Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Wouldn't It Be Cool If - Volume 1
419 Plays5 years ago
On this episode, Dave and Erik talk the latest news, toy hauls, play a contentious round of Name That Toy, and intro a new segment - "Wouldn't It Be Cool If.." where they detail the ideal toy set/line and take some listener suggestions! Listen now!
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
Proudly part of the Non-Productive Network
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Recommended
Transcript
Firehouse Subs and Supporting First Responders
00:00:00
Speaker
At Firehouse Subs, a portion of every purchase helps provide life-saving equipment to first responders. We make our subs differently because our subs can make a difference. Like our fan favorite turkey bacon ranch, piled high with tender smoked turkey breast, crispy bacon, melted sharp cheddar cheese, and drizzled with creamy peppercorn ranch. And it's only at Firehouse Subs. Click the banner now to start your pickup or delivery order.
Podcast Introduction and Hosts
00:00:32
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.
00:01:00
Speaker
We're back. Yes, we're back. You just missed me yawning. I was about to yawn into the microphone and I didn't. I guess that's just as good as actually doing it, describing it. You make for great radio, Dave. This is fantastic radio.
00:01:20
Speaker
on today's episode.
Episode Preview
00:01:23
Speaker
So on today's episode, Dave, we are gonna do our news and hauls. And then we're gonna play a round of Name That Toy.
00:01:35
Speaker
And then to close to close it on out, Dave, we're going to we're going to introduce a new segment called wouldn't it be cool if and we'll get a little bit into that towards the end of the show. But before I stump you in name that toy, because I think I've got you this time and it's my turn. I'm up for two, right? Yeah, I've had a rough go. But I think all that means is I've gotten you once.
00:02:00
Speaker
Yeah, but I think I'm going to get you this week. But we'll see. We'll see when we get to it. So let's start it off with a little bit of the good old toy news.
Impact of NY Toy Fair 2021 Cancellation
00:02:14
Speaker
I think first and foremost, the thing that we have to mention before anything else in the world of toy news is Toy Fair.
00:02:23
Speaker
New York Toy Fair, which was originally supposed to be in February and then due to the ongoing global pandemic was moved to May, has been officially canceled for 2021. Which is a big bummer. I mean, it's the obvious and safest choice for sure. It's not surprising, but it's the right thing to do.
00:02:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, considering that right now the Javits Center, which would normally house Toy Fair, is a, I believe they're administering COVID vaccines there. So yeah, definitely not going to be the place where Toy Fair is held. And it's really the only place in New York with the capacity to do the show justice. So back bigger and better in 2022, hopefully.
00:03:13
Speaker
and we'll be moving right along with the good old toy fair and seeing familiar faces and doing that craziness all over again. Yeah, meeting people in person for the first time. Yeah, it's wild to think that we're coming up on the anniversary of us wandering the halls of Toy Fair in 2020. Yeah.
00:03:41
Speaker
This is wild, absolutely wild. Some of the cool news that's been going around, McFarland continues the ever growing steady wave of new toys. For a company that I don't want to say has been
00:03:59
Speaker
Inobscurity in the past few years because they've been producing toys,
McFarland Toys Gold Label Announcements
00:04:02
Speaker
but not like this. I mean they're just seems like every week They're they're keeping up with the the Hasbro's and Mattel's and spin masters of the world and they're just announcing new wave after new wave They've been a bit more prolific as they were in the past Yes, that is that is definitely the fair way to put it um
00:04:25
Speaker
but they just announced today they're wave two of the gold label collection got a new spawn if you're familiar with the way that he looks in Mortal Kombat 11 or if you're playing Mortal Kombat 11 it is it is simply just another one of the skins that's offered in the game then there is an all gold dark knight's metal like Batman flash like evil Batman I thought that was flashpoint not metal
00:04:52
Speaker
No, I think that's the... I don't think it's reverse flash. I think it's that Dark Knight's metal flash, Red Death, I think it's called. Oh, it's not metal? Yup. Yup. Okay. But it's all gold. And then there's a all red and gold war hammer figure that was announced as part of that wave too. Just fully embracing the...
00:05:20
Speaker
the good old tactic of painting your figures gold, or highlighting them in gold, because the red fury one, or I keep saying red fury, red death, that one is all gold, right? It's an all gold variant of the figure. Yeah, it's just outright gold. I think the insignia is like a lighter, I don't want to say silver, maybe a lighter gold.
00:05:49
Speaker
Some just some gold on gold action or there's some sort of like different finish to it
00:05:56
Speaker
I mean there it's one of those things where once you see I have yet to see one in person I'm only going off of the pictures and the memories of seeing that old like wave one clown figure that was all gold I mean it is kind of a it's I mean it's a piece it's a piece for the collection in terms of like actual action figure use
00:06:20
Speaker
I don't know, you know, I know what some people did with that that bronze Joker that came out, the bronze Arkham Joker, they actually pose it to make it look like, like in like a dio made it like a statue of the Joker. It looks like Red Death has some silver accents or highlights to him like the insignia is silver, the face mask and some of the leg accents.
00:07:02
Speaker
is the question of the day, but I know for a fact that those spawn figures, they can't keep them in stock anywhere, regardless of paint variation or weapon variation or whatever they end up coming with. It has been difficult to keep those in stock. Yeah, the spawn looks cool. Yeah.
00:07:13
Speaker
as far as I can tell from the photos.
00:07:25
Speaker
Dave, how about some, uh, do we have any wrestling news?
Updates on Wrestling Toys
00:07:29
Speaker
Anything, anything new in the wrestling world that we can talk about? Well, uh, ringside exclusive ultimate warrior from WrestleMania 12 was delayed till March, I believe. Oh, which is fine. You know, uh, rather, you know, take the time to see it do whatever they need to do for it as opposed to rushing it out. So that's fine. Yep. You'd rather see it done the right way. That's for sure.
00:07:53
Speaker
Yeah. And it, as far as I can still tell, it's still up for preorder, no backorder yet. And then, uh, the other news was just as soon as we, as sure as we saw photos, um, we eventually, you know, got a W unrivaled three. Yeah. Jeremy was not messing around. Kind of came out. They were there. They were like all of a sudden they were up for preorder and then there they were. They were shipping.
00:08:22
Speaker
So that was pretty cool that they were. There was that quick turnaround for them. Yeah. Well, I mean, right. That was one of the things that Jeremy said. He said that, uh, alongside wave two, wave three would be on its heels. And for, for us, I mean, you got wave three before you got wave two. Yeah. Um, and we'll, we'll talk about that in the halls.
00:08:45
Speaker
Um, I spend some time talking about them, I think. Yeah, for sure. I think wasn't there. I'm trying to find, I'm scrolling through our Instagram feed here because I thought there was something else. Oh, um, super seven Dave had some, some wrestling figure. Oh yeah. Um, as you've recently seen them on impact wrestling and on AW, um, big LG doc gallows and, um, Carl Anderson are the latest.
00:09:12
Speaker
Super seven ultimates for for wrestling which is cool cuz it's been a little bit since there's been a gal as an Anderson elite I think they made elites when they first arrived and then there hadn't been any so it was good to see them get a new figure.
00:09:32
Speaker
Of course, these are based off of their current incarnation in Impact slash AEW. Spoiler alert, if you did not watch last week's AEW. And yeah, they look great, as do all the Ultimates thus far. Cool, some cool, I'll say, tooling for Galos's beard. Yeah, that's pretty cool. And of course, they come with beards, as they are in their talk and shop personas.
00:10:01
Speaker
And, uh, yeah, there, those are going to be cool. So those are up for pre-order till mid February, I believe. Um, also, uh, coming, coming soon. And I will be pre-ordering those. I thought you did it already. You just, you're holding out.
00:10:18
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'm waiting for the next credit card cycle. Gotcha. Yeah, hey, that's what it's about. But you know what? That's the thing that's awesome about the Super 7 pre-orders, right? And I'm going to use this to segue into another piece of toy news that I feel like we need to address, because it recently has bitten both of us.
Challenges in Toy Pre-orders
00:10:39
Speaker
But the idea that you can post a pre-order
00:10:43
Speaker
And it's kind of like more of a made-to-order service. So you have an X amount of time to pre-order the thing before. It's like crowdfunding, but without the consequence of not enough people buying it, right? So as long as you pre-order it before a date, you're guaranteed one, which is awesome. Like, I wish it was like that way for more toys instead of. Well, that's, yeah. And I think, you know,
00:11:10
Speaker
Matt and Brian on the major pod said it best, the pre-order is the order. Yes. Yes. Whereas something that we've experienced recently and, you know,
00:11:23
Speaker
unfortunate as it is like there we don't have a Toys R Us or KB Toys you know this is kind of the dead horse you know that the stop it he's already dead but uh... unfortunately ordering through some of these big box stores you have problems so whether it's you know wrestling figures that you've uh... order pre-ordered and have had canceled on you through target and walmart uh... right you lost all of the decade of domination we have two guys for the exception of
00:11:52
Speaker
Kofi Kofi. With the inability to to re pre-order them. Or purchase them at all. They've not even shown up, I don't think. Yeah. Nor do I think they've shown up in stores yet either. So at least some people that pre-order got them before they've been in stores. Yeah. Question mark. And then, you know, I'm experiencing some hassle with some Star Wars figures. So I had the the vintage collection
00:12:22
Speaker
Dinja Jaren and Grogu two-pack, the little deluxe vintage collection two-pack. It is the only way that you can get Din with the removable helmet to show the Pedro Pascal likeness. And it is actually the first appearance, the first release of Grogu or the child as it's still billed on the card. In the vintage collection is a store exclusive at Walmart. I've had it pre-ordered since October.
00:12:49
Speaker
And then yesterday, so we're recording this on the 12th. So on the 11th, a massive tidal wave of cancellation emails went out to people who had this thing preordered, only to with no announcement, reactivate the listing today on the 12th, this morning, in stock and shipping. So had it not been for, you know,
00:13:20
Speaker
Frankly, people like us and other members of the community who sat there and near obsessively refreshed the page hoping for a miracle. There was no notification from anybody that the figure had come back in stock that was available. I ordered mine.
00:13:41
Speaker
And I ordered it, and it actually shipped, producing a tracking number in about 20 minutes after I ordered it. So in stock, ready to go after they canceled, what I can only imagine is thousands of orders of it. At least hundreds, but more likely thousands, based on the amount of reports that were coming in.
00:14:07
Speaker
And, you know, on target, I have the vintage collection armorer. I've had her pre-ordered for months and I just keep hitting that button to, you know, accept the, you know, the delay, you know, accept the new shipping date. And I don't know if it's ever going to ship. I mean, I had to do that with the one, um, Grogu Baby Yoda, the child pop, and it eventually shipped. Well, that's good that it, that's good that it eventually did.
00:14:33
Speaker
You know, there was the issue with the legends where that happened and then it happened again for the next series. You know, if you didn't find Decade of Domination series one, I'd probably still be waiting on those potentially. Yeah. I think it's a unfortunate it is what it is type of situation.
00:15:02
Speaker
You know, it's also one of those things where you just wish you'd hear about them showing up in a store. So that way it's like, okay, I can just go get it.
00:15:14
Speaker
You know, it is, it is the life we choose. That's for sure. I mean, it definitely feels like a, like a, you know, first world problem to be complaining about our toy pre-orders, but it is frustrating and, you know, hopefully there's, you know, the situation improves. I would like to see companies embrace more of super seven's model, you know, with pre-ordering Hasbro is actually doing it right now with their, uh,
00:15:41
Speaker
Gigawatt, Transformer, and Delorean mashup figure. It's currently available on Hasbro Pulse 2 pre-order. They're basically leaving up the pre-order until February 15th, which is about a month from now.
00:15:59
Speaker
You have until then to pre-order it and once that's over, that's it. And they'll ship it to you. It looks like in August, they're expecting it to ship. But I really think for some of these more sought after things, it's the way to go. Especially for characters and wrestlers that are considered to be like lead or primary characters, if you have to rely on something like a store exclusive,
00:16:28
Speaker
You know, make it at least so that it's a pre-order, you know, kind of made to order situation and, you know, the amount of orders that you accept, like, sure, people have to wait a bit, a little bit longer to get it because it's not one of those things where it's like the toy's already been manufactured. You know, you're pre-ordering it knowing that you've made X amount, you know,
00:16:48
Speaker
People will be happy, I think, to wait a little bit longer to get the product if they know that they're definitely going to get it. I feel like that's kind of what you see with ringside exclusives in a way. Yeah. Yeah. Because they come back in.
00:17:07
Speaker
That's a partner that understands though, like you can tell that Ringside Collectibles is, I mean, it's in their name. They're a company that understands
00:17:20
Speaker
what their audience really wants. I think it's still difficult to get a company like Target or Walmart who are starting to, you know, baby steps, starting to embrace like the collector community more, you know, by having, you know, splash landing pages on their websites and building new sections in their stores and things like that. But at the end of the day, like they're also selling furniture and groceries and housewares and
00:17:49
Speaker
you know garden tools and i mean every they're big they're a big box store they're they're a large retail location they don't have the intensity or probably even the bandwidth to dedicate the resources to making sure that they are serving a very what is ultimately a very niche community in the way that we expect to be treated and it's it's one of those things that you have to kind of
00:18:13
Speaker
consciously think about with this. And until we get a debt, another dedicated toy retailer, um, back in the United States, I think, you know, we just kind of have to make the best of what we can. And I know that's not the answer that a lot of people want to hear. And, you know, a lot of people are, you know, beating the proverbial dead horse, you know, on the topic, but I don't see it changing anytime soon. Yeah. I mean,
00:18:40
Speaker
Not to mention you have those, you know, when you find something, it's like extra fun. Like I almost fell over when I found lightning from Big Trouble in Little China, the best action in the store. Like it's the first and only time I've seen one. One.
00:18:57
Speaker
sink singular one what's like uh... the will talk will talk about it in halls to but the the new marvel legends spider's marvel legends you know actually seeing spider glenn on the pegs at you know and i had maddie with me to like we're both like uh... like audible gasps that we saw her so uh...
NECA's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Releases
00:19:20
Speaker
one i have one more piece of news that i wanted to briefly touch on just because it is such a
00:19:26
Speaker
Um, a hot commodity right now, the, uh, the NECA Ninja Turtles. Um, they have more figures coming officially coming to the, the animated, um, Ninja Turtles collection. Um, they announced today for, for turtle Tuesday, uh, Rat King and Vernon will be in a two pack and Vernon comes with the Vernon comes with the rat head, which is awesome. Um,
00:19:54
Speaker
And then earlier this week they announced Solicitz came out for Mondo Gekko, Chromedome, which looks amazing, Mukman, another just toyetic as anything figure, and then Genghis and Rasputin the Frogs.
00:20:11
Speaker
are coming in a two-pack. So there are a lot more of those iconic characters coming to that animated series line. And while it's not something that either of us collect, we both know a lot of people who do collect them, they're gorgeous figures. They really do recreate the animated series faithfully. I've heard nothing but good things about the neck of turtles.
00:20:39
Speaker
little I've seen just because that is a deep dive I choose not to partake in even though I had all the or a lot of the the playmates turtles when I was younger
00:20:56
Speaker
Well, between what Playmates is doing with the turtles, and again, we'll get to that in hauls, but between what Playmates continues to do with the turtles, what NECA is doing with both the animated and the film turtles, and then what Super 7 is doing with their Playmates recreations in the ultimate form, it is a great time to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle collector.
Recent Toy Hauls
00:21:21
Speaker
Alright, so why don't you kick us off with hauls? What are some of the things? It's been a while since we've had a regular episode, so why don't you hit us with some highlights? What have you picked up? What did I get? I got... What about the Royal Rumble? Did you get any of the Royal Rumble guys? I got Stone Cold. I found one. I found... Or actually on Amazon I picked up...
00:21:47
Speaker
The Street Profits. So Angela Dawkins and Montes Ford, Bianca Belair. I love that Bianca Belair figure. Oh, yeah, it's a great figure. They did a great job with it. The big the big sunglasses and the braid. And she can hold it like it's it's cool. I got stunning Steve Austin and Mae Young from Ringside. I love that there's finally a Mae Young figure.
00:22:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's been a long time coming. Definitely long overdue. She comes with the Mae Young classic trophy, which was named in her honor. So that's pretty cool too. Who else did I get? I'm gonna wind up forgetting stuff. Why don't you just go into the good old AW?
00:22:38
Speaker
Okay, yeah, we could talk about Series 3. So I got AEW Series 3, the unrivaled Series 3 set from Ringside. So far, none of the chases have been found, or at least publicly found. Yeah, not that I've seen. They're either on their way or they're out there, or most likely they're on their way.
00:23:04
Speaker
It's a good series. I think there have been people who have been... There's been a lot of critique of these online, both positive and negative. It's gone both ways. And when we posted the opening of the box, it was just really more to open the box and show you what was there and see if Ringside did put in any chases or rares, which they've
00:23:31
Speaker
had a tendency to do lately, you know, just to kind of get a initial first impression of them. After looking at them and after seeing other unboxings and seeing what other people thought, I think there's been a lot of common threads or common critiques of them. I think the Young Bucks in the typical Young Bucks gear is great.
00:24:01
Speaker
Was it a bit early for more Young Bucks figures? Maybe. But now you have, like, your regular Young Bucks in what their standard gear is as opposed to the Elvis gear for the one time for Double or Nothing. Nick is really good. I think Nick looks just like Nick. Matt, it's something about his face, and I'm not sure what it is.
00:24:26
Speaker
I think Matt Cardona mentioned it on his quick, quick take on them from the major pod. He said he looked tired. Yeah, like there's too much of dark circles under his eyes.
00:24:42
Speaker
And I think I think that's accurate. I think he does look it. It definitely looks like him. Like, I don't think that the likeness is off. I just think that he he looks tired. I think I think that's a fair, fair assessment. Potentially a tad off. On that. But I love how expressive they made them like they look. Yeah, it's different. It's different head sculpts. It's brand new head sculpts. Yep.
00:25:09
Speaker
So, you know, and, you know, we're also looking at, yes, jazzwares is a big company, but this is only series three, like there's going to be some money before the, as they work on it and try to get it. Perfect.
00:25:24
Speaker
And they've been vocal too about stuff that's been outside of necessarily their control. There's been factory issues, obviously getting things out during a pandemic presents a challenge and they're not as big. Like, yes, Jazzverse has been around for a while, but they're not as big as a Mattel or a Hasbro. And even those companies are struggling right now to meet the end. Sometimes the Mattels are a little not great.
00:25:52
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I sent you that picture, that one Eddie Guerrero I found that his face is printed about an inch to the left of where it should have been. You know, it happens. And I think ultimately from the pictures that you sent, I think they look better than the samples that were photographed. I think the only one that's really like off-off is Pac.
00:26:20
Speaker
Yeah, you said, who did you say he looked like? And I actually laughed out loud. I thought he looked like Canyon a little bit. Yes, Canyon. I think you're right though. I think that one, I mean the- It's a little off. The likeness is a little off. A little off. The one I was worried about from all of the initial pictures was Reho.
00:26:42
Speaker
And Rio looks way better than in the initial photo. To the point where it actually kind of looks like Rio. Yeah. But Rio was definitely the pleasant surprise. But the two, and I'm just going to go out on a limb and say like, these are going to be tough to beat. And our
00:27:05
Speaker
You know, I'm going to do something different this year than what I did last year, which was I tried to figure it out at the end of the year, but I'm just going to put things on the list as I kind of see them, um, two potential figure of the year candidates. Really? Tell us, tell us what it, cause I haven't seen these yet in person. You're, you're, this is, this is all you. What impressed you so much about, uh, about, about freshly squeezed. Um, so the hands go in the pockets. It works.
00:27:34
Speaker
from everything I see, and they still haven't opened mine yet. But I will once Series 2 comes, which we'll talk about that too later. Or we'll talk about that next time, because I should be getting it tomorrow. Those shipped from Ringside. But Orange has...
00:27:55
Speaker
So they did something cool with the t-shirt, where the t-shirt is velcroed to the coat, so it's one piece, or as he sometimes wears the denim jacket without the shirt, you can also have him wear the denim jacket without the shirt. He comes with the lazy thumbs up, he comes with the hands that go in the pockets, the sunglasses fit, like it's, it looks just like him. Everything about the figure is just stuff you've never seen before.
00:28:26
Speaker
Yeah, magic really outdid himself on the design of this for sure. And I mean, you can go back to Jeremy on Twitter going like, hey, how do we make this happen? Figure it out. We need to figure this out. And they did. And they're not cloth good pants, right? They're like rubber. Yeah. So good. And then Darby just looks fantastic.
00:28:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's, you know, that's the one so far, the one where I think the chase is the, the, for like, without a doubt, the more attractive of the two versions.
Highlighting AEW Figures
00:29:03
Speaker
So like all the other ones- The body paint? Yeah. So like all the other ones, like all the other chases are cool. So like the- He doesn't, he doesn't have, he doesn't always do that though. I know. It's like Finn Balor, he doesn't always do that. So the regular one is like regular everyday Darby.
00:29:21
Speaker
Yeah. And he comes with the skateboard, which is awesome. And the skateboard works, too, which is sweet. Yeah. It's like a regular little fingerboard. Yeah, like a tech deck. Yeah. Yeah. I'm very impressed with what you had sent me. I can't wait until we can actually be in person so that I can see those. Yeah. And it's something where I have no reason to doubt that they're going to get
00:29:51
Speaker
you know, improve these or continue to improve these as time goes on. Are there still like, you know, points of improvement that can be made? Sure. But that's just going to be the case anyway.
00:30:02
Speaker
But I mean, that's any figure, right? That's like literally pick your favorite figure. My favorite figure from 2020, the Storm Collectible Injustice Bane. I went on to wax poetically about how I thought it was a perfect figure. But I mean, if I look at it, there are things about it I would potentially change and improve for sure. I mean, it's an action figure. There's always going to be something. And whether it's limited by, you know,
00:30:31
Speaker
something artistic or limited by something manufacturing or Available materials or cost prohibitive what you know, whatever it is, you know Yeah, we could sit here all day and you know talk about how we can make a figure better But you know, we could talk about how like, you know, I got DC multiverse Harley Quinn and she's tall or like, you know Red Hood and Nightwing and Nightwing's got the weird, you know people are calling it a diaper like it's a
00:30:59
Speaker
There's always gonna be something if you wanna just sit there and really kind of dive deep into something, you'll find anything.
00:31:08
Speaker
Um, but for the most part, the output is, is fantastic. Yeah. With, without a doubt. All right. I'm going to hear a couple of things that I picked up, uh, that I have been, I have not been able to put them down actually.
Review of Red Hood and Nightwing Two-Pack
00:31:22
Speaker
Uh, I'm having so much fun with them. Uh, you mentioned one of them already. You mentioned, uh, you mentioned red hood, that red hood and nightwing two pack. Um.
00:31:32
Speaker
I got it for Red Hood. That was the figure that I really wanted. But I'm actually and it is like it's it's it's a marvel of a figure. It is a it is as as as Paul Hollywood would say it is a triumph of action figures. It's wonderful from. Yeah, it's it's it's an early nominee to the the paint on the helmet. The you know, it's reflective. I had it in the light box. I was taking pictures and it's just it's amazing.
00:31:59
Speaker
It poses so easily. The articulation is great. He just kind of has that... He exudes his badassery. Yeah, it's a wonderful figure. But the Nightwing in that two-pack is no slouch either. It's a straight repaint of the build of Batmobile Nightwing that came out early last year.
00:32:19
Speaker
But they improved a couple of things. So they gave his hair some really nice blue detailing to it, which really makes kind of like that black hair shimmer and pop. And they also, aside from the red repaint of his costume, they just kind of did the skin tone a little bit better. They did the shading a little bit better. The overall, it is a much better painted figure than the first release. So kudos to them for taking
00:32:47
Speaker
a figure that has its flaws and really doing the best they can with it in terms of a repaint, it's definitely the one that is on display over the classic blue outfit. Another figure that I got super impressed with and is actually, I talked about this on our Instagram, but I bought my first modern wrestling figure. I picked up the top picks Fiend, Bray Wyatt the Fiend, WWE Elite,
00:33:16
Speaker
I want to have a wrestling figure on hand for scale comparison and you know For for toy photography and everything because I don't have access to yours When I'm when I'm doing reviews and everything, but I have been watching wrestling I've been getting back into it and the fiend is definitely my favorite thing in
00:33:49
Speaker
Mattel figure, actually, now that I'm thinking about it in a long time, as well. And it's just great. The center of balance on it, it feels nice. The detail, the deco, the articulation, yeah, he doesn't have the double-jointed elbows, but you can still get him into all of the poses, including the unique way he
00:33:58
Speaker
the WWE at the moment.
00:34:10
Speaker
pins people you know the the elites do though so yeah um which i came to realize right that's the uh they they do the double jointed elbows and the ultimates right yeah but overall fantastic figure absolutely love it um have not been able to put it down i just keep taking pictures of it and
00:34:30
Speaker
Much like another figure, Meowsles, the jazzwares Fortnite legendary series Meowsles, that if you recall, if you are a long time listener of the podcast, we had Mike DeCamp from jazzwares on who is responsible for
00:34:49
Speaker
the Fortnite figures, and I may have pestered him to try to pull out of him whether or not Meowsles was coming, and he was steadfastly stonewalling me, but lo and behold, just about a year later, I have my six-inch legendary series Meowsles, and he is perfect. One could say, Dave, that he's purr.
00:35:17
Speaker
Yeah, I absolutely love this figure. I am starting to get a little bit fatigued with the throwback to the Toy Biz, Marvel Legends, like the hinged hands. I'm finding that some of them come with weapons or accessories that they simply can't hold because their hands won't stay closed in order to hold them.
00:35:47
Speaker
What a lot of people are doing online is they're boiling and popping the hands off and using spare Marvel Legends hands on them which scale perfectly with these figures in order to give them kind of like a permanently closed hand so that way they could grip onto things.
00:36:06
Speaker
having seen the four inch Fortnite figures, they do not have the hinged hands and they can hold their accessories wonderfully and they're articulated the same way. So it makes me wonder how long that's gonna stick around for them. But it is a really great figure and I absolutely love it. And then the last thing that I wanted to mention, I did pick up more, but I feel like this is like kind of,
00:36:31
Speaker
the piece de resistance for this episode for me.
NECA's Super Shredder Packaging
00:36:35
Speaker
I finally got my super shredder from NECA. I had ordered that back in in August. And talk about an experience, man, much, much like yours kind of with AEW, where the box was like from NECA, you know, where you had like kind of that jazzwares case.
00:36:56
Speaker
I think that's just how Ring said something. The figure was packed immaculately. Like, sorry, so it's in a box, and you open the box with a box cutter, and obviously you open carefully because you don't want to cut too deep. But NECA, you thought of that. Underneath the flaps, they actually put a small layer of cardboard. So that way, if you do slide the box cutter in too deep, you hit an additional layer of cardboard. Like, it's just like a loose piece.
00:37:22
Speaker
And then underneath that, the box, the NECA box, which is massive for Super Shredder, because he's a hulk of a figure, is in like a molded bubble wrap. So think like a bubble wrap.
00:37:38
Speaker
envelope but not like a shipping envelope like like it is a bubble wrap envelope that it's was then inserted to and sealed inside. So I mean that thing you could have Ace Ventura punted that thing down the hallway and it would have been fine.
00:37:54
Speaker
they packed that figure so incredibly well so impressed the detail on it is insane I completely understand why it's why it was topping everybody's lists last year everybody that had it it is it is an insane figure that I can't believe I own
00:38:12
Speaker
along with those mutagen turtles. It's just like, again, and something I know I have mentioned, but I didn't think in a million years I would have like a modern, super detailed, super shredder, and out of their shells turtles. So yeah, it's been a good, it's been a good toy week, toy couple weeks for me.
00:38:36
Speaker
I got one more thing I can mention. The other day, I also got the Marvel Lucha Libre Pops. El Muerta de Chimichanga? Chimichanga de la Muerta. Chimichanga de la Muerta. Best name ever. I got the seven that are out. I've also pre-ordered my collector core box based off of Marvel Lucha Libre.
00:39:08
Speaker
They're cool. It's going to be kind of really how you feel about the concept or the worlds coming together. They are planning on having more matches in AAA, where there will be characters with the Marvel themes or the Marvel license. So yeah, they're cool. I like them.
00:39:39
Speaker
It's a fun, fun thing similar to, well, actually it's, yeah, it's a, it's a similar, um, it's fun. That's, that's really what I wanted. Um, I was just trying to think of what I can compare it to and there really isn't much I can. I mean, it's just, it's a fun crossover. It's a fun crossover that they're actually doing. Um, so it's not just something that's there.
00:40:05
Speaker
Or here, it's not similar to the, I'll say the holiday stormtroopers in the sense of they are, they're just like holiday stormtroopers, they don't exist. These are, the characters are existing right now in AAA, so it is something where, yes, they've made these pops for them and there's merchandise for it, but with good reason, because they're incorporating it into
00:40:36
Speaker
into AAA's, I guess, stories, or they're going to build stories around these characters. So I think that that's awesome. I think it's a lot of fun, and I think it's a great crossover. Now, that's something that I actually am today years old. I didn't realize that they were actual wrestling personas in Lucha Libre. That actually makes them all the more cool. I thought it was just a, that's cool.
00:41:07
Speaker
And you said it's AAA, right? That's the, very cool. Well, I know I picked up a few more things that I had kind of mentioned. I mentioned that I had picked up the Spider-Verse Marvel
Introduction to 'Name That Toy' Game
00:41:20
Speaker
Legends. I've got some older figures, but I'm gonna save those for another conversation because I'm itching, Dave, I'm itching to play Name That Toy.
00:41:35
Speaker
All right. It's time to play Name That Toy! Let's catch everybody up, because it's been a while. Yeah, I was going to say. So Dave, tell us, how does Name That Toy work? This week, you're giving the clues, and I'm guessing. But the person giving the clues has an X number of clues, as many as they want to compile.
00:42:03
Speaker
The person who is guessing, which is me, can guess after each clue. If I get it right, I get a point. If I don't get it right, or if I get stumped, Eric gets a point. And if I get stumped, you, the faithful listener, have a chance to win a prize.
00:42:24
Speaker
Yep, and I will tell you right now what that prize is. That prize for this episode is a Star Wars Vintage Collection Yavin Ceremony Luke Skywalker.
00:42:40
Speaker
Mint on card. We'll be going to you if we don't, if I can manage to stump Dave here. And the way that we'll do it is. Should we have mentioned the prize until beforehand? Or till after the fact? Yeah, why not? Why not? Now you know what, now people can root against you as they listen to you. Okay. Yeah, so Dave, are you ready to play Name That Toy?
00:43:10
Speaker
I am. All right, so I have five clues for you today. Only five. Only five. I think that's the fewest clues that have existed. Yeah, I it was I was scraping to to get the amount. If if you get this, which I don't think you're going to and I'm not being purposely obtuse here, I. It was like the clues were either too obvious
00:43:35
Speaker
or far too obscure and difficult, so I tried to pick the middle ground, and with that, I ended up with five. Okay, you ready? First clue coming at you. Well, first, I gotta start the music. These figures were produced by Kenner in 1988 and 1989. That's the clue, okay. That's the first clue. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, no, no, no, that's... One, two, three, four.
00:44:08
Speaker
Yeah, that's the first clue. I promise you, that's not as broad as you think. Because they weren't doing that many lines specifically in 88 and 89. The toy line was made to promote a TV show.
00:44:34
Speaker
that lasted only two seasons, totaling in 65 episodes. So TV show, not a cartoon. A TV show cartoon. Yeah, it was a cartoon. An animated television show. Yeah, animated television show that lasted only two seasons, totaling in 65 episodes. All right, I'm just going to guess. I'm going to throw a guess out there. It's probably wrong. Is it Silver Hawks? No, it is not Silver Hawks. Though my heart was just temporarily in my throat.
00:45:05
Speaker
So I was not expecting you to guess that early. All right. I mean, it's not interesting for everybody listening if I just go, OK, let's let's do the first two clues now. Now hit me with some actual information, please. All right. So none of the notable female. So this is important. None of the notable female characters or in fact, any of the female characters from the source material were made it into the toy line.
00:45:34
Speaker
So while you're thinking, I'll reread these. So these figures were produced by Kenner in 1988 and 89. They were made to promote an animated television show that lasted only two seasons, totaling in 65 episodes. None of the notable, or in fact, any of the female characters from the source material ever made it into toy form. Is it skeleton warriors? It is not skeleton warriors.
00:46:00
Speaker
Okay, now this clue is a very specific clue about the toy that would give you a sizable hint here, okay? This is your first like real big hint. An accessory packed with a villain from the toy line whose name was Claw would later be reused with the famous Sky Attack Joker from Kenner's Dark Knight collection.
00:46:33
Speaker
Okay, so now I at least know how big the figures are. An accessory packed with a villain from the line, whose name was Claw, would later be reused with the famous Sky Attack Joker from Kenner's Dark Knight collection. And if you could picture, if you could picture Sky Attack Joker. He came with a very like, really wacky accessory. All right, go one more.
00:47:02
Speaker
Okay, and this is your final clue. Last clue. This is your final clue. All right, consisting of two playsets, a series of role play items, two vehicles, and technically three waves of figures, five additional vehicles and playsets were planned, but never produced until an Argentinian company named Joska produced one of them later on called Copper Corner.
00:47:33
Speaker
I mean, yeah, we'll be here all day. So what is it? OK, so I'll bleep it out. You're you're I'm telling you're tapping. I'll give you the point. Wow.
Challenge in Naming Toys
00:47:44
Speaker
Wow. Wow. Wow. Holy shit. By the way, that's the first time I've cursed on this show. Right. Isn't that a good one, though? Yeah, I had those.
00:48:00
Speaker
I know you did. And can you picture what the accessory was now that came with the Joker? Isn't it like the, yeah, it was the handles with the helicopter. Yep. Yep. All right, Dave. So you didn't get it. So that means we are now flipping this to you. Now what we're going to do is we'll post it. We'll post the, uh, the fact that the, the, uh, the contest is there and, um,
00:48:24
Speaker
What we'll do is, if you get the answer right, we will put your name into a drawing, and at the end of whatever time we end up putting on this, we will choose somebody who got the answer right, and we'll send you out a really cool Luke Skywalker vintage collection figure. So, courtesy of your friends Dave and Eric at Adventures in Collecting.
00:48:49
Speaker
Yeah, so finally got one. Four to three. Catching up. All right, so what I wanted to close out with Dave today was an idea that I had been kind of tossing around. And it's, well, let's let Joe bring us into it.
00:49:19
Speaker
Wouldn't it be cool if?
Exploration of Imaginative Toy Ideas
00:49:21
Speaker
So yeah, so wouldn't it be cool if, Dave? We always talk about the things that we want. We mentioned in our 2020 wrap up episode with our Christmas episode with our buddy Toy Shiz, we talked about your amazing idea for the Shotzi Blackheart.
00:49:40
Speaker
Tank, Build a Figure Wave, people are always, they're super talented people, like at Blainer Things on Instagram, who's always posting these incredible toy renderings that he comes up with, where it's like, what if NECA did more Scream figures? There's tons of talent out there that's constantly imagining how the toy world can grow. But what I thought would be fun is if we each just kind of pick one,
00:50:08
Speaker
and kind of go into what we would love a toy company to put out, you know, whether it's a box set, a wave, a specific figure.
00:50:18
Speaker
So I'm going to go first because I've been really thinking about this for a long time. One of my favorite things that Marvel Legends has ever done was the San Diego Comic Con box set for the Defenders that had Colleen Wing, Danny Rand, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Daredevil in it. So you had five figures, right?
00:50:40
Speaker
Well, what if they did one for a Comic-Con? Wouldn't it be cool if for a Comic-Con or some other kind of limited release, they put out one, Dave, that had six figures and it was an Agents of Shield box set that had Agent Coulson, Daisy, May, Mack, Fitz, and Simmons.
00:51:02
Speaker
and gave us our six Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. figures in a cool box. We've gotten Colson already from an old Toys R Us Avengers, the first Avengers film box set with Colson Hill and Nick. But the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. cast,
00:51:26
Speaker
It was such a good show. It was on for such a long time. We never got a single figure from that show. And for me, that is like a huge bummer. Yeah, they only got pops. Yeah. And didn't they even get a ride with the pops? Didn't they make a fill in the car? Yeah. Yeah, it was an early ride. Yeah, I mean, it's just that show was so...
00:51:49
Speaker
unique, because it was really the first kind of thing where the TV show was, and I don't care what anyone says, that show is part of the MCU. I mean, like, Phil's in the movies and Sif is in the TV show and, you know, Sam Jackson was in the TV show. So, I mean, it's...
00:52:09
Speaker
I think they're I think honestly like it would have been really cool to get a wave of them with like a build a figure or you know one of those like mixed media waves where they have you know comic book shield characters mixed in with them but ultimately I think now that the series is done you know I think they have to be working on a Minh Na Wen head sculpt for
00:52:35
Speaker
the Black series anyway, you know, if they don't have her face scan already, because Fennec is not only going to just be in The Mandalorian, but then the Book of Boba Fett, and she's also going to be in the Bad Batch animated series. So I mean, it's just, it's for me, it's a no brainer to get some Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. figures out, you know, make it a limited thing, make it a Hasbro Pulse exclusive or make it a Comic Con exclusive. But that would be my ideal. Wouldn't it be cool if?
00:53:05
Speaker
That's a good one. What do you have, Dave? Well, I gave my big one for the tank. I guess, for me, what I would probably want the most, I would say. Like, if we're going to do DC Multiverse movies, like, there's, you know, Steven Amell Arrow. There's, of course, the two Wonder Woman figures.
00:53:35
Speaker
And then that's really all we've got for movies. Like I want to see, you know, we were supposed to get the Birds of Prey Harley. Um, that did wound up not happening. Um, but like, you know, there's such a wealth of characters that have been in movies. And I'm saying like, go back, go back to
00:54:01
Speaker
You know, if you can, Adam Westenberg, Burt Ward. If you can, you know, Michael Keaton, Batman. You know, like you just got that penguin, that Madal penguin. Give me like a Danny Beato penguin, you know, something like along those lines. Just because I feel like that's... That, aside from like, non-Batman, has been very underrepresented in the figure line.
00:54:32
Speaker
So I guess like a wave of... See, I wouldn't even want a wave, I just want a few of them sprinkled in. Yeah, I mean, there are a couple figures that have not been on shelves in a while that I think would sell really well, but I think ultimately the thing that everybody would love MacFarlane to crack the code on would be... Or like Fantasm. Like do Fantasm. That would be fantastic.
00:54:55
Speaker
But I was going to say that the crack the crack the code on on Joker. I mean, there hasn't been there hasn't been a Jack Nicholson Joker due due to, you know, likeness control over his his his likeness. Hasn't been a jack to Heath Ledger like do something from a movie. And I think people would love as you know, as much as it's kind of a divisive movie, I think people would love a Joaquin Phoenix Joker.
00:55:25
Speaker
There are people that would want it. Sure. Um, but yeah, I mean, like I'm, I'm saying go back further. Like what about if they did something where it was like, you know, Christopher, Superman, something along. Yeah. Oh, that's what I was going to say. Like they're starting to get into these kinds of like box sets, right? Where they have two figures in a pack. Like what if they did like.
00:55:50
Speaker
Like Gene Hackman like that would rule I mean that would that would be awesome But I was gonna say what if they did like like a Superman through the years pack right and they had like Christopher Reeve and Brandon Ralph and Henry Cavill that would be fun or like Keaton and
00:56:15
Speaker
With the new movie coming out you could have you could do Keaton Pattinson and Christian Bale All right, like I think I think those types of things like those I don't want to say like set pieces, but those types of collections They're they have this kind of commemorative nature to them that I think makes them really hot commodities I just know at that point you're dealing with like mega star licenses and You know people are
00:56:44
Speaker
to their right are protective of their likenesses in a lot of cases. So I know Michael Keaton's that way. The Marvel Legends Vulture figure doesn't have a removable helmet because of likeness control. There hasn't been a Jack Nicholson Joker figure since that Kenner
00:57:05
Speaker
Skytech Batman that's the the only like action figure that has actually had somewhat of a Jack Nicholson likeness outside of like hot toys and sideshow collectibles and stuff like that but Yeah, I'm with you. I would love to see them do more movie stuff and they proved with the dune figures They came out recently that they can handle You know handle celebrity likenesses pretty well even like the Keanu
00:57:33
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that looks great. It looks like Keanu Reeves. So, I mean, yeah, I agree with you. Or the Wonder Woman figures, or the Stephen Amell, or, you know, like they're... Yeah, they're... They've proven it, that they can handle it, I think. Speaking of movies, Dave, I'm gonna... So we had a bunch here. I'm just gonna pick one.
00:58:00
Speaker
to wrap it up with here. So one of our followers, longtime listener, at theberg511 on Instagram suggested how cool, wouldn't it be cool if NECA made Wes Anderson movie figures? Starting with the life aquatic would be the first movie he would want them to start with. And I think that's, I think that'd be fantastic. Yeah, that'd be fun.
00:58:31
Speaker
I think they would absolutely crush it. I think some of them would have to be the eight inch like cloth figures and not the ultimate ones. Like I picture like the life aquatic figures with the little, you know, red skull caps and everything. But I love that idea. I think NECA is the type of company that pays attention to the kind of more strange and absurd forms of storytelling and characters and they could definitely handle something like the Wes Anderson films.
00:59:02
Speaker
I mean, they've golden girls figures. Yeah. Yeah, I think that would be fun. I think they could definitely pull it off. If you were going to have them start with a Wes Anderson film, what would be the one that you would start with? Royal Tenant Bounce. Yeah, it's a good one.
00:59:20
Speaker
I don't know why, but I would like to see fantastic Mr. Fox figures. I know that completely goes into like a different category because you're animated, but I think Neko would do well with those too, frankly. I mean, their Coraline ones were nice.
00:59:36
Speaker
So yeah, but so Sean at the Berg 511, our buddy all the way from Qatar, thank you for suggesting that. And thank you for all of your support. So guys, let us know what you think about this little category, this little fun bit. And if you want to hear more from it, I mean, we have more suggestions, so we could definitely revisit this at some point.
01:00:05
Speaker
I think part of the fun of being in the toy community is the speculation and the brainstorming and stuff. Because we know, if nothing else, we know that toy makers follow stuff on social media. They listen to podcasts and YouTubers, and they definitely consider those ideas. So be vocal about it, and we'll do what we can to help share your ideas. But Sean, thank you for that. That was wonderful.
01:00:34
Speaker
With that, Dave, I think we're going to wrap it up. OK. Make sure you are following us on social media at AIC underscore podcast. We're on Instagram and Twitter. And if you like what you hear on the podcast, if you like our little show here,
01:00:50
Speaker
Do us a huge favor and leave us a rating and review on wherever you listen to podcasts, especially if you're doing it on Apple Podcasts. We read the reviews, we like your feedback, and if you leave us a fun review with a rating, maybe we'll read it on the show, especially if you include a little, well, tell us what your favorite toy is or what you like to collect, and we'll give you a little shout out. Bye, everyone.
01:01:19
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.
01:01:35
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.
01:01:59
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.