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All Things WWE: An Interview with Mattel's Steve Ozer
436 Plays4 years ago
So real, it's like being in the ring! On this episode, Dave and Erik are joined by Mattel's Steve Ozer to learn more about the brand's upcoming WWE releases, including the Ultimate New Generation Ring, new lines, retros, and discover Steve's passionate history with toys!
BACK THE NEW GENERATION RING! Head over to www.mattelcreations.com to get started!
Follow Steve on Instagram @actionfigureattack.
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:02
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting. Where we talk toy news, culture, and halls. Along with our journeys as collectors. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. Hey, everyone.
00:00:33
Speaker
Dave, we're back, and of course we're back with another guest at this point. We're just gonna keep that ball rolling. Keep the guests coming. It's awesome.
Guest Introduction: Steve Ozer from Mattel
00:00:43
Speaker
And the timing of this one really could not be any better, coming off of an insane Comic-Con at home, another year of a virtual Comic-Con. Today, Dave, we're joined by a guest that is very important to both of us in both of our collections, right?
00:01:02
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. So Mattel is one of the world's leaders in toys, producing toys and collectibles for everything from Barbie and Jurassic World to Hot Wheels, Fisher Price and of course Masters of the Universe. But we're here today to step into the seven inch scale squared circle to talk all things WWE.
Virtual Comic-Con: Challenges and Engagement
00:01:23
Speaker
Joining us today on the show is the global brand marketing manager for action figures at Mattel and member of the WWE Elite Squad. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, Steve Ozer. Hey guys, what's up? Thank you so much for having me on the podcast. The pleasure is ours. Thank you so much for carving out some time to join us after what we're sure was a crazy week for you. A whirlwind.
00:01:53
Speaker
Yeah, Wild Week, I mean, live comic-cons are a beast to organize and execute, but somehow a virtual comic-con is, you know, you multiply that effort times 10. Yeah, I mean, it's like you have a captive audience almost like 24-7 for nearly a week straight, so...
00:02:16
Speaker
Yeah, lots of info to share, lots of excitement, you know, communicating, I mean, in a virtual setting. Now, now you're doing this through social media and on the forums and in Facebook groups instead of in person. So, you know, exciting time still, and I'm glad, you know, we were able to execute, you know, a fun set of reveals and, and really, you know, bring people something that they're used to annually and make sure to keep that going until we can, we can do that in person again, hopefully next year.
00:02:46
Speaker
Yeah, fingers crossed, man. Fingers crossed that. Yeah, for sure. Hopefully by the fall, we'll be good to go for New York Comic Con if everything goes well.
Steve's Collecting Interests and Career Path
00:02:54
Speaker
But before we jump into all of those reveals that we just alluded to, before we start, we ask all of our guests, what are you currently collecting?
00:03:05
Speaker
what am I not collecting would be the easier question to answer. Of course, you know, WWE, it's the line I work on, but even if I wasn't working on it, I would be all in or practically all in on that. Marvel Legends, Masters of the Universe, Origins and Revelations, former classics collector for Motu, and I think I have a complete collection of that.
00:03:35
Speaker
What else? Star Wars Black series, Super Seven, Ultimates. I mean, if it's a beloved property of like the 80s or 90s, there's a chance I dabble in it.
00:03:47
Speaker
It seems to be the running trend when we've asked that question the past few times. We might have to alter it to what are you not collecting. There's so much good stuff right now. It's like you have this nostalgia boom. I thought we were already in a nostalgia boom, but it's just accelerated so much. Then the resurgence of some of these brands like GI Joe is back.
00:04:12
Speaker
and you have both Hasbro and Super7 doing GI Joe product and others on top of that. And there's just so much available to us. And it's like not only are we revisiting like the form factors and styles of our childhoods, but you're also getting them upgraded
00:04:29
Speaker
In in ways, you know with with modern articulation And you know dij Deco on their faces So there's so many options even if you just want to hone in on on one of those brands or one of those collections There's still like so much variety to choose from you know, just on one brand alone Speaking of the brand tell us about how you got to Mattel and more about your role Well
00:04:57
Speaker
I won't go all the way back, right? I've told the story a couple of times, but it was always a goal to try to get into Mattel and work on the WWE brand specifically. But I was working for Coca-Cola, doing marketing for them on a few different brands. I took care of some of the Southeast markets in the US, and then an opportunity came to transfer to California.
00:05:22
Speaker
to work for Zico Coconut Water under the Coca-Cola umbrella. And their offices were located in El Segundo, literally right down the street from Mattel. So I jumped at the opportunity to take the transfer, move and handle Zico Coconut Water out here on the West Coast. And then just like, I was already networking, I just amped it up being here in California now. And I would have,
00:05:50
Speaker
pipe dream, right, to try to make it to the exact job on the exact brand that I wanted. Um, so I would have been happy doing, you know, any toy company, any brand, any entertainment company. Um, but I crossed paths with Dave Jackson, who is one of the marketing managers now over at, uh, jazzwares for AW, but at the time he was, he was one of the managers on the Mattel line for WWE. Um,
00:06:19
Speaker
He briefly jumped ship to Zico Covent Water just long enough to form a little bit of a wrestling fan bond. And we kept in contact. He went back to Mattel, back to WWE. And then on his way out, he asked me, hey, I'm leaving. There may be an opportunity. Would you be interested in interviewing? And I mean, of course.
00:06:41
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. Yes. And, you know, long story short, I convinced them I was the guy for the job. And here we are, I guess, almost four years later in the fall. And, you know, dream come true. So grateful, so grateful to be in the position that I'm that I'm in and representing, you know, all you guys, all you collectors on the inside. And in in your role, so what is what is your your role entail for for the line?
00:07:12
Speaker
So, you know, as the marketing manager, and, you know, I usually say this, marketing manager, I think might be a little bit of a deceiving title. There is marketing involved, of course, but, you know, we're really like running the business itself, right? So, we're making sure we're hitting our financial targets, we're structuring the line, we're working with retail partners.
00:07:37
Speaker
more running the business aspect of things to make sure that the line is profitable and product is coming in at cost. It's being delivered on time to retail partners, things of that nature. So that's the heaviest lift is
Mattel's WWE Crowdfunding and Photography Impact
00:07:53
Speaker
really just making sure the ship stays afloat.
00:07:57
Speaker
Now, jumping right into the Comic-Con stuff because there is a lot to talk about. Lots of stuff. The Ultimate Edition New Generation Arena announcement was really a great way to kick off Comic-Con as part of the Mattel Creations website relaunch and all the other fun little reveals they had sprinkled out throughout the week leading into Comic-Con.
00:08:21
Speaker
What led the team to choosing this as the first WWE crowdfunding project? Well, you guys might remember we showed a larger, more modern entrance stage a few years ago at WrestleMania Access and at San Diego Comic Con. That got some really positive reception from the audience, like when are you gonna do this? Can we have this? Lots of requests.
00:08:49
Speaker
We also showed a little diorama version of the neon entrance at both WrestleMania Access and San Diego Comic Con and got similar reactions. So, you know, for years since those things were first shown, we've been doing exploratory work
00:09:05
Speaker
on trying to make this a reality. Finally, obviously, Mattel Creations is a thing now. That was a long time in the works, so we were kind of dual pathing the development of that new generation arena in anticipation of the launch of Mattel Creations.
00:09:23
Speaker
as far as like honing in on the new gen arena and that entrance itself it just seemed like you know the perfect way to go out of the gate because it was you know literally the end of the golden era so you still had you know there's footage and memories of some of our favorite like golden era stars like Hulk Hogan
00:09:42
Speaker
and Rick Flair going through that neon entrance and that just like led into the true new generation era where you've got you know Bret Hart, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels you know making their memorable entrances through through that new gen neon entrance. That plus the ring like you know lots of
00:10:03
Speaker
demand for a properly scaled ring. So we didn't just want to, you know, put out the old ring again, which I mean, we had two collector scale rings, but the scale was slightly off on both of them. So we wanted to revamp the scale and pluss it up with like unprecedented details, like the wood planks.
00:10:24
Speaker
And all the details on the girders of the ring to really just present something completely new and fresh And something you know you can really anchor your collection with Yeah, the wood planks was the thing that it really kind of for me stuck out as like this is this is such a kind of if you know you know detail that I don't think I would have ever anticipated seeing and in You know figure form so to see something like that and
00:10:53
Speaker
just was really kind of amped up the idea for me of like, this is unbelievable.
00:11:01
Speaker
Plus, watching you in that initial launch video, the one that aired shortly after the actual announcement of the project, watching you and Bill walk through the ring and having it in front of you, it was clear that the passion and the thought that went into this thing was there. You guys looked like kids in a candy store with it, frankly.
00:11:30
Speaker
I mean, full credit to Bill for the details of that ring. I mean, you know, all those things, you know, he was the one who said, I want to do this, right? If we're going to do a ring again, this is how I want to do it. I mean, the scale thing was me really, but as far as like the details thing, that was all Bill. So, you know, really a team effort, you know, coming together, ideas coming together. I wanted to make sure it was in scale. Bill wanted to make sure.
00:11:56
Speaker
that the visuals were all there. And you know, there's lots of playability too. I mean, you know, a lot of us are adult collectors, a lot of your listeners are probably adult collectors, but we still pose and take, you know, Instagram photos and the whole nine yards. So that just adds like a whole other plethora of options for, you know, whatever type of collector you are.
00:12:19
Speaker
yeah i mean i i have i have to figure that the as somebody who dabbles into in toy photography uh... that the toy photography community must be like excited for this that the the photographers that are taking the like those upper echelon pictures where it's like they have the full arena setups and they're hanging guys by fishing line and editing out photoshop like like now you have the opportunity to access a ring that has been featured across
00:12:47
Speaker
frankly, like multi platform media, right? Like it's been video games, it's been in paper views, it's been on, you know, Monday Night Raw and like, like that fan edit of the like the sizzle reel with with that classic, you know, raw intro is everything. Oh, yeah, I mean, and those those Instagram photographers, action figure photographers have been some of the most vocal supporters
00:13:15
Speaker
of this crowdfund. I mean, not only do they know that that by something like this being successful, that it blows the doors wide open for for future executions. And you know, sky can be the limit, depending on the level of success we're looking at here. But I mean, those guys, it's like they're just probably just salivating at the thought of like, oh, man, we can have, you know, Terry Funk, Paul driving junkyard dog on the wood planks because he pulled the you know, the the mat back.
00:13:46
Speaker
and ramming someone's shoulder into the framework of the ring and all those great entrance pictures. So they're seeing the full potential of this item. And, you know, I think for collectors who might not want to pose so much or do photography, they're looking at that neon entrance as like, you know, that's like a centerpiece for your display. You know, turn that thing on with the lights off in the room and that would be amazing.
00:14:12
Speaker
Now, with the light up entrance, that has multiple settings, right? There's like a solid light on, there's like dancing lights.
00:14:22
Speaker
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. There's, oh man, at least six, but I think a lot more settings on there. So yes, you can go solid and have all lights on at the same time. And then there are just several patterns you can cycle through. Some are that are true to content and then some all new patterns that are just like visually really cool and work well with the entrance itself. So tons of options in the light up feature on that entrance way.
00:14:48
Speaker
Yeah, and that makes perfect sense, too, because I think back of, you know, watching Raw or Superstars when I was younger and seeing like the lights go to theme music and things like that. So that that for me is
WWE Retro Line and New Features Discussion
00:15:00
Speaker
is just another amazing detail for it. And and of course, you know, doink in the ring skirts and and all that stuff. But we've seen this increased focus on the ultimate line with the new generation arena, the fan
00:15:16
Speaker
takeover figures, Sergeant Slaughter. We saw Batista announced at Comic Con and Undertaker and Kane. Can we continue to expect to see more output from Ultimate Edition moving forward?
00:15:31
Speaker
I think you will. The line has really taken off in popularity. I mean, it was popular from the get-go because this is another item that was catered towards your action figure photographer. So you can really recreate.
00:15:47
Speaker
every single moment because you've got your posable entrance gear and the increased articulation and the whole nine yards. And as of late, and maybe it was because a lot of us were home and had more time to play with toys or whatever, but the line has really become very coveted. And for a while there earlier this year, you couldn't find anything like Hulk Hogan and Fiend
00:16:10
Speaker
and Randy Savage and Edge just all like disappeared from retail almost immediately. So yeah, I think given the extra popularity that it's seeing, you're going to slowly see it expand a little bit more over time as long as it sustains this demand. Dave brought up one of the reveals being that Kane ultimate figure, the cape man.
00:16:39
Speaker
It's like a legend. And now it's an action figure form. I mean, when we talked about this line, we knew that we had to have some heavy hitters in here. And Kane and Undertaker were in play since the very beginning. And it did take a little while to get to them, mostly because their tooling is so unique to them. And we had to wait for a moment in time where we could completely tool them correctly. New boots, new torsos, all that stuff.
00:17:08
Speaker
Um, but when we talked about Kane, we knew he had to have the cape. Like, how do you make, you know, we're talking about a line with, with posable entrance gear, you know, and all that stuff. Like Kane needed the legendary cape that we only saw and most likely those, those one or two photos that are, that are on the internet.
00:17:26
Speaker
And speaking of things from the past that are making a comeback, another thing that you guys announced at Comic Con was how we're going to see retros again. So they've made their triumphant return. What went into the decision to bring this retro line back? And how do you go about selecting what superstars you're going to include and what actions they're going to use, what action features?
00:17:55
Speaker
Well, let me just say you might have to remind me as I start to ramble here about the first part of the question, about parts two and three of it. So if I veer off topic or forget those two, remind me. But as far as bringing them back, when we were planning that final year, and we work a year to two years out, so when we're planning that final year, we did get word early on that they probably weren't gonna make it. So there was a different marketing manager who was handling that line at the time,
00:18:25
Speaker
And I really, I mean truly, overstepped my boundaries. And I became very demanding of what we needed to include. Not that I got my absolute way on things, but I needed to make sure we got that diesel out, right? I needed to make sure legends were better represented if that truly was going to be the end of the line. You know, as we reached its end at retail,
00:18:49
Speaker
And we had basically the announcement coming that it was going to come to an end. We knew we wanted to bring it back in a significant and sustainable way. So we made sure to say that it was going on hiatus and we started to already plan its comeback. So really ever since just about before that Comic Con, where I think we announced WWE Masters,
00:19:15
Speaker
And and and retros went on hiatus like i've been working on a plan to bring it back where it could it could live forever and and you know as long as as long as fans demanded it like truly. So we knew that had to be online somehow right because then.
00:19:32
Speaker
you know, you're worrying a little bit less about, you know, planogram and, you know, retailer, you know, maybe just deciding it's time to switch it up and go with something fresh and new. So fortunately, Mattel Creations once again was being developed, an overall strategy, you know, was coming together on what that was going to be. So we earmarked, you know, retro's return for
00:19:58
Speaker
the larger launch of Mattel Creations, when brand started to have a little bit more presence on there. And I mean, here we are, years of work, years of financial planning and creative planning and strategic planning and retros are on the verge of getting back into your hands.
00:20:20
Speaker
Part two of that question was, how did you decide which particular, in this case, the four that you're launching with? Those four, how do you go about, in general, deciding what action features you're going to give them?
00:20:39
Speaker
It is a little complicated when you talk about lineup selections, and I won't talk too much about it to not board the listeners, but you have to consider tooling considerations, contract availability, if a particular talent has approval rights themselves or if WWE has approval rights, deco balance between the wave. There's so many factors that you have to
00:21:05
Speaker
that come into play when creating a lineup aside from just picking the coolest names, right? So we did want to theme these a little bit, not like a true, you know, hardcore theme that we have to stick to, but it is nice to get four figures that kind of compliment each other if these are going to be a bundle. So, you know, we wanted to do something, you know, more early WWE generation when we started to hone in on, you know,
00:21:31
Speaker
tooling, tooling allocation, and you know, DECO needs and all that stuff. So we had access to Mr. T. So we thought that would be a great addition. And I'll give you some breaking news. It was originally going to be Mr. T. and Hulk Hogan instead of Mean Jean.
00:21:50
Speaker
along with with Roddy Piper and Cowboy Bob but we had a little bit of a hiccup with with using Hulkster here in the moment but obviously you know no issues after that because we have Hogan figures you know in the pipeline now but we had to we had to get moving on somebody else so
00:22:07
Speaker
I think it's a fortunate thing because now we have new suited characters in retros because we pivoted to Mean Gene Okerlund. So that allowed us to create that new body, that new suited body, which I think you can imagine what the possibilities of using that suited body in the future. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, for sure.
00:22:30
Speaker
So another thing I wanted to point out is we wanted to make sure we stuck to legendary talent because I think that was kind of what slowed down the momentum of the line originally was maybe the inclusion of too many modern talents and the balance was off there between what that particular fan base wanted
00:22:51
Speaker
and what was being presented in some of those waves so so we're being very cognizant of that now we want this to be legends focused at least out of the gate it doesn't mean you know if this does really well and the demand is there that we can add some modern superstars but
00:23:06
Speaker
at least the first few waves that you see will be, you know, legends focused. And hitting, you know, the different eras, you know. I think we'd like to keep some sort of theming going. Make sure we hit golden era and make sure, you know, new generation is represented because that's kind of when the line ended originally. Yeah, and I mean, a lot of these legends have been
00:23:32
Speaker
missing from from our collection so it's good to see that those are going to be those legends are going to be coming into all these different lines oh you know what i remembered i remember the last part is your action feature question so let's talk about a couple action features gene you know obviously there were questions on gene being a suited character um does he have an action feature he does you lift his arm up and he you know he does he drops the mic down to to do an interview
00:24:00
Speaker
um cowboy bob you know we know he had the the loaded cast and i know the the cast deco was on the wrong arm uh but you know he he was known for giving that that forearm with the cast so he has like a forearm action um piper i believe bill mentioned this maybe on the ring side q&a that he gave piper uh that particular look and body to accommodate the kilt so he would have a removable kilt
00:24:27
Speaker
And then Mr. T, I think we all remember the famous photo of him delivering the airplane spin at WrestleMania 1. So we gave him the old Texas tornado action of complete spin around. So you can put a figure on his shoulders and he can do an airplane spin. So we want to do things that make sense for the particular superstars.
00:24:52
Speaker
Now while we're talking about action features too, clearly you have a plethora of action features that were in those original Hasbro figures back in the day that people know so fondly. Do you think there's a possibility of creating new action features for maybe figures that, maybe a talent that has a particular move set or something signature that maybe can be completed in a simple action but maybe something that hasn't been done yet?
00:25:21
Speaker
Totally, totally. I know that Cesar, who was a development partner of ours, he created the reverse clothesline action for the Ric Flair chop and the loose elbow joint, so the arm will actually flick back and perform the chop.
00:25:39
Speaker
The kick that Seamus and a few others shared, I think that was a new action for us, that forward kick and the backward kick for Sean Michael's super kick. So I think you will see more of those as time goes by, if there's an appropriate superstar maneuver that we can do.
00:25:56
Speaker
And I think there's still some moves left from the original line that we haven't done yet, and one that we almost did if things would have worked out. We did have a WCW Goldberg planned just on paper, but when we were talking about that final year of the line, we were trying to get a WCW Goldberg in, and he would have had a perfect plex style move to replicate the jackhammer.
00:26:25
Speaker
Oh yeah, that would be cool. That's awesome. Maybe someday though, now that it's back. We've seen some amazing Comic Con exclusives over the years and they represent the legends. Like we've been hearing about legends coming into retros and back to the elites and throughout all the lines. Some great characters like Shockmaster, the Slim Jim Macho Man, Mr. T, and this year's Sergeant Slaughter.
00:26:52
Speaker
So what goes into the process of selecting who's going to be the Comic-Con exclusive and just the amazing presentation that these releases have had? Oh, well, I mean, first of all, hats off to our packaging team. The talent choice is imperative, especially now.
00:27:13
Speaker
They are just doing home run after home run for like the last three years on packaging. Um, especially the last three years, not to discount what came before. But as far as talent goes, you know, I think with, with Slim Jim Macho man, um, we finally cracked the code of what a WWE comic con exclusive needs to be because you have to remember that, you know, everyone does these comic con items and it's, it's, it's a PR.
00:27:39
Speaker
Driving item for for the various brands, you know, no matter what company you are Like these are the items that you produce that are gonna get, you know, the larger pop culture Audiences eyes on the product So when we did that Slim Jim macho man, like Boyd Boyd did that work, you know like everyone who is an action figure fan and
00:28:01
Speaker
Anyone who had any interest in Comic Con like knew about that item. And we just wanted to continue that momentum in that formula. And fortunately, you know, due to the success of Macho Man, we were able to work with WWE and secure the rights for Mr. T. So another, you know, home run execution. And that basically backed us into a corner, right? Two back to back home run figures. Oh, crap. Now what do we do?
00:28:30
Speaker
Sadly we weren't able to to get a new talent signed in time you know to go into the development process of a new figure. But i think it worked out for the best because i mean sarge really does fit the bill like he's a pop culture.
00:28:45
Speaker
icon that is recognized way beyond WWE. And then once again, talking about the packaging team, they developed packaging that was synonymous with 80s toys and tugged at the heartstrings of anyone who grew up in that era. And I think the combination of those two things with the nods to the Sergeant Slaughter, a Malaway figure from the late 80s,
00:29:12
Speaker
All that stuff tied in one nice little package, gave us another successful and talked about Comic Con item. And how does it feel to be featured on the packaging of one of your toys? I mean, it's an honor, right? I collected the original LJ online a couple years ago, the Major Brothers and
00:29:34
Speaker
their artists created a poster that was similar and they were nice enough to feature me and Bill and Rob. And our packaging team had this idea. They said, let's put the team and some of the WWE team in the crowd. So yeah, definitely an honor and I'll keep that forever. Super cool, super cool being not only a WWE fan, but a toy fan.
00:30:03
Speaker
One of the trends that seems to be running through all of toy collecting right now, regardless of brand or line or intellectual IP, is the phrase, what's old is new again.
Transition to Vintage-Inspired Lines
00:30:20
Speaker
While you guys recently closed the book on Masters of the WWE Universe, a very popular line, something especially with
00:30:27
Speaker
the reintroduction of He-Man and Masters of the Universe into kind of like the public sphere, you pivoted and kind of turned the line into more of a Remco inspired line. So tell us a little bit about the superstars line and why you guys chose to go in that direction.
00:30:51
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. So you mentioned the popularity of Masters of the WWE Universe. And I mean, it's still performing incredibly well. It just has been consistently a solid performer, but just part of the
00:31:07
Speaker
the retail flow, the retail way of doing things, sometimes freshness is required or requested. So we knew that we were going to have to change things up here. And I did stretch it out as long as I could with WWE Masters. But it was time. There was no more fighting that I could do to keep it around.
00:31:30
Speaker
Being as successful as it was, I mean, it just made sense to attempt to still keep it alive in some way. And the way to do that was to just go straight up, you know, a vintage style wrestling figure, like the old A.W.A. line that you mentioned.
00:31:47
Speaker
And here we are. You know, people are already stripping away the Motu gear on those figures anyway to create wrestling versions. So now we're just providing that. And they can still, you know, Motu fans can still get these and Motu-ify them if they want to because the parts are still swappable and all the accessories are still compatible. So I still think you're getting like the best of both worlds once again with this line. And then, you know, I'm going to do it again. Shout out to the packaging team because that's what ties it all together.
00:32:14
Speaker
that packaging, I don't know if you guys saw it, but it's like, you know, that style guide artwork, you know, that was featured on like bedsheets and the ice cream bars, like right there on the front. And once you guys see the back, there's little winks to the past that we threw in as well that are super, super cool.
00:32:34
Speaker
That's been one of the most fun things with watching people collect that line is the kit bashing. So like, whether it's kit bashing them with other masters of the WWE universe figures, like I know people were buying like multiples of I think it was John Cena, because he had, you know, plain hands and things that were able to to kind of spread out to some of the other characters.
00:32:58
Speaker
but also watching them kit bash them with the origins figures so like making like a wrestling version of Skeletor and like it's just it that line and and i love that you call that out to the fact that this new line is you're just adding more uh building blocks to to this this world that you've you know you guys have kind of created
00:33:19
Speaker
Shout out to Bill Benneke. He's a legend in the business, a designer. He designed our Mattel DC line for
00:33:29
Speaker
most of it's run. And he was a Jax before that doing WWE stuff. And now he's our design manager here on WWE. And he's the one who implemented, kind of snuck in, hope that doesn't get anybody in trouble, kind of snuck in the swap ability there. And that really, to me, took the collectability and playability to the next level on both those Motu Origins figures and our WWE figures.
00:33:58
Speaker
It just opened up so many possibilities. And just seeing parents actually sharing these with their kids and kids truly, truly loving this form factor, it's amazing to see. Yeah, and that custom realm is something where it's just like, you usually have to kind of almost put in effort to do it, but the fact that that's just capable right out of the package is just amazing.
00:34:25
Speaker
Oh yeah, I pre-ordered two of most of those figures because I just had ideas of how I needed a wrestler version and I needed a Motu version, so I'm doing it. Yeah, no boiling pop necessary. Right.
00:34:40
Speaker
So we've been to WWE Ternia and now we're headed to Hollywood. So where did the idea come from to create a line of superstars out of their ring as their onscreen personas in film and television?
00:34:56
Speaker
I mean, I think this idea and this line was inevitable. WWE superstars, wrestling talent in general have been synonymous with movies for our entire lifetime. I mean, Hulk Hogan and Rocky, you see all the great movies with the luchadores in Mexico, like megastars. And then of course, all the way down the line, Roddy Piper, of course, who's featured here.
00:35:24
Speaker
Rock, who is the biggest star in the planet now, it's just natural to have that represented in action figure form in one way.
00:35:34
Speaker
And I will say, talking about that Roddy, a lot of this came from a former Mattel employee, Taylor. She was trying to get that Roddy done as a Comic Con exclusive. We hit a couple of speed bumps and weren't able to make it happen. So I had that Roddy prototype in my cube at work for years and I was always looking for an angle.
00:35:57
Speaker
a way to get it out. And, you know, we do these mashups for Walmart, you know, like Ghostbusters and like those zombie mashups and whatnot. So there was an appetite for some sort of mashup. So we started exploring Hollywood and I was like, here's how I get this Roddy out finally.
00:36:17
Speaker
So I would say that out of all of the things that have been announced at Comic Con over the past week, the two things that have kind of garnered the most questions, at least that we've seen during our coverage, is around the Ultimate Ring and around the Hollywood Line.
00:36:33
Speaker
So immediately, you know, as soon as people started to see these characters, it's like, well, you know, why do we have two characters from Fast and the Furious? There, you know, why don't we have, I think, suburban commando has come up several times in conversation and.
00:36:48
Speaker
and countless other movies that feature, whether they're WWE productions, I think Cane and See No Evil was another one that had come up. Is there so far, is there kind of, I mean, we've noticed that the properties are NBC Universal properties in the six figures that have been announced so far. Is there any kind of limitation right now as to how these are selected or what's kind of on the table?
00:37:17
Speaker
I will say that when we first started to explore this, I mean, the possibilities or ideas and concepts were wide open. We talked about everybody you guys would have thought of and then some. But, you know, then reality comes into play and you're trying to negotiate these deals. And, you know, given, you know, this is just going to be a six figure line, you know, I just want to set expectations there. You know, this is kind of like the fall.
00:37:44
Speaker
in and out lines that we do at Walmart. So the line itself, as it is, will not go beyond the six figures. So with that said, to accomplish this, we wound up having to go with one studio to do kind of like an umbrella deal to where we had multiple properties available to us.
00:38:02
Speaker
So so Warner Brothers, I'm sorry Universal had the the widest array of WWE related talent So we went with with the Universal and they've been great partners and you know There's some some heavy hitter movies in there, you know from the present like the fast and the furious franchise and Hobbs and Shaw And then some you know collector favorite things like Scorpion King and they live Roddy And that Andre the giant from six million dollar man, but with that said
00:38:30
Speaker
not only given the reception of this and just the plethora of ideas out there, it doesn't shut the door on more Hollywood figure executions. I think they just won't live in this line if we're able to make those happen in the future. Yeah, we could have named
00:38:51
Speaker
two dozen wrestlers in movies. I don't think Dave or I thought of Andre the Giant and the $6 million man. That is such a random deep cut. Love it. But boy, do I love it. Yeah. Another shout out to Bill Benneke for that one. That was his baby. He was like, I'm doing this one. And we're like, let's make it happen. Now, is any of that suit on that figure removable or is he just permanently Sasquatch?
00:39:18
Speaker
You know, I haven't actually had it in hand yet. I mean, there might be some Velcro on the back. I'm not 100% sure. I think he just has like a brown or black body base underneath. TBD, TBD on that. Gotcha.
00:39:36
Speaker
So we've seen some, speaking of amazing deep cuts like that, some amazing deep cuts from WWE and WCW history like Zodiac, like The Goon, get announced at Comic-Con. Are there any more plans for more of those, I never knew I needed this until right now, style of character? I mean that well is certainly not dry, right?
00:40:01
Speaker
I mean, I'll say names, but it's not a confirmation that they're coming in any way. But just talking about possibilities, you have, you know, we have Kevin Nash, obviously Diesel under a deal. And he was Vinny Vegas and Oz. And we have we have Edge, who is a conquistador. We have Ric Flair, who is the Black Scorpion. I mean, there's just like so many possibilities there.
00:40:26
Speaker
Who is jim jim night heart was a weird one too for a while it was who who who yeah yeah british beefcake was that weird mass guy that would headbutt earthquake so in disciple right disciples still an option so i mean yes i mean tons and tons we could we could probably throw out names all day that's the beauty of of being repackaged in a new gimmick rate more toy options.
Innovations and Future Concepts in Action Figures
00:40:50
Speaker
Now the other thing that we've seen where it's expanded the line were the build of figures like Danny Davis, like Paul Ellering recently, and they've expanded to all the paper view lines. So is there a possibility to see them expand beyond those lines and beyond characters? And the one thing that I have in mind that I mentioned even a while back on our show was Shotzi's tank.
00:41:13
Speaker
Man, guys, I just convinced management to let me expand it to pay-per-view and you are more already. It's never enough, Steve.
00:41:24
Speaker
Give us an inch. We want a mile, man. Exactly. I'm not going to lie. It wasn't happening for a while because it was tough. I took baby steps approach to make it happen, like getting it into WrestleMania, finding a reason why it needed to exist. WrestleMania, you want
00:41:45
Speaker
ultra-strong sell-through because it has to be fast, because it's seasonal. So I squoze it into WrestleMania and then hey, the other pay-per-view assortments fit the same bill. You know, they're very seasonal and they have special packaging that fits a specific time of year. So it worked for those. So, you know, let's
00:42:05
Speaker
get those out and start executing those, see some success there, which I'm sure they'll be successful. And then we'll keep talking and keep exploring. And yes, I do think the possibility is totally open to different types of characters and different types of executions. Because if you remember the flashback waves, they would have build a sets, which was a very cool concept. Unfortunately, the line
00:42:34
Speaker
didn't have the support it needed to continue and dipped off before we can get to some of the cool sets that were planned. But like I said, it's something that we've done before, like out-of-the-box build-up executions. And we can totally explore that again. I mean, we're doing a Kid Dominic, so. I was just going to say, you announced to build a kid. Right. Yeah.
00:42:59
Speaker
That was cool to see his reaction too. It's like, not only are you getting a figure of you now, but you're getting one of you from like a decade ago.
00:43:08
Speaker
He was great. I think our copywriter Rob suggested Dominic for the panel and I mean that was just an absolute yes, you know, of a request because we knew Dominic would be somebody that, you know, seeing these things would emotionally resonate with him given, you know, he grew up in the industry and his dad is literally
00:43:30
Speaker
the most toyetic character maybe ever. I would love to see a count if any fans have a count of total figures out there. Does anyone surpass Ray? Maybe not. Probably not. Yeah, he is a walking action figure. There's absolutely no doubt about it. I was just going to call out that
00:43:52
Speaker
having Dominic on that particular that this this most recent WWE Elite Squad kind of group that you guys had together for for comic con was fantastic between having
00:44:08
Speaker
you know, basically having Bianca critique the quality of the outfit on her new elite figure because she makes her own outfits. And then having Dominic kind of recount literally his life in the business and how, you know, it's being reflected through two new action figures. It was that was brilliant alone, like,
00:44:31
Speaker
forget about the announcements for a minute, but just kind of having that stripped down real moment with those two superstars was fantastic. It was worth watching the entire presentation just for those two moments.
00:44:44
Speaker
I think as a team, we try to craft things, whether it's a lineup or a panel, to have a little something for everybody. So when you're looking at the panel, it's like you want star power, obviously, and Bianca being who she is and main eventing WrestleMania really delivers that star power.
00:45:03
Speaker
You have fan favorites and people with history in the business and you have a toy, basically toy celebrity in Sarge and Slaughter, right? He made an appearance. You want to make sure you have a widely appealing panel because there's more eyes on this than just the action figure audience. You want to bring in a larger audience.
00:45:24
Speaker
And I think this selection of talent, you know, really delivered, you know, really emotionally resonating reactions from Dominic, Bianca with her eye of detail for the gear. I mean, Adam Cole is, I mean, he's one of us, right? You know, I don't want to call the guy a nerd, but that's not a bad thing, right? We're all nerds together and he's a video game guy and he was super into everything. And then of course you have, you know, Sam and Johnny anchoring it.
00:45:53
Speaker
bring in the true action figure collecting heat there. So I'm glad the sentiments were there and what we intended came through to the viewers. So speaking of sentiments, before we dive into a little bit of Q&A, we have a few questions that really we want to let you speak to your passion for what you do for a moment.
Steve's Dream WWE Figure Series
00:46:17
Speaker
If you could make, if you could snap your fingers and make one series of figures based on your memories as a wrestling fan, what would be the theme of the series and who would you include in it? Oh my God, I mean, I get to make them, right? So I had a list when I started and, you know, it seemed daunting. It seemed daunting, especially like, you know, there's difficulties, right? There's different personalities and different points of view.
00:46:47
Speaker
And I was like, man, you know, as I was trying to pitch things and make things happen, it just seemed like they never were. But then here we are, it's like my list has been obliterated and then some, and now I have new lists. So it is a tough question because I am fortunate in that, you know, I've been able to make a lot of the things that...
00:47:05
Speaker
I wanted that I also thought everyone else wanted a reality. But I guess, you know, if I had to do something like really special to me, I would maybe do like a Philadelphia spectrum wave of figures, because that's the venue that, you know, I went to as a kid and saw WWF shows at the time, beep that out if you have to.
00:47:29
Speaker
And, you know, my first show was Hulk Hogan versus the big boss man in the main event. So I would of course have to throw those guys in there. And man, who else? You know, I don't even know. Guys of that era, I think it would be an all golden age wave with various superstars that I saw at
00:47:51
Speaker
at the Spectrum. Maybe toss in Demolition to get them back out there again with different face paint. What else could I do? Something different. Coco B. Ware, maybe, right? He was in tons of those matches at the Spectrum. And I think he had already transitioned to Akeem at the time, but I'm going to throw in my most desired figure, one-man gang, into that wave as well. Nice. Very cool. The Spectrum Showdown series. Right, right.
00:48:19
Speaker
And a great, you know, wrestling city, especially for all of us being in the Northeast. But yeah, you know, you always saw spectrum stuff on TV for us. It was like it was MSG. So I mean, the middle end, you being Northeast guys like me, like we were blessed as wrestling fans because the Northeast is a hotbed for for wrestling. Like we, you know,
00:48:40
Speaker
Fortunately, NWA and WCW, while it was still territory-ish, they crept up into the Northeast. And all the independent scene was super hot. And the loops that the guys would go on. I remember times when I was finally old enough to drive, where I would just go to nonstop WWE shows the entire weekend, leading into Monday and Tuesday Raw and SmackDown taping. So it was a great area to grow up in as a wrestling fan.
00:49:10
Speaker
Yeah, and we got like, you know, world class on TV and global and all just so much different stuff. Oh, yeah. It was awesome. Those ECW shows on MSG. ECW, of course. Oh, wild. Yeah, I remember discovering ECW and just my mind, my mind being immediately blown. Mm hmm. So, you know, kind of piggybacking off of this, what's your favorite figure that you've worked on? Ooh.
00:49:40
Speaker
the collector's edition well i'm gonna give you a couple names i'm a tough person to ask for favorites for because i have a lot of favorites and they fluctuate the collector's edition sensational sherry um was super cool and special i'm a big sensational sherry fan and you know she
00:49:58
Speaker
She was the only woman at times in an all male dominated business and was super, super tough and super, super respected. So I love that figure. And I always loved that WrestleMania six look that she had. So that was one of the first figures. Well, Bill literally just came to me and said, what are we going to do for Sherry now that we have her in a lineup? And we talked about it and we settled on that one. You kind of get a two for one manager Sherry.
00:50:25
Speaker
and ring gear Sherry. Hollywood Hogan, another special one because I was tasked with presenting the business case of bringing Hulk back to our line. And that was a lot of work and mind blowing for me as a golden age kid for wrestling. So
00:50:49
Speaker
We got Hogan back and we got the long lost, basically, Hollywood figure out there. We've been off to the races ever since, so that one is very special to me. And maybe that first Ultimate Edition Warrior, because that was a line, Ultimate Edition line was a line that Bill McKean and I created. So to do someone who was special to me as a kid, Warrior, in a line that I helped create, that's super special.
00:51:19
Speaker
Now, outside of wrestling figures, so clearly, you're passionate, this is what you love to do, it's what you strive for, right? If you could work on any line, any type of figure, any property outside of wrestling, what would be the line that you would handpick?
00:51:41
Speaker
I will once again give you two selections. Number one would be Masters of the Universe, which I mean, I do get to dabble in with WWE Masters and I do get to medal welcomed or unwelcomed into the Origins Masterverse lines.
00:51:58
Speaker
But I would love a crack at really steering the ship on Masters of the Universe. That would be incredible. But something that is a little more out of the realm of possibility would be DC. I would have loved to work on DC.
00:52:18
Speaker
the line was ending at Mattel. It was really getting its legs underneath it again and amazing things were on the horizon. And I get to work with, I'm blessed to work with Bill Benneke now who was the designer on that line. And it would have been really cool to dive in and just like pour so much love and attention and fan wishes into that line and work with Bill to reinvigorate it and bring it to the next level.
00:52:47
Speaker
yes some of the uh... some of the the last figures that came out in that in that uh... that multiverse line were were really special i like the uh... particularly the i guess you could say they're kind of they were kind of uh...
00:53:01
Speaker
Toybiz inspired, 89 Batman and Joker, those two figures especially. Yeah, really cool executions on those. It was, you know, obviously, you know, things change and, you know, licenses and contracts move, but, you know, that definitely went out on a high note.
00:53:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think we didn't even scratch the surface on what they were going to do. Obviously, I'm privy to some of that stuff, and it's heartbreaking what didn't happen. But hey, it is what it is, and maybe that day will come again. Dave, you know what time it is?
00:53:37
Speaker
Is it fan Q&A time, Eric? It is fan Q&A time. So we posted a story up on our Instagram for our followers to submit questions. So some of these will come directly from specific people and others will be kind of an amalgam of questions that are of similar ilk. So Dave, do you want to take the first one?
00:54:07
Speaker
I will. So this one is one of those kind of amalgams.
Crowdfunding Strategy and Theme Choices
00:54:14
Speaker
And it is, is there a particular reason that the Mattel Creation site is taking funds upfront for the crowdfunded Ultimate Ring?
00:54:23
Speaker
Yes, our particular credit card processor, I may be phrasing that incorrectly, but the company that handles credit card processing currently, that's just their capabilities, is to take it upfront.
00:54:43
Speaker
With that said, we are looking at ways to alleviate that before this crowdfund campaign ends. Fingers crossed by the time you listen to it that that may have happened. So, you know, please don't take this as an announcement if it didn't. But I mean, just know that loud and clear it was heard. Some of us knew this ahead of time and voiced our concern, but, you know, reality, right?
00:55:09
Speaker
So we had to execute as is, but here we are. We're trying to still fix this, even as the campaign has already launched. We're trying to fix things and make a better experience for you guys. So bear with us and we're going to try to make this work well ahead of the campaign ending. Sticking with the Ring and Mattel creations,
00:55:32
Speaker
There were a lot of questions that, again, this is another one of those amalgam ones. People would like to know, generally, why did you go with the new generation as opposed to something like the attitude era?
00:55:49
Speaker
I think we had to find something that still had a super wide appeal, but maybe, I mean, if you're going up in size and price, it seems to be unaccomplishable, right? You're already talking about something incredibly expensive to tool and to develop and put together and manufacture in that light up
00:56:13
Speaker
neon entrance. So now when you're, you know, I mean, just think of the immense size of those attitude era stages and beyond. And I mean, the numbers just, you know, multiply, multiply rapidly. So I don't know that
00:56:29
Speaker
it would have been in anyone's best interest to go out of the gate with something that was, you know, double, quadruple the price that we have now. You know, I could be wrong, right? But it's just, it's tricky, right? Because once you go up in size, for those tools, the price is really going to skyrocket. So,
00:56:50
Speaker
We're seeing some sticker shock now with the price. I mean, I wonder what that sticker shock would be for something that is much, much, much, much bigger than what we're currently offering.
00:57:10
Speaker
I think I touched upon this earlier, a loose theme, right? It would be great if the characters were from the same era, possibly. I think you'll see that at least for the first few waves. It doesn't mean we'll have to stick to that, you know? Like if we ever dive into modern talent, maybe we only sprinkle one or two modern talent in and balance those with some legendary talent. But I think at least for the first few waves, you're gonna see some loose theming.
00:57:39
Speaker
At theberg511 asks, how do you decide when to dive deeper into rosters from previous eras for your regular Elite Series figures? We do want to try to include a legend in every wave. Sometimes it doesn't work out. But I want to make sure that there's an NXT talent.
00:58:07
Speaker
a legend and a female talent in every single wave of elites. And sometimes, you know, obviously that female talent might, you know, blend into NXT or legends. But I mean, that's kind of how we construct things. We want to make sure we have waves with something for everybody. So as far as particular era goes, I mean, that, you know, given we only have, you know, it fluctuates between, you know, seven to nine elite waves a year.
00:58:34
Speaker
You know, I think we're just looking for something we haven't done before, something that's fan demanded. Obviously someone with enough popularity that they can live, you know, in a larger way in mainline.
00:58:49
Speaker
It's really just striking a balance between everything and trying to make sure that every era is well represented throughout the entire year and all our offerings. And that might just, you know, it might be a crapshoot on, you know, maybe legends as a ruthless aggression guy, but, you know, in mainline, it's a golden era guy.
00:59:10
Speaker
Now, I actually have a question to follow up that with. We've had people on from other toy makers. We kind of always make the joke that every wave has to have a Batman. Every wave has to have a Wolverine or a Spider-Man. When you guys are crafting your waves of elites, obviously not the ones that are necessarily pay-per-view themed, but just kind of the general waves, do you find that
00:59:38
Speaker
you try to anchor, have like an anchor personality or superstar in the wave?
00:59:46
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, every wave has one to two anchors. And those are the figures that are usually heavily weighted in the case. Like if you crack open a fresh case, like, you know, if you were like me when I hunt at Walmart, sometimes I get there really late and the pallets are there, you know, and have a great time to find stuff. So then you crack open that case and you see some of those figures are, you know, there's two or three of them in the case. Those are the anchors or your Batman style figures. So, you know, for us, for modern talent, you know, those are your,
01:00:16
Speaker
your Roman Reigns or Drew McIntyre, you know, Seth Rollins and whatnot. And then your golden error guys. I mean, you know who they are. Warrior, Hogan, Macho Man. They'll be heavily weighted. So yes, it's very important because, you know,
01:00:29
Speaker
we do get questions a lot. Why another Roman or why another Drew, right? I mean, those guys always sell and sell a lot of units and those guys make it possible to make the goon or the zodiac or, you know, all these like tertiary characters who, you know, we all want in our collections, but I mean, we're not going to move like, you know, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of units of them, right? So, you know, I think
01:00:56
Speaker
You know, I do wish that the line of thinking of like, oh, great, why do we get another so and so? Like, I mean, that it's a blessing that those guys sell well and we can include them because that just means we can keep it going with, you know, all these other characters to build out our collections. All the goon marks just got really, really mad at you. Sorry to break it to you guys. Goon is going to be fairly limited.
01:01:21
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, it totally makes sense because these are the people that are on TV all the time. So, you know, especially if you're thinking kids, like they're going to want a Roman, they're going to want an AJ, they're going to want a Seth. And usually they have the strap too. Exactly. And, you know, when you even think about, you know, someone who dabbles in collecting, you know, and yes, some people have
01:01:45
Speaker
collections of tertiary characters or, you know, the hammerheads of the world. But, you know, I think if someone is just like falling in love with the brand, it's like they're going to go to, you know, your Batman level characters and have like, you know, if you collect DC figures, you're going to get Batman and Joker or maybe Robin, maybe a Superman, right?
01:02:04
Speaker
And the same thing applies for WWE. If you're gonna have somebody who, like, I'm getting into wrestling, I want a little bit of a wrestling collection, they're probably gonna get, you know, mostly A and B level, you know, recognizability-type talents. I'm not gonna lie. Like, as somebody who, admittedly, like, I've said it before on this podcast that, you know, I got back into wrestling, you know, during the pandemic and started buying, you know, dabbling here and there in some wrestling figures. And the two things that have been an absolute, you know,
01:02:33
Speaker
I for the lack of a better term an absolute godsend for me have been some of those anchor characters like right now I've been kind of fiddling with him the entire time we've been talking but like I have the new summer slam basic cane because I wanted a modern cane for my collection and at
01:02:50
Speaker
$10, you know, I have a cane that does everything I need a cane to do that you know He can he can pose his arms like he's doing the the fire effects. He can choke slam people. We're good We're in the tombstone. We're in business and he looked and he looks great The deck goes great, you know, and he was easy to get but like same thing, you know a few months ago I wanted you know, I wanted a Roman Reigns
01:03:13
Speaker
I walked into Target and I had my pick of the litter. Same with Drew McIntyre, the Fiend. Like the characters that are on TV, or excuse me, the superstars that are on TV, the talent that's on TV, it is that Batman rule. And as somebody who really has been getting into the figures recently, it does work. It makes it easy for me. So thank you. And if you don't have those guys,
01:03:42
Speaker
readily available within reasonable time frames. You shut the window, a new collector is joining the hobby or new kids joining the hobby, right? It's just like, you know, our dollar, we only have so many dollars and we also have short attention spans. So if I'm going to Target or Walmart or wherever for, you know, a couple of months and I'm like, I really want Randy Orton and there's no Randy Orton or I really want Roman Reigns.
01:04:06
Speaker
It's like eventually your attention might shift elsewhere and you start a different collection. It could start immediately if you don't find it that very day. You know, I remember when I was a kid, I went into the store and I forget what I was really looking for, but they didn't have it and I wound up getting GI Joes instead and I was hooked on GI Joes after that. So, I mean, it's very real, you know, so it's very important that these A-listers are present and readily available.
01:04:34
Speaker
So our last one is from friend of the show at Blainer Things. What do you do? Mutual friend, Dave, we got to say mutual friend for this one. Mutual friend, mutual friend at Blainer Things. So what do you do to remind yourself of everything you have achieved and how far you've come? I think, I think it's keeping connected with
01:05:03
Speaker
with collectors every single day, right? Because not only does it keep me grounded in this collector community that we're in, keep me informed, but it allows me to get all that feedback and then bring it back into work and then see it come to life and deliver it to you guys. So it's just this relationship regularly reminds me of
01:05:30
Speaker
of how lucky I am to not only be here and be able to have my vision, which I hope is most of your visions as well come to life, but I don't know, it's very special, right? It's a very special community and a special relationship that I think some of us have, and I'll shout it out to some of the other guys, like Ryan Ting and Jeremy Padour,
01:05:53
Speaker
Um, and you know, Brian at super seven, it's like, a lot of us are a little more plugged into the community than some of the other wizard of Oz style people behind the curtain, you know, employees, and there's nothing wrong with that. But I think, you know, it definitely like, you know, being so involved definitely like, you know, regularly, uh, reminds me of, you know, how blessed this journey has been.
01:06:15
Speaker
And with that, you have completed the Q&A. You have survived. I barely sweat. And I have to say, to your last point there, as you know,
01:06:29
Speaker
people, you know, two guys who are collectors first, you know, all those names that you mentioned, you know, and yourself included, it means a lot to see that level of transparency. You know, especially when, you know, it's transparency is nice when everything is fine, right? And like everybody is it's easy to get a thing and
01:06:49
Speaker
There aren't any hiccups, there aren't any speed bumps, and you know, transparency is just fine then. When it's really important is when there is a, I don't even want to say a problem, but let's say an area of opportunity right in the community, something that could have gone better, is great but could be better.
01:07:10
Speaker
That's when the transparency counts and you do not shy away from that. You answer questions, you don't disappear, you don't hide behind a kind of fake answer or anything like that. It's awesome to see the level of transparency you provide to other collectors and hopefully through this little podcast and the other appearances that you make, people get that from you because to us it's evident.
01:07:40
Speaker
Well, thank you guys. Thank you so much for that. And, you know, it's it is my pleasure, right? I know how how I want to be treated as a consumer and a collector. And, you know, I know what others.
01:07:53
Speaker
Before me, their transparency did to properly prepare me for this. And I hope I'm giving collectors as good of an experience as I can and maybe giving enough insights so that the next Jeremy or Ryan or Steve can come along and join us in this wild industry. So Dave, do you want to fulfill your role as this podcast's James Lipton? And ask Steve our final question.
01:08:23
Speaker
How else could we wrap anything up, Eric? So our final question to all of our guests. Now I will lower, I will add the lower voice for this. The timber, I feel the timber. Yeah. Our final question to all of our guests. What is your favorite and or strangest piece in your collection? Now it could be one of each. It could, both could fall into that category. But your favorite and or strangest piece in your collection?
01:08:54
Speaker
Wow. I went to France maybe 10 or 15 years ago and I found these
01:09:03
Speaker
These weird stylized knockoff wrestlers, and there was like a whole line of them. And they look like claymation characters from like Wallace and Gromit. And there was one that looked just like Hulk Hogan. So I did pick that one up. So it's a weird Wallace and Gromit looking Hulk Hogan figure. I don't know where it is right now, but I know it's still in my possession somewhere. So I think that's the weirdest.
01:09:29
Speaker
And do you have a favorite? What's your favorite right now? My favorite right now, I mean, I've had it in my hands ever since I got the sample back from photography is the Survivor Series Hulk Rules Hulk Hogan.
01:09:46
Speaker
I mean, you know, I mentioned, you know, when I first started, you know, really, really getting into WWE and going to shows, it was that Hulk rules era. So I mean, this one, I mean, I haven't posed right now in the bow and arrow pose. So that's definitely my current favorite at the moment. But I'm sure, you know, I mean, not that I won't love this one just as much a few days from now, but as new samples come in and we have to review things and do photos, maybe something else will take his place is my favorite of the moment.
01:10:15
Speaker
Sorry Hulk star Well, you know brother I think that's a good choice Yeah, I mix when you when when I saw the pictures of that That that whole survivor series wave is is excellent that that Hulk I was I would Dave and I were actually having the conversation where I said I was like I think that Hulk might actually be better than the ultimate one and he was We went back and forth. But yeah, it's it is it is a really good figure. I
01:10:42
Speaker
So many looks and so many eras. I just feel like the demand is there. We're gonna make them. We'll make them all. So if one isn't for you, there's another one in the pipeline that you might like.
01:10:55
Speaker
So, Steve, before we let you go, first of all, thank you again so much for taking the time to be with us, to answer questions, to deal with us fanboying out a little bit, marking out, I should say. Yeah, thank you, Steve. Where can we find you on the interwebs, and where can we find more from Mattel?
01:11:18
Speaker
Yeah, I am on Instagram, at action-figure-attack. On Twitter, action-fig-attack. On the Ringside forums, action-figure-attack. And for Mattel, follow Mattel Creations on Instagram. And don't forget to back the new generation Ultimate Edition Arena so we can unlock even more amazing crowdfunded executions.
01:11:45
Speaker
Absolutely. Steve, thank you again so much for joining us. Thanks, guys. It was a pleasure. 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.
01:12:10
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
01:12:34
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Franca Blaui. 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.