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Celebrating 35 Years of Super Mario
397 Plays5 years ago
On this episode, Dave and Erik cover a few weeks of toy news following two weeks of guest interviews, their recent hauls and pickups, and for the main topic, discuss 35 years of the transcendent pop culture icon that is Nintendo's mascot and the world's favorite plumber - Mario! Let's go!
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Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Adventures in Collecting'
00:00:06
Speaker
are you ready kids get your parents permission check your mailbox and grab your shopping cart it's time for the adventures and collecting podcast
00:00:33
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.
Reflections on Past Interviews
00:00:47
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. We are back. Hello, everyone. Oh, no hi this week? Yeah, I wanted to mix it up.
00:01:00
Speaker
Man, you're just throwing curves out there. Straight up throwing curves. Well, welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. It has been, well, first of all, don't get used to three weeks in a row of episodes. Yeah.
00:01:17
Speaker
Um, but while we're talking about the last three weeks, uh, once again, a big thank you to, uh, to Justin and Bluefin and Lenny and Hasbro for, uh, for joining us, uh, on the, on the podcast. It was insanely awesome to have them on, uh, two weeks in a row. I hope you guys enjoyed the interviews. Um, I can assure you that we had as much fun, um, doing them as it sounded. Yeah. I listened to, uh,
00:01:48
Speaker
the episode with Lenny, it was really good.
00:01:57
Speaker
Sitting across from the table from Todd McFarlane and being able to connect directly with somebody from Hasbro on lines that are as iconic as G.I. Joe and Transformers, like real pinch me moments. So, you know, I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed having that conversation with him.
00:02:22
Speaker
Um, that being said, uh, we're, we're back for a, uh, a normal, regular, uh, plain old average episode, Dave. Um, no, no leads to Barry this week. No kicking it old school on today's episode. We will be talking.
Discussing Toy Acquisitions and Super Mario Anniversary
00:02:40
Speaker
Toy news and halls. There has been a lot going on. Um, Dave and I have both picked up a considerable amount of stuff since the last time we chatted about it.
00:02:50
Speaker
And then for our main topic, um, this year, so 2020 is the 35th anniversary of super Mario. It's me, Mario. And, uh, we are going to talk about everyone's favorite fictional plumber today. Um, because video games are absolutely toys and it's not a topic that we tend to cover very frequently. Um,
00:03:15
Speaker
But, uh, you know, he has had a lot of toys over the years. There are a lot of fun, new toys that are out now and, and Mario is as popular as he has ever been. So, um, when we get there, we are going to talk about Mario. And, uh, the first question, Dave, do you say Mario or Mario? Uh, Mario. Yeah. I kind of go back and forth today. Today's a very Mario day for me, but I, I know I definitely have said Mario.
Naming the Podcast Avatar and Contest Details
00:03:43
Speaker
in the past. It's funny, I've never, like I've had a couple friends named Mario. Yeah. I've never called them Mario, like the cartoon plumber from Nintendo, video game plumber, I messed that up. No, you got it, he's Nintendo video game plumber, you got it. You've never called him Mario. I called him a cartoon too. Well, he was. Yeah, it drew it, Captain Lou.
00:04:13
Speaker
Don't mind me, I'm tired, everybody. We all are. It's been a week. It's been a week. I think I broke my toe yesterday. We were not gonna get into it, but it's been a week. Real quick, before we jump into the news and hauls, though, we have a small announcement, teeny tiny announcement. We decided to make a tweak to our adventures in collecting aesthetic, and we changed up our logo a little bit and introduced a new avatar to represent the show.
00:04:42
Speaker
Um, thanks to a friend of the pod, best friend of the pod, often contributor, uh, Dave P from calling all creeps who had a really nice long brainstorming session. Um, with, with me about it. And we came up with this like old school microphone head style avatar. The only problem is he does not have a name. So we need to name him, Dave. Yeah, there were too many Dave's, so we couldn't call him Dave.
00:05:11
Speaker
Yeah, I have to, I have to shout out one person. So we did do it a little bit of a dry run. We put up a story, an Instagram story today, uh, November 19th. And we got a couple of answers at the gate and don't worry. Once, once I finished this, uh, the spiel here, uh, you people who already answered, you will be entered into the contest that we're about to announce. But, um, one of our good friends, uh, from Norway, uh, toy farce suggested the other other Dave as his name.
00:05:42
Speaker
And I, I thought that was pretty funny. We're not going to pick that one, but other, other Dave is, it made me chuckle. So, um, well, I didn't even know that I just made up that joke now.
00:05:51
Speaker
Yeah, that's why I had to mention it. It was a perfect segue. So the contest is we are going to give away a Captain Marvel, a Diamond Marvel Select for the person who comes up with the best name for our avatar. So the way that you enter is you have to follow us on Instagram or Twitter.
00:06:16
Speaker
And, uh, we are going to put up on Twitter, we'll put up a post that you can add your answer to. You can just reply to the posts with your answer. And on, uh, on Instagram, we're going to put up a story and a post along with that. Um, and you just put your guests in the comments of the posts on Instagram or, you know, it's your idea. We.
00:06:41
Speaker
We don't have any ideas. So yeah, yes. Sorry not guess your suggestion your name suggestion In the in the comments of the post on Instagram or you know respond to the story or like I said Just reply to the tweet on Twitter this episode will be live on Monday the 23rd
00:07:05
Speaker
That sounds right, Monday the 23rd. And we'll put that post up. And the person who suggests the best name for our new avatar microphone guy will get a Captain Marvel action figure, a really cool Captain Marvel action figure that was provided to us by our good friends over at Diamond Select Toys. So with that, let's jump straight into the news. That would have been funny, though, if we were like, yeah, guess what we named him?
00:07:37
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, we're, we're, we're not that creative. We have, we have enough ideas to basically like keep this, this little train a chugging at this point, but, uh, yeah, I can't think of any names for this guy. And like, obviously like it's on the nose, like of course, like Mike, but you know, come on, we can be more creative than that. I actually said that and heard Dave yawn. That's how boring the name Mike would be for a guy. Yeah. Didn't you just yawn? Yeah.
00:08:05
Speaker
Yeah, the microphone picked that up. It's late. I'm tired. I'm sorry. No, but that's how boring the name Mike would be for a guy who has a microphone as a head. I was going to say, you can pick Mike, but I don't think you'll win. All right, so news. Dave, why don't you kick it off with Ringside Fest?
Ringside Fest Toy Reveals
00:08:25
Speaker
So there was Ringside Fest. It was on...
00:08:30
Speaker
Jeez, when was it, the fifth? Yeah, the fifth. It's just been that long since we've talked news. But at Ringside Fest, of course, we got to see a lot of new Mattel figures, basics, elites, masters of the WWE universe. So there was a lot of cool stuff represented there. We got to see the first series of the fan takeover.
00:08:58
Speaker
you know, vote for the gear that the wrestler is going to wear in the figure. We saw the new Royal Rumble figures. We saw the WrestleMania figures, a bunch of stuff that we had already seen. We got to see Elite 82.
00:09:16
Speaker
some stuff from Elite 83. But we also got to see, and a couple other series, but there's really a couple things to point out. One of which is that the WrestleMania 12 ringside exclusive Ultimate Warrior, because there hasn't been
00:09:41
Speaker
that mid-nineties WWE second. Well, I guess it's technically his third run figure. So there's never been like that figure represented since Jax, really. But also we got to see Ultimate Edition, I believe Series 9. We're almost on at this point. Yeah, it's going to be Series 9 and it's Stone Cold Steve Austin.
00:10:09
Speaker
Finally. Yeah. And it looks like if I could take a guess, my guess is it's going to be WrestleMania 13, Steve Austin? No, it's not. Well, maybe. If I'm guessing, I'm not sure. What makes you think it's going to be WrestleMania 13? What's the giveaway there? It's the original vest, but also one knee brace. Ah, OK.
00:10:37
Speaker
So he hasn't had the second knee operation yet. So I mean, it could be 14 from when he won, when he beat Shawn Michaels, but that's my guess. Or I shouldn't say it's the original vest. It's the first vest with like the Austin metal letters and the metal skull, not the one that just says, don't call on the back. And then Rick Flair, which looks like, like a, basically a,
00:11:07
Speaker
mid to late 80s Ric Flair, which is cool. Yeah, I'm zooming in on that belt right now to try to figure out what title that is that he comes with. That's definitely the title right before he came to WWE. Well, what's cool, apparently, those WCW titles actually have WCW on them. Well, that one wouldn't. That one just wouldn't have the WWE logo on it. Gotcha.
00:11:35
Speaker
Yeah, there was so much that it was far back. Like the picture they show has the title has the WWE logo in it. But in theory, it shouldn't be because it's the WCW title. Gotcha. Sticking with the Ultimates, we also saw a glimpse right of of the final package shots of two other Ultimates of Hollywood Hogan and the Fiend. Yes.
00:12:04
Speaker
Yeah, that fiend is so good is good. Yeah, you're getting like almost like the Bret Hart or the Shinsuke Nakamura, where you're going to have the extra arms to represent jacket on or jacket off. I personally, I think that the coolest part of that is the the second head. I like the second head in that set. With the with the tongue out. Yeah. And then you've got a good Jeff Hardy Triple H two pack coming.
00:12:34
Speaker
Um, the awesome Mr. T Roddy Piper WrestleMania two, two pack. They actually have in stock everything side. The one figure I had a question about, I mean, this is, this is my. Not naivety, but my, maybe my, my novice knowledge of, of kind of vintage wrestling. What's the deal with that? Um, the, the dusty roads with the top hat and the like Serape.
00:13:02
Speaker
Um, I think that was late in when he was in WWE. Okay. I mean, it's a great looking figure. Yeah, I think he kind of. That was because he had the yellow polka dots for the most part. So I think the red polka dots were very much towards the end. Yeah, it's a cool looking figure, and I like that they have the his like birthmark on it, too. Yeah, it's a good figure.
00:13:29
Speaker
Um, there's a couple other, uh, prototypes that were shown for, um, like we saw edge from elite 83, but I feel like that's not the Royal rumble comeback edge. That's, um, WrestleMania and I think backlash.
00:13:47
Speaker
Well, you have two, right? He's the chase in that. In that one of you have. You have like what? And the other ones backlash. Yeah. The light gray pants and then the dark pants pants is going to be the ultimate, which is the Royal Rumble. Yeah. There's a there was a King Corbin figure as well, I believe. Yeah. I'm trying to look through here, Sasha Banks. Banks.
00:14:17
Speaker
Uh, Drew McIntyre? New Drew McIntyre. Um, so you get, you know, smiling Drew McIntyre. Smile and Drew. Um, you're getting that, uh, the, the, the Boneyard, uh, Undertaker. Yes. Um, Karrion Kross is another interesting one. Another Alistair Black. Um,
00:14:41
Speaker
But the Boneyard Undertaker, yeah, the last Undertaker, as far as we know. Yeah. Yeah. And speaking of the Deadman, there's a lot going on right now for 30 years of the Undertaker, right? Yeah. There's a lot of merchandise for it, but basically, Survivor Series 30 years ago was the Undertaker's debut as the Undertaker, which
00:15:10
Speaker
goes into that Decade of Domination figure, although that was from, I think they filmed those matches right either before or right after Survivor Series, because he has the black gloves, not the gray gloves. But there was also, like I got the Funko Pop this week, the Glow in the Dark Funko Pop. You can get it from Amazon or WWE.com. I got it from WWE.com.
00:15:40
Speaker
Um, but yeah, lots of undertaker stuff, because it seems like, um, he's retiring on Sunday or he's announcing like for sure his final ride, um, as they're calling it. So. Oh, that's so when is survivor series? That's this Sunday. Oh, wow. Okay. So this, this episode will air right after survivor series. Yeah. If you watch survivor series, stay up till 5am. Listen to this podcast.
00:16:11
Speaker
You can do that. That's what you should do. I even recommend it. So, I mean, there was a ton at Ringside Fest. It was just kind of like I put my phone down for 10 minutes and then picked it up and all of a sudden it was like, oh, cool. People are going to need loans to to cover all of the stuff that they announced. And it's a lot of updates of figures or a lot of like new figures, like, for example, that Alexa has the women's tag team title.
00:16:42
Speaker
which is great, but it's only one, so. Yeah. Got a new new Seamus. Yeah, new Seamus, which is basically old Seamus, because he's back looking the way he did, which is cool. I need a Seamus, so I'm into it. I kind of miss the mohawk. He doesn't have the mohawk anymore, right? No, he's back to the spiky hair.
00:17:07
Speaker
Um, so moving, moving, uh, outside of wrestling, um, Hasbro had an event, uh, they had their first ever, um, triple threat fan first Friday, uh, just a week ago.
00:17:23
Speaker
Or at the time you're listening to this it'll be almost two weeks ago, but there were some new announcements from three different IPs within within Hasbro Oh jeez, I missed the Keith Lee one the Keith Lee figure is a chase too. That's one I'm looking forward to oh I thought they had announced that already or was that that was that? Showed pictures of it. Oh, okay. Yeah, I mean it's he's he's awesome and that's a great figure and
00:17:48
Speaker
It looks great when they first showed it off, too. At the Hasbro triple threat event, the time was shared by the Transformers brand, Star Wars and Marvel. For Transformers, they announced some new additions coming to the studio series line. Both from the Michael Bay films, we have a new
00:18:14
Speaker
Bumblebee Transformer that is how he appears while he's on Cybertron in the beginning of the film and then
00:18:23
Speaker
Deluxe class Autobot Dino from Dark of the Moon. If you listened to the last episode or even the episode with Justin, we talked a little bit about Transformers and these studio series figures. They look so cool. I like that they transform into real vehicles. Well, in the case of Dino, Bumblebee is that like just futuristic looking car.
00:18:47
Speaker
In terms of the Star Wars stuff that was announced, Black Series fans rejoice.
Star Wars and Spider-Verse Figure Highlights
00:18:54
Speaker
You are finally getting a Asajj Ventress figure and she looks fantastic. Soft goods.
00:19:03
Speaker
amazing amazing amazing looking figure as well as you're getting to two people from uh or two clones i should say from the from the bad batch so hunter and crosshairs are both coming to um the black series and those figures very quickly went up for pre-order the day that they were announced and then subsequently sold out which is usually the case um and then of course marvel closed off the vent the event and really kind of stole the show
00:19:32
Speaker
They showed the final shots of the next Spider-Man wave, which is due out in 2021, which includes four figures from the Into the Spider-Verse film. We had only seen Gwen and Miles, right?
00:19:47
Speaker
Correct. They had only shown Gwen and Miles and they also showed off Peter B and the Prowler. And the thing that is really, really cool about these figures, and this is kind of like the, I would say like an underlooked facet of this like 4D like face scan technology. People think that.
00:20:07
Speaker
you know, for wrestlers and for like the Marvel Cinematic Universe figures, when you have a real actor and they can do this scan of their face, you get a really lifelike figure. Absolutely. You know, like the tech that the way that they're using the tech on even like the vintage collection, three and three quarters scale figures from there to the Marvel Legends to the Mattel wrestlers. These likenesses are getting better and better seemingly like every day.
00:20:36
Speaker
You know, as they announced new ones, uh, you know, it's just incredible. The thing that's really neat though, is when you have an animated film that is.
00:20:47
Speaker
that has that 3D type animation, those direct files can be converted to figures. So the Into the Spider-Verse figures from Hasbro at that $20 price point are produced from the actual files used to make the film.
00:21:11
Speaker
Peter B. Parker has that very skinny head that he has in the film. When you look at these figures, the finals of them, and you actually zoom in on the faces, it's almost eerie how much they look like they're peeled right off the screen.
00:21:32
Speaker
So those, obviously those, the four of them, um, the build a figure still man is really cool. Uh, but you know, as, as I've said countless times, you know, I, I pretty much stick to the movie stuff. Um, I had to make a small exception for this, even though these aren't MCU figures, they're just, they're so good. And that movie is just incredible. And I can make the excuse that it is still a movie, but, um, miles.
00:21:57
Speaker
Technically with Gwen, you get two characters because she comes. Spider-Ham is one of her accessories, which is awesome. And the Prowler and Peter B, they all look fantastic. They all went up for pre-order.
00:22:12
Speaker
They're still available at most retailers, so Amazon still has them in stock. I think they are due to ship sometime in February. I'd act quick on it because typically the way that these things work as we get closer to that initial ship date, they tend to sell out. So if you wanted these figures, definitely act on it. The other figures that are part of that wave to complete your Stiltman is the Hand Ninja.
00:22:40
Speaker
and Frogman, who's a really deep cut. It's a deep cut. I saw that. Like, that's outstanding. That's a deep cut, though.
00:22:51
Speaker
Our, our buddies, uh, Craig and, and Sean respectively. Definitely. I haven't spoken to them directly yet, but I'm, I'm sure they felt a gut punch from that because they are both requesting and have been very vehemently requesting obscure, more obscure, uh, Spider-Man villains in, uh, in cardiac and the gibbon. Um, which are very toyetic figures if you ask me, but here we are with frog man.
00:23:22
Speaker
Frogman is too. Listen, I'm no hate on Frogman. If you are building a Spider-Man villain shelf, he will be an absolute like he's a slam dunk for like a weirdo. And if you're building a development, you need him. Yeah. And he goes. Somebody made a good point the other day that if you if you had picked up White Rabbit from the the hobgoblin or the demo goblin build a figure wave, he pairs really well with her.
00:23:51
Speaker
They're able to reuse a lot of parts, so it was an easy build for them. I think the only thing that they had to do new for Frogman was the head. He's otherwise reusing the Doc Ock body. So it was an easy win to put a check mark next to a villain that they probably, in all likelihood, will never make again. And also, and I know we talked about this when it was first announced, but
00:24:18
Speaker
kudos to the Marvel Legends team for making the, uh, army builder figure also have the, you can make Stiltman taller piece. Uh, so good, right? It's so good. Like in the hand Ninja Dwight, uh, one, if you're.
00:24:37
Speaker
Oh yeah, and like who doesn't just want like a bunch of badass ninja figures anyway, you know you have a Super posable really well-built $20 army building ninja figure if you are a toy photographer that is like that is an easy layup for a figure to have because whether you're a photo whether you're taking pictures of a
00:24:59
Speaker
Daredevil or Spider-Man or Captain America, or you know, you even want to just have like ninjas to go up against, you know, maybe some of your like mezco or articulate articulated icons figures. Um, you know, having another ninja is just, it's not a, uh, it's a good thing no matter what way you slice it pun intended. Um,
00:25:21
Speaker
But yeah, that Stiltman is wildly hilarious. It's a solid wave. Yeah. So did you get all four Spider-versus? Absolutely. Yeah, those were instant pre-orders. The moment our buddy Toisha has put up those Amazon links, I had to immediately spring for those, immediate. The last thing that they announced at the event was the House of X Power of 10 wave.
00:25:52
Speaker
Basically, you're going to be able to recreate. And actually, Dan from the Marvel Legends team challenged the articulated comic book art photographers out there to recreate the cover of the first issue of House of X. So really solid, solid, solid event from them. And then the final thing from them was the tease. So they teased Modok, a new Modok figure.
00:26:19
Speaker
Um, they only showed the back of his head, but it is very clearly modok. They will not say that it is modok, but they, uh, they showed it. They said you might want to build your, your aim troopers up and your aim scientists up. And they showed the back of modok's head. So, uh, people are, are super hyped for that figure. He hasn't been made since the toy business. So, um, big, big props to the Hasbro team for once again, another enthralling event.
00:26:48
Speaker
with tons of reveals, so. I would've liked, you know, even though he was in the post-credits scene, I would've liked Spider-Man 2099.
Upcoming AEW Figures and Community Engagement
00:27:01
Speaker
I would've liked a Miguel O'Hara figure. Well, if this goes, I mean, I can't imagine that these four figures are gonna peg warm. Or the two-pack of him pointing at animated Spider-Man.
00:27:13
Speaker
I mean, yeah, they're there are so many iconic things from that film. And, you know, there's the second one, you know, is on the way. But like, man, and they have so many things that they can reuse and just repaint to make make some of these things happen. You know, like a kingpin that's dressed in black, you know, and they already have a sweet kingpin body. You know, they could just kind of re-sculpt the head goblin.
00:27:42
Speaker
I mean that would be a beefy build to figure. But even the scorpion could be a build to figure. I mean Spider-Man Noir, Penny Parker, like you have. Yep, there are options. You have enough for a wave too. For sure. Plus you have alternate looks of the miles that they have.
00:28:02
Speaker
you know, has the kind of built on jacket and the Jordans, you know, they could do a regular miles and they, the, one of the things that they did, which was really neat with the Peter B figure is he comes with two head sculpts and, um, the one head sculpt is no mask on. And then rather having, rather than having a full masked head, it's like the mask half up.
00:28:28
Speaker
Yeah, so it's not exposed. Well, no, it like stops at his forehead. OK. So I am more than half up. Excuse me. But like, you know, making a kind of like a chubby spider man and then making a miles that just has the full outfit on, you know, like the.
00:28:46
Speaker
Yeah, there are more than enough options to do a full wave two with an additional build a figure. So stay tuned. We'll see what else Marvel has. Dave, for a second, before I cover some of the things that happened at Tamashi Nations this year, why don't you tell us about another wrestling set that is exclusive to Ringside that features an iconic pair of brothers.
00:29:15
Speaker
Oh, yeah, so we have our second, I guess technically the third ringside exclusive for AEW, because you have the Kenny Omega that comes with the ring, and of course he has a little bit of the bubbly Chris Jericho. So now we're getting the Blood Brothers 2-pack that represents the match where
00:29:42
Speaker
Cody Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes had basically had like a kind of blood-soaked war live on pay-per-view. And there's a two-pack representing that. And that's pretty interesting because, you know, it's the first time in a long time potentially ever for a major line where we've had like a bloody figure.
00:30:10
Speaker
And I think figures toy companies done that a couple times with legends, but you've never had like, Hey, here's, um, basically something that's a snapshot of history. Um, with just, you know, figures that are very bloody back in, back in, uh, in our youth, that was, you know, you get the red marker out. Yep. The dry erase. And, uh, so that way it's not permanent. Yeah.
00:30:40
Speaker
Yeah, but, you know, they they're doing some really interesting things with those, you know, the the upcoming. Additions of that, that a W unrivaled, you know, Jeremy continues to be a model of transparency. The, you know, people call him the godfather of wrestling figures. I think we need to course correct that because Godfather has some kind of like.
00:31:05
Speaker
Depending on what part of the world you're from, it has some, some negative connotations. I think it is much more in his spirit and his energy to say that he's the Willy Wonka of, of wrestling figures, because he kind of has this, this like unshakable.
00:31:24
Speaker
level of just kind of like joy about what he does. And like, you could almost see him like opening the doors to the factory and giving, you know, a lucky few a peek inside. And he, and he tries to do that, I think on, on social media. And I think he succeeds at it. Um, you know, but, but, but they are just cranking through, you know, awesome figure after awesome figure. And they're, they're delayed the series two ones.
00:31:54
Speaker
well some ringside is shipping some some people and the ones that people are getting i mean they they look
00:32:03
Speaker
They look great. You know, they, they fixed the skin tone. Um, the detailing on them looks fantastic. You know, I've seen a couple of pictures up close of now the, um, the, the Lucha bros. Uh, and you know, the, the detailing on them looks insane. I still, we, we talked a little bit about this off air, but I think, I think Dustin might be a little too tall.
00:32:26
Speaker
Um, or Cody, a little too short, whichever, whichever way you look at it. The word is Dustin's Dustin and Moxley are a bit too tall. I mean, okay.
00:32:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's not the end of the world by any means. Plus, if you are using them for figure photography and everything, once you have them, you start bending knees and you start actually posing them and putting them in a ring and putting them into positions and things and into holds and maneuvers.
00:32:57
Speaker
that that's going to disappear. It's not like you're talking about figures that are, you know, in completely different scales. So, you know, I think it's just one of those things where, you know, people are kind of looking for something to gripe about. Yeah, I mean, they've the figures have been outstanding thus far. You know, yeah, you can kind of. Get in there and kind of really start to.
00:33:25
Speaker
you know, look at the minutia of them and try to find stuff. But I mean, they're they've been good so far. Yeah. So briefly, I just wanted to touch on some things that jumped out at me from the Tamashi Nations event that happened, the virtual event.
Figuarts and Mandalorian Figure Reveals
00:33:42
Speaker
You know, while we were recording with Justin a few weeks ago, the event had kind of kicked off.
00:33:52
Speaker
But just some, like I said, some things that jumped out at me, uh, you and I, Dave, you actually got me into the film, uh, years ago, but, uh, uh, Akita or Akira, however you choose to pronounce it. Um, sh figure arts is putting out a, uh, a new edition of Canada's bike. And it is just like.
00:34:15
Speaker
I see it and I'm just drooling because I do have the McFarland one and the McFarland one is great, especially for how old it is. It's fantastic. The one that I got after market has a little bit of yellowing in the visor, but otherwise, great.
00:34:33
Speaker
figure version of the bike, but this thing, oh boy. It has like a high gloss finish on it. It looks like the wheels might be some sort of rubber. The stickers are immaculately accurate to the film. I am hoping. Well, I shouldn't say I'm hoping.
00:34:54
Speaker
But it would be really nice if they, if they made Akita figures to go along with the bike. Uh, that would be an instant entry for me into the SH figure that's world, uh, personally, because that movie is just, it's like one of my favorite films ever. Period. Uh, if not one of the more like important anime pieces that, that exists, but, um, I don't know if you've got a chance to look at this picture yet of the bike, Dave, but it is.
00:35:22
Speaker
It looks awesome, which you would expect from Figuarts. Yeah, for sure. The other thing, too, that I just wanted to point out real quick, just because it's one of those things that I feel like a lot of us, maybe not so much you, I think you were a little bit ahead of it or behind it.
00:35:43
Speaker
ahead of it in the, uh, in the U S but Dragon Ball Z was a huge part of a lot of, um, you know, my demographics, uh, after school programming. Um, and they announced a bunch of new figures in the SH figure arts line for Dragon Ball Z, including like a Goku chowing down, which is hilarious. Um, cause that dude is always eating.
00:36:05
Speaker
I mean, when you work out as much as Goku, you got to keep the calories going. There's a new Vegeta coming, a first form Frieza, the rest of the Ginyu Force, the new anime color accurate Piccolo. There's a new
00:36:27
Speaker
Tien and Chatsu that are coming. It's just, they really kind of just announced a ton, a ton, a ton, a ton of stuff. Justin had talked about Gundam Universe, the Gundam action figures on the last two episodes ago.
00:36:46
Speaker
Um, there's a wave five of them that are coming out. So it, they, Tamashi nations really just kind of, uh, they, they really kind of announced a plethora of stuff. Um, in fact, it was, it was even more difficult to keep up with than the ringside stuff, to be, to be perfectly honest. Um, only because there was just so much and, you know, bluefin, they have a ton of brands and a ton of, not only a ton of brands, but like.
00:37:14
Speaker
Each brand has a ton of IPs under it. So, you know, once they started announcing stuff, it's just kind of like this, this deluge of highly articulated, very well crafted, extremely well painted, very detailed stuff. So I highly recommend just checking out the Bluefern Brands account on Instagram or even Instamashi, is Tamashi Nation's Instagram account.
00:37:39
Speaker
For all the pictures and all the announcements and tons of giveaways and just it's wild There's always cool shit going on over there. So, um, you know, definitely definitely check that out and then To close up news day if I had one I had one last thing. I don't know if you have anything else. Um, I
00:38:00
Speaker
Not really. There were a bunch of Funko sodas announced. Snake Plissken is one. There's Leatherface. There's a couple other ones in there. But that's really it. Well, the last thing I had was just from this most recent Mando Monday.
00:38:18
Speaker
So they announced coming to the Black Series a Moff Gideon figure, a Queel figure, and a Grief Karga figure. So kind of the three characters in the Black Series from the Mandalorian, which if you are not watching it this season, please catch up and start watching it. It's incredible. Some of the best television that is out there. But three of the very important characters from season one and potentially season two, depending on how things
00:38:46
Speaker
Shake out here grief Karga Moff Gideon and quill are all coming to the black series as part of the the Mandalorian line. So yeah I Will say this I would kind of I would get the Sasha Banks black series if it comes out. Oh Well, Dave that is talk about walking backwards into a perfect segue and
00:39:14
Speaker
Why don't you tell us about your first two Black Series purchases? Yeah, either. I got to either much beloved or much maligned depending on who you talk to. I think they're hilarious and amazing. I'm in that camp too, for what it's worth.
00:39:34
Speaker
Yeah, I got the two of the and I forget which two because I forget which came from which store. I got two of the holiday.
00:39:47
Speaker
uh, troopers, I guess. Um, I mean, they come with Borg and they're like holiday porgs with, uh, scarves and one looks like, uh, like he's like a snow board. So I think if I'm, if I'm not mistaken, I think you have a clone trooper and you have a, a regular storm trooper, like an original trilogy storm trooper. Okay.
00:40:15
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I just I'm not sure which again, but. I have two thirds of the holiday porgs, so there's one left and I'm considering. Considering one of the other ones, too, I think it's I think they're brilliant. I think they're a ton of fun and especially considering that, like.
00:40:42
Speaker
for the longest time, uh, Lucasfilm and the people in charge of kind of like the branding and the merchandise were very protective about things coming out that had to be, um, both like relevant or, you know, cannon or, or, you know, some, some aspect of that connected to the source material that they are just kind of going out on the limb and having a, having a blast with this is amazing. I love it. So.
00:41:09
Speaker
full support, whether you love it or hate it is fine. But I guess it's one of those things where if you don't love it, cool, you don't have to buy it. But if you love it, awesome. You got some more figures, right?
00:41:23
Speaker
Yeah, that said, I would get if they ever did the Sasha Banks character. I don't know the name of the character because it wasn't mentioned in the episode. They it's they definitely said it not in the episode like it's it's known, but I have not committed it to memory yet either. So don't feel bad. Just to kind of be like a alternate wrestling kind of figure. Well, if you open up that can of worms, are you going to try to get super shutter to now?
00:41:55
Speaker
No. Quick, quick, quick, no. Shut down. Figures are cool because you get to build a figure Batista, but. All right, so let's do a little back and forth here. So you got you got your your holiday troopers. I scored some really, really fun stuff at GameStop, which is not a store I typically shop at for figures because they frankly put they're overpriced.
00:42:22
Speaker
And I understand everybody's got to make a living, but I'd rather wait and get them at regular price than GameStop markup price. However, GameStop does have some really good sales sometimes. And I did pick up the McFarland DC multiverse Batraptor, which I know you also picked up. I did. For $5.
GameStop Deals and Marvel Legends Praise
00:42:40
Speaker
Yes, for $5. And we were fortunate enough, both of us were fortunate enough.
00:42:44
Speaker
that local GameStops had them in stock, so we didn't have to pay shipping. So I got mine shipped. Oh, you did. Yeah, I paid shipping because I ordered. Oh, well, did you did you get enough to get free shipping or? No, I just ordered another figure. I ordered the retro fest, Shawn Michaels, but it has not shipped yet.
00:43:06
Speaker
So I got, um, I did it in store pickup for both the Batraptor and I got the like frozen. I see version of sub zero, which I got. So I got the Batraptor cause I was like, what the hell it's $5. I have enough of the McFarland figures. It'll be cool for, for toy photography for five bucks. I literally did the same thing. I was like, it's $5 like.
00:43:31
Speaker
And it's really cool. Like, I don't know if you opened yours yet, but it is way cooler than I expected it to be. It has like real rubber wheels. It feels heavy. It feels chunky. I mean, it's the type of quality you'd expect from a McFarland figure, but, you know, they typically don't do vehicles. So it was cool.
00:43:48
Speaker
But what I was really excited about, and I'm actually holding it right now, I keep, I haven't put him in the display yet because I keep playing with him, but I really like the frozen subzero. Like they just did such a nice job of like the paint on him and the type of plastic they used and the translucency of it. Um, really cool figure. Uh, and I had been keeping my eye on that one for a while and I was happy to pick it up for five bucks. But the cool thing is when I went in to pick them up, um,
00:44:17
Speaker
I couldn't believe my eyes. They had the Vision and Scarlet Witch two-pack from Infinity War on the shelf for $40.
00:44:33
Speaker
So not even marked up a penny. If I recall, when that was a Toys R Us exclusive back in the day, it was $50. So with the Disney Plus shows coming very soon, WandaVision is coming out in January, and Falcon Winter Soldier to follow that.
00:44:59
Speaker
the formerly Toys R Us exclusives of both of those two packs the Wanda and Vision and the Falcon Winter Soldier two packs that were once Toys R Us exclusives from Infinity War are hitting Game Stops and Best Buys respectively and they're hitting for retail. Now it was not too long ago that we were at a toy show and I paid
00:45:26
Speaker
substantially more than $40 for the Falcon and Winter Soldier two pack, which is fantastic. But the fact that I was able to get the Vision and Scarlet Witch one for 40 bucks when that was literally going for like $120 plus just a few weeks ago blew my mind. I saw it and it was the only one left and obviously I walked out with it and I immediately posted my civil war
00:45:54
Speaker
Um, scarlet witch and my, my civil war, like sort of translucent vision, put them up on McCarrie for like, you know, 20 bucks each. Um, cause they're identical except for, you know, very, very minor things. And I don't need a.
00:46:10
Speaker
It's really I bought it really for the scarlet witch because the head sculpt on the the Fixed one is just a newer one. It's it's unbelievable It you know, it's it's just it looks it's one of the best looking Marvel Legends fingers period fight me So I was happy to add that to my collection so I got those from GameStop. Did you did you pick up anything else Dave? Just in general or from that GameStop sale just in general I finally got which I
00:46:41
Speaker
I think is an early entry or a potential entry into if we get into top tens. Oh, we're totally doing it at the end of the year. We have. I got that teen titans cyborg. You're talking top ten of the year with all of the WWE elites that you've gotten this year. I mean, it's my favorite McFarland so far. So no shit. Really? Yeah, I just think it's a really cool looking figure.
00:47:11
Speaker
Wow. I know you passed on him a couple of times. Yeah, that was one of those ones where and it was basically because it was like, I love this figure, but do I need this figure? You know. And I kind of was like, well, all right, Teen Titans, Teen Titans go, you know, like if I'm going to say it's like a it's the cartoon or it's the televised thing,
00:47:39
Speaker
And it definitely is. It's definitely the cartoon. It's definitely, you know. It's 100 percent based off of the Teen Titans cartoon. Yeah. And so that was kind of like my. All right. Well, it's. You know, film and TV, so. Fair. I actually have not seen it in person yet. It's really cool. And once you kind of look at the.
00:48:09
Speaker
You know, like there's the plastic where it's see-through on him. Yeah, I heard the detailing on it is really nice. The detail of it is different from any really any of the other figures in the line in the sense of there really isn't anything like that. You know, like it's there's just, you know, everybody's got a costume or everybody's got a, you know, has their battering or their
00:48:39
Speaker
really long gun or whatever the case may be. But I've not really seen anything kind of be multidimensional in that regard, if that makes sense. Yeah. Like, you know, even look at like Hellbat or any of those and they're, you know, big mech looking things, but it doesn't have that kind of see through
00:49:03
Speaker
Yeah, I'm looking at the other DC multiverse figures I have. And I feel like the only figure I have from McFarlane that uses kind of translucent plastic and other than the Sub-Zero is maybe some of the My Hero Academia stuff has some translucency to it. And I think it was just a really kind of creative way to put an animated character into a real life
00:49:33
Speaker
physical form. Yeah. But I just think it's a really cool looking figure. Yeah, it just kind of jumped out at me and was like, I need to get this one. Yeah, I'll be curious to see what my and it may wind up not making the list or it may wind up making lists, but it's so far, you know, short of maybe regular Wonder Woman, 84 Wonder Woman.
00:50:02
Speaker
It's probably my favorite McFarland that I've bought. Yeah. We have to, um, we have to start thinking about our top 10 for the year because there has been a lot. Um, I got two other ones that I met that are probably going to be on the list and, uh, other things that I got. Oh, okay. I was going to say, I only have one more thing. So, so why don't you do one more and then I'll do mine. And then you could do your last one. Um, I already talked about the, uh, undertaker Funko pop. Yeah.
00:50:34
Speaker
Oh, my Kevin from The Office came today, too. That was neat. But another, you know, potential candidate for favorite figure of the year came, and you can watch it on our YouTube channel, the unboxing of it, the Ultimate Edition, Amazon exclusive, The Rock. Nice. Yeah, that figure, I enjoyed watching that video.
00:51:02
Speaker
Yeah, that was that those ultimate figures are so cool. They're just they're so they're so good. You know, it's funny you say that, though, my the one last thing that I had to talk about is also a figure of the year candidate. The the fan channel exclusive, Marvel Legends. Yes, I bought a Marvel Legends figure that's not a movie figure, Dave. Dr. Doom. OK.
00:51:27
Speaker
And he's on, he's on that, uh, that toy biz retro, uh, fantastic for card. And.
00:51:37
Speaker
You know, he is just one of those, so he's one of those iconic villains. He appeared enough in the Spider-Man cartoon, the, you know, the 90s animated series to go on my very, very small, now filled, now complete animated shelf. So I kind of like secretly set up this sub series of figures in my head where I was like, you know what, there were figures I had when I was a kid, Toy Biz figures.
00:52:00
Speaker
Um, that were, that I absolutely loved. And then I kind of mashed that together with there were animated Spider-Man villains that I absolutely loved that I don't think are ever going to get nothing. They probably won't be in a movie, but they are not going to get like.
00:52:17
Speaker
that kind of treatment in a movie where they just kind of have that like pop of color. And they, you know, they kind of exude that like 90s goodness. So I built myself a little 90s Spider-Man animated shelf. You know, thereabouts, so like I have like the monster venom on there. It's not the venom from the cartoon, I know, but like it is a very cartoony, awesome, hulking looking venom.
00:52:44
Speaker
But I wanted a Doctor Doom for that shelf because he is in his bright green borderline medieval silver armor. Like he is one of the coolest villains period in in comic books. Yeah. And and this figure, Dave, is it's one of those figures where when you take it out of the package, you're like, I cannot believe that this is a 20 dollar figure.
00:53:08
Speaker
The amount of accessories he comes with, the detailing on him, the articulation, the kind of just feel of him, like he feels expensive. And I feel like that's super appropriate for Dr. Doom, but like, um,
00:53:23
Speaker
You know, he comes with two different books like spell books that that he can hold. He comes with the amulet. He comes with like the green energy. He comes with rocket propulsors for his for his boots. He comes with a like a sidearm, but it's I always screw up the name. I always forget whether it's Luger or Ruger. One's I feel like one's a wrestler, one's a gun. But like he comes with like that, like
00:53:52
Speaker
You know, World War II style, uh, you know, axis, uh, you know, bad guy gun, which is amazing. And like, it's got a nice little like pseudo leather looking holster that it fits in and he's got the right hands and he's got some soft goods on them. It's just, it is a wonderful. It's a perfect Dr. Doom. Like they, they will not make a Dr. Doom.
00:54:15
Speaker
animated cartoon comic that looks better than this one, period. Like they have checked that box, walk away from it. They will never make one as good as this. So it's definitely a figure of the year candidate for me. But that's that's the last thing I had to talk about in terms of in terms of halls. My last one is definitely another candidate.
Unique Figure Finds and Nostalgia
00:54:37
Speaker
It's the Super 7 Andre the Giant. Oh, yeah, I completely forgot about that. That figure is awesome.
00:54:46
Speaker
Very difficult to, uh, film the unboxing as it's big, but, um, I like that you managed to get pictures of him with the hammer though. Yeah. I wanted to pick somebody era appropriate. So Greg, the hammer was the first person I found. Um, but yeah, I mean, I've got, I've purchased a lot since last time we've done one of these, but I mean,
00:55:10
Speaker
Yeah, I'm just picking highlights. There's other stuff that I could definitely talk about. I also don't remember what I got between last time and this time. Actually, shit, no. There's one other thing I have to mention that I picked up because we have been hyping them. And I know you picked up some too. I don't know if you got them in the mail yet, but I finally found the Cowboy Bebop best action figures from loyal subjects.
00:55:39
Speaker
I have not received mine yet. Um, I ordered the demon and slash from hot topic. Yeah. You're going to be, you're going to be pleased as punch when you get them. They are super fun. They feel like awesome, like nineties action figures. They're like throwback II, but super articulated at the same time.
00:56:02
Speaker
I love the cowboy bebop ones. You can watch, uh, speaking of reviews on our YouTube, um, along with the review of the rock and the view, the review of, um, of Andre the giant, you can watch a review of, uh, of, of the cowboy bebop figures and the premiere of my, my daughter entering the, uh, the, the adventures of collecting team as, uh, as she helped me put together the, uh, the spin master Batcave to watch that all on our YouTube. Um, they're super fun videos. Uh, definitely check them out.
00:56:32
Speaker
Yeah, and I've still not seen lightning anywhere. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I haven't seen him yet either. So my Walmart, only the anime wave has hit. So I've seen the two Naruto figures, the two Kawabiba figures and the two Fullmetal Alchemist figures, and they've actually sold out and restocked. And it's funny, Hot Topic has had all of them except for lightning. Weird. They also have Angus Young. Yeah. Yeah.
00:56:59
Speaker
Well, Dave, um, I think Gandalf is there too, right? Yes. Gandalf always, always arrives exactly when he intends to because he's a wizard. Um,
00:57:11
Speaker
With that, Dave, I would like to talk about our, you know what, I think it's safe to say the world's favorite plumber, the world's favorite plumber. I don't have a guess that's laying me tonight. No, no, no, no, no. So I just want to talk about, take a minute here. You know, not a super long time because everybody knows who Mario is and everyone has their fond memories of, of Mario and, you know, Nintendo and kind of like the, you know, whether you got in.
00:57:41
Speaker
You know, at the, at the ground floor with the, the NES at home, you know, when it came out 35 years ago, or, you know, or, or whether, you know, honestly, like my first memory of Mario was, uh, the super Nintendo Mario game and the, and super Mario all-stars, you know, for that, um, you know, Mario brothers in the arcade.
00:58:05
Speaker
Oh, yeah, it's true. Yeah, the arcade game. But, you know, he he has just become a pop cultural icon. Right. I mean, he's next year, you know, in 2021, when we do have the Japan, the Olympics in Japan, in Japan, which they're still trying to figure out how they're going to do. I know he is like the mascot of the Olympics, which makes complete sense because it's
00:58:28
Speaker
It's fucking Mario. He has just kind of risen above video games, right? So there have been tons of Mario toys over the years, Jack's Pacific, Jack's toys. They make this wildly successful, very eccentric line of Mario toys. Lego just this year to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Mario.
00:58:55
Speaker
Um, has, has announced, uh, you know, and then they're out, you could buy them now, including like, you know, uh, there's more coming from them. I just got the holiday guide from Lego actually in the mail and there's more in there, but like amazing, uh, Nintendo, Mario, Lego products. They have the, the NES that you can build, right? The, the creator, uh, NES, and it works with the Mario when you put them on there.
00:59:25
Speaker
Um.
00:59:27
Speaker
Yeah, but I just figured, you know, let's let's take a minute to to share some some favorite memories of of the world's favorite most favorite plumber. So isn't the theme park going coming to Japan to universal? You know, it's funny you mentioned that I got caught in one of those YouTube black holes, right, where I was I was watching something probably about Disney Parks. And I think it queued me up a video on like
00:59:58
Speaker
in Universal, in Japan, in Tokyo. Super Nintendo World is not open yet. You can see aerial views of it and it looks wild.
01:00:10
Speaker
Cause, you know, it's that typical, just like anything else that those theme parks do, it's always like incredible the amount of detail and like, you know, the, the, the level of immersion that they create. But, um, one of like the cafes in universal studios in, in Japan is now serving like the, the super Nintendo world food. Oh, that's cool.
01:00:32
Speaker
Um, and they're really funny. So like one of the drinks that you can have the straw has like a mustache on it. So when you're drinking out of the straw, it makes it look like you have a mustache, like a Mario mustache. Um, but yeah, between the theme park, uh, you know, the, well, you know what, let's, let's start with some of the, let's just, let's just cover some of the things that they're doing right
Super Mario Memories and Media
01:00:53
Speaker
now. So we talked about Lego. We talked about Jax. Um, why don't you talk a little bit about the, uh, the game and watch that's, um, that's just come out.
01:01:01
Speaker
And now Nintendo put out a little Game & Watch reminiscent of the Game & Watches from my youth in the 80s, except this one is full color screen. Looks to be the correct dimensions, but it plays Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. The original Super Mario Bros. 2, which was released here as the Lost Levels,
01:01:31
Speaker
And of course, the Game and Watch Classic Bowl. Yes. And it's got that it's that cool like copper maroon. Yeah, like the actual like. It's like red and gold. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It looks fantastic. Yeah, it's definitely definitely cool. It's definitely a neat looking. Way to play, you know, another way to play Mario Brothers.
01:01:58
Speaker
So Dave, if you had to sum up your earliest memory of Mario, the thing to you, if you close your eyes for just a second and you're like, all right, what's the one Mario thing that really kind of resonates with me, what would that thing be? I mean, in general? Yeah, in general. Because playing Mario Brothers, Super Mario Brothers, the original game was cool, but probably Mario 3.
01:02:29
Speaker
And that's probably going to be a lot of people's, too, because the first time you saw it was in the movie The Wizard. That's right. There was the game. You know, it's like, oh, I can get this, too. But that was, you know, it wasn't leaked through like social media. It was your first taste of it was in a movie. The Wizard, a two hour commercial for Super Mario Brothers. Was that it was Fred Savage, right?
01:02:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's been a minute since I've seen that movie. Yeah, I haven't probably watched it in at least 20 years. I would be curious to see how it holds up all these years later. It's probably still fun. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. I was going to say it's probably not good. So speaking of movies, honestly, the first thing that I think of, and you're going to say that I'm crazy, but the first thing that I think of when I think of Mario is I think of
01:03:28
Speaker
Um, my godmother here, your aunt, uh, taking me to go see the, the John Levitomo. Um, yeah, I, her taking me to go see that and falling asleep during that movie. And that she did, or you did because either way I believe it.
01:03:48
Speaker
She did. Um, but you got to remember that movie came out at a time when like, I was, you know what? I was the perfect age for that movie because for me, it was like super cool that they were making a Mario movie. One. Two. It had for me, like, again, as a kid at the time, it was like, Oh, cool. The guy from Roger rabbits in this and three.
01:04:15
Speaker
It was just like this weird like sci-fi fever dream that made no sense that you watch now as an adult and you're like, how did they make, like how, how did this get made? Not to put another podcast, but how did this get made? But like for me at the time, I did not hate that movie. When that came out. Where we've talked about, well, I guess two out of three where we talked about how did this get made. Yeah, but I do.
01:04:42
Speaker
I don't know. If they haven't. If they haven't done that one. We can't tweet at Manzuchus because he hasn't had Twitter. We got a tweet at Paul.
01:04:55
Speaker
Yeah, that movie for whatever reason, like as awesome as the games are, and I'm a huge Nintendo fan, like day one for every Nintendo system that I have been, you know, able to purchase on my own, you know, starting at the GameCube and, or actually I got the Nintendo 64 pretty quickly too, but that wasn't me purchasing it. GameCube was the first one that I bought.
01:05:18
Speaker
But, um, you know, like I love the games. Super Mario Galaxy is like one of my favorite, favorite video games ever. You know, the Super Mario, uh, Super Nintendo game is, you know, again, like up there, but that movie will always hold a weird special place in my heart. I just, I love that shitty movie. And that was, uh, Super Nintendo era too. Yeah.
01:05:48
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, I know like looking back on it as an adult that, and I even, I even had figures from that, that movie, like I had the figure with like the big ass boots and everything. Um, I mean, I wish I still had those figures now. Who knows who the hell knows where they ended up. But, uh, yeah, I had, I had Mario, I had Luigi, I'm pretty sure I had, um, I had Toad.
01:06:14
Speaker
Or one of the Koopas. I don't know how he was he was labeled but um, yeah, I like I Look again looking back on that now as an adult. I can totally understand why people were like soul-crushing Lee disappointed Like I'm sure people like your age at the time were like what the fuck is this? Question mark blocks and
01:06:40
Speaker
Why is this not the good- I go jumping on stuff. It's like, why is Bowser Dennis Hopper? I didn't mind that it was Dennis Hopper. Why is Bowser not like a T-Rex until the last 30 seconds?
01:06:59
Speaker
Oh man. Yeah, it's just that movie is, it's like, I completely understand it's a hot mess, but I would be lying to you if I said like, I don't watch that movie two to three times a year.
01:07:13
Speaker
Like I'm serious, like two to three times a year. I'm like, you know what I'm in the mood for today? I could super Mario brothers. I swear to you, I'll throw it on and it will. It's like the perfect movie because it doesn't derail my day. Like if I'm, you know, if I'm, if I'm working and I want something on the background, I'm like,
01:07:39
Speaker
Super Mario perfect, perfect choice because I don't have to like fully pay attention to it. There are parts of it where I'll like look up and like, you know, chuckle and go like, Oh man, it's real bad. And then like smile, like I'm, I'm grinning ear to ear just thinking about the joy that that movie, that that awful, awful movie brings to me. And like out of all the things that Mario has been a part of for 35 years, the first thing that I think of is that movie and I know it's crazy.
01:08:10
Speaker
but fight me, I love that movie. Have I rendered you speechless? Did you not know how much I enjoy this movie? Is this news? No, I know you did. It's... Yeah, I mean, I just... Is what it is, you know? Like, I'm not... It's a good thing we don't have Heather's boyfriend on here, because he would be like... He would literally be...
01:08:34
Speaker
down my throat at this point. He would be so angry. He's going to be so angry when he hears this. It's like, how did you not talk about Smash Brothers? I mean, it's not good. It's not good that movie. I know. I know it's not good, but I love it. I have a full disclosure. I haven't played a Mario game since Super Mario World. No, you definitely played. No, I never had a 64 at a PlayStation. That's right.
01:09:00
Speaker
But I feel like all those years that I had like the Wii and the game, the GameCube sitting around, you never played any of those? Like you didn't play galaxy or? No. Huh? Oh, I mean, like Smash Brothers. I mean, dude, I like. You're missing out.
01:09:21
Speaker
I know you have access to a switch occasionally. You need that greatest hits game that they just put out. The new All-Stars, or whatever they're calling it. 3D All-Stars? 3D All-Stars. Yeah, you need to get into that. Sunshine wasn't great. Yeah, it's like Legend of Zelda. I haven't played a Legend of Zelda game since Zelda 2.
01:09:47
Speaker
Oh boy, well, that's a whole other conversation to have. I have the one on the Super Nintendo Mini. Which one was that linked to the past? Yeah. The other thing I wanted to ask, so Mario was in another form of media when you were a kid, was a little bit before my time, but he had a cartoon, too, with Captain Lou. I think you were around for that.
01:10:15
Speaker
I feel like I was around for the second iteration of it, not the, not the first one. Yeah. Got to remember, I mean, that's, um, well, I guess, yeah, if Mario was 35 years old, I'm only 32. So I, I don't know, unless that came out in like the first like two years of his, uh, his existence, but, um, that was, that was later. I feel the super Mario brothers super show. I gotta look that up.
01:10:39
Speaker
Well, while you're looking that up, I had a question for you. You, outside of the video games and the cartoon and the movie. Oh no, that was, yeah, you wouldn't have seen that, that was 89. Yeah, I- You saw it later, probably. Yeah, I know, I definitely remember watching it. I just, I don't think I was around for its onset, but you had other Mario collectibles outside of toys and video games. You used to collect the cards. Oh yeah, the scratch off cards?
01:11:10
Speaker
Um, I think I had a full set of those somewhere unscratched. I don't know if. I think you still do have a full set of them unscratched to be, to be perfectly honest. But, um, what, what do you remember about those cards? Because they were, it's a pretty odd collectible for a video game. So if they tried to, you know, make them a game, it was a scratch off. They were like gold coins and boxes and stuff. They had to scratch, right? Um, no, it was like little circles on the card.
01:11:39
Speaker
Oh, and it wasn't just Mario either. It was it was Mario. It was like Punch-Out. There's probably Zelda in there. Different games. I don't know if there was like Metroid, but it was all like basically Nintendo trading cards. I'm going to look that up real quick.
01:12:03
Speaker
But I remember seeing those cards, and I always knew as a kid not to go near your cards and dad's cards unless you were actively playing with me with them, because we had games that we played with cards sometimes. But I remember always kind of being fascinated by the Mario cards, because it was like, like you said, there was a game element to it. But it was weird that they were cards and not a video game. Looking back on them, I am too.
01:12:33
Speaker
Uh-huh. Just looking at these, like they had stickers with game tips on the back. Like these are, these are, these are strange. Yeah. And it's, you know, it's one of those things where again, like we, you know, there was double dragon ones. Wow. Shout out to zombie sailor toys, double dragon. Yeah.
01:12:56
Speaker
Um, the, uh, the, the thing that's really interesting, I think about Mario and that's unique to him over really any other character is he has achieved this transcendence. Right. Where it's like people who have never played, ever played a Mario game know who Mario is. Like there's no, you know, it's like one of those things where like, you know,
01:13:26
Speaker
when Jimmy Kimmel does those questions on the street where he holds up a picture of Ronald McDonald, a picture of Mario, and a picture of the current president of the United States at any given time.
01:13:38
Speaker
You know, maybe not now with Ronald McDonald because he's kind of been retired for a while, but like people will all know who Mario is. He's on clothing. He has toys. He's had trading cards. He's been in cartoons. He's been in movies. Um, you know, he's even referenced in Disney movies. He's referenced in Wreck-It Ralph.
01:13:58
Speaker
You know a movie about video games, but you know kind of a different twist, but uh He he is He is like the ultimate pop culture icon at this point Yeah, I'm yeah for sure I'm sure to like I'm sure there were even like Mario songs at one point like I would not be surprised if there was a a
01:14:21
Speaker
you know, like a vinyl back in like the 80s. Like, I feel like I remember the intro song with Captain Lou Albano. Do the Mario. Yeah. Do the Mario. Right. You know, and and it's like with every iteration of Nintendo console, they find a way to continue his, you know, his legacy. So like with the Nintendo Switch, they had Super Mario Odyssey was a game
01:14:50
Speaker
that came out very shortly after the console launched and it was beautiful and the gameplay was innovative. And that's the other thing that goes with him. Mario was part of the home gaming revolution, debuting with the NES. And then the Super Nintendo, he ushered in that 16-bit era.
01:15:12
Speaker
And then when the Nintendo 64 came out, that 3d gaming and, you know, kind of that over the shoulder, uh, type of gameplay, nobody had ever been able to do it that good before. And then Nintendo 64 crushed it. And then even, you know, moving on to like the switch using the, the Wii remote to, or I'm excuse, excuse me, the Wii using the Wii remote to innovate gameplay again. And it's just kind of, he's, he's always been there. And then.
01:15:42
Speaker
You know, you can't forget about Super Smash Brothers. So the game that has kind of changed competitive gaming and fight games by, you know, making Mario effectively like a, you know, a fighter. You know, he is just.
01:16:00
Speaker
He's everywhere. He's everywhere, and he's never been annoying. It's not one of those characters where you're sick of seeing him ever. He's just kind of this endearing little dude with a mustache that has been quite literally kicking ass and taking names for 35 years. Do you have any other parting words for Mario? No, happy birthday, Mario. Yeah.
01:16:29
Speaker
With that, a happy birthday Mario, and we will see you next time.
01:16:51
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.
01:17:15
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.
01:17:45
Speaker
you