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A Major Case of the Bendies - Talking Bendies with Mike Kanik
716 Plays2 years ago
Bend it like Kanik! This week we're joined by Major Bendies Co-Owner Mike Kanik - from literal paper pusher, to WWE licensee, to Major Wrestling Figure Podcast partner, Kanik has been on quite the journey to helping run a growing toy brand. Hear about the process of bringing Major Bendies to life, his history with collectibles, and what's on the horizon.
Follow Kanik and Major Bendies on Instagram @kanik89 and @majorbendies and visit https://majorpodmerch.com to get your Bendies!
Interested in investing in Zencastr? go to wefunder.com/zencastr to claim your slice of the Future of Podcasting!
Get 20% OFF @manscaped + Free Shipping with promo code AIC at MANSCAPED.com
Go to blendjet.com and use code aic12 to save 12% off your order OR use our special link and the discount will be applied at checkout! zen.ai/aic12
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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
Zencastr's Crowdfunding Campaign
00:00:02
Speaker
You've heard us talk about how much we love Zencaster. We've told you about how awesome their podcasting platform is, how easy it is to host, record, and publish adventures in collecting with their all-in-one web app. Well, now they're giving you, our listeners, the opportunity to support us and the nearly 30,000 other podcasts powered by Zencaster. That's right. Now you can invest in the podcasts you love
00:00:29
Speaker
through Zencaster's crowdfunding campaign. For as little as $100, join a community of other investors who seek to help Zencaster and independent podcasters like us succeed. If you're interested in investing in Zencaster, go to wefunder.com slash zencaster or click the link in our episode description below to claim your slice of the future of podcasting.
00:00:54
Speaker
That's WiiFunder.com forward slash z-e-n-c-a-s-t-r.
Introduction to 'Adventures in Collecting' Podcast
00:01:10
Speaker
Toyobobs and dads. Adventures in collecting is about toys, but it might not be for your children. Especially if you don't like words like f*** or s***.
00:01:26
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and halls, along with our journeys as collectors. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting.
00:01:58
Speaker
Hi, Dave. We are back. We're back. We're here. We are. We're here. Yeah. We're still doing this. We are. I mean, did you think we weren't? I don't know. I don't know. I'm running out of things to say in the beginning here. It's just kind of like, you know, that's, that's why I've kept it steady for like a hundred some odd episodes. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and, and it's like, everybody at this point knows it's like they see the tile.
00:02:27
Speaker
They know what's coming. So I'm not going to do, do the thing that you're going to tell me not to do. Yeah. Don't bury the lead. No, no, no, no. I'm not going to do that.
Major Bendy's Wrestling Figures
00:02:35
Speaker
So yes, of course, uh, you know, as is typical on the show, we have a guest with us today and we have a, a, a new first time guest on the show. Uh, just 18 months ago, the major wrestling figure podcast, along with this week's guest,
00:02:49
Speaker
announced the launch of the Major Bendy's wrestling figure line. This line hearkens back to the days of Just Toys Bendoms, and since the launch, they've signed deals with talents such as Dan House and Jeff Jared, Johnny Gargano, Gangrel, and more, with already many of those hitting market. So joining us this week on the show is Mike Kanek, co-owner of Major Bendy's Kanek. Welcome to the show.
00:03:16
Speaker
Wow, thank you so much. That is an intro. I would like you to come with me everywhere I go and just say that. When the sliding doors are open at Trader Joe's, I want you to say it.
00:03:30
Speaker
When I go into the post office, I want you to say it. I want that following me everywhere I go, especially my Tinder profile. Well, the good news is that after this airs, you can take the snippet of the recording and you can do whatever you want to do with
Mike Kanek's Collecting Journey
00:03:45
Speaker
it. Like you could literally make that a reality. Yeah. You can copy and paste it in. Like it's all good. I'm going to turn into my ringtone. Yeah, that's going to go over great. You know what? Save that for date number two.
00:03:59
Speaker
That's date number two. That's not a date number one thing if you're using it for Tinder. Just, you know, amongst friends here. So thank you again for joining us on the show. We're excited to talk Major Bendy's. But before we get into that, as this is a show about collecting, the first question we ask all of our guests, what are you currently collecting and what are some of your recent pickups? I mean, I think a lot like everyone in this community
00:04:28
Speaker
You just buy so much. I showed you earlier before we went on air, I have a Power Rangers lightning collection. I have autographed WWF Hasbros, autographed WWF Retros. I have a Mattel collection. I love what ZombieSailor is doing with heels and faces, so I pick up all his stuff. I just got the Super Seven Simpsons. I love these figures.
00:04:54
Speaker
I think it's one of Super 7's best products right now. And if Matt and Brian are hearing this, I'm sorry. I have their figures as well. But yeah, I think that's pretty much what I've been collecting. I just buy everything, really. I know this stuff that I'm missing. Yeah, those Simpson figures, they're starting to pop up everywhere. What's your initial reaction? Are you into them?
00:05:20
Speaker
Yeah, I love them. I think it's a nice mixture of having the main characters with the side characters, because you need those side characters, and I think the side characters of the Simpsons are cooler than the actual Simpsons. Like, I'm excited for a Duffman. Yeah. Yeah, Hank Scorpio is, like, high on my list. Hank Scorpio, yeah. Like, I would love a Hans Muhlman or a Jasper Beardley. I was saying Dorns.
00:05:50
Speaker
Like, those are the side characters that's the way I want to collect those, I think. I figured it out. Who's Mr. Burns son's name? Was it Larry? Who was voiced by Roddy Dangerfield? I want that. That would actually be a great figure. I believe so. Yeah. Or like Herb Homer's brother. Yeah. Yeah. They should do like Mr. Plow Homer. Like they did like the, you know, they did like the Homer in space, like,
00:06:18
Speaker
Don't make just like a regular Homer out the gate. Make all like the weird like alternate costumes. Like Dancin Homer would be great. That's the one. Dancin Homer is what I would want. Disco Stu. I want Disco Stu. Comic Book Guy. Comic Book Guy. I just like, I like all those old school vague characters. They did it with Necker. I want a Brehoy. I want a Stanley.
00:06:48
Speaker
Um, I want the monomial guy. Lyle Landley. Yeah, that would be a great one. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, we, like, so we just had, uh, Brian Flynn on, on the show and he's like, that's the kind of stuff that he, like, he called out, like he wants to do like the weird, like ancillary stuff. Like it's like, Oh, they're making like Simpson's reaction figures.
00:07:17
Speaker
But it's all going to be McBain. Like, that's amazing. That's genius. McBain. He'd be another good one, too, if they did a McBain ultimate. I mean, it's effectively just Rainier Wolf Castle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was a little busy. I'm excited for the Duff, man, because I can do a Pat's Blue Ribbon. I'm going to do a crack right here. Get that sponsorship deal. There you go. There you go. Take a swig.
00:07:46
Speaker
A major PBR making a guest appearance on Adventures in Collecting. That's the kind of action figure synergy we're all about. Is this a crossover episode? It is now. Yep. You're a man of many roles. How did you get into working with collectibles?
Transition into Collectibles Industry
00:08:08
Speaker
So I think we've all kind of at one point
00:08:17
Speaker
did a side hustle of trying to flip things on eBay and stuff, go to garage sales and find what you can find and just go to those flea markets and stuff. I guess it was a very Gary Vee thing before Gary Vee. I was just doing that since I was 10 years old, but even before that,
00:08:43
Speaker
So I would like go to the flea markets and stuff and buy stuff and then I would either flip it in school or I was actually very early on on eBay as a kid because my parents just did not know what the hell I was doing and there was no way to monitor me. But I also got a hundred bucks for my grandmother for my birthday and then I took that and bought a booster box of Pokemon cards
00:09:12
Speaker
And this was when I was in the third grade. I would open up the packs, take out the duplicates, put the duplicates to the side, put them in my school binder, and I would take them to school and sell it to kids. And I was making
00:09:32
Speaker
In profit after everything I spent about somewhere between 20 to a hundred dollars a week in school in the third grade to the point where I was brought into the Principal's office because they thought that I was a drug mule No, no, I'm just selling pocket monsters
00:09:53
Speaker
Yeah. You mean, what's a Pokemon? But yeah, they just like, they thought I was a drug bill and they told me to stop. And then like, a week later, the computer teacher in the school pulled me to the side and was like, Hey, I heard you had like a Pokemon card business. Like, can you show me what you were doing? So because he like he wanted to do it. I'm like,
00:10:17
Speaker
So strange and stuff, but so I kind of got it early on and then That's I always knew what that's something I wanted to do and I just didn't know how to get
Origins of Major Bendy's
00:10:30
Speaker
into it. I graduated college with a marketing degree in a minor in management and I That's what I went to pursue and I got a job
00:10:46
Speaker
in Manhattan, very low pay. I was the marketing director of this company that now looking back at it, I'm like, this was my college. But at the time, it was just like very, it was basically the office I was marketing paper, I was literally marketing copy paper. And I was like, I need to do something in collectibles.
00:11:10
Speaker
And I started to produce my own comics, because this was at the time when store variance was a big thing. So I partnered up with a comic book shop in Jersey City. I paid for the whole run of the variant. It was Amazing Spider-Man, issue number seven, I'm going to say, with the cover art with Wilson Cabot's. And at the time I was running a comic book blog.
00:11:37
Speaker
So I had the comic blog's website on the cover and I was selling that book at New York Comic Con. I don't remember what. Everything's just really a blur right now. But it did really well. But it was just so much work went into it.
00:11:59
Speaker
And it was so much money that you had to invest. So I kind of just took a break from doing that. And I kind of just focused on my nine to five. I ended up working, getting a job at one of the top marketing agencies in Manhattan. And my client was one of the top pharmaceutical companies. And I was just listening to the podcast being miserable at this job thinking, this is what I wanted.
00:12:29
Speaker
It sucks. And I was like, this is what I really need to do. I need to go back into collectibles and try to figure out how to do collectibles. So it was really the podcast that really...
00:12:40
Speaker
put fire to my ass, and I quickly just went on LinkedIn, typed in collectibles, and I applied for the first job, got an interview the next day. A month later, I was hired. I was hired at Eagle Bus, and I was in charge of the WWE license. And through there, it's kind of how I ended up getting connected with Matt and Brian. They were running a pro wrestling tease
00:13:10
Speaker
promotion where if you bought one of their shits they'll call you to thank you and I had just got the job at EOMOS and I told them how I was a fan of the podcast and
00:13:27
Speaker
you know, how they really inspired me to chase the dream of collectibles. And now I'm working on the WWE license and I said, you know, I'm going to make sure that we make some figures of you guys. And from there, Matt start following on Instagram and we start chatting back and forth. So we're just, you know, two nerds, just one's a five foot three hobbit and the other one is a massive man who needs to eat every two hours.
00:13:57
Speaker
Man no that that I mean that's awesome, and I'm sure like You know Matt Bryant. We've had Matt on the show in the past you know he's it's funny cuz like Anybody in the collectibles world who? Doesn't know Matt sees Matt for what he is like obviously on the outside right like you know like they see the character yeah, Matt is and I
00:14:22
Speaker
As soon as you interact with him, and we've heard this from literally at like, whether it's, you know, Jeremy pedour or Steve Evans from Hasbro, um, everybody that interacts with him is just like, he's just a huge nerd that has the utmost respect for people who are in, you know, industrious, you know, and who are willing to like, you know, be like the, the one thing that I, you know, we can.
00:14:47
Speaker
all vouch for is that the always ready thing, that is not a bit like he is always ready for everything all the time. And like he definitely has that respect for, for people that are, you know, ready to, you know, to, to grab an opportunity. And I had no idea, you know, and I listened to the podcast, uh, you know, major wrestling figure podcast. It's actually one of our biggest inspirations. Why? And one of the reasons why we started doing this. Um,
00:15:13
Speaker
But yeah, the fact that that's how you got in with that phone call is just that's Bravo, dude Bravo Yeah, I mean the phone call didn't last that long. It probably was like a minute but I definitely left some sort of Good reputation of my of who I am to Matt
00:15:38
Speaker
I always teased Brian. I said, I don't think you liked me in the beginning. And now it's like, Brian and I are literally inseparable. But yeah, I mean, from there, I kind of, I heard on the show, they were talking about, they wanted to make foam fingers. And
00:15:59
Speaker
I said, I know how to make foam fingers. Got the foam fingers made for him in two weeks, dropped to his door, and then he was like, what else can you make? And I go, literally, I'm using the same factories as WRE. So whatever you find on WRE Shop, I can make. And originally I had told him not to say my name on air because I was afraid that I would get in trouble at my current job. And I also didn't want
00:16:30
Speaker
hundreds of thousands of people messaging me asking for things to be made. And then one day he just dropped my name and it just became a thing. He still doesn't know how to say my name properly. It's Canik, not Canik.
00:16:51
Speaker
So that's how it came to be. I made phone fingers, I made keychains, I made condoms, literally everything you can think of. And then during the pandemic, I had just watched my wrestling buddies and I was putting them on display and I said, you know, this could be something that can be easily made at a low minimum. And I pitched it to Matt and Matt said,
00:17:21
Speaker
Look, we'll fund it, you get it made. And I said, yeah, I think I can get it done. Just give me 500 bucks, and I'll get a sample made. And I had a sample made in his hands in a week. That's amazing. Incredible. And he was like, OK, yeah, do whatever you want now. Just trust me. Oh, man, that's incredible.
Creating Major Bendies – Process Overview
00:17:50
Speaker
So from foam fingers to plushes to all of the major promo items, tell us about how we got into major bendies. Where did you come in for that? So I had just finished shipping out
00:18:12
Speaker
the the major buddies it was our first time doing them it sold out in a day I was still like near to the whole packing and shipping things so I had to do 250 orders in a week and I was stressing and I was like how am I gonna get this done this is so much work now I can do half that in a day but it's I had finished and
00:18:42
Speaker
I dropped the last box off to the post office, sat down in my toy room, opened up a bottle of Bourbon County beer that's like 15% alcohol content. So you get a nice buzz pretty quickly. And I was staring at a pile of vendors I had just bought at Wrestling Universe because they were running a sale for like
00:19:11
Speaker
I think it was like $5 each, all meant on card. And I just picked up everything. And I was just staring at it. And I was like, I can do that. That's the next thing. Because I knew Zombie was working on heels and faces. And I didn't want to step on his toes. And I'm happy I didn't, because literally everyone is now doing the same style figure. Yeah.
00:19:41
Speaker
I just saw that pile and I was like, I can do this and this could be cool because I think there's a big gap for these in the market. There was a lot of people missing. We didn't get the Gangrel. We didn't get the bike of British Bulldog, the atom bomb. There's so many and there's more that we've signed. It's in the works.
00:20:10
Speaker
We're just not announcing. Okay. We announce when it's on hand. It's a golden rule now. Though, if you go to a live show and you put enough beers into Matt, he'll sell you everything. He'll give you a farm. And I get mad and I start screaming at him. He just laughs at me because I'm just so tiny compared to him.
00:20:41
Speaker
But now we're all the way on to Series 3, right? Yeah. Yeah, Series 3 is shipping right now. Series 3 is gangrel with a chase that's bloody. We have Effie, Chelsea Green, and Coco Banner. I have to look at the wall because I sometimes get confused myself of who's in what series.
00:21:09
Speaker
It's a, it's a, it's a wild array, especially with, uh, the, the new, uh, the, the Chelsea green recent developments, world, uh, WWE record holder, women's world rumble record holder, uh, Chelsea green. She might actually end up being one of the fastest selling, uh, major bendies that we have.
00:21:32
Speaker
Well, we had Tyrus. Tyrus did an insane amount because he went on his show and mentioned it and the site almost crashed. Yeah, he definitely has quite a following and I'm sure that the Dan House, anytime you put Dan House in on anything, those always sell. Yeah, Dan House, we've done
00:22:04
Speaker
I have to look at my wall again. I think we've done five Danhousens now. And Danhausen just, he's one of my favorite people to work with because he understands it because he's a collector himself. He understands the brand. He was an original collective of Bendoms.
00:22:33
Speaker
And once again, he's one of us. So he gets it. So he knows what people will like and what he wants to see himself. So that cosmic Danhausen was his idea completely. It's an awesome colorway.
00:22:50
Speaker
Yeah. And, and probably one of the wrestlers with like the most surprising crossover appeal in the sense that people who do not watch wrestling are like, that guy's interesting to me. Yeah. I appreciate what he's doing and tell me more about it. Yeah, it's, it's insane. And his fans, um, I won't compare them to the tires fans,
00:23:18
Speaker
because the Tyros fans don't understand what a pre-order is. But that's a different story. But the Danhausen fans, they want their Danhausen fans right away. And they always end every word with housing. And it's very difficult to read when you're trying to be a polite customer service guy. I want my figurehausen nowhausen, damn it. Damn it,hausen. Yeah, that's how it reads.
00:23:50
Speaker
I mean, the guy's been in the New York Times, like, big profile about him. Like, it's the appeal to him is just, like, there are friends who are like, that I have, they're like, you watch wrestling, right? Tell me more about Dan houses. Yeah, I'm like, okay, because he's somebody I enjoy. So, I mean, yeah, actually, I'm sorry, but I had a friend who was like, Oh my god, there's a wrestler in the New York Times. I'm like, yeah, he's actually my friend. And he's messaged me and he asked me to
00:24:19
Speaker
get as many New York times as possible for him. Where did you find the newspaper? Because I need to get them. Yeah. And I mean, think about it too with him, right? Like you look at the history of wrestlers that have been signed to major companies, even though they're currently healing from like massive injuries, right? It's like Lex Luger, Brian Pillman, Danhausen.
00:24:44
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. He's he is a he is a rare breed. And, you know, yeah. And again, another guy who is just like super, super nice, super nice. Yeah. And my girlfriend initially only knew of him as the guy on whatnot that I watched while I had my broken leg. And she was like, so he's like that all the time. And I'm like, yeah. And I'm like, like, explaining to her.
00:25:09
Speaker
And she's like, Oh, that's interesting. And then she came to full gear with me and was like, Oh, so this is like a different version of him. And I'm like, she's like bought into the Dan, Dan house and mythos, Dan house and mythos. God, I love being alive in 2023. Yeah.
00:25:31
Speaker
So like you were saying, many collectors don't often get the opportunity to understand the process firsthand. So what does it take for a bendy to go from inception to finished product in hand? And how long does that take, roughly? Yeah, so it starts with communication between Matt, Ryan, myself,
00:25:57
Speaker
TTD gets some say. We're all in a giant group chat and we figure out who's going to be the person that we sign next, right? And that can take anywhere between five minutes to two days of us going back and forth with Roski saying, no, that's a dumb idea.
00:26:24
Speaker
But sometimes we just all don't agree. Really, does that happen? I think we're all very usually on point. But we discuss, we sign. The signings can either take two minutes for someone to sign the contract, or it can take
00:26:50
Speaker
three weeks. It really all depends on who the person is. And then it goes into, OK, what gear do we want this person in? And we normally try to decide that before we sign. And then we get images. TTD uses those images then to draw the art. So he does the concept art.
00:27:21
Speaker
And that takes some, it really depends on how much is on TTD's plate, because TTD does literally everything. He's one of the greatest humans in the world and one of the nicest people in the world. It'll usually take him about two or three days to get it done. The concept art, then the concept art goes to our 3D designer. We just got a new 3D designer who, he did series three, he did Tyrus.
00:27:51
Speaker
His name is Josh, Josh Woop, I think I'm saying his last name right. Very nice guy, very talented. So you can hold series one and series three next to each other and you can see that there's a big difference in the face sculpts. So I think Major Bendy is becoming a better product as we move forward. So it'll take him somewhere between
00:28:23
Speaker
three to seven days to finish a 3D design. And then that goes to China. So then I hand China, this is TDD's art, this is Josh's art.
00:28:42
Speaker
We need a sample made. That usually gets done in about three days. They send me pictures. I say, cool, ship it over. They ship it to me. DHL Express takes about another four days. And then I look it over. I send videos to everyone, see everyone's thoughts. If everything is good,
00:29:09
Speaker
I give China the thumbs up, and then it goes into the mold production. The mold production starts. They'll do a pre-production sample for me to check everything, so that's a rubber-style figure.
00:29:26
Speaker
that's painted with all the decals and everything on it. And then they'll DHL express that to me. So I'll get that like in another three, four days. I give the thumbs up and then it goes into production. And then the production can take anywhere between two to three weeks. And then it gets shipped on a boat before, because we were in a pandemic and the docks and the containers and everything was a disaster.
00:29:55
Speaker
You didn't know when it was cutting. You got it when you got it. That was it. There's no estimate. There's no way of figuring things out. So like series one was sitting at the dock, I think for like two months because no one was there to unload it. There was also an issue of no employees at the docks to unload the containers and that's why containers were going from $5,000 a container to up to I think it was
00:30:25
Speaker
the bid, they were starting to do auctions for the containers. That's what really started these high prices on goods. It went from $5,000 to I think up to $50,000. It was insane. It was just a crazy markup. I actually had series one half
00:30:46
Speaker
airship and then half on the boat. And even air shipping, the prices on that were so outrageous because there was so many people doing it. So a bendy can take anywhere between three to five months into someone's hand. And now a word from our sponsors.
00:31:09
Speaker
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00:35:49
Speaker
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00:36:19
Speaker
and use code AIC. Manscaped beard hedger, one stroke, one guard, 20 lengths. And now back to the show. Awesome. Yeah, I mean, it's always one of those things where when we get people on that, you know, that can speak to the actual manufacturing process, we love to hear it because it's different from
00:36:50
Speaker
you know a figure that has multiple points of articulation and 3d base scans and you know the like the special like you know inkjet print applications to something that's you know
00:37:04
Speaker
Style differently something that's a little more, you know, quote unquote air quote heavy air quotes, you know Simple but you know even even still like, you know people everything's different and volume and all this and that was the other thing Yeah, nothing's the same do you have when you when you get the major bendies made like is there a certain like volume that you that you guys have to order in is that constantly changing depending on the the talent like Um So in the beginning
00:37:35
Speaker
We had to order 1,000 per style. And since then, 1,000 per mold. And now I've gotten it down because we do so much now with the factory. They trust me. We pay our bills on time in full. So they like me for that. I can now
00:38:04
Speaker
I have leeway of moving the numbers down. So I've cut those minimum orders by half. So that gives us the opportunity to do people that we wouldn't have done in the beginning, that we didn't think would sell as well, but we still want to do. And then we do the paint.
00:38:32
Speaker
Variants once that mold is made we can kind of Do whatever we want to do, but if it's a it's a complicated figure the factory likes us to order a higher amount because If it's complicated take for example Dan housing There's someone who has to retouch that by hand to make sure that it's accurate and that takes them time to figure out the
00:39:01
Speaker
the correct process. So they're going to screw up about 20 that they have to discard because it won't pass the quality assurance. So the factory is losing money on those. And so it'll take that 20. So if I order 100, there's no room for profits for the factory to make. So they want the higher number for that reason.
00:39:30
Speaker
So now you mentioned earlier, you know, one of the first things you guys discuss is what gear to put each bendy in. How do you make those decisions? Like, you know, thinking of like the Brian Pillman, where it's ECW Arena Brian Pillman. And you think like, you know, is that a Brian call or is that, you know, where do these decisions come into play? It's a mixture of everything.
00:40:01
Speaker
We take into consideration is this something that we want to do a VP of later down the line Do we want to do a chase? Did Is there going to be an issue with IP So we take into all those things
00:40:27
Speaker
So for like the Pillman, that was a Brian call. Brian is the ECW guru. Um, and he was like, this is what we're going to do. This will work. I'm like, okay, your call. Um, and we're having those discussions now with, I'll say, well, I think Brian said, I'm blessed to open already. We're doing more ECW guys. Um, so, um,
00:40:57
Speaker
You know, buying just gets final say on all ECW guys. But then if there's someone that we are working with and T2D did the gear design for, we kind of just like, all right, let's go do this way. It's T2D's work. It's easy. We know it's going to be accurate. Let's go. And we did that with Dan Housen.
00:41:28
Speaker
And obviously, Matt and Brian and Swagl, because TD designed all their gears. But then there's guys like Conrad Thompson. We reached out to Conrad and said, what would be your signature look? And he explained it to us.
00:41:52
Speaker
We just did exactly everything he said. We have the watch, we have the sports jacket, we have the t-shirt, we have the sneakers. And then we also try to think what would be the first of something. So that really kind of goes into our talent area, because we were the first people to do a Dan Housen.
00:42:17
Speaker
First Conrad Thompson. First person with Jeff Jarrett to say, don't piss me off. First Nick Gage. First Bendy Pizza Cutter ever. First Bendy Pizza Cutter. Yeah. I don't know if there's any other firsts.
00:42:38
Speaker
I mean, you put Rick in the whole situation with Rick Flair's final match, having him in the same robe that he was wearing to that match. Actually, if you want to talk about time frames, that has to be the craziest thing I've ever done.
00:42:57
Speaker
And I didn't sleep for, I think, two weeks. I normally don't sleep. I sleep about two or three hours a day. And it's why I think I'm very good at what I do because I can stay up and talk to China all day and then go to my nine to five job and then do bendies and major pod stuff. But the Vic Flair Conrad had reached out to Matt and asked if he knew any toy companies that could do
00:43:27
Speaker
a figure for the last match and Matt didn't want to pitch us at first and pitched Pro Wrestling T's micro ballers and basically it needed to get done in less than three months in hand so that Ric Flair can sign them so they can have it for the show Pro Wrestling T just said flat out no and then
00:43:55
Speaker
Matt was like, well, we have major bendies. I don't know if we can get it done. Let me ask my guy. Matt asked me, and I said, just tell them yes, we'll figure everything out. Oh, God. Because I was like, I'm not going to turn down this opportunity to do a big flare figure. Oh, my God. I just said yes. And he's like, are you sure? And I'm like, you're wasting time. Say yes.
00:44:20
Speaker
Um, so basically I told you that you need to have this art done by tonight. I passed it on to, uh, we had another 3d guy at the time. I was like, I need this done in two days. Cause he was, he would take some time, um, uh, to get things done. I'm like, I need this done in two days. I will pay you extra. And he got it done, sent it to China.
00:44:50
Speaker
And I told China, look, this is a big opportunity for us. We need this done right away. They had the sample made for us in two or three days. Had it overnighted to me. I quickly approved it. Then the pre-production, they sent me pictures of the pre-production figure for the mold after the mold was created. And I just said,
00:45:20
Speaker
Don't even send it to me. Just start working on it. And we had the Ric Flair figure in hand in, I think, about a month and a half. Jesus. Two months. And it was just like I quickly shipped everything to Dawkins, because Dawkins, the gimmick lawyer, who's actually a real lawyer,
00:45:48
Speaker
had Ric Flair sign everything. So we did it with enough time. I think we had an extra two or three weeks to spare. Jesus. That's wild. Yeah. Oh, and in between all that, TTD was designing the packaging. He worked with Conrad's people to make sure everything was okay and did the trading cards. But yeah, everything just worked out really well.
00:46:21
Speaker
I would have changed if I had the time, absolutely. I think we could have made the figure better, but for the time frame that we were given, I think we did an incredible job in producing a figure, which I went to the last match and they were selling the signed ones there for 200 bucks a piece, and I saw just people
00:46:46
Speaker
pouring to the merch stand, just buying boxes of them. And I'll just stay with Steve from Mattel. And we were just like, holy shit. And he just looked at me and he was like, this is what you did. You should be proud. And I go,
00:47:03
Speaker
I just want to get blacked out drunk right now because I am tired. I would like to go to sleep. Can I pay somebody $200 to put me to sleep? Yes. So we've talked a lot about the talent so far and kind of the overall familiarity with the line. But what a lot of people don't realize, outside of wrestling fandom, wrestlers are
00:47:31
Speaker
So connected to action figures, like everybody that becomes a professional wrestler is so familiar with the world of action figures. They just kind of really go hand in hand.
Wrestlers and Action Figures
00:47:39
Speaker
But even in that world, like bend bendies, bendoms are kind of in that niche. When you're talking to talent and, and you're like, Hey, you know, we want to make an action figure out of you. Have you ever heard of a bend them? Like, like, is it, is it hard to, do you think it's like harder to sell them on the idea of a bend them versus like a traditional action figure, or have you not really come across that issue at all?
00:48:02
Speaker
So I am fortunate to have two of the leaders in pop culture and collectibles in the wrestling business as partners. So they have years of experience in the locker room, years of experience chasing figures and, you know, everyone just trusts them. So, um,
00:48:32
Speaker
When they approach someone and ask them, they will automatically say yes. Sometimes their main concern is what are they getting paid? Yeah. But there are guys who you do have to explain a little bit too.
00:49:03
Speaker
I just signed someone a few weeks ago who I had to send a sample to and explain to them what a bendy is. They obviously trusted everything I was saying because I'm associated with Matt and Brian, but they didn't know what it was.
00:49:31
Speaker
But they signed, they were very happy to do it. And then there was, there's actually an agency that you have to go through for some of the legends. And I went through that agency with British Bulldog and it took us three months maybe to get that deal. Because they just didn't understand the retro figures and then they tried to pitch me other things I didn't want to do.
00:50:02
Speaker
They had their agenda, and I have mine. You just gotta stick to your grounds, but yeah, they didn't know what it was. I'm still pretty sure they don't know what it is, but we got it done. Ultimately, that's all that matters, right? In the end, you're getting a product out there that fits with what you're doing and represents the talent well. Yeah. Yeah.
00:50:31
Speaker
Um, British Bulldogs kids did reach out to Brian and, um, they actually reached, I saw them at a convention and they were very grateful for what we're doing. And, um, obviously they know Matt and Brian and they trust them fully. So, um, like what I said, it just, it helps that I have these locker room leaders as my partners.
00:50:59
Speaker
Now, one of the things I think is, I would say probably one of the more innovative things that the line does, and you think of like, you know, the Hasbros, the only way to get the figure out of the package is to basically effectively destroy the card.
00:51:20
Speaker
Um, and I think you guys and junk shop are the only people that I'm aware of that have done something like this, um, where the card is basically something that you can open and close. Yeah. Um, and it's effectively its own protective case as well. Um, so like it's its own defender. Yeah. What was the thinking behind doing that? So I wanted something that can be displayed nicely.
00:51:46
Speaker
and be signed nicely. But I also wanted the option of it being able to be displayed mock or loose. And I did that. And I think it just came out great. And like you were saying with the kind of different ways to display in the autographs, TTD does such a great job on those card backs that even if you have, you know, like you take the figure out and display the figure loose,
00:52:17
Speaker
you can still put the card back back in that container and have it signed, and yeah. I mean, like I said, with the packaging being part of the presentation, TDD does an incredible job of holding up our Pro Wrestling Tees exclusive Macar Donor that is Ghostbusters inspired. Everything about this is just,
00:52:46
Speaker
It's fucking awesome. It has the slime, it has the containment stripe thing, so it's just cool.
00:53:02
Speaker
enough space in the bubble to get a nice inscription and signature. So I just got one signed by Matt, and he's probably gonna hate me for saying this, because now everyone's gonna want one like this. But it's a nice signature on the bubble, and then he busted and makes me feel good. Nice. People are gonna want it in red and white. Yeah.
00:53:30
Speaker
Guys, don't ask him to do that, because he didn't even want to do it for me. Bust out those paint pens. Get ready. Have your paint pens at the ready. Yeah. Red would look good on that, though. I did a green. OK. On this one. I just wanted it to go with the slime and everything. Slime green? Yeah.
00:53:51
Speaker
So, so with, you know, we've, we've mentioned that the major bendies kind of throw it back to the just toys, you know, WWE line, there's, there's nods, there's, you know, kind of that, that act of like filling in the gaps, but are there plans to do, um, anything else that the, uh, you know, that that line kind of originally had like two packs or accessory packs or, or even new things like belts or, or finally, perhaps a ring outside of the, uh, the, the oft mentioned, uh, uh,
00:54:21
Speaker
prototype ring. Any of that in the works? Um, we don't announce things until it ships. Fair enough. Okay. But you didn't say no. So we don't announce things until it ships. Fine. No, actually, why don't we pause for a minute? Can you finish that beer and then maybe grab another like two and then I'll ask you that question again.
00:54:50
Speaker
See, the thing about me is... In a major PBR break where you pound a couple of tall boys and then we ask you questions and you answer them a little differently, right? That's... See, the thing about me is I can drink all day and I won't tell you shit. You take Matt to a live show and give him two PBRs and he's telling everyone everything. You know what? We appreciate your stick-to-it-iveness, Kanek. Yeah.
00:55:20
Speaker
It's very admirable. Thank you. I'm a kid from Union City, New Jersey. So if you don't know who Joey Diaz is, he's a stand-up comedian who always talks about when he grew up, which is Union City, New Jersey. And he always says, the toughest motherfuckers are from Union City. And they'll never say anything, and it won't back you out.
00:55:50
Speaker
They're all dumb because they throw rocks at each other. And that's basically me. I'm just dumb throwing rocks at myself. But I won't say anything. So before we head into our final question, one last thing to kind of close the conversation here on Major Bendy's.
Challenges and Rewards of Producing Major Bendies
00:56:09
Speaker
But what has been the biggest challenge so far with producing the line? And what's been the biggest reward for you? The big flu was hard.
00:56:20
Speaker
But Matt, I think, is keeping his mouth shut. We love you, Matt. I hope he hears this and fucking rips me a new asshole. We're going to make the news section of the show. D Freedom's already taken notes. Great.
00:56:48
Speaker
Dee, I know you're listening, so I love you. But I think that the hardest thing was, you know, the time shanks on Bricks Flair. Getting orders out is tough because I'm literally doing everything on my own. Like January 11th, I think it was, we got 11 designs of Major Bendy's.
00:57:17
Speaker
and hand. That's 70 cases of figures in my small house that I have to bring up to the attic. Each box weighs somewhere between 25 to 30 pounds. I'm five foot three, zero muscle mass. I legit failed gym twice in high school. I don't, I should not be carrying anything. And aren't you an addict too on top of everything else?
00:57:41
Speaker
I am very asthmatic. I actually took my nebulizer before this. Yeah, we were chatting about nebulizers prior to a few weeks ago. Yeah. I had, I tried doing it. There it is. Now I'm in the USB-C nebulizer. Yeah, so that's tough.
00:58:08
Speaker
It's actually just been fun doing everything. This is the most rewarding thing I've done because it's a lot of work, but then when it gets to the customer's hands and I get tagged every day, multiple times a day of people who are just happy that they received their order and
00:58:29
Speaker
The happy how the figure came out. It makes me super happy and like it always puts a smile on my face. I can have the hardest, toughest day and I get one of those tags and I'm just, it gives me joy for like those few seconds and then I go back to reality and I'm like, why is Matt screaming at me? Well, I think it's time for our final question. So Dave.
00:59:00
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 of all of our guests, what is your favorite and or strangest piece in your collection?
Favorite Collectible: Stan Lee Cell
00:59:15
Speaker
It can be one of each or it can be both. This is strange and I love it. So I was always into collecting
00:59:27
Speaker
always into comic books and action figures. My dad, hardcore immigrant from Turkey, super tough guy. He was a boxer in Turkey. He taught explosives in the Turkish military. Toughest fucking baddest motherfucker you'll ever meet. Always is like, why are you playing with toys?
00:59:54
Speaker
He's like this super macho dude, and I'm like, yeah, science and comics and toys, cool. It's like an odd couple thing. But he's now started to understand that what I do is cool. But when I was in high school, I think I was a senior in high school, we lived in a very large building complex.
01:00:24
Speaker
had like a room where you'd have to go throw out your trash, right? And someone had thrown out an autographed Stanley cell from the animated Spider-Man cartoon series. And for some strange reason, he just had the foresight to grab it. And he brought it up. And he says, what is this? Is this worth any money? It has that old man that you like on it.
01:00:54
Speaker
Cause it was like a COA, like a photo of Stanley signing it too. And I was like, oh my God. And like, I quickly cracked the frame, got it reframed. And I still have it. And that's one of the coolest things that I have. Cause it's like a gift from my dad, even though he didn't buy it for me. But he just...
01:01:19
Speaker
The next time somebody says that, the phrase, one man's trash is another man's treasure, like you literally, you have that, you have it, you have a real life example of that. Yeah, I have that and then I actually got to meet Stanley a few times and talk to him. So I have a CDC,
01:01:45
Speaker
Uh, issue number one of Spider-Man that from when they redid, um, the Spider-Man series. So that's slab. And then, so that's together. And then, um, I ended up actually becoming kind of cool friends with Jason David Frank, um, through a mutual friend. And, um, he, he would like invite me to like hang out with him.
01:02:14
Speaker
was in autograph signings. And he would gift me all these things because he just knew I was a big Power Rangers fan. So I have a lot of stuff that he gifted me that I won't sell, ever. So like I have a white Dragonzord Funko Pop sign by him. That's like some
01:02:38
Speaker
some 8x10s and stuff signed by him that were just personalized to me. I actually did a Power Ranger's comic book with Boom. It's the green and white Power Ranger on both sides with Tommy in the center. And if you look, his outfit, his street clothes is divided based off of what he would wear as a white ranger and a green ranger.
01:03:06
Speaker
I actually did that and he helped me promote it and so I have that signed and slapped. So those are cool things. I appreciate things that are given to me, if that makes sense. Yeah. 100%.
01:03:24
Speaker
So Canik, before we let you go for the evening, just remind our listeners, where can they find you on social media? Where can they find out about Major Bendy's? And you have an announcement coming up for WrestleCon, right? Yeah. So social media, Canik89, across all boards, all those things that the kids do, the TikTok and the Instagram.
01:03:54
Speaker
to Twitter. It's K-A-N-I-K-8-9. And then MajorBendys, you can purchase them at majorpodmerch.com. We have Series 3 available. If you are a fan of Gangrel, I would jump on that right now. Running down. And same for Chelsea.
01:04:21
Speaker
And then we announced yesterday, WrestleCon. We have some really cool things happening. Once again, we do not announce things until it ships. But once again, I'm going to just say it. We do not announce things until it ships, but we have things that we are announcing at Live 2000.
01:04:50
Speaker
And we'll have them for display, possibly for purchase. It's going to be a fun time. It's exciting. I think we're going to shake the wrestling world at WrestleCon.
01:05:07
Speaker
We'll be, we'll be sure to cover it, you know, when, when the news breaks, uh, you know, people will find that, uh, you know, on, on our social media at AIC underscore podcast. And of course, uh, we'll put links to all of the, the, uh, the places that you just mentioned. So, you know, we'll make sure that we have the major pod merch link in the show notes and everything, uh, as well as, as your social handles. Canik, this was awesome, man. Thank you so much for, uh, for being on the pod and for, for telling us the, uh, the, the major bendy story.
01:05:37
Speaker
Thank you for having me. It was a blast. Dave, you want to send us home? Yeah. Listen to us on Monday and listen to the major pod on Friday.
01:05:51
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
01:06:07
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.
01:06:31
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.