. And at Comic Con, he revealed the first ever Ultimate Edition figure commemorating the American Nightmares SP Award winning moment. So what led to re-debuting Cody
00:17:18
Speaker
in the ultimate line as the kind of open pre-order and tell us about what we can expect from this release. Yeah. So it was a, it's a significant moment, right? I mean, you know, Cody coming back to WWE after being with the competition for so long and not only just being with the competition, but just like ingrained in, in every aspect of, of that company. And, you know, the, the reaction to his entrance,
00:17:45
Speaker
The match itself, everything was special. So we wanted to move fast on something. And doing a special execution on Mattel Creation, I mean that site, just having that site opens the doors for us to do special things and experiments. So here was a chance, right? Here was a chance to do something quickly.
00:18:08
Speaker
Get a pre-order open as quickly as possible, show you that something, debut it quickly, and experiment with something new, which is the made-to-order pre-sale model. So, you know, that's something that's been asked for quite some time now. These online exclusives can go pretty quickly.
00:18:29
Speaker
And now we can test it out here with Cody and see if the consumers are willing to dive into something like this, pre-order many months ahead of time and support an item. But with that, you have ease of purchase now, right? No stressing. You have a week to pre-order.
00:18:48
Speaker
place your order and then you have to sit back and wait just under a year for it to show up. But it's exciting to do something like this and if it goes well, hopefully that opens the door to do it more and more in the future. But the item, I would love to hear and I'm sure you guys will as well, Bill's thoughts on designing that figure and the soft goods and everything else that's involved.
00:19:12
Speaker
Yeah, the challenge for me was because obviously he was in a previous company that company made some really spectacular figures of him while there and you know, what can we do to make something
00:19:29
Speaker
To top that and it was going to be very difficult. So it was the challenge was on me to to do that. And one of the things that I wanted to do was seize on the use of soft goods on the entrance jacket because his entrance jacket is so much like wrapped up as part of his character. So.
00:19:49
Speaker
I'm in the process of designing the jacket and soft goods It's gonna be you know so you can have the full range of movement on the coat or for the entrance And then also making sure that the detail on the shoulder pieces like the scales you know that's something that if you did that as pure soft goods you'd probably lose some of the The look and the detail on it, so I'm gonna have that as integrated molded parts on a soft good jacket so
00:20:17
Speaker
I'm still waiting to see how that all comes together, but based off of our sculpting teams are the best. Obviously with Barbie, our soft good teams here are the best. So I can't wait to finally get the first sample on that. And then also I work with the best head sculptors in the industry. So we're going to make sure that it has the most accurate Cody Rhodes head sculpts, the best
00:20:46
Speaker
digital artists to duplicate the costuming worn. So I work with really phenomenal people that help me to do my job to the best of my ability. So on that aspect, it's a whole lot of people working really hard to make sure this is the best Cody Rhodes figure available anywhere from any company.
00:21:09
Speaker
So we know going into the design, seeing these behind the scenes things that digital is at the forefront of the design process, seeing those renders and the turnarounds and everything. But for something like soft goods, especially something like that coat, which is that intricate, when you guys are designing that, is that more of a tactile thing? Are you guys busting out different types of materials and testing how things lay on each other and actually
00:21:38
Speaker
Mocking things up or is it still primarily a digital process? it's mostly using reference photos of the Outfit and then just add Choosing which fabrics to use and then they'll send me like a first pass at it And then I will based off of that evaluate it and then you know make changes if necessary a lot of times
00:22:05
Speaker
Artwork has to be adjusted because you'll turn it over at one size and when they when they when they place it on the pattern it's maybe a little off so a lot of what what I will end up doing is like reworking the
00:22:16
Speaker
The artwork to make sure that when it's on a figure, it looks exactly like it does in real life because sometimes the proportions of the figure don't exactly match a human. Obviously, are you shoulders because it's a large ball as opposed to a more realistic looking human shoulder, sometimes that causes things to be
00:22:38
Speaker
They don't look as accurate as possible, see if you'll comfort stuff like that. It's really just having an eye to make the small adjustments to make sure that you're providing as accurate as possible at that scale and with the proportions.
00:22:54
Speaker
It is a combo of that digital aspect of Bill Finesing, any designs that are on it, and it is a little more tactile with fabric and whatnot. But with it being not straight up digital, that's why you don't typically see
00:23:10
Speaker
soft goods represented on these early renders. Every time we do a reveal, whether it's Comic Con or Access or an Elite Squad video, it's really just the figure and plastic accessories that are represented. And maybe when it's a little more advanced, we'll be able to do some sort of virtual model with soft goods represented.
00:23:32
Speaker
But that's usually not until much much later. I think a good example would be like Undertaker and Kane's capes for Ultimate Edition. We had virtual models of that, but the figures were right around the corner. So it's pretty late in the game when we can get a virtual model that actually has soft goods.
00:23:49
Speaker
That's why you don't see images of Cody, the figure with the coat and why you typically don't see that. So usually if an elite or ultimate looks a little bare and you didn't listen to the interviews or the panels or whatever, there's probably soft goods that are coming with it that we just couldn't show you during the reveal.
00:24:10
Speaker
So this show is going to be airing on the 28th. So remind everyone who's listening before we move on, where can they get their ultimate Cody Rhodes?
00:24:22
Speaker
They can get their ultimate Cody Rhodes, and you guys can see this, but everyone's listening and they can't see it, but they can get their ultimate Cody Rhodes with packaging that will replicate his entrance at WrestleMania 38. Flap that comes down in the front and is angled, so it's gonna be really cool with graphics and whatnot. Recreating his entrance, his American Nightmare graphics on the front.
00:24:47
Speaker
All that is available for pre-order right now at MattelCreations.com. The pre-sale runs through this Friday, which is the 29th, and we are extending the time. We did hear a lot of people say they're waiting for payday Friday, right? Very understandable after a crazy and exciting Comic Con. So that will
00:25:13
Speaker
Carry forward through eleven fifty nine pm pacific time so you have until midnight pacific time essentially one minute before midnight pacific time on friday to get your pre-orders in and that's it that's the only way you're gonna be able to get this ultimate edition cody roads figure the pre-sale will close and then you know it'll be aftermarket only.
00:25:35
Speaker
So if you want to pay SRP, now's the time. Awesome. So moving on from something that is very new to something that is evocative of something very old. So retros are back in a big way. Is the goal to continue with two waves a year moving forward?
00:25:59
Speaker
So we will have two waves available on Mattel Creations in 2023. And the exciting news is that retros have expanded to ringside collectibles, but we're going to keep those single carded box sets available on Mattel Creations and ringside is going to be
00:26:16
Speaker
going to be getting retro tag teams. So the long requested retro tag teams will live exclusively at ringsidecollectibles.com. The first set is the Outsiders, Hall and Nash, along with a two-pack of Six and Hollywood Hogan. You can get those separately if you'd like, or together as a box set similar to the Mattel Creations box sets. So Ringside has the ability to break those up
00:26:43
Speaker
If that's what you so choose, you just want the outsiders, you can get that. Or you can get the whole shebang and get that sweet box, that sweet shipper box as well to go along with your Mattel Creations retros. So it's an exciting time. We've expanded a bit, you know, due to the initial success of that first wave. And the second wave with
00:27:04
Speaker
The Hart Foundation, Jimmy Hart, and Nikolai Volkov, that goes on sale August 31st at 9 a.m. Pacific Time on MattelCreations.com. So the retros are coming and we couldn't be more excited. Now you guys snuck in at the end of San Diego Comic Con there. You snuck in one little extra retro in the case in Jerry Lawler. So is that gonna be a future wave, yeah? Yes.
00:27:33
Speaker
Awesome. Little tease, yes. And I think the big question that a lot of people had with it is, much like older Hasbro WWE figures, like The Undertaker, is the crown molded on Jerry's head, or is that going to be an accessory?
00:27:51
Speaker
No, it's molded on. For stuff, we want to be sort of as in line with the original figures as possible. So when they had hats, they weren't removable. We made the decision to sort of do that as well. And then that kind of like, hey, this was never produced wave with Tugboat and Lex Luger. That's going to be the wave after the Hart Foundation and Jimmy Hart and Nikolai Volkov.
00:28:19
Speaker
That's correct. That one's going to come out the beginning of 2023. You know, we're kind of internally calling it the loss wave. So, you know, maybe there'll be, there'll be some other Easter eggs involved with that box set to tie it all together nicely. But that's an exciting one, right? Those are figures that we kind of knew of. We saw artwork for, or even like, you know, photos, as in the case of Greg the Hammer Valentine,
00:28:45
Speaker
Rhythm and Blue's Greg. So we longed for those figures and never got them, but now they're coming. You know, again, another kind of what's old is new. The Raw 30th anniversary pack was a really cool surprise and one that will certainly play nice for those who back the new gen arena, like Eric was talking about, with many historic moments from the early era of Raw. How difficult was it to narrow down the pack to include The Undertaker, Razor Ramon, and the 123 Kid?
00:29:16
Speaker
So Bill and I, you know, we have our lineup meetings. And there wasn't a lot of back and forth, really. You know, we toss out ideas and names, but it wasn't too hard. I think that that one, two, three kid razor match, maybe we talked a little bit back and forth, whether it should be the initial match or this one. And I think if memory serves me correctly, Bill, you suggested this one because of the difference in their gear, right?
00:29:42
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was that I it was there might have been some back and forth on whether it was the initial match, but I think I wanted this one because I really wanted to include the bag of money accessory. I just think it. It's so of its time and we make a really cool accessory and then.
00:30:01
Speaker
At first it was going to be a molded part and then I realized we could actually make it a soft good and use the the new Cameron Grimes money tool and do the deco as you know 1992 or 1993 look of a whole bunch of money as opposed to 2022 look to make it that much more interesting and then I was like really yeah that's got to be it and then we wanted to do something to commemorate the first episode of raw
00:30:28
Speaker
And, you know, it's, I mean, you know, the main event of it was Undertaker was in the main event and it was Undertaker with like a hairstyle, sort of like the not what really was when, when he kind of, when he was growing it out from the initial sort of debut mullet look to the longer hair, this is like the in-between stage. It's like, we haven't ever actually done that on a figure that's going to look good on a figure. And so.
00:30:56
Speaker
And we did some new, especially with the also interchangeable hands. Got some new hand sculpts on there. So we do a lot of Undertaker, but when you can do something new on it, it's really a compelling character to do a figure of. Especially when you can have the dead man himself help announce it, right?
00:31:16
Speaker
Yeah, that didn't hurt either. Wild. It was wild. I think something that was going under the radar were the new gloves that Bill mentioned. We used the Randy Orton hands previously for some of Undertaker's signature poses, but now you actually have the glove detail, the stitching sculpted onto those hands, so that's pretty cool. And talking about Undertaker helping debut it,
00:31:41
Speaker
We were trying to keep that a secret for so long and worried that it would leak out because what a moment to surprise people with and I didn't want that ruin. At the very least, I didn't want it ruined for the people in attendance in that room. We did everything we could to keep it a surprise and it was pretty surreal being on stage when the Undertaker's music hits and then hearing the crowd erupt when they finally realized he's actually here and we're not just showing a figure with Undertaker's music playing.
00:32:10
Speaker
And I thought it was, especially now that he's retired and he comes out and speaks as Mark and not the Undertaker, it was so great to hear him talk about his kids playing with his action figures and him tripping over them and stepping on them and stuff. It's wild after all these years to not only still be getting new Undertaker figures, but now to hear
00:32:36
Speaker
him actually talk about them. We obviously weren't there. We were stuck in New Jersey, but thankfully due to people live streaming it on their phones and everything, and Mattel's recap coverage, we got to experience it from afar.
00:32:55
Speaker
you're seeing that era Undertaker. I don't think, I might be wrong, but there hasn't been an Undertaker from like the gray Undertaker with like removable hands and with the glove detail. So it's really cool to kind of be able to catch up in that regard and get that era Undertaker, but with the new technology.
00:33:16
Speaker
Yeah, I think we have purple and black gloves, right? So yeah, you're right. This is probably the first with the gray gloves and it's really nice in person. You know, at a quick glance, maybe you just think another early era undertaker, but then when you actually have it in hand and look at the head sculpt and the hair, the glove detail, the coat's really nice on it too. The hat is accurate. Is the hat new on this one or no, Bill?
00:33:42
Speaker
No, it's an existing hat. OK. But it's a nice looking figure. And when you actually pay attention to all the details of it in hand, it really kind of wows you. So speaking of other things that Wowed us at Comic-Con, which is going to be a through line for this interview, the Noel Holds Barred two-pack was another home run of a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive and another first.
Upcoming Multipacks and Collection Expansions
00:34:08
Speaker
It was the first Ultimate Edition two-pack.
00:34:10
Speaker
So along with the aforementioned raw multipack coming to Target, and we haven't talked about it yet, but also the MegaPowers Ringside exclusive, can we expect to see more multipacks in the future?
00:34:25
Speaker
I think you saw one at the show, the Colosseum Collection, with the Hulk Hogan and Terry Funk two-pack. A personal favorite of mine, which I've gone out of my way to say on multiple occasions how happy I am to be able to work on an Ultimate Terry Funk and have it work with the pairing with the Hulk Hogan as a DTC.
00:34:45
Speaker
Offering which will be they'll also be available on the tell creations. Yeah, so those multi packs I mean, like I said Mattel creations gives us a lot of opportunities to do different things So Colosseum collection retro bundles, of course, and you're seeing more multi packs at retail now raw at Target the Paul Heyman
00:35:07
Speaker
Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar pack, which goes up for pre-sale next month at Amazon. And if these do well, we'll keep them going, right? I said we needed to rest them a little bit and give us some time and we'll come back strong. And I think we really did come back pretty, pretty damn strong this year.
00:35:27
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, between the Colosseum package, the packaging on that alone, and then, of course, the figures. But I have to call out what I think might be the greatest hand accessory mold of all time, which is the handshake in the Mega Powers pack. I mean, just the, you know, because like, yeah, you could take two Seagriff hands and you can kind of make them fit together. But you guys molded
00:35:55
Speaker
those hands and give Hogan that face. Tell us a little bit about that. That was fun. We did that for Ringside and they've always wanted a Mega Powers pack.
00:36:09
Speaker
If the like the challenge is what what can we do to make this like really special because the outfits themselves You know Hulk Hogan Kind of his one, you know throughout the 80s he wore the He had the same look basically for many many years obviously the mega powers logo on the back of the tights was different and then Randy's gear the matching gear and
00:36:30
Speaker
with something special, but how do we really make this sing and make it different and be set beyond some of the entrance accessories, which we include on the figure. And of course, when everyone thinks of the Mega Powers, they think of that moment on Seren's main event where they have that handshake where their hands approach odd directions and then they finally grip and then Hulk Hogan gets that look on his face. He's closing his eyes, he's in ecstasy and it's like,
00:37:00
Speaker
We have to, like, if we're gonna do a Mega Powers pack, it can't just be based off the match. We have to somehow able recreate that image from Saturday Night's Main Event, too, where they do the very dramatic handshake. And then it became, like, since we are doing interchangeable hands, like, we can actually do something where you remove the right hands of each character and do, like, one piece where they actually connect and shake hands. And you can have that posing.
00:37:28
Speaker
You know, in the package like that, like that's never been done before. Like, so when that bolt of inspiration struck, I was, uh, was like, yeah, we have to do this. And then working with our sculpting team and getting the hands just right.
00:37:44
Speaker
And then when you finally see it, you know, on the, on the figures for the first time and stand them up, you know, sometimes when I get the first, uh, samples of these, like I'm like a little kid in the candy store. I was like, Oh my gosh, they're here. I want to see what this like hypothetical, uh, design I, uh, I was thinking about actually looks like in real life. And then when you, when I plug that together and pose them on my tabletop, I'm like, Oh, this is exactly, this is like, this is exactly how I saw it in my head. And it works. People are going to go nuts when they see this. And thankfully they did.
00:38:15
Speaker
So it being quite a comic con for deep cut Hogan heads. You have the what's that smell face. You have the ecstasy of a handshake face. And then you have the fist gladiator helmet. You're checking all of the deep cut Hogan looks. Oh, and how can I forget, Mr. America? You have a- You don't know who that is.
00:38:46
Speaker
Yeah, it's not over. Actually, yeah, my bad. I'm sorry. It's his first time in the life. Yeah. But you know, I think one of the requests was
00:38:58
Speaker
When you get these superstars under contract to try to maximize them and not miss significant looks before contracts end, because you never know, right? You never know if someone's just like, ah, you know, I'm not going to resign or I want more money or I'm going to go elsewhere because there is competition. So, you know, with Hogan and you can see it with others,
00:39:24
Speaker
We're really trying to crank out some of the most requested looks and get them out there. Because I mean, we can do Hogan's forever, right? So why not, you know, right now while we have them make the most of it? And we can always slow down a little bit, you know, after this this run that we're doing, because there's plenty to do even after we've gone through the major looks, because Hogan's always going to do well. And that summer slim Elizabeth from
00:39:51
Speaker
Was it last year? I can go with them, right with them. Two years ago? Yeah, two years ago. Yep. Maybe we knew what we were doing. Yeah. The aftermarket on that Elizabeth in the next couple of weeks is going to be fun to watch. And then, yeah, with lest we forget the Colosseum collection, like just seeing
00:40:14
Speaker
Back to the what's old is new, just seeing like those figures represented, those LJN figures represented in new technology is awesome to see. You know, the old packaging, it makes sense with Slaughter being kind of like Series Zero from last year.
00:40:30
Speaker
Yeah. So we knew there was, you know, some, some desire there after slaughter came out to continue something like that. It was too good of a packaging execution to just let it go. And it was tied to a line that ran several years. So, um, so we're looking for an opportunity to, you know, fill it's a slot. It's called slots, right? So we had this slot available on mental creations and we wanted to make it special.
00:40:55
Speaker
Um, and you know, we, we ultimately aligned on this, you know, why not just keep it going with what we started with Sarge. So. I mean, you're going to see, you know, your, your heavy hitters, of course, anchoring these, these bundles. And now the door is open for, you know, world building and ultimate edition, basically. So you have your, your legendary talent, like your Terry funks of the world who are going to get the ultimate treatment. Um, so it's, it's really exciting. And I can't wait for you to see who, who we have on tap.
WrestleMania Hollywood Wave Details
00:41:24
Speaker
you know, coming up, especially in those like, you know, surprise slots, basically. So the upcoming WrestleMania Hollywood wave brings two iconic matches to our collections with a Mean Gene Build-A-Figure. So they've been presented for the first time in this format where we've had specific matches represented in a wave. What made you structure the wave this way? Ooh, that's a good question.
00:41:51
Speaker
I feel like we, sometimes Bill and I can have long conversations and try to align on lineups, but this one, I feel like came together pretty quickly once again. It's WrestleMania Hollywood, right? So we wanted to include Rock. Hogan makes sense, right? Hollywood Hogan.
00:42:14
Speaker
I think I may have just thrown out that Dusty because I've always wanted the inverted color top Dusty. And it just seemed like the right time and Randy fell into place. So it was really just like a quick like, you know, things that make sense, a wishlist item, and then, you know, Randy just completely makes sense on top of it all.
00:42:34
Speaker
And then Gene, looking for a build to figure, maybe that was a little tougher, trying to find what the build to figure would be. But you can't go wrong with Mean Gene. I think the last time he came out as an elite was the flashback line. It'll be five years at that point. So it was a good time to revisit Mean Gene. And I think Bill killed it with his new head sculpt. And I think he'll have double jointed elbows too, right? I believe so. Very cool.
00:43:04
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's just it's great to be able to like, pick up that collection and have two matches like ready to go. Like, like, it's just it's it's a lot of fun and especially to like, so, you know, obviously the the the Hogan rock match being being newer, but going back to that new gen arena, like having that ring, you know, you know, take take take the entranceway out of the equation, but having that scale, you know, red, white and blue, you know, blue posts ring.
00:43:34
Speaker
you guys keep adding figures that like add value to that ring. So everybody that backed that, you know, looking at the stuff that's coming down the pipeline from San Diego Comic Con, it's just, again, like, oh, I can shoot these. I can pose these in this ring. I can shoot these in this ring. Like, this is, this all works. Like, that Dusty and Macho absolutely, you know, fill that void. Yeah, I think you saw Battle Stories. I don't know if you saw his video for No Holds Barred, but like he used the new generation ring
00:44:02
Speaker
for that no holds barred video and it's just like perfect then you know granted the ring skirts themselves are you know a few years later but like it doesn't matter anymore right like you're watching that video and nobody notices that it's just like you know it's it's within the window of time um and it's just it perfectly complements so many of those golden era figures so
00:44:23
Speaker
I actually haven't set it up at home yet just because there's so much stuff around. But yeah, I can't wait to break it out and shoot it with the golden era guys as well as the new generation superstars. Sticking with the thought process behind making some of these decisions, what goes into the decision-making
00:44:49
Speaker
to bring a figure like the upcoming Rick Rude build a figure, where he had the raw and nitro moments in the same night. And Andre turning heel during the snake pit segment, or even a deep cut, like we mentioned before, like Hulk Hogan wearing his fist helmet. Where do these picks come from?
00:45:14
Speaker
I think for me, when I work on the Elite Line, I'm almost thinking about what does this figure look like just as a silhouette with no color. When you do a Hulk Hogan, the silhouette on a lot of them is basically the same.
00:45:36
Speaker
the license plate around his neck, suddenly the silhouette of the figure is different because the helmet is so different, the license plate is so different from anything you see on another figure that even if you have, you know, nine Hulk Hogan's or Hollywood Hogan's on your shelf in a row, when you add this one, it's gonna stain out because it looks different.
00:45:57
Speaker
So for the Rick Rude in particular, we've done a few Rick Rudes. We've never done him sort of as the associated DX in 97. Obviously, the silhouette's very different. And then the switching of the heads was just because technically it was based on Survivor Series 1997.
00:46:19
Speaker
A lot of fallout from that event, and one of them was that Rick Roode appeared on both shows in the same day, in a pretty memorable span of an hour, and he showed up on Raw, I think, I'm not sure which one he showed up on first, but one of them, where I get the full beard, Nitri had the mustache, and that was brilliant on his end.
00:46:40
Speaker
to do that, and then being able to capture that in a figure form, it's like when we do that head, it's like we actually have to have both heads. Because we have to, even though it's not technically part of Survivor Series, we have to be able to recreate the moment that moment somehow in a figure form. And that's part of the really fun aspect of the job is to be able to
00:47:02
Speaker
call back to things like that that people remember as like, wow, that was a really big moment at the time. And now we can recreate it in an action figure. I get a kick out of it. I work on the assumption that the people that collect it get the same sort of kick out of it as well. So hopefully they do. I think these are just like
00:47:22
Speaker
such memorable moments for me. Like, I'm just trying to, you know, recreate these images or moments that are just burned into my brain is significant, you know? I mean, Bill brings in the design aspect and, you know, he wants something different visually. I mean, for me, I push for stuff that it's just like when you say a name, it's like certain moments and images pop into my head. And I think, you know, just being a longtime fan
00:47:50
Speaker
Those images are probably shared amongst a lot of us, right? Um, like Hogan's helmet, for an example, like none of us have probably seen him actually wear that in a match, but we've all seen the images and we've also been like, what the heck is this? And we know about it, right? Um, so it's just really fun to include that stuff that we know about. Um,
00:48:12
Speaker
And, you know, with the pay-per-view waves, it's not just the pay-per-views that were significant. It's like the buildup to them were incredibly memorable, the pay-per-views themselves, and then the fallout of the pay-per-views, right? So it's cool with something like Rick Rude to get, you know, the aftermath of that Survivor Series.
00:48:32
Speaker
Um, and then I think, you know, it allows us to take a little bit of liberties to, um, get out the looks that we think people will want rather than be stuck with the pay-per-view itself. Like with Doc Hendricks, you know, he's in, in the pink suit. Um, and he, he didn't wear a pink suit at Royal Rumble, but he did for, for the buildup for that. So, you know, we, we are able to, to, to push the boundaries a little bit and not be so locked into.
00:48:57
Speaker
you know just the pay-per-view because there's a lot surrounding it that is involved with the pay-per-view that was really significant. Now you're saying before like you weren't sure with the Mean Gene and then you know you mentioned Doc Hendricks and Rick Rude as these build-a-figures. How do you decide what build-a-figure like what the build-a-figure is going to be?
00:49:19
Speaker
I mean, you're just looking at your roster of available talent. You're obviously considering the business side of things with cost and tooling, available parts, all that stuff. So you just have this amalgamation of information that you're trying to sift through and come up with someone that's actually achievable.
00:49:41
Speaker
So, you know, with Doc, you know, we obviously have him under a deal as Michael Hayes. So, you know, in my mind, he was earmarked, right? Like, you know, it's nothing that's said, but I'm sure Bill has a mental list of, you know, to-do superstars. I do, Rob does, we all do. And we wait for these moments to pitch them, so to speak, right? When we go to have a lineup conversation.
00:50:05
Speaker
i mean doc makes great sense for a builder figure right so so where should it be so it was just a moment where you know we're going over going over our options and he makes sense here it's time and we pull the trigger on it um there will be other times where you know um maybe you invest a little more in tooling and and you get something a little more unique than a suited character um so you know it's just evaluating everything we have at our disposal the tooling budget
00:50:31
Speaker
the X factory, which is the cost of the figure, balancing everything, right? So you can't have like four Oscars for variations of Oscars, or you'll never be able to afford the wave. So it's a balancing act with your wish list of talent, basically. If you want to give us a wave of four Oscars, please, please feel free to do so. Yeah, Eric would be very happy. I would love to, but
00:50:59
Speaker
Yeah, I personally wouldn't mind a wave of six Oscars, but I probably lose my job because it was so expensive to produce. I'll just say, you know, if there's somebody that deserves, I'm just gonna throw it out there. If there's somebody that deserves an ultimate with, you know, entrance gear, that coat and everything, Oscar, Oscar is a good one. Oscar would be a good one. Just saying. But you're preaching with the choir here.
00:51:21
Speaker
So, you know, we mentioned Build the Figures, and these big events have celebrities attached to them. Celebrities from outside of WWE have been a major part of WWE history. We've seen Mr. T and Rob Gronkowski, now Pat McAfee and Johnny Knoxville have become immortalized and blessed. What's the process for including a celebrity in the line, and are there plans for more celebrity figures?
00:51:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, let's not forget Mr. T, you know, Zeus, they all kind of fall under the same category. It's working with WWE and coming up with a business plan for them, right? Maybe there's some interest, right? This talent is going to be joining us for these events. Is there an interest for action figures?
00:52:11
Speaker
And it's usually yes, yes from us because we know that the requests are going to come from the consumers. So the business plan is kind of my job. I give Bill a ring and we kind of map out what we realistically think we can accomplish releasing for one of these talents. And then I put the numbers behind it and say, hey, if you sign this talent, this is what we'll try to deliver for you.
00:52:38
Speaker
Figure execution wise and and and you know money money wise and then I'm sure they might go out to you know some of their their other partners as well cuz there's video games involved and you know, you know other other collectibles and they they see if they're gonna get their ROI back right which is sometimes why it's tough for some of the the tertiary, you know talent of the past right like
00:53:02
Speaker
if we come back and say, hey, we can really just do one, right? Maybe that makes it tough for them to sign somebody. But if it's big enough talent, we think that we'll be able to ship a lot of product. It makes those conversations much, much easier. And then poor Bill has to actually make all these figures that I promise. I really enjoyed making the Johnny Knoxville figure just because, again, like from a silhouette standpoint, so different from anything else you're going to have on your
00:53:33
Speaker
on your collection, a lot of unique parts with him. And the match itself at WrestleMania was just way, way too much fun. Like I had, you know, I don't know what sort of expectations I had for that going in, but it exceeded them by leaps and bounds. So it's like, when I found out like he was available to do as a figure, it's like, yeah, we're definitely doing that. So it was, it was tough to tell in the gray render. So he's going to be in the gear from that match.
00:54:03
Speaker
Yeah, it'll be in the WrestleMania gear. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, that was way too much fun, that match. I had so much fun watching it. They had good producers. Yeah, for sure. Hey, and if you're looking for a fun accessory, you should put a pack of giant mouse trap in there with them. The mouse trap table.
00:54:24
Speaker
So from celebrities to kind of greatest hits here, so you guys recently announced that the greatest hits collection is coming to the elite lineup. What can we expect to see more waves of these greatest hits in the future and kind of what led to the selection of who to include in these greatest hits? I definitely think you'll be seeing this more. I think there's a realization, at least on my end,
00:54:55
Speaker
The people that are collecting this line, the very few of them have been collecting since we started in 2010. I think a lot of them have come on board later. And there's some early figures that just on the secondary market are just inaccessible for people that just can't afford them. And it's unfair to penalize newer collectors by saying, well, you had your chance to get this if you would have been here when we released that in 2010, let's just say.
00:55:25
Speaker
And there's other figures that, for one reason or another, were hard to come by. So we want to make sure that everyone that can collect our line has a reasonable chance to collect what we put out. So that was sort of the impetus behind the
00:55:43
Speaker
Was the official name of it the best of assortment or? The greatest hits. Greatest hits, okay. So, you know, everything Bill said there, you know, we know that there's a continuous cycle of collectors coming in and out of the hobby. And, you know, if there's a look that you loved, a memorable look, like why, to Bill's point, why should you be shut out if you just joined and have to pay $500 like to get, you know, your favorite looks. But we're still being conscientious of
00:56:12
Speaker
the original collectors who have these mint and packaged. Packaging will be different it'll be your modern elite packaging with the greatest hits logo and there's differences on the figures as well you know they're all upgraded to the modern double jointed elbows when possible we've applied.
00:56:29
Speaker
TrueFX, D.I.J. to the faces. So there are differences, right? So if you have that original Legends Bambambigolo in Legends packaging, that's still pretty damn cool and special. So I don't think, you know, this is really going to devalue those old, you know, classic package figures as much as, you know, some people might be worried about. It's just a way to get a modernized version of those particular figures out.
00:56:57
Speaker
So we've finally gotten there.
Celebrating 100 Waves of Elite Figures
00:57:00
Speaker
We've reached wave 100 of the elites. Congratulations on the milestone. How does it feel to get to this point after 12 or so years? And how did you decide who to include in the series and which eras to represent and which accessories and things of that nature? I was thinking about this this morning. It's like, I don't know if there's ever been
00:57:28
Speaker
And this is maybe me patting my own back. I don't know if there's ever been anyone who's designed a hundred straight series of a figure all, you know, kind of, you know, being responsible for every figure in that assortment. I, that might, I might, I, I, I might be, you know, alone in that, which is kind of bizarre to think about. Um, but yeah, we're leading 100. Uh, you know, I say already, but it's like, it seems like already yes, but it's also, it's like,
00:57:59
Speaker
It has been 14 years since I started this. It's impressive. And to have done it twice too with basics, like two series of 100. Yeah, like I guess I'm trying hard. I'm trying to stay a little humble here, but it's like when I thought about it, when I was thinking about it to myself, I kind of impressed myself when I was thinking about it. That's crazy to think about that you can do that. I don't know if
00:58:25
Speaker
just because the way that action figures now are, if it would be possible for anyone to repeat this, because things change, like elites have lasted as a consistent unchanging line for 14 years, elites and basics have been basically the same thing for 14, well, I guess for 12 years on the market and then even longer in development.
00:58:53
Speaker
That is kind of impressive when you look back on it. And to have your name attached to every single figure in elites leading up to all 100, I mean, that's probably gonna be like my life's achievement, and I'm fine with that. Yeah, and then for, I guess for the specifics on Elite 100, we wanted to do something similar to what we did with the Basic 100, which was to concentrate on top talent,
00:59:20
Speaker
in WWE, and the hook was to make sure that each one got a first time execution of a specific title belt, because we knew that title belts were one of the accessories that resonates the most with the Elite collectors. So for The Rock, you have that Brahma Bull belt, which has never been offered before. For Andre the Giant, you have that oversized title that was created for him in the event that he won at WrestleMania III.
00:59:48
Speaker
For Becky Lynch, we've actually resized the, we're no longer just sort of molding the men's belt in white and then sticking plates on it. We've resized the belt to fit the smaller size that the women's belts are slightly smaller than the men's belt programming. So that's a whole new belt. For John Cena, the belt plate, the middle belt plate actually spins, which it never did before, like that's a new part.
01:00:16
Speaker
Stunning Steve Austin has the old TV title on the red leather, which was always one of the most striking belts, you know, watching back in the day. Like, uh, I love the look of that belt. And then we're including that as an accessory. And there's, and then for Ray Mysterio, he has the actual WCW version of the cruiserweight belt, whereas previous versions had the WWE version, which was similar, but there are structural and cosmetic differences between the two belts that have never been, um,
01:00:46
Speaker
on a previous cruiserweight titles. Now we're going to actually have the accurate to that timeframe cruiserweight belt. And also each figure has a brand new head sculpt to go with it as well. I know it's specifically for the Rey Mysterio. He's got a WCW era mask where he had that little piece of fabric running under the nose. It's a little detail, but like, I mean,
01:01:13
Speaker
It's when the collectors, they notice and they get really enthusiastic when they see it because in the past, we've used existing tools to represent that era and now for Elite 100, now's the time to sort of, let's actually recreate this exactly as it was.
01:01:36
Speaker
Stuff like that is fun. And let's not forget about the packaging. We've partnered with Jonathan Bartlett, who, not to be confused with Rob Bartlett from Monday Night Raw, but Jonathan Bartlett, who is a mead, who is an amazing correlation.
01:01:55
Speaker
He's an amazing artist who's worked on, I mean, you name it, he's worked on it and partnered with NBA, NFL, HBO, Netflix, and of course WWE. He does those annual WrestleMania posters, which are just unbelievable. I have a bunch of them myself. He did a Cody Rhodes poster recently. So he's kind of like a hot new current artist with WWE. He's gonna be doing the
01:02:21
Speaker
Studio shot quote-unquote so that pose photo as if as if it was taken in a WWE studio as well as an action type shot to be featured on the back And then you know the packaging will be like that that platinum look that you saw in basic series 100 But you know just like expanded upon since this is for elites So, you know between all new titles new head sculpts fantastic packaging by by John and
01:02:49
Speaker
as well as our designer, George, who worked on these. I think once you see this as a whole figures in package, you're going to really be wowed. So going forward, now that you've resized the women's title, is that going to be the one for future Raw and SmackDown Women's Champions? They'll be getting that form factor belt.
01:03:13
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And it's really cool to get like that that TV title and the WCW Cruiserweight title in the line. Like it's just really cool to see like that. Those are two very kind of striking belt or titles. So it's thousand dollar fine.
01:03:34
Speaker
Next, you're going to say you want a title shot and get another fine. You might be able to say that now. Well, this is true. This is true. Before we ask you our final question and let you go, it's time for a little Q&A.
01:03:55
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.
01:04:11
Speaker
Visit them in person at 106 Main Street in Little Falls, New Jersey, or online at ChubsyWubsy.com. That's C-H-U-B-Z-Z-Y-W-U-B-Z-Z-Y.com. And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you.
01:04:28
Speaker
So we posted that we were going to have you guys on and some members of the Wrestling Figure community had some questions for you guys. So we have one, two, three, we have four questions from our followers. And if you want the opportunity to ask a question on a future Adventures in Collecting interview, make sure you're following us at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram.
01:04:52
Speaker
We will always post when we have guests on and we are always looking for Q&A questions. We understand that not everybody is fortunate enough to have access to people like Steve and Bill and we want to make sure that we share some of that time at least with our followers. So Dave, you want to hit them with our first question?
01:05:13
Speaker
I sure could. At prophetically underscore speaking asks, are there plans to include more NXT 2.0 talent as elite figures? Yeah, we definitely have our eye on NXT 2.0. There are certainly some talents there that have been announced for the elite line in particular, the one I work on. We have Mandy Rose coming out and there are likely others as well. It all depends on how
01:05:41
Speaker
A lot of it depends on TV time and how they're established in that TV time because a lot of the talent there is brand new. We haven't seen them before. It takes time to get that emotional connection with the people that are purchasing the figures. If someone shows up one or two times on NXT 2.0, chances are they're not going to be
01:06:07
Speaker
They're lower on the list than someone who's been on the show like since the since the re the reworking of NXT that has a Place, you know a consistent place on the show of importance so Yeah, it was a little bit of a change when when the changeover and then sort of you know who we could pick from NXT as opposed to NXT 2.0 But that doesn't mean that we're not gonna be doing NXT 2.0 figures. Yeah, I think the hiccups of
01:06:36
Speaker
I mean, hiccups on our end, but the entertainment changed. And it changed pretty quickly after we were already in a little bit of a groove with things. So things have stabilized now. It's kind of established what it is and is going to be. And I think if it changes again, it'll be an evolution and not as disruptive. So once stabilization happens and it's already happening,
01:07:06
Speaker
We'll start cranking more out. You need some reliability with the figures you're choosing and have some confidence that talent is hopefully going to still be around when the figure actually hits a year later because you're planning these things so far ahead and that there's some viability.
01:07:27
Speaker
you know right before all these changes happen in the company, we were pretty damn good at kind of earmarking people that we thought were going to be hot. And you know there was a nice street going there for a while where we were picking talent and they were like,
01:07:43
Speaker
really heating up by the time the figures came out, like Ricochet and several others who may no longer be with WWE. But yeah, we had a nice little streak going there and hopefully with our combined long-time fan minds, we can get back to that. All right, our next question comes from at Figvault.
01:08:08
Speaker
There's recently been some updates to the packaging in the Elite line, but will the Legends line continue to run in the same packaging look since its revival, or are there plans to refresh that as well?
01:08:24
Speaker
It's my hope to keep it the same. It's my hope to keep lines where packaging is integral to the offering the same, you know, legends, Ultimate Edition, Coliseum Collection Now, retros, right? You know, some of those, it's like the packaging is just as important as, you know, the figures themselves in some cases.
01:08:47
Speaker
So those are discussions that we have to keep having. And it seems like a lot of the key players agree. So there is an evolution happening and changes happening in the industry. So we can't really hide from that. But in instances where it makes sense and where packaging is extra important, we're going to do everything we can to keep it consistent.
01:09:15
Speaker
uh, at toy farce asks if you can make an ultimate edition of any wrestler regardless of affiliation, who would it be? Puma King. All right. Nice. Not what I was expecting. Nice.
01:09:31
Speaker
We saw him at some local shows here several times and he's so damn entertaining and toyetic. I was hoping he would sign with WWE and we can crank out a couple figures, but maybe someday. I'm going to go with Kenta Kobashi. I've always been a Kenta Kobashi mark. I've always wanted to do a Kenta Kobashi figure. I don't think that's ever going to happen.
01:10:01
Speaker
You know, I didn't think I'd ever be able to work on an ultimate terry funk and here we are. So listen, if we get a year where you get to make us to terry funk figures, nothing, nothing is out of the realm of possibility. So that is true. All right. And our final Q and a question here comes from at Alex West collects.
01:10:23
Speaker
What goes into the thought process behind reuse of parts when designing a figure? And where do you draw the line and say, hey, we need a new part for this? For instance, Hogan's later run body shape compared to his earlier looks.
01:10:38
Speaker
So I think, and Bill will chime in here in a second, when you have an extremely unique look, whether it's body parts or ring gear or accessories, you want to prioritize that for your tooling expenses.
01:10:57
Speaker
When you have bodies that are kind of similar to other talent, that's your opportunity to you have to balance everything, right? So you balance everything out by choosing other body parts that may exist already. And then there's always the monkey wrench of part compatibility, right?
01:11:19
Speaker
Sometimes you have parts in mind and they're for some weird reason, you know, the connectors don't work or there's a gap, you know, when you put a torso onto a lower torso or there's too much height or too short. There's a lot of these variables that come into play. But I mean the fact that we have just like
01:11:43
Speaker
Endless part tools at our disposal and Bill's able to manage that is miraculous. Yeah, I've worked on so many figures now and we have so much existing tooling that
01:11:57
Speaker
But again, you come into situations where, let's say for someone like Yoko Zuna, obviously, and this is an extreme example, but it's like, there's not a lot of existing parts that will work with him, so you sort of have to figure out maybe hands, maybe feet, but everything else you have to do from scratch, whereas with other characters,
01:12:21
Speaker
You know the body types are similar you can reuse tooling make sure that you hit your tooling budget for the year which is very important which is one of the internal things that the people that are buying the toys don't have the exposure to that we have to hit a budget as much as I'd love to and as much as I might
01:12:45
Speaker
As a collector, I love to have it. As someone who's working on it, it would probably drive me crazy, but I can't 100% tool everything from scratch for each figure to get the nuance of, he has 14 laces on his boot, or this one has 15 laces. It's wrong. If we have an existing boot that works in between figures, that's part of my job too, is to manage that aspect of design as well.
01:13:14
Speaker
Uh, at this point we have, you know, years and years of, of tooling bank that we can draw upon so that we can, uh, when a situation calls where we can add the new tooling to, uh,
01:13:25
Speaker
to make sure it's most accurate. And I max out my tooling budget every year. I'm not skimping on tooling on anything. And if Steve will back that, because he's the one that has to maybe sometimes figure out where we're going to get some of this tooling money to balance the books, so to speak. Which Peter are we going to rob to pay for Paul, so to speak? Bill makes me sweat, like tooling budget.
01:13:53
Speaker
so you know i know i know alex we chat um you know bill probably knows alex as well i know what is getting at here obviously um you know he talked about hulk specifically and you know we we know there's a desire for an updated torso for for the you know two thousand
01:14:11
Speaker
Well, I guess NWO, right? And on. So, you know, it's something we're considering, but at the end of the day, we have to balance the tooling budget. And if we tool a brand new torso for him, that means, you know, do drop doesn't get made, right? Or someone who has like a lot of unique parts. So we have to just make those hard decisions sometimes. And, you know, we do explore alternate options. And like I said earlier, sometimes
01:14:38
Speaker
There's just like this weird compatibility issues or it causes height problems or whatever. So we're aware of certain desires for certain parts or new parts for people. And it's something we're always looking into. And when the time is right, maybe some specific talent can get upgrades.
01:15:01
Speaker
Well, with that, we've reached the end of our fan Q&A. So thank you everybody for submitting your questions. And that leads us to our final question.
Unique Collections of Steve and Bill
01:15:11
Speaker
So Dave, would you like to fulfill your role as this podcast's James Lipton and ask our final question? Yes, I would. The final question that we ask of all of our guests, what is your favorite and or strangest piece in your collection? It can be one of each.
01:15:31
Speaker
or it can be both.
01:15:53
Speaker
It was a long time and the fact that I was able to do it, the fact that I was able to meet Randy Savage to create the video that was shown at San Diego Comic Con in 2010 where that was announced and to sit in his living room and have him cut promos on how awesome the figure was and how much he liked the design and all the details. I mean, that's a memory that's so intrinsically
01:16:18
Speaker
Involved with that figure that even though now I think I could do a better version of a macho man from WrestleMania 7 in our ultimate line just based off of the advances in technology and the growth for our tool bank and a whole bunch of other things like I Think I can do about it. I think I can do that figure better, but I will never enjoy The process of creating a figure as much as that figure and
01:16:46
Speaker
And the strangest figure in my collection, uh, geez, um, I have a, there's a Charpro figure from Japan of, uh, uh, Razor Ramon HG, which, uh, I'm just going to leave that out there. You have to look it up. If I say any more about the character, I'll probably get in trouble, but, uh, I could believe this was made into an action figure.
01:17:10
Speaker
And so when I saw it was made into an action figure, the first time I was in Tokyo, I saw it in a store, I'm like, they made an action figure, this guy? I don't care how much this costs, this is definitely going home with me. And it's a very unusual character, and I own that, so that's probably the most unusual.
01:17:30
Speaker
Favorite figure? I mean, I was looking around the room as Bill was answering. I'm like, what the heck am I going to say? Because there's just stuff surrounding me. But, you know, maybe favorite figure would be the Ultimate Edition Hulk Hogan figure that just came out. Just knowing, you know, that that discovering that character as a kid, you know, that that character was so meaningful at the time.
01:17:57
Speaker
you know, standing for what's right and everything like that. And it just resonated to young me so much. And, you know, just being able to have an ultimate edition figure, a line that
01:18:08
Speaker
that I helped create with Bill of that character that changed the course of my life, made me fall in love with wrestling. That's probably the favorite thing that I own. And as far as weird things, I've been collecting, I usually take a trip to Mexico once a year and I've been collecting like bootleg figures from Mexico. So I have some Ninja Turtles and I have a weird
01:18:33
Speaker
Spider-Man and Green Goblin and most of them have these weird light-up features and the people who sell them to you are like really excited to show you the light-up features and I'm like you know like kind of it makes no sense but okay but most recently I bought this like little bagged set of Sesame Street characters and boy they look terrible but you know terrible paint they're translucent plastic for no reason
01:19:02
Speaker
Um, but it's all like the core character. So that's probably my favorite weird thing that I have right now awesome Well, listen guys, but before before we we sign off for the evening. Um Remind everybody where can we find you guys on the internet? And uh, and one more time where can we where can we pre-order that ultimate cody roads? Um, i'm down to instagram at bill makina Uh, i'm on there about the only social media I follow
01:19:32
Speaker
And, um, I'll let Steve, um, do the rest of the plugs. All right. Um, action figure attack on Instagram action, fig attack on Twitter.
01:19:46
Speaker
I'm on the forums, uh, the ringside forums under action figure attack. Um, I'm in a lot of the Facebook groups as well, just under my name, Steve Ozer. Um, I usually pop in with little nuggets of wisdom once in a while and then get, you know, maybe yelled at or whatever, um, for Cody Rhodes.
01:20:07
Speaker
Please jump on this opportunity. I say this sometimes, but we did this with the crowdfund. We're unlocking something really cool here. I think WWE has been lucky enough at Mattel to be pioneers of trying new things and paving the way.
01:20:27
Speaker
This open pre-order, made-to-order pre-sale is successful. Who knows what it can unlock for WWE and even other brands, right? Same thing went for that that crowdfund. The Motu team just announced that
01:20:45
Speaker
Eternia was coming at Comic Con so it's like a large place that like that You know, we kind of paved the way for something like that happening, right? By showing it was possible to do something big and expensive and get it out there So, you know you guys supporting things like crowd funds from us and and made to order pre-orders when it's the first time We're testing the waters and and you know, we're we're we're nervous and but excited at the possibilities so
01:21:14
Speaker
You know, make sure you head over to MattelCreations.com, support that open pre-order, pre-order the Cody Rhodes, and that pre-order runs through this Friday, 9th of 29th, ending at 11.59 Pacific time.
01:21:30
Speaker
And we'll make sure we put links to Cody, as well as where to follow you guys on social in the show notes. So that way, not that remembering MattelCreations.com is particularly difficult, but we'll make sure that we put links to that in the description below. So that way you guys can get to them nice and easy.
01:21:53
Speaker
Steve, Bill, thank you guys so much for joining us on Adventures in Collecting. It has been an absolute blast chatting with you. Let's do this again sometime. My pleasure as always. Dave, you want to send us home? Bye, everyone.
01:22:09
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.
01:22:26
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.
01:22:49
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.