Transcript
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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. Hi. Dave, welcome back. We're here. We're doing it again. Yeah. I mean, as we tend to do, as we have the
Speaker: the frequency to do. You know, I think technically we passed this in August. But I think that we've been doing this for three years now. I think we hit the three year mark. Did we? I think so. I think it's either you know, I forget all this time. It's either I just hit the button to look and it pulled up an episode and started playing that.
Speaker: That's that's funny. I mean, I think I think I can't remember anything. I have to look. It's August or September, I think. It is September six. OK, so so this episode will be airing like right. It'll be it. Yeah, this is the happy three years, Dave. Happy anniversary. Happy anniversary. Can you believe that that we're still doing this three years on? Um, yeah, actually, I actually can.
Speaker: Well, you know, I think last year we, we, we made the comment of saying like, I can't believe we committed to something for this, this long, but you know, I, I'm right. I think you're right. I also can believe that we're still doing this. Yeah. I figure if we've made it this far, like, you know, well, how could you not keep going? You're not wrong. You're not wrong.
Speaker: Um, so in, in, in an effort to continue not burying leads for three years. Um, three years of not burying leads. It's a shame. We don't have a t -shirt store. Maybe, maybe soon, maybe soon. But I, you know what, Dave? If you want that, leave it in the comments below. Yeah. If you want to, if you want to don't bury the lead shirt.
Speaker: And lead isn't spelled the way that you think it is in that. I think most people don't realize that it's a different lead. Yeah. So people would be like, what's a le day? I think. Yeah. Seeing it spelled out. But in our time -honored tradition, I am not going to bury the lead, even though this intro kind of was a burying of the lead of sorts.
Speaker: If we've said it before, Dave, we've, we've said it a million times. It has never been a better time to collect wrestling figures. Uh, whether it's the latest and greatest tech going into making the most realistic figures we've ever had or recapturing the magic of lines from decades past, there is no shortage of ways to collect nowadays. Uh, and Rush collectibles launched the pre -orders of their first series of ringmasters in the style of the classic Hasbro WWF figures back in June.
Speaker: and recently announced their extreme ringmasters in the style of original San Francisco Toymakers ECW figures. Joining us from Rush Collectibles is Sal. Sal, welcome to Adventures in Collecting. How's it going, guys? Thank you for the opportunity. Appreciate the time. Yeah, we're excited to have you, man. Yeah, thank you for being here. I'm excited to be on.
Speaker: So the first question that we ask all of our guests, uh, as this is a show about collecting, uh, what are you currently collecting? I'm an older fart. So I, uh, I collect a lot of the turtles, you know, growing up as a turtle kid. So I got, uh, you know, I collect a lot of the turtles on a big horror buff. Uh, as you can see from what we're developing in our line, um, but, uh, big Michael Meyers fan, um,
Speaker: So mainly turtles, I'm trying to collect the Hasbro's again. I never really had them as a kid. I had some growing up and not like, I kind of, you know, I got one or two during the Jax era when they were like in a comic book store, you would get them like in a bin, maybe you just grabbed one or two, mom says, okay. But I'm starting to collect the Hasbro's and turtles trying to get back into the turtles classics.
Speaker: Yeah, I just said it, but it's also never been a better time to be a Turtles collector. There is a feast of Ninja Turtles figures out there these days. Coming out with another movie soon. I think early next year there's a CGI movie coming. There's going to be tons of Turtle Mania all over again.
Speaker: I'm all for it. Like the two, you know, most, I would say like out there genres at this point are wrestling and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Like you, you have many different options when it comes to, to all of them. I mean, it's almost like if I want, if someone was smart enough to put the two together, Oh, he did that already. Yep.
Speaker: And you know what you mentioned Michael Myers so I got a I got a plug Plastic meatball. They have an amazing Kenner style 1978 I Think right now it's just three figures Yeah for Halloween Dave you have them, right? Yeah, they're they're pretty good. I like them a lot. It's a Michael Laurie and Linda
Speaker: Yeah, and they're awesome. And if you love that kind of like retro aesthetic, and especially like, you know, with Halloween and, you know, the horror genre, like from the card backs to the figures themselves, like, it's just like drips that that, you know, late 70s, early 80s. Kenner aesthetic. So yeah, they're awesome pieces. Yeah, you're talking about the reaction line.
Speaker: So classic meatball has, uh, it's, it's kind of like reaction figures, same, same sort of deal where they're the, that like, you know, three and three quarter or five points of articulation, like homage line. Um, but it's not the reaction figures. It's their, their own thing. Like they're officially licensed by, you know, with, uh, John Carpenter and Halloween and, you know, they have, they have their own figures. I have to check them out. They're within like the past year they've, they've come out. I have to check those out. Definitely have to check those out.
Speaker: Um, so when did Rush collectible start and why did you want to start a toy company? Cause I'm insane. Um, so, uh, we started in late 2019, early 2020, unfortunately. And I don't think I have to give anybody that story. Uh, you know, everything that happened with the world, everything kind of shut down and made things very difficult. Um, so we kind of held off. Um,
Speaker: In the very beginning of what we were originally going to do, we were going to come out with these little toys called mashers. And we were going to start our own little, like we were going to try to start another version of what would be the Funko Pop, but in these squishable foam toys. Um, we originally reached out to a lot of the wrestlers during the pandemic. A lot of them were like, I'm not sure. I don't know.
Speaker: So we decided to kind of hold off and then, you know, with everything happening with China, it was like, you know, let's, the time is not right right now. Fast forward, the world opens up late 2021. We wound up doing our first action figures of the miniature minifigures of the professional wrestlers from the game, pro wrestlers. And it's really been this,
Speaker: running race as, you know, since then, um, and, you know, developing, jumping into the Hasbro world now, you know, jumping into the extreme retros as I'm dubbing them, uh, into the world of horror. So it's been, uh, it's been an interesting ride. Um, you know, I'm hoping the wave continues. Um, but in other, you know, reasons and why I wanted to start a toy company, my partner and I, um,
Speaker: Really, you know, we're, we're, we're fans of action figures and toys. I mean, there's not a time where I don't walk into a Walmart and target and say, I'm just going to take a stroll down the toy aisle, you know, whether I buy something or not. So it just, it was always one of those little, uh, bucket list things that I just said, Hey, you know, I always wanted to try it. Let's see if we can do it. And, uh, we're doing it and it's, and it's working and it's, uh, it's really been an amazing experience, uh, thus far.
Speaker: So it's, it's, it's interesting cause you know, you said in terms of the things that you, you personally collect, you know, obviously you're into horror and we'll get into the horror end of this a little bit later, but why, why wrestling figures? Do you have a, like a close relationship with, you know, with professional wrestling or, you know, I mean, growing up, you know, I was a huge, everybody was, I mean, if you weren't a wrestling fan in the late mid to late nineties, I mean, you were under a rock.
Speaker: Um, wrestling really was everybody I knew, you know, they were at home on Monday night watching with their whole entire family. And it was, and it wasn't, you know, just like, Hey, I'm a fan. I watch wrestling. It was a family event, really, you know? Um,
Speaker: When I, when we would watch Monday nights, it was, you know, I was sitting there with my dad, with my mom, with my sisters, with my brother. And we were literally sitting there for two, three hours when I joined three hours, but, uh, watching wrestling and it was really a family event, um, every week and a pay -per -view on the weekend or Thursday when Thunder and SmackDown. So, you know, I've always been a fan of wrestling growing up during the Hogan era, uh,
Speaker: just always being a fan and both of us are fans and we, when deciding whether or not we were going to jump into a specific genre, we just said, well, maybe wrestling would be the nice jumping off point. And then when we finally, we thought of a couple of ideas, one of them being, uh, taking the old, uh, GI Joe style of action figure and trying to maybe turn that into wrestlers. And after we kind of.
Speaker: sat back and said, we can't get guys like the Ultimate Warrior and Bret Hart and guys like that. It just didn't make sense to start a brand new collection of figures for something that people would have to just dive in and really not be able to fill their lineup completely. So when we came into a thinking, well, what are we going to do? The Hasbros were kind of that first initial
Speaker: light bulb that said, Hey, you know, that's the direction we should take. Um, and you know, that's where we've been going. So it's, it's actually been going pretty good so far. We've got a lot of talent under our umbrella right now and, uh, it's, it's been great so far. It's so funny. You mentioned the, the kind of family aspect of it. Cause it always kind of seemed like, uh, whenever we had weekend, like
Speaker: family gatherings, you know, we had family coming in when we were kids, you know, from from New York or, or, you know, even from just kind of other parts of Jersey, it always kind of seemed to land on a pay -per -view night. And, you know, all and it was the same thing, like all of us, like even during the attitude era when, you know, it was very much so not family friendly entertainment. I mean, it was a family event, though, like, like we, you know, glued to the TV.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure. Even like, you know, by the time I got to college and things like that, we would just like gather together to watch, you know, wrestling on Monday. And there were two TVs and you know, okay, let's get the two TVs in because we can watch both shows. So with, with so many companies, uh, you know, kind of making wrestling figures right now, um, what, what do you think really differentiates what rush collectibles is doing from, you know, the rest of the field?
Speaker: Well, I think, you know, I mean, you see what's going on out there. Everybody pretty much in their mother is doing a retro line of some kind. It's kind of the big thing right now. But I think what separates us is that we have our unique way of thinking about these lines. So if, for example, if we stay in the retro world, the Hasbro world, you know, you already kind of see what we bring to the table in terms of
Speaker: difference in our monster masters line. So we're trying to think outside the box as opposed to just coming in here and just doing a bunch of wrestlers like everybody else is doing, which is cool. And everybody's eating it up and everybody loves it. But I think we want to kind of spread that, spread the look of the retro Hasbro figure out
Speaker: to different genres and different licenses, starting with the classic horror characters like Frankenstein, The Mummy, Wolfman, Dracula, Nosferatu. We're gonna be doing, I haven't released a concept art yet, but we're gonna be doing a Cthulhu. So we're really,
Speaker: doing some really cool, interesting things with the look. We also signed some licenses in the horror world for the specific style of action figure. So I think what Rush brings to the table in terms of difference from every other company is where we're trying to spread what the Hasbro's were into different genres. And I think we
Speaker: as a company are coming up with some of the most unique and creative ideas that's out there today, I believe. I didn't realize that. I did not realize looking at the renders that the monster figures were in that same Hasbro WWF scale. Yeah, they're in the same scale, the same kind of length and body poses. And yeah, they're going to be in the,
Speaker: the retro style. Oh man, that's awesome. The, the, the, the figure fed of our dreams, Dave. Now, do you see those going into like that, you know, ECW style too, or just kind of living in that, that retro world? Well, you know, it all really depends on, you know, the data we have, right? What do we know about the data we have right now? We do know that the retros are hot. Every, you know, it's a hot market right now.
Speaker: for the retros. Do I believe it's going to be a hot market forever? No. I see it kind of dipping in two years, a year and a half, two years. But while we're in this hot market, it kind of makes sense to kind of bring these different genres and licenses into it to try to expand on it. Now, will we see it in the extreme retro style? Maybe. If the extreme retros hit,
Speaker: and they kind of take off and they have their legs. Most definitely. Um, but you know, we're the first to kind of jump back in to this specific genre of wrestling figure. Um, so we don't know how it's going to perform yet, but, um, if it has some legs and then it takes off, we're hoping bill is, is, is a hit because he's going to be the first release.
Speaker: then yeah, I would love to jump in there and kind of throw a Frankenstein in ECW style. Why not? It could be really, really interesting and fun. And besides just the wrestlers, we do have some concepts and stuff that we might be producing for the horror line of it in that we have a concept for a monster master's ring.
Speaker: So, you know, instead of being your traditional ring, I don't have the artwork in front of me. I should have put it up from the very beginning, but, you know, it has horror elements to it. It's not just a ring. Like, for example, instead of just being a flat mat, it looks like creaking wood flooring. In the middle of the ring, there's like a mouth so you can put the figures in there. The posts look like tree trunks, you know? So, you know, we really want to take
Speaker: that retro style and kind of expand on it and kind of have some fun with it. I think you know you see with Chella and Chella and Chella is doing some great stuff and Zombie's doing some good stuff and then there's that there's another company I can't remember their name I wish I uh CFW or something along those lines. They're all doing some great figures but I think everybody
Speaker: And I think, from the very beginning here, like we were saying, what does Rush bring to the table that's different? And I think it's the uniqueness of what we're presenting is what makes us unique and separates us from the pack. And now, a word from our sponsors.
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Speaker: And now back to the show. Yeah, that's that's wild. I honestly like thinking like a lot of fun. Yeah. And, you know, you mentioned, you know, that, you know, everyone kind of gravitates towards that that Hasbro WWF retro style because it's kind of it's like the figure line. Like that's the one that everyone kind of has. It's either that or if you're an older generation, you know, the L J N's. But, you know, it's interesting that you guys are looking into
Speaker: You're not looking into but that you guys are reviving the original San Francisco toy makers ECW figures because I feel like those never really had a chance to You know, I don't want to say a chance to succeed because they you know, they did have several waves But you know, they didn't have the same footprint that the Hasbro WWF's did and I think Looking back on it now like those figures were excellent
Speaker: those ECW figures. Those figures were gorgeous. I have a Chris Candido on my desk just looking at them and the amount of detail on this thing. I was saying this in another podcast, but the amount of detail and the realism and the
Speaker: the light the ability to get as close as they did with the likenesses really for that time period before jacks kind of did the real the real scans um is really unprecedented because i mean if you look at you know what jacks was doing at the time with the uh um the bone crunchers and even what wcw was doing with marvel everything was cartoony everything was kind of
Speaker: You know, it resembled Steve Austin, but it didn't look exactly like Steve Austin. And ECW kind of threw their figures out there, you know, the original San Francisco Toymakers. And I think they kind of hung their hat up on saying, hey, if you're buying one of our action figures, you're getting an action figure that looks just like Sabu, or looks just like Rob Van Dam. I mean, the figures just had so much detail.
Speaker: And I think they had to be that way in order to stand out because that market was just being crushed by WWE and WCW. So and I think they definitely they definitely hit the mark because I mean, we're over here about to revive the line. So. Yeah, I mean, they're they're just gorgeous figures. Yeah, and they scaled like close enough so you could play with them with the Jax and with the
Speaker: the Marvel Toy Biz ones, they were very underrated. Yeah, no, I agree. They're six inches tall, same size as the WCW figures, same size as the bone crunchers. They do mess with scaling every now and then you might get a figure that's
Speaker: way bigger than they should be. Like, for example, Bubba Ray Dudley, for some reason, looks like the big show. Yeah, he's huge. And Yvonne was tiny. Yeah, Yvonne was tiny. I think he was like five and a half inches tall, you know? So their scaling was off. But where they lacked in that scaling, they definitely made up for it in detail. And I mean, they're just really beautifully crafted, you know, action figures.
Speaker: Yeah, so, and like we were saying, both the Hasbro's and the original San Francisco Toy Maker figure formats are iconic. They just are, you know what you're looking at when you see them. What goes into making sure the design of the Ringmasters captures the essence of what they're paying homage to? So, with the Ringmasters, now when you say Ringmasters, our Ringmasters line is the retro. Hasbro style. Yes, and then our Extreme Ring, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker: Um, so are you talking about the Hasbro ones or are you talking about the, uh, extreme ones? Both. Okay. So yeah, so we just try to pay it as much attention as we possibly can to get the likenesses down. And, you know, sometimes we don't always get it right on the mark. You know, Jonah's an example of that. If you look at our Instagram, you know, we did update the sculpt for Jonah to resemble him even closer. And I think we definitely got it spot on now. It looks just like him.
Speaker: Um, but, uh, yeah, I mean, it's, it's those little details that I think, uh, where we are going to have to look out for to make sure that these, these figures kind of, uh, craft well with the others. Now, is there a certain level of, um, like kind of reverse engineering, you know, in terms of getting the figures to kind of have that.
Speaker: That same kind of feel and function, like, are you, are you taking examples of like the Hasbro figures, like in those classic poses? Like I always think of like the first two Hasbro's I think of are like the ultimate warrior with like the gorilla press, you know, play feature and, you know, uh, and, and Hogan with the, uh, kind of like the, the bear hug, uh, motion.
Speaker: or even like the ECW ones with the play features. And they kind of just have that level of feel and articulation to them. Are you guys reverse engineering to kind of have the same experience? So when it comes down to action features, I mean, even Chella and Zombie, they don't have action features in their action figures. And it's because nowadays it's just a very expensive process as opposed to what it was then.
Speaker: So our figures will not have the action features and I think the market kind of understands that nowadays. But outside of the action features, aesthetically they're going to look just like
Speaker: For example, these the extreme retros are going to look just like you can just take one and just put it like it came out in 1999, 2000. And then when it comes down to the to the retro, the the ringmasters, the retro ringmasters, we're not trying to follow like the iconic poses that were kind of put before us. You know, I no offense to like zombie. I know in or anybody else.
Speaker: I don't want to, I don't want to do, let's say for example, let's say I had a, I'm just thinking of a wrestler. I don't know. Bart Gunn, I'm just throwing Bart Gunn out there and put him in a Hulk Hogan type pose.
Speaker: And not because it's wrong for the character and the figure, but because I want our figures to be unique to themselves. So, you know, you see like, you know, Chella is kind of, you know, they're doing the Macho Man action figure, body style, or they're doing, or zombies doing the Hulk Hogan, Gorilla Press style. And that's all good and dandy. And that's cool. But I think what you get from Rush, just like we were saying before, is that what we bring to the table is uniqueness.
Speaker: And, uh, our figures are all going to have a uniqueness to them. And I think that's what we've been doing so far. Well, I mean, that's definitely a differentiating factor, you know, and, and, you know, mixes it up. That's, you know, that's a, that's an interesting play. Yeah. I mean, plus, you know, it gives you something different than saying, Oh, okay. That, you know, for example, James Storm, that's, I remember that same pose when Bret Hart had that pose.
Speaker: Well, you don't because when you look at James Storm's pose, that's James Storm's pose. You know, so we really we really want our figures to kind of stand on their own. Yeah, I love the the speaking of like kind of the the pre poses. I love the one that you guys picked for Jonah. Like that's a that's a very like it looks like.
Speaker: It looks like he would, yeah, where his hand is out, he has his hand kind of facing out, where he's like opening his hand just like he would in real life. So when you look at it, you go, oh, that's Jonah. For example, when we released the image of the back of the character, of the figure, the 3D image, everybody immediately knew it was Jonah because the arm was reaching out.
Speaker: from the back to the front, but you can see it in the back, you know? So everybody was like, oh, my God, Joan is coming. So, yeah, so our figures kind of have that uniqueness and and just like, you know, we're big into storytelling. So I think they tell a story for each individual figure. And it's cool, too, because it kind of almost rewrites the rules of like this has there has to be a jumper style figure or
Speaker: you know, a Gorilla Press style or the clothesline. Those are the three that, you know, you remember the most and the punch, like the spring kind of loaded punch one. It almost says like, hey, this can be whatever it is, you know? Or yeah, it can be whatever you want it to be, you know? Yeah. And I think that's what's cool about being a fan, you know, in collecting these. And we're just trying to give every, you know, the consumer options in terms of
Speaker: Uh, newness. I mean, hell even the right answer is everything's the right answer. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. That's a, that's a great way to put it. T -shirt. I'm making a T -shirt. There you go. And I was going to say, you know, like even, even Mattel, you know, producing the, you know, the, the kind of like the, you know, official retros for the, for the lack of a better term, even, even they're, you know, putting in new play features and new poses, like, like a kick.
Speaker: It's been, these figures have been in kind of the pop culture consciousness now for what? 40 years? Almost 40 years. Right? So it's about time that we start looking at things a little bit differently and figuring out how to put kind of a unique spin on something that we all kind of love with this unbridled sense of collecting. Yeah, it's like taking it, not straying too far from it,
Speaker: but straying enough to where you look at it and you say, okay, that's still a retro, that still fits in the line. Some of the figures had articulation back in the day, maybe there was an arm,
Speaker: that was able to kind of bend, you know, but you never really saw fully articulated retros. And I'm not saying that wouldn't be cool, but I think when you start doing things like that and you start going, straying too far from the line, it's not a retro anymore.
Speaker: You know, so and you know, like some one of our competition, they're doing fully articulated versions of these figures. And I feel like as someone who is now continue, you know, collecting them again, as I'm getting older, you lose something when you take them too far out. For example, if you're giving them
Speaker: articulation all over their body. Like even some of the retros that came out through Mattel, I think kind of stray a little too far. You know, for example, where both legs bend and you're able to sit the figure down, you know. I feel like you're taking some of the charm away from these figures.
Speaker: And that's just my opinion, you know, but I think if you're able to just kind of take what's there, do something fresh with it, I think it still is a retro in my opinion. So sticking with the kind of the design here, you know,
Speaker: Tell us a little bit about the design process itself. Who are the artists that you're using to kind of sculpt these? Just tell us a little bit about that part of the process. So we have like a 50 man team here. No, I'm just joking. And also what makes us unique and what makes us such a great little business is that
Speaker: unlike, you know, and I don't know, but unlike some of the other guys that are out there, you know, and then even Mattel, what makes us different is, and I'll be completely frank, you know, there's one artist here, and that's me doing all the artwork. So from the artwork, concept artwork, marketing, advertising, website design, 3D modeling, it's all me. And what's great about that is that
Speaker: It's coming from one person's mind who understands what needs to be done. And it's also a good thing because of the fact that it helps us with speed. So if I don't have to go to a 3D modeler and say, hey, I need this by Wednesday, I can have it by Monday if I wanted to.
Speaker: I don't have to go to a package designer and say, hey, I need packaging and because I can just do it myself. And I think that's what makes us unique in terms of not only financials, but, you know, for example, Brian Myers, who we just signed for the for our extreme retros, the the ring, the extreme ringmasters line. You know, we signed him like on Wednesday or Thursday of last week.
Speaker: you know, we were able to get him concept artwork by like Thursday, Friday so that they can, they can present it at their live 14 show. So that's what makes us unique in that I don't have to go to anybody. I can get it right there. And then, you know, when I was showing him the artwork, literally he's given me critiques and as he's saying them, I'm doing them. I don't have to wait another day to, you know, all my, my employees coming in to do it. And I think that's, that's what makes us unique in that.
Speaker: The way the wait time is going to be much shorter in terms of when we sign a new talent, like we're about to release a Sabu concept to our workers. We just signed Sabu literally. He's literally the, the ink is still wet on the paper. So, um, it's, uh, for us, you know, the artwork is all coming through me and you know, the process really to create these figures.
Speaker: First, we acquire our talent. We create a concept sketch similar to what you see from the Brian Myers artwork. They give us their critiques. Of course, I do them right there and then. Get them out.
Speaker: They approve it, and then from there, the 3D model is going. For example, Bill Alfonso's 3D model, and we signed him two weeks ago, is almost done. I'm just working on the head now. You're going to be getting a sample of that in at least another month or two, a physical sample that everybody's going to release to the public to show everybody.
Speaker: That's really the process here in terms of for our business. We're trying to keep it small so that, of course, it's financially doable in the beginning. And at least for right now, it's all coming from one person's mind. And I think that's a good thing. You don't have someone who is going to slack on the sculpt on the face because they're putting too many hours in in the day.
Speaker: I'm running the business with my partner, so I'm going to put as much time and effort and detail into those scopes as I possibly can and you're going to get a better product because of it. Sal, you're the one who's burying the lead here, man. We didn't know you were the designer on this. Yeah, I'm everything except, so there's two of us. My partner does the dealing with overseas pricing, negotiating and prices, shipping, things like that.
Speaker: And I deal with, uh, the artwork, all artwork, everything you see coming out of rush with, like I said, whether it be marketing, uh, 3d models, everything. And I deal with the talent acquisitions. So, so is your is like, have you done any other design work in, in the toy industry prior to this, or is this really kind of your first, uh, your first foray into, into toys?
Speaker: So let's say that I did, but I didn't because I can't say, but, uh, I've been working in the licensing industry for 16 years. So I've been, I've been working with some of the largest licenses on the planet from your marvels to your DCs.
Speaker: to, of course, your horror licenses, Friday the 13th, your Nightmare on Elm Street. I'm just naming them off. So Warner Brothers, Universal, everything down to Hello Kitty. I've worked on all those properties. And jumping into this, so in terms of, is this my first forte into action figures? Yes.
Speaker: Is it my first forte in the toys? No. But action figures, yes. So it's sort of a new venture. It's exciting. It's challenging all at the same time, but I'm ready for those challenges. And I think we're doing one hell of a job at meeting those challenges. Thank you. We've already talked about the wide array of talent.
Speaker: You know, somebody like a legend like Larry Zabisco or Maurice Talay to, you know, somebody modern like Jonah and Brian Myers. How are you determining who to work with and what line they fall into? Oh, whoever is willing to sign my contracts. No, I'm just joking. That's a joke. We would like figures. Let's. I just contact. I've been contacting everybody on the face of the planet saying figure, please. No.
Speaker: No. Sign here. Sign here, action figure. No, really, you know, we're choosing based on, you know, we're fans as well of the industry. So we're picking people that we're fans of because, you know, especially me, if I'm doing these sculpts and these concepts in this artwork, I'm going to put more love into it if I'm a fan of these guys, if I have some sort of emotional connection to it.
Speaker: Um, and also, you know, who we think would sell, you know, you know, we're not naive, you know, we understand the business part of it as well. Um, so the guys that we have, we, we believe these are the talent that, that we're going after. And not everybody we go after says yes, you know, but the, uh, the ones that we want to go after that do say yes, like the Larry's Abiscos of the world. Um.
Speaker: You know, it just, it gets us excited that, hey, we're, you know, we're fans of Larry and shoot, we get to do an action figure now of him. I'm going to, I'm going to put everything I got into it. So really it's the, it's determined by who we feel would sell and who we are kind of fans of at the same time.
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.
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. You know, now that you have the two differentiating lines, do you give people an option? Like, hey, well, you could be a Hasbro, or you could be an original San Francisco Toymaker.
Speaker: Pick one. Uh, you shall not pass. Um, no, we don't give them like the option to say, Hey, you know, do you want to do both? It depends on the wrestler. So like, for example, um, I'm trying to think of one guy, Jonah, for example, we do have him signed for both.
Speaker: Now, right now all we put out was the retro because we feel like that's what he fits into right now. But some of them we have contracted for just retros because maybe they have a contract with someone else that they can't do a six inch action figure. So that kind of takes that off the table. And then, you know, you reach out to some of these guys and they say, hey, I can't do a four and a half inch figure, five inch figure.
Speaker: But I can do a six inch action thing. Maybe they're signed with Zombie. I'm just throwing out some Zombie and we're able to get them for another type of action thing. So it really depends on what their contract status is, if at all.
Speaker: where we feel they fit into line. So if we reach out to somebody and we say, hey, we want to do a retro action figure of you, oh, I'm signed with this guy. Could you do one of the other guy? Well, we don't think you fit into that line. So maybe we'll hold off until maybe your contract is ended. If, you know, you get an action figure with that, that other company, um, you know, whether it be Chella, Zombie, Mattel, whatever. Um, so yeah, it's really determined.
Speaker: by contract and who we feel would fit into each line. And I know that's a long winded answer. No, I mean, I think so. One of the things that we, we love about this process is, you know, as collectors, a lot of times I feel like people don't realize the, the kind of like back end red tape logistics, you know, whatever, whatever word you want to throw behind kind of the licensing, it's just like figure online pre -order figure on shelf.
Speaker: You know, like it kind of just goes, you know, that process. So I think like having these conversations and kind of letting people into, you know, uh, you know, the, the, the concept of licensing and how that works is, is really interesting because I'm sure a lot of people saw, you know, that the Brian Myers announcement. You know, for the, uh, the ECW style figure and anyone that follows Brian knows that he has the ECW podcast that he does like the spinoff from, from major wrestling figure podcast.
Speaker: And how big he is into the original San Francisco toy makers, you know, line. So like seeing him get a figure for that line makes perfect sense. Like, like makes perfect sense. And that's the reason why I reached out to Brian, you know, so yeah. So, I mean, we're not naive, you know, we listened to the podcasts and everything as well. So, um,
Speaker: Well, you know, I reached out to him specifically because it's just like I was saying with the poses with Jonah, he has his hand out, right? We want to tell a story with these action figures and some of them are through poses, some of them through the actual real life story of something that's been
Speaker: Going on for almost 40 years of someone's life and now they're finally gonna get it and that's where Brian kind of comes in You know, and I think it's a great feel -good story Here's this guy who loved ECW like there's no tomorrow. I think there's tons of those people out there, but here's a guy who still collects the action figures and in his you know in his late mid 30s and
Speaker: And it's more specifically ECW. I mean, he has statues to certain wrestlers in his room. They're custom statues, you know? He even makes some sort of custom figures out of the old figures because he wants, for example, an adjusting credible without a shirt on, you know, as a 30 plus year old man. And that just goes to show you his fandom. And I think by adding him into the line, just like you said, it makes total sense.
Speaker: And, you know, it's a great feel good story, you know, and that's how we're going to market it. And that's how we're going to push it. Or even someone like, you know, like a Larry Zabisco, who it's his first figure since a Remco, I believe. So no, no, no, he, uh, did he have a UK glue?
Speaker: No, he had a, uh, I think a WWE legends. He did have it in a Mattel. That's right. Yeah. When he, when he wins the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. But still him having a retro, you know, like in that, that scale, like it makes perfect sense. That's a, that's where I was going was he missed a glue. So like, and then, and then, and then that's the thing we want to kind of.
Speaker: We wanna do, because we're the first at this, and we're so far the only ones, and I'm hoping we're the only ones forever, but just like what's going on with the retros, the goal is to do the ECW guys that never got an action figure, the ones that would be available to us. Some of these guys are under contract to certain companies and are exclusive, so we can't get everybody. At some point, we will.
Speaker: but what we want to do is we want to take this and just like the retros um we want to expand it you know like how cool would it be let's just say if like you just said we can get a Larry Zabisco uh extreme figure you know now the story does make sense because he was part of the dangerous alliance at one point in WCW but um
Speaker: or even let's say, I'm just throwing it out, but let's just say a roadblock in the ECW style. I say, why the heck not? If you can expand your line and kind of fill out this line with all these other characters in this different style, it should make no difference whether it's the retro or it's the extreme retro. It's just building out those lines and kind of adding to them. Like for example, we're trying to reach out to Sid
Speaker: to try to get him into the, uh, the extreme retro line. Uh, and we're also reaching out to trying to reach out to Jeff Jones. So, um, you know, we got some really cool stuff coming that we haven't announced. And, but, but I think this line can really go anywhere. Just like you were saying before, why not put a Frankenstein in there? You know, um, it just, it just makes sense to kind of give an, give options for collectors to kind of.
Speaker: Fill out these lines, you know Well bringing bringing Bill Alfonso to the the extreme ringmasters Line really kind of filled a big gap, you know And I'm sitting here as somebody who still has my my RVD and and Sabu So yeah, I can't wait to see kind of that figure You know in that line because like they you know, they they really only stuck with wrestlers. They didn't really get into managers or anything Did you always have him?
Speaker: in mind as the talent you wanted to launch that line with? Well, there were five guys that we wanted initially to start with. Two of those we did get.
Speaker: Uh, off the bat, um, one being Bill because he does have, you know, he wasn't the manager of Taz. He was the manager of Sabu and he was the manager of Rob Van Dam. So it makes sense, you know, and that whistle that he comes with is going to be able to go into his mouth as well. Um, so it's, it's going to be a cool little figure. Uh, you know, we also, uh, got Joel Gurdner as well, who was another one that I kind of wanted to get in there.
Speaker: will kind of manage the Dudley's and there's already Dudley figures, so you just fit them right in. And there are some others that we were trying to reach out. For example, Joey Stiles, he's almost like a ghost. He's very hard to get in touch with. Nobody speaks to him anymore. He just kind of dropped off the face of the earth, wants nothing to do with professional wrestling, and that's fine. But it would be great to, let's say,
Speaker: with the microphone of some sort. Of course, at some point, hopefully, when his WWE contract ends, we would love to get Paul Hammond. I mean, I'd pay him so much money just to get the rights to do his figure. And there's a couple of other guys that were on our list originally. Some we got, some we didn't, some we haven't even announced.
Speaker: Um, a summer, summer under contract with other people exclusivity. Um, but yeah, bill was definitely, was in that top five guys that we wanted to get rich. Just because he, he, you know, a very smart person once told me that, and this is why we're jumping into the ECW type figures is that if you can find that the empty space and fill it.
Speaker: you're going to you're going to have a successful whatever, whether it be business or friendship, relationship, whatever. If you can find the empty space anywhere and fill it, you're going to have some sort of success in that or whatever you're doing. And I think that's what we're trying to do with this ECW line. That's what Bill Alfonso represents is that he fills that space
Speaker: for those three action figures that never got that manager. And it's funny, he was actually telling us a story about how he went to the actual studio for the toy company and they took all the pictures. They showed him a sculpt of his head. So there's a sculpt out there of the head of Bill Alfonso somewhere, maybe in the garbage now, who knows, but there's something, you know, he was gonna get an action figure right before
Speaker: The line ended. Wow. And unfortunately the line ended so he didn't get. Well, fortunately for you. And that's why we're here. No, I mean, that was, that was the first thing I thought when I, when I saw that announcement was like, Oh my God, I didn't realize that I like always wanted this figure. And now like, here's the chance. And that's kind of like what we're going off of our, you know, I was talking to my partner the other day and I was like,
Speaker: our slogan should just be the figure you never knew you wanted. Because that's what we're kind of doing here. Did you know you wanted a Jonah in the retro style? No, but hey, people are buying it. So it's kind of a fun little thing. But yeah, to be able to fill that gap now,
Speaker: And then also to potentially bring out the figures that we saw prototypes of that never got released, like the Sabu with the head garb on the action figure, that figure's coming now. And there's other figures that you've seen samples on online that are gonna come now. So like I said, if you can find a way to fill the empty space
Speaker: which is what we're doing. And I think it's, and so far it's, it's getting so much attention. I think, I think this is really going to be a something we can hang our flag on, you know? And managers and you know, other kind of non -wrestling personnel, we're always missed in some of these lines. So Fonzie is just, it's, it's a great, it's a great pick.
Speaker: Yeah, and that's only because a lot of these companies never really got into the whole idea of a manager will sell. Now, excluding the LJN line, where they did have managers in there, but if you look at the Hasbro line, the original Hasbro line, there were no managers at all. It was just wrestlers. And the same thing with lines that you saw years later, even the Jax line,
Speaker: You got some managers every now and then you got a little treat, but you never got like, you know, they were never in a big supply. You know, like today you can, you know, there's like four or five Paul Bearers out there, you know? Um, you would have never seen that then, you know? And I think that's what's so cool about now is that especially if you're a collector of, of all these different lines and styles, you really never know now what you're going to get, you know?
Speaker: You know, you know, I'm not trying to quote Forrest Gump here, but you know, this is like a box of chocolates. You open it up, you never know what you're going to get out of it. So, um, it's, it's a, it's a, it's an interesting time to be a fan of this, of this collect of the collecting. And it's, uh, it's an interesting time to be a fan of professional wrestling figures. Cause you can, you're getting stuff that you never thought you'd ever see, you know? Well, if anyone out there.
Speaker: knows how sal can get in touch with uh with one joey styles oh yeah please please please reach out to us and we'll make sure that uh that sal gets that uh it gets that information or in just a moment we'll get to the plugs and and sal will let you know where uh where where you can find them but before we we hit those plugs and um and and let sal go for the evening dave
Speaker: Would you like to fulfill your role as this podcast's James Lipton and ask our final question? Why, yes, I would. So the final question we ask to all of our guests, what is your strangest and or favorite piece in your collection? It can be one of each or it can be both. Strangest piece. I don't know if I have the strangest
Speaker: piece because everything I'm collecting is pretty much from giant lines. So I don't have anything that's like a custom or, or anything that's really out there to tell you the truth. I don't know if I have an answer for that. Well, if it's not strangest, what's your, what's your favorite? The original release Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Leonardo. Oh, you're a Leo guy.
Speaker: Unfortunately, man, and I felt Ralph is right there. Raph's right there, but I like Leo I'm a Donnie guy, man. I like that. He does machines So so do a lot of people today Just so to a lot of people today and not in the way you're thinking Hey, yo, yeah, I was I was a Michelangelo fan. It's yeah party dude, okay
Speaker: Party dude, fun loving party dude, you know, always looking for the food stuff like that. Yeah. He honestly, though, he can't go as much as we make the joke. Every time somebody says they're a Leo guy, you can't go wrong with Leo. He's, he's got the Katanas, you know, you can't go wrong with Leo because if you ever look at the whole line right over the course of the, and we're talking about every line.
Speaker: that's ever come out of Ninja Turtles. Whenever they did a special edition of something, it was always Leonardo. I don't know if you ever noticed that. That's because he's a leader. I mean, they always... Well, that's why I like Leo, because I'm a leader. There you go. Hey, there you go. Yeah. Well, Sal, before we let you go, please let our listeners know where can they find you on the internet? Where can they pre -order figures? Where can they find all the things?
Speaker: So you can find this on Facebook at Rush Toys. You can find us on Instagram at Rush Collectibles. You can find us on Twitter at Rush Collectibles. Right now we have our pre -orders up for Jonah, AKA Bronson Reed of NXT fame, now on New Japan. You've seen him in the G1.
Speaker: Um, we have those, uh, pre -orders available up on our own website, hooked on tees .com. Uh, we also have it available on the asylum wrestling store .com and rock and roll collectibles for all your UK collectors. You go to rock and roll collectibles .com. You can purchase it there as well. And note there's only, we're only producing five to 600 of these figures. So.
Speaker: That's all that's going to be out there. They are in multiple colorways, but the minimum order is being divided into those colorways. So whichever one you get, you might have pretty much a limited edition figure, not even realize it.
Speaker: Awesome. Well, we'll make sure to put links to all of those things in the show notes so that you guys can just go ahead and click and click those follow buttons and click that pre -order button too. Sal, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us tonight. You guys are definitely doing something unique with a unique spin over there and we can't wait to see what comes next. Thank you. I can't wait to see what comes next. I don't even know what's coming next.
Speaker: Dave, send us home. Good night, everyone. Or good morning, depending on when you're listening to this.
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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.
