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Ghosts of Christmas Past Vol 2 Feat. Toy Shiz
419 Plays5 years ago
Happy Holidays everyone! On this, our second annual holiday special, pull up a chair and join Dave, Erik, Toy Shiz, and even Santa Claus as they discuss toys they're looking forward to in 2021 and as they turn back the clock and each revisit a special Christmas morning toy from their pasts. From Ghostbusters to literal military tanks, grab a good cup of egg nog and celebrate the most wonderful time of the year.
Thank you so much to everyone that continues to tune and listen - we are so thankful for your support and wish you and your loved ones a happy holidays!
Follow Toy Shiz on instagram @toyshiz and be sure to check him out on YouTube as well!
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
Santa's Festive Message & Holiday Greetings
00:00:00
Speaker
Hmm, Dave. Nice. Eric. Nice. David. Nice. Heather. Nice. Heather's boyfriend. Very nice. Oh! Hello, children! Santa here! We're busy making and procuring toys at the North Pole. Getting ready for the big day!
00:00:22
Speaker
And even though 2020 has certainly been on my naughty list, I know you all did your best to find your way onto that nice column. Your donations, acts of kindness, and mask-wearing hasn't gone unnoticed. My good friends David and Eric at Adventures in Collecting asked me to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! And thank you all for keeping us busy with your love of toys!
00:00:52
Speaker
Oh, I'll be visiting you real soon. But first I need to get in touch with Jeremy about those AEW toys. Ho ho ho ho ho! Merry Christmas! 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.
00:01:22
Speaker
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.
00:01:35
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting Happy Holiday Edition of the episode. Hello. You know, I was I was I was. Oh, hello. There we go. Are we going to get a little ho ho ho action or is it just going to be a normal hello? I forgot. Well, happy holidays to everybody listening. It's been.
00:02:01
Speaker
a year. And we all we all made it through it. And joining us today to help celebrate the end of the year and and talk all things toys is is our friend, your friend, Touches. Hello, I say ho, ho, ho, ho. Is that right? Oh, no, something like ho, ho, ho. Hello. Let's let's put this year to rest for the love of God. Yeah.
00:02:29
Speaker
Yeah. Cheers to that. And instead of sitting down and getting a cup of coffee, why don't we dunk the crystal mousse mug into the big old punch bowl and pull out some eggnog and get all holiday. Yeah. Everyone put on your cousin Eddie Dickey and get ready to mess up Clark's Christmas.
2020 in Toy Collecting Culture
00:02:55
Speaker
On today's episode,
00:02:57
Speaker
we're going to cover really two things. So if you tuned into our holiday episode last year, we talked about the ghosts of Christmas past. So we
00:03:06
Speaker
We went, Dave and I went into our childhoods and we picked two toys that we got for Christmas that we remember fondly and we'll kind of just go into what it was like to get those things and kind of go back and talk about some of those old toy lines again for the first time in a while. And then something new this year, you know, since again, this year as wild as it has been a,
00:03:31
Speaker
a cultural year. It has been very interesting in terms of toy collectors. One could argue, right, that this is a hell of a time to be a toy collector. This was like a year especially to rely on fellow toy collectors to help you out if you weren't capable of going to the store or at least, hey, this is available online. It was just a lot of people helping each other. That was cool to see.
00:03:58
Speaker
Yeah, definitely the networking aspect of it has been great and the community aspect of it. But also just kind of what we've seen from Toymakers this year, innovations in technology and innovations in design and pretty much everything. It's been a very good year. I'd even say presentation too. Yeah, that's true. All of the virtual events, the level of transparency that we're seeing, it is
00:04:28
Speaker
It is, um, you know, it almost feels wrong to say it, but it has been a good year on that front. So if there's something worth celebrating, it's the fact that, uh, but the toys have been good this year. Yeah. No, it's been, it's been expensive and it's been fantastic all in one. Oh yeah. Expensive. That's definitely another way to put it. Thanks, Marvel legends team. And.
00:04:52
Speaker
Mattel WWE Elite team.
00:05:13
Speaker
But hey, you know what? They keep oppressing. You don't even have to worry about Marvel ledges anymore. It's like when they say, oh yeah, we're going to have an announcement. You're like, okay, cool. I need to set aside this amount, probably, and I'll get them. Well, it was even like for me today with the Jazzwares Series 3 AW reveal, I was like, okay, I'm going to go pre-order these now. Yeah.
Spotlight on Jazzwares' Innovative Toys
00:05:38
Speaker
those look good. I mean, for me, knowing what little I know about wrestling, I'm like, in talking about like, even ingenuity and, and just changes and everything else happening, those look fantastic. Like they're really doing great stuff with that. I mean, we could, Orange Cassidy can put his hands in his pockets, like in real life. Like that's, that's unheard of on, on like a wrestling toy. Yeah. Yeah. And they're, and they're not like,
00:06:05
Speaker
ill-fitting cloth jeans either, they're molded. So it's even better. It's just such a weird, awesome gimmick that they worked into that toy that I... Props to Magic, almost, the designer on jazz, on those jazz roast toys, and Jeremy and Greg and all those guys. They're just ridiculous what they're doing over there. I like the tease. I think it was on Twitter or Instagram or whatever. It was just a hand in a pocket and I'm like,
00:06:35
Speaker
I don't know what that is, but okay. Yup. And, and I mean, they're speaking of jazzwares, I mean, it's just like everything with them. They, they, they really went heavy on that whole, um, on like the, the YouTube, uh, creator world, you know, with their, uh, coco melon license, like the kids programming and that blippi guy, you know, those toys, like that, that new coco melon toys, like the pickle me Elmo this year, uh, it's,
00:07:04
Speaker
You know, like people are either crashing target site, looking for a PlayStation five, uh, the latest NECA release or a Coco Melondale. So I was today years old when I found out about that. I, uh, I don't want to brag or anything, but I got to meet Blippi in person at the toy fair. And, uh, it was amazing. Tell us more about Blippi.
00:07:28
Speaker
They're like, this is Blippi. I'm like, oh, cool. And then I get home and the little one's like, you met Blippi? I'm like, oh, you sure did. He had his suspenders on and everything. No, that was fun. Jazzwares, their booth at Toy Fair is always so fancy, fantastic. They need a piano and a chandelier there once in a while. Yeah, it was insane because they had everything from
00:07:59
Speaker
legit like pro wrestling superstars just like rolling through looking at their figures to, you know, like a nerf gun shooting range. Yeah, that's but that's what I think, you know, like even talking about it like last last toy for the first toy ever went to last year.
00:08:16
Speaker
I mean, he walked in, they're like, would you care for a sandwich? There's a huge sandwich bar and they're handing out little fancy napkins with jazz wares on it. And I told him that. That was the most fancy experience ever of going around and looking at toys. You want chips? British guys walking around handing me towels. I'm like, I don't need a towel, but thank you. Appreciate it. Would you like a back rub while you're here? Yeah, please. Five minute massage.
00:08:46
Speaker
Um, well, speaking of, of, uh, of jazzwares and, you know, and the Marvel legends team and everything, uh, they've, you know, they have had an incredible year, but it makes, makes us think,
Anticipated Toys for 2021
00:08:58
Speaker
right. What, what, what's next? So, um, you know, what are some of the things like, let's just kind of go around Robin. Let's talk about some of the things that we want to see from some of these, uh, from some of these companies next year in 2021.
00:09:13
Speaker
Dave, do you wanna hit maybe a wrestling thing? I know you've been itching for this thing that you wanna talk about. The idea for this basically spawned from this thing that I want. So it's wrestling based, of course. It's a Mattel WWE Elite. And we've had on the WrestleMania figures the last two years, there's been a build a figure. There was referee Danny Davis last year, Paul Ellering this year.
00:09:40
Speaker
But I think there's somebody and, you know, we've got to get this out there. This is, you know, we've got to make this a thing maybe. But so there is Shotzi Blackheart, who's on NXT, and she rides a little kind of go kart tank to the ring.
00:09:58
Speaker
Um, so I think we can do a build a figure wave, but not build a figure. We can build a tank. So of course, Shotzi has to be like the key figure in, in the line. She's got to be there with the helmet and everything, but we need to get her a tank. And if we could have a build a tank, I think that would be incredible. Okay.
00:10:25
Speaker
The tank that she rides in really isn't that large, and McFarland did the build a batmobile thing for that first build a thing wave that they did with the diesel. That's what I was thinking. That's a good way to describe that wave, the build a thing. When they talked about it, they said there are plans to do additional batmobiles in different iterations, but we haven't seen any more of that.
00:10:51
Speaker
I think, yeah, maybe. I think they were like, well, people probably want the figures more. But, you know, to Dave's point, the tank is not that large. It's about would be really not much larger than that. That Batmobile fully assembled. Yeah. Yeah, you can have it with the turret and with the like rocket. But there's four. Four in the WrestleMania wave. OK, so you might be able to get away with it with four figures.
00:11:21
Speaker
Or even if you wanted to do it in a normal six-figure wave, you could have the rocket and the turret be its own package.
00:11:39
Speaker
If you've seen people posting, the best way I could describe it is if you've seen people posting pictures of that tank that Walmart is currently selling for kids. That's actually what I had in mind when you said tank. That's not even Fisher Price, is it? What is that?
00:11:58
Speaker
I don't know who's making that, but I've seen it making the rounds. It's like a Power Wheels, right? Oh, yeah. I think that's, yeah. It's awesome.
Marvel Legends & Spin Master Excitement
00:12:06
Speaker
It's the big display. Well, they had it like, what, a year ago in the store or something like that? Yeah. Awesome. Think about that, but like twice as big. OK. So like enough for like an adult to sit in it and look like they're sitting in like a Mario Kart. What if they did it like Professor X style and did the figure with two halves and then you
00:12:28
Speaker
build it yourself with that like legendary writer's style. That's right. They did do, they, they did split the, uh, the hover chair in half. That's the problem is people will think that it might be two tanks inside the packaging. If they see the two halves, I don't know if you guys remember that everyone thought that professor X came with two hover chairs, um, because they had to have it. You know what I mean? Yep. I, I remember seeing those comments, but that would work too for sure.
00:12:58
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that's got. And if they do that, that's got ringside exclusive written all over it. Oh, 100 percent. But, you know. However, we've we're going to get it, but like it when they make that shots, he figure because they're going to make a shotsy elite. She's like. You know, she's so toyetic with the helmet and she's got green hair like it's. She's a toyetic personality.
00:13:25
Speaker
To not have, to not have the tank would be borderline criminal. So she's like, she's like a ghost rider. You can't have her without, okay. I got it. It's got to pull up a picture of her. Yeah. She needs that tank. I think that is the tank. Isn't it from it's very close. Like it's a very close to it. Um, it is a tank girl. That's awesome. Yeah.
00:13:51
Speaker
Yep. That's exactly what I, what I was thinking is she, so I am just like full disclosure, just getting like kind of back into wrestling. AEW ended up being my gateway drug, if you will, back, back into professional wrestling. But, um, they just had war games, NXT war games, which is, uh, where, you know, what shots he's a part of. And Dave was like, we got to do this topic for this episode.
00:14:18
Speaker
Um, I'm not going to tell you what it is, but you gotta watch this. And I watched war games and I was just like, what, what, what does he want to build a figure? Like I'm like looking at the wrestlers and then he's like, you know, of course just now he's like the tank. Yeah. Makes sense now, Dave. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah. I'm, I'm into it though. I, I think I, you know, the thing is with the, with the wrestling figures and it's been a long history of it going back to like the Jack stuff. Um.
00:14:43
Speaker
The accessories for wrestlers are always amazing. And every now and then, Mattel puts out a good one. That, that slambulance is pretty good. Yeah, that's actually pretty cool. Um, it looks like the rock rock is coming out with a new car that comes completely apart. So.
00:14:58
Speaker
I love Mattel, they get very creative with not only just packaging itself, but just everything they've been doing from Jurassic Park to W.E. Turnia, the wrestling. When you actually look at wrestling figures, you're like, wow, there's a lot of stuff and there's a lot that goes into this. I think a lot of people overlook it if you're not a fan of wrestling, as I tend to do.
00:15:23
Speaker
the sets and everything else that comes with it. You're like, yeah, I totally understand why people love this stuff. Like they really go to town on the toys. I got one. I'm going to, I'm going to jump in. I'm going to go next. So there have been pictures already coming out of like the next wave of the, um, the spin master four inch Batman, uh, figures, uh, pushes. You actually, you found them the other day, the, uh, Riddler, the new back Batwoman.
00:15:49
Speaker
What I want to see from Spin Master in 2021, I want to see some of those like other big A-list villains that they haven't done yet. I want to see Mr. Freeze. I want to see the Mad Hatter. I want to see Scarecrow. They did just announce Bane. Bane was on my list before that announcement had come out, but I want to see just more Batman villains.
00:16:16
Speaker
There's like a new Batman in every way which is awesome and of course there has to be a new Batman in every way if you can't have you can never not have Batman on the pegs right. But I want I want more of those a list villains because I really like dig the design that they're doing it's.
00:16:35
Speaker
It very much so is an homage to some of the classic designs of these characters, but also has enough of a modern twist on it. So I would love to see them do something like a Mr. Freeze or Penguin or Scarecrow. And I'm just thinking too, those zany accessories that they come with, the stuff that they would package in them in those little blind boxes would be a lot of fun.
00:17:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think for those of you guys that collect them and everything, those little accessories are fun. I think it adds to the playability for kids, but also has that retro feel. And with those new retro Marvel legend, the 3.75 inch, that's ultimately where I would like to see them go, is to do weird clip-on accessories and things.
00:17:27
Speaker
to kind of keep that retro feel but it's fun when I go you know when you go to the toil and like you said I found those those new batman figures it's fun because I messaged you guys are these the ones you're talking about because I try to stay up on it as much as I can but it's fun to see them on the shelves and then go I know that's new I know people want that Riddler Riddler look cool the new batwoman with all her like batman beyond circuitry that's pretty cool too
00:17:57
Speaker
Yeah, it looks like this first wave is kind of like glitch tech or glitch camouflage. Even the new 12-inch Batman has that very early 2000s design.
00:18:14
Speaker
Again, it goes back to those Kenner and ToyBiz figures, and I'm right with you there on those 3.75 Legends. Give everybody a clip-on shield, like they did back in the day. Like a web shield for Spider-Man and a digital thing for Iron, you know what I mean? Yeah.
00:18:36
Speaker
Otherwise it's like why do those you know people they're not then you know just to have them Okay, but I mean if you think back to the secret wars ones everybody had an alinticular shield. Yeah. Yeah exactly we were talking to Steve Evans about them and one
Retro Toy Designs & Collector Appeal
00:18:52
Speaker
of the things that he mentioned was that because because my initial thought right when I first saw them was this is they're making these for people who either grew up in the Kenner era or or grew up kind of
00:19:06
Speaker
with the nostalgia for that, like they had an older sibling, they're a collector now and they're going back and they're collecting figures from that era. But he actually mentioned, he said that one of the ideas with this was to get a simpler, smaller, lower price point figure to new collectors, for people to kind of get into
00:19:30
Speaker
You know, either collecting or playing with these. And for me, you know, you're looking at them and they don't really come with a lot of accessories, thinking about it in terms of that. And that's a thing that's like what gets the kids involved. Like they don't care that.
00:19:43
Speaker
And again, I'm looking at the Spin Master ones right now. They don't care that Nightwing's batons don't come with giant blue gauntlets attached to them. They want something that's cool and flashy and plays well. And that's what these do. And if you have 3 and 3 quarter inch scale figures with little to no accessories, I don't know. So I think that's definitely a component that they need to consider for that.
00:20:13
Speaker
No, I agree. When I did my video, I was talking about it in the sense of Spider-Man's hands are both web hands. A clip-on web thing would have been awesome. I don't need lots of articulation for those. I get it in that sense. Some people are saying, oh, I wish the arms were articulated. I wish the legs. If they were a little bit more pre-posed,
00:20:38
Speaker
I would have actually preferred that too. They're very much straight up and down to which it kind of, it almost becomes like boring in the sense because then again, you don't have anything to clip on or do anything with. So they just kind of stand there. And then being that they don't have anything, when you put their hands up, they're not really doing anything either. So vehicles, playsets, all that I think will help.
00:21:02
Speaker
Yeah, and it doesn't break from the idea that they are a what if Kenner made these if they came with accessories. I think having the five points of articulation and the body types and the static poses that kind of more of a neutral pose is definitely akin to something that Kenner would have been doing in the early 80s, but I still think he can get away with squeezing in some accessories. I think in pure Kenner fashion, they have to. I mean, they used to pack those.
00:21:30
Speaker
those boxes with all kinds of weird stuff. Yeah, between Kenner and ToyBiz, you never knew what you were getting. All right. I just did a video on the web trap line for the old Spider-Man series, and you were basically getting a base slash extra figure with their little accessory that they came with.
00:21:55
Speaker
kids would be stoked. There's a play feature and for the collector, you're getting a regular figure if need be, but it was a win-win situation. Was that web trap series? Was that the one with the hobgoblin that had the big wearable harness that you could hook up to a zipline and it had the pumpkin launchers on it?
00:22:17
Speaker
No, that one, that is a great figure. That's the Web Flyers. Web Flyers. Line, so it was web cop. There's two Spiderman, Hop Goblin, and a Carnage.
00:22:33
Speaker
Like for me, like, you know, people say, oh, how many waves do you have left to look at? Yeah. Yeah. I go, well, there's technically like one more because once you get to like web flyers and spider power and like all that stuff, that's when they were like, okay, the animated series has been off the air for probably like a year now. There's no cartoon to sell it. Let's just do comic book stuff. So kind of residual energy. But at the same time, it's like.
00:22:55
Speaker
Not based on Aiden and the shit like Hobgoblin completely new design. I think even you could kind of say it was comic bookie, but Dude, it's a cool figure because he had big shoulders and you can attach the yeah. Uh, I have like I'll pull him out I still have that one as well. That's why I was asking about it I still have that one. I have him almost complete too. I think I'm might be missing Did he come with rope for a zipline?
00:23:20
Speaker
yeah he can't it's too blue i'm trying to like think i know the there's a fan over here with a minute but uh blue clamps yeah yeah yeah and you you know you put them on and then uh his big orange harness you put the two giant pumpkin like pair of pumpkins on each side and it tosses it it's pretty cool you know what i mean like for them to
00:23:43
Speaker
That's the kind of stuff I miss. Like, even when we're talking about, like, you know, just the spin master stuff or now this marble canter stuff. Or even give me like the doom cycle or the turbo cycle, like the type of vehicles for it. Yeah. It's corny, but it's fun. Right. Didn't Spider-Man have like a buggy at some point? Yeah. Like the spider car. Yeah. Pushes, what do you got? What's something that you're looking forward to for 2021?
00:24:11
Speaker
I'm looking forward to every time McFarlane announces a new Batman figure that everyone doesn't say another Batman figure. I would say the biggest things I'm looking forward to is
00:24:30
Speaker
what they're gonna do with Marvel Legends now that we're kind of getting away from, not to say movies in general, but we're gonna do TV shows. So we're getting a TV show waves and mini waves. What are they gonna do with Build the Figures in that sense? I'm so interested to see where McFarlane's gonna take their stuff now with Future State.
00:24:55
Speaker
I hope they do, just to satiate those, do a couple classics here and there so we can finally not hear about that anymore. But just everything that I'm seeing with Future State, I'm curious to see where DC Comics is going to go. You have the Snyder Cut.
00:25:14
Speaker
which I can't say I'm all too excited about that because I wasn't, I mean, it wasn't a huge fan of the original Justice League, but I am curious to see it. It looks potentially like, hey, that'd be cool. Do I want figures for it? We'll see.
00:25:30
Speaker
I know a lot of people do. So with the Snyder Cut, I am one of those people that watches something and I will make excuses in order to find some enjoyment in it so that way I don't sit there and go like, well, I wasted that two hours. There are very few things, Batman versus Superman being one of them though. I watched it and I was like, why? What happened?
00:25:56
Speaker
But like with yeah with Justice League. I watched it, and I thought like I was like well that was a movie um I was like well I'm looking forward to Aquaman like Gal Gadot was good like you know what if they want to go back and make all the toys from Aquaman again Please end in Shazam do that I would love a giant
00:26:17
Speaker
whatever McGuffin monster at the end of Aquaman, like make that into a three-way build figure, I don't care. But the Justice League stuff, I'm just like, we'll see what happens. Maybe, maybe, you know? I mean, here's the weird thing about, like, McFarlane is, it's strange because no matter what they do, it seems like they, people find something to complain about it. Like, something.
00:26:46
Speaker
anything to complain about it, regardless of like, you know, and I think I had mentioned this to you, you know, aside, I was talking to one of the guys from our local comic shop, Zap Comics, about what McFarlane's doing. And as a comic shop owner, he was like, no, it's brilliant. He's making figures about that are, you know, he's quickly churning out figures.
00:27:16
Speaker
on the most popular comic run right now. He is making figures for comic book collectors, and he was like, I don't think people can really wrap their heads around that, because it's been such a long time since somebody has specifically done that, like specifically catered to a modern run of comics that's popular. I mean, the closest thing that he was able to compare it to, he was like, well, Marvel just announced the House of X figures that come out in like
00:27:43
Speaker
a few months like that are coming out in 2021, but he's already got, you know, Dark Knight's metal figures out and you can't find him anywhere because comic book collectors want him and no one else needs him. And that's the thing is like.
00:27:56
Speaker
I think the main problem or where a lot of the contention comes from is that the majority of, let's say, action figure collectors nowadays, younger people, younger fans, are not necessarily reading comic books because they go to the movies. And they use the movies now as like, oh, I know that character, I know that character, I know that character. Marvel tends to go either way, but for Batman specifically,
00:28:26
Speaker
you know, even when they go, oh, here's the Devastator and here's this character and it's a bunch of Dark Knight's metal figures. That has been the main storyline in and out for about two or three years, almost now. And the figures came out fantastic, but I think people look at that and they go, I have no idea. This is not a classic character. It's not Batman, the animated series. It's not anything I'm really aware of unless I read the comics and I don't do that. So it's weird and I don't like it. I don't know this, which means I don't like
00:28:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:57
Speaker
But comics, for me, I've been keeping up with, I find that fascinating. I like when they do weird, twisted versions of characters. I'm into the King in Black storyline with Venom, some huge Venom fan, but Marvel's been in and out for me lately.
Comic Influence on Toy Design
00:29:14
Speaker
They've been doing a lot of weird stuff where I'm like, this is just whatever. But DC, as bat poop crazy as it was, it's surprisingly kind of easy to follow, even though a lot of it's like,
00:29:28
Speaker
it just kind of happens and you're like okay but the fact that it's going to wrap up like issue six just came out seven should be out I think the first week of January I'm pretty sure and that's really when the bad cycle and the in the
00:29:43
Speaker
Black Lantern Batman kind of comes out from McFarlane. So it's like perfect synergy right there. Like you could finish the comic potentially and go by the Black Lantern Batman with the scythe. And that's just awesome. That's I cannot wait for that figure. It looks fantastic. Both and the guitar one. Both.
00:30:02
Speaker
Yeah, I like that there is a death metal Batman that has a guitar. And full disclosure, I'm not reading those books right now. I tend to be a... When it comes to comics, I'll pick up a... I'll wait for it to go to a graphic novel and read the collection. Once a storyline is finished, I don't have the patience to do the week by week or month by month thing with comics. No, I hear it's...
00:30:32
Speaker
just in terms of lifestyle and everything, it just doesn't normally work. And for me, not really being into comics in recent years, kind of getting back into it, it's been a lot of fun in that sense.
00:30:48
Speaker
You might remember back in the day you'd read a comic and then you all have to wait till next month. Okay, nowadays you'd be like, no, I'm over it. Yeah, pretty much. I got to wait for how long? We get away with it with a Mandalorian, barely. I feel like people are like, oh, seven days? Are you kidding me? Come on. Yeah, and the commitment's not long to it. I can't believe that we're already coming up on the end of season two. Yeah. It's just insane. By the time this episode airs, the season will be over. The season will be over.
00:31:19
Speaker
They gotta stop. Lucasfilm's gotta stop with those, like, the end of the series. Like, the very dramatic, like, it all comes down to this. Like, they did that with Rise of Skywalker. Now they're trying to do it with season two of Mandalow. I'm like, just let it end. It's a season finale. We'll come back in season three, don't worry. Don't be overly dramatic. And I mean, we're getting two other shows in the universe. Yeah.
00:31:44
Speaker
We're getting like eight new things, ten new things from Lucasfilm alone. Well, I just met in the Mandalorian universe alone. Yeah, it's true. Somebody hit the nail on the head when they had that investors meeting and they're like, we're going to do this with Marvel and we're going to do this with Star Wars. I'm like, well, at least there'll be plenty of toys from now until the end of the days.
00:32:06
Speaker
Yeah, and you mentioned it before, but with Marvel, the different waves and everything, I'd imagine they're going to be churning out waves like they did with that Netflix wave back in the day, where they have the Jessica Jones, the Daredevil, the Punisher. Because there's just going to be so much going on at once that I can't imagine that each show is going to have its own dedicated wave of figures.
00:32:31
Speaker
and a build a fig, I just ought to think about it. It's going to be a lot. Especially now with, was it Marvel Studios Legends? Well, my first, I mean, I'm so used to seeing that logo that I initially shared it thinking that it was going to be a show about figures. And I was like, oh, wait, it's not. Yeah, that's what, like I was just happened to be on Twitter
00:32:58
Speaker
that morning and it was like, hey, here's your new feed. And I was like, what is it? I'm like, okay. And then I read it and I was like, that's the same logo. They know what they're doing. There's gotta be some kind of, you know. They called Jesse Falcon and they're like, hey, can we use this? He's like, they drove a dump truck full of money up to my house. I couldn't say no.
00:33:26
Speaker
Dave, did you have anything else for 2021 that you were looking forward to? Well, we talked about McFarland stuff. I would love to see more movie figures. The Wonder Woman ones were great, especially since we're going to see the movie soon. But I'm going to go with one that is, I'm going to kind of use that, leave that out there. But I've wanted for the longest time a carousel of progress Disney Parks Deluxe Pop with the dad in the recliner with the dog.
00:33:56
Speaker
So good. That is so good. Do you want it in a Disneyland box though? No, it's it's not in Disneyland. It's true. That's true. It's not in Disney. It is. It is a Disney World. Yeah, it's in the Magic Kingdom. Right. Yeah, that would be great. Do you have a do you have a an era that you want it to be? Do you want it to be like, like 50s dad? Or do you want it to be?
00:34:21
Speaker
I would be okay with any of them, to be honest. I'm sure they would probably try to make a chase out of it or something, but just give me one. No, never. Just give me one. I just want one. I can picture him sitting, the fourth of July one, where he's sitting backwards on the chair with the two fourth of July fans fanning himself. With the fans? Yeah, that would probably be the best one, to be honest. Yeah, either that or the Mr. Rogers red cardigan one. Yeah.
00:34:51
Speaker
Yeah, those are the two. Yeah, definitely. But yeah, that would be awesome. And it would fit right into those scenes that they're doing from the other attractions. Yeah. We actually also talked about most of mine. We're very efficient. There was only one thing else that I wanted to really mention. And that was one of my favorite things of the year, which unfortunately in a lot of places ended up clogging up the clearance sections at Walmart.
00:35:19
Speaker
Um, were the, the Ghostbusters plasma series figures. I thought that they had a really good job with that entire, I happy to have the entire wave, including the Hasbro pulse exclusive one, but I'm already starting to think like, you know, outside of the original Ghostbusters film. And I'm, I'm sure at some point we will see, you know, uh, figures from, from afterlife, but I would love a V go build a figure wave of Ghostbusters two figures in the plasma series.
00:35:48
Speaker
That'd be cool. I, you know, I, I've, I've thought about that. Like what like ghost wise or who would you do? Vigo was, would be the most poignant one to make, I think, you know, make him bigger. Yeah. Give him some energy effect, you know, something interchangeable head, like when he goes all ghosty at the end, that'd be cool. Yeah. Yep. And then it would give you any, an excuse to, um, you know, do the, the Ghostbusters and the gray outfits with the, like the, uh,
00:36:17
Speaker
the slime guns, right? The slime proton packs. Yeah, I think you would need an interchangeable head for Rey though when he goes demon Rey.
00:36:27
Speaker
Heck yeah. That'd be great. And then and then you could get we could finally get a Janine figure maybe and and maybe a Louis. Yeah, Janos. You know, I was thinking for the Janos figure because like sometimes with these build a figure waves, right? Like one of the figures doesn't come with a build a figure piece and you do like a seven figure wave. What if he just came with a giant portrait of Vigo? Very cool. The background of the portrait just yeah. Yeah.
00:36:55
Speaker
Like just, he came with an actual like painting of that was his accessory. What else does he need? You know, like. If they do. Blowing eyes. Oh, that'd be cool. Like a light up thing or glow in the dark. That'd be cool. Yeah. If they do Peter, they got to come with baby Oscar. I don't think anyone's ever done the baby. Yeah. You need the baby. But then do you, do you put out another Dana? No.
00:37:25
Speaker
Because that figure, while necessary, it looks like Sigourney Weaver. It is what it is. She's in that dress. You can't really pose the figure. Otherwise, it looks like she's wearing a disconnected sleeve. It is what it is. That's what that figure is. There's really not much that you can do with it, but do you put a
00:37:51
Speaker
Dana in a, you know, a winter coat. Like, I don't, I don't know what in the beginning. Yeah. All the kids are going to be clamoring for that one.
00:38:02
Speaker
It's talk about Toyota figures nothing like stroll through the stroll through Central Park, you know, that's that's what I think if I don't get me wrong. I love Ghostbusters and Yeah, I'll buy them all day. But that I think is the inherent problem with Ghostbusters is that once you get past There's four dudes in a in jumpsuits like the ghosts and the monsters are where
00:38:26
Speaker
You grab the kids and I think you've got people coming back because otherwise it's like Louis Tully in what, like a courtroom suit? You could have him in his little button down with Janine. There's not a whole lot you could do.
00:38:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you can have him in the suit when he's taking the bus at the end and sees Slimer, but with the earmuffs on where he's wearing the OG Ghostbusters suit and shows up to help. See, I think what they need, if they do another wave, which I hope that they do, they got to do Slimer and then just pack it with food and whatever else they can fit in there. Not even a build a figure piece, just a food cart with removable food items. Yeah.
00:39:15
Speaker
like right out of the hotel. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean, that's what I think. You know, it should have been instead of like build a terror dog, it should have been like build a gozer and then slammer would have been, you know, the fifth, sixth figure or something like that. I think that would have been a more complete set because otherwise now it's a mess with the terror dogs and Lewis Tully comes with the wrong terror dog and yeah.
00:39:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's nice to have two terror dogs, but... I think if those go on clearance, I'm gonna have another terror dog soon. Yeah, I needed that Lewis Tully, because I had never gotten into any of the previous Ghostbusters figures. Like, I missed all the nanny bones. Yeah, I went and got it too. Yeah, had to do it. Had to do it. But yeah, I mean, that's just another wave of figures that unfortunately fell victim to 2020, that I think the movie really would have
00:40:13
Speaker
done those figures some good.
Ghostbusters Toys & Movie Impact
00:40:16
Speaker
Had that movie been out? I think so. I'm really looking forward to the five-inch with the Ecto. A couple got out. I saw, who is it? Geek Dad Life. He's a cool YouTube guy. He got a hold of some. They're basic, but they remind me of Kenner stuff more so than the six-inch Legends type stuff.
00:40:41
Speaker
I don't have five-inch versions of those, so that's where it was more appealing, especially when I saw them at Toy Fair. I was like, I kind of want those more than the Plasma series. Yeah, they did do a good job with getting stylized likenesses of them. Again, we got to see what 2021 brings us now. Fingers crossed. Yeah, just please God, put it out. I want to see that movie so bad.
00:41:10
Speaker
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it too. Speaking of the end of the year, one of the things that comes of course, before the end of every year is Christmas. It's right around the corner. This episode is airing just a few days before Christmas of 2020. So let's dial back the clock. And let's take a trip back in time and revisit some of our favorite memories from Christmas.
00:41:37
Speaker
Toisha, since you're the guest, would you like to go first with your Christmas memory, your ghost of Christmas past? I'd love to. Love to. It's funny you say that. Whenever I think of...
00:41:52
Speaker
You know, Crispus is patting on his little kid and getting something. It was getting the Ghostbusters Firehouse, believe it or not, which is still one of my favorite toys, one of my highlights in my collection. But it was, you know, setting it up with my dad and having not an argument, but like, you know, wanting to play with the slime. My mom realizing like, no, this is going to get all over the carpet, which it did.
00:42:17
Speaker
which don't give kids slime. I mean, it's like, you know what I mean? It's just like a death sentence for your house. And that's like slime. That's not even like, yeah, that's like corrosive, gross, like melted out of the carpet.
00:42:33
Speaker
I think that, you know, in some instances, I still got a little bit of caked on slime here and there. Not even from when I was a little kid. It's like later, like, oh, I have a can of slime. Let's see if it still works, dumping it through the firehouse roof, which why wouldn't it work? But the little nooks and crannies of that playset, just perfect for all kinds of gross substances to migrate in there and stay there for years and years.
00:43:00
Speaker
But no, that's, you know, putting it together with my dad, the big white box. I still remember that sitting in the box. I put me in the box. That's so funny. But that's one of my favorite toy memories. And did you, along with the firehouse, do you remember, like, did you get other figures with it or was it just that year? Was it like you already had the figures and you just got the firehouse?
00:43:24
Speaker
You know, I was lucky as a kid, I had, you know, I had the Ghostbusters, I had, it was kind of like a family affair, you know what I mean? Like everybody, my family loved the Ghostbusters, they liked the cartoon. So it was kind of, that's probably where, you know, my thinking towards toys comes from a lot of times is, you know, you go and it's a family fun thing, you know? I could probably say,
00:43:53
Speaker
Maybe I got a figure too. I just prominently remember. It was probably even other, maybe a Ninja Turtle, something like that. Well, no, that probably wouldn't work. I don't know. I can honestly tell you it was a firehouse and maybe one or two ghosts here and there.
Nostalgic Christmas Toy Memories
00:44:09
Speaker
Yeah, I loved the ghost figures from the Ghostbusters wave, because they, I mean, it's like, yeah, you could obviously play with them with the Ghostbusters, but they were just fun monsters that you could mash up with the other figure lines from the time.
00:44:23
Speaker
Yeah. Super fun figures. Great like play features were like, you know, you squeeze their legs like their face transforms and stuff. Yeah. I also liked like the, you know, even though it was tough and I broke them more often than not. The proton packs with the, he had the little handle turn the Neutrona stream. That was, that was good. That was a good play. Is that on the new ones? The ones that they, they just re-released. Can you do that on the new ones?
00:44:51
Speaker
You know, I'll let you know. I got myself another set because I left the first ones that I found. I'll have to put them in the collection behind my old, old Kenner ones. But I was like, you know, I'll pick these up.
00:45:05
Speaker
That way I can open them up, check them out. They look to be the almost exact same. They got a little bit of a different backpack configuration on their back with how they kind of attach, you know? But yeah, they have the little twisty knob. And apparently they're supposed to be a lot more durable, you know, like more rubbery as opposed to that brittle plastic, like you said. Like you knock it in any way and it just snaps.
00:45:31
Speaker
Yeah, many, many a Neutrona stream were super glued. For sure. I used to tape mine. That was awful. Show up at your friend's house. They're all like pristine. You come with a janky proton pack. No one wants a janky proton pack. You're never invited back over. Parents were like, don't play with that kid. Don't play with him. He doesn't know how to take care of his Neutrona stream. Yeah. Who wants to be friends with that guy?
00:46:00
Speaker
Dave, how about you? Do you want to do you want to do yours next? Yeah, I'll go with mine. So mine is another one that was kind of an early one, I'll say for me. But it was definitely one where they were, they were the big kind of I'll say toy of the time, kind of like how the LJNs were last year.
00:46:21
Speaker
And for me, it was the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. And I just remember, I think, Eric, you've probably seen the video where it's just me flipping out and yelling the name of every character that I open. Leading up to maybe Castle Greyskull, but for sure getting the two-pack of He-Man and Battlecat and Skeletor and Panther.
00:46:46
Speaker
now not only do i have this video i know where it is and i have the technology so no we're not doing that but i have the technology um try it's not hard i mean try try and stop me
00:47:08
Speaker
No, but it I can can confirm it is adorable. We actually just just watched this. We were going through some old VHSs. And my daughter wanted to see videos of me as a child. And instead we found a video of you. So we watched I think we watched like your first three Christmases.
00:47:30
Speaker
We got Uncle Dave watching, getting pumped for he-man figures. And there, there is like, let me tell you, man, ear to ear grin, watching, watching you. I mean, this is before I'm alive. So, you know, like this was the first time I'd actually had ever seen this. I was stumbled into it, you know, ass backwards. Um.
00:47:52
Speaker
but like you barely being able to like you have that little kid voice right like you you're like just learning how to speak properly yet
00:48:02
Speaker
You open up something and you're like, Battle Cat! Man, I like arms! You know, like... And it was funny because, like, our, you know, mom kept trying to, in the video, like, no, but open this next. And, like, you knew, like, after you opened one, you were like, nah. I know the rest. I know what the rest of these are. And I don't care what's in that pile. I'm going for those Masters of the Universe figures. And you just kept tearing through them.
00:48:28
Speaker
And it is just a joyous, it is a joy of joys watching that, so. You should recreate it now with the new ones that are coming out. You should split screen it and then recreate it in depth. I'm sure we can get you those pajamas. I thought about picking up the origins, to be honest, but I can't get everything. I just can't. Yeah, that's the thing. There's so much good stuff.
00:48:58
Speaker
but I mean, like I'd love to get those super seven Ninja Turtles that they're redoing for the playmates, but I can't. Oh, the ultimate ones. They're so good. Yeah. Oh, have you, have you gotten them? No, I've seen them though. Like they're ridiculous. Yeah. I just saw toy bros pictures of a, of mutagen man. And it's just like unbelievable how, how good they're
00:49:24
Speaker
they're, what they're doing with those ultimate figures. It's ridiculous. Super7 is doing great with those, which we'll, we'll get into next episode. Yeah. But it, it, those, those masters of the universe, origin figures, even, even me, like that's one of the ones that I kind of skipped. So like I played with a lot of your toys when I was a kid, but he meant
00:49:49
Speaker
was kind of done and gone like long enough where I didn't really have a whole lot of interest in those when I was a kid.
00:49:57
Speaker
But those origin figures, there's just something about seeing a He-Man figure on the pegs, like in that old school bubble with the art and everything that is super attractive. And it's part of why I stayed away from the Masters of the WWE Universe too, because I knew that that was going to be a trap door to reacquiring or getting some new form of He-Man figures.
00:50:21
Speaker
Those are, those are too, too much fun. Like you see them on the shelves. You're like, eh, I could do a Mr. T. That sounds perfect right now in a snake. Uh, Jake, the snake, you know, it, they are a gateway. Yes. And I was like, I had to like, uh, immediately be like, no, I can't do this.
00:50:41
Speaker
And I've heard people are kit bashing him too. So like you can take the, the masters of the universe and the masters of the WWE universe. And like, if you wanted to make like, apparently the John Cena has weird hands or something or like weird gauntlets, but you can pop the arms off and give him he man's arms. And he looks like a normal John Cena. So like there are things that you can do to kind of.
00:51:02
Speaker
finagle different looks with the characters. So yeah, that's like, I'll give it to them all day. The playability, we'll just say, you know, for kids in general, one, they're not easily breakable. They don't have those rubber bands. And two, yeah, you you can interswap everything except for the legs. I'm I have never never popped mine off. I've never seen anybody do it. So I just I think that's the only part that you know, doesn't pop off. But
00:51:29
Speaker
I mean, I inter-swap Skeletor and He-Man parts. It's funny, you know, to do all that. So you imagine being a kid and being able to do whatever you want with them. It's fun. Yeah, for sure.
He-Man Show's Potential Toy Influence
00:51:40
Speaker
And, you know, maybe like the thing that I keep wondering about this stuff is like, maybe there's, there'll be another, like another new He-Man, you know, show, especially with, you know, like all the streaming platforms, you know, getting these, these licenses and everything, you know, maybe, maybe a He-Man show is what we need. Well, you know, the Netflix one was good. They're trying, they're, you know, He-Man's kind of like Ghostbusters, I feel like sometimes though, it's like, like, hopefully with whatever Netflix is going to do with their,
00:52:08
Speaker
couple shows or something it'll reinvigorate the franchise on that aspect but it's very niche sometimes but I think that the fun colorfulness of these toys especially when it starts to hit like everything else once it leaves Walmart at the end of the year I think that I think it'll get some legs I think it'll start to resonating a little bit more with other people well
00:52:32
Speaker
Let me close us out and I can't believe that it's coming down to me to do a wrestling thing, but I'm actually going to do a wrestling thing.
TitanTron Live & Wrestling Toy Evolution
00:52:41
Speaker
I'm going to take us back to 1999 and I'm going to take us back to the TitanTron Live playset with packed in Vince McMahon. Coming out of the Jack's Bone Cruncher era, they entered the TitanTron era, which was
00:52:59
Speaker
a huge surprise, because, you know, again, we're going back to a time before, you know, we kind of had, you know, the internet was young, right? So like, we didn't know really what was on the horizon. So if you weren't, you know, looking in, you know, toy magazines, or, you know, going to the shop every day, you know, the different toy stores, you didn't know it was coming. So as far as I knew, bone crunchers were where it was at. And that's what I expected.
00:53:27
Speaker
It was super early ringside era. So lo and behold, Christmas of 1999, I get the the Jax Titan Tron and the new Titan Tron, a slew of the new Titan Tron figures. And it was just mind blowing because like before then, you didn't have an entrance ramp for your figures. So if you did have a, you know, a wrestling figure fed like
00:53:52
Speaker
like Dave and I had, you know, we actually use used to use this old giant rocking chair, you know, you turn around backwards, like you have the two like, rockers facing you. And it worked great as like, just an archway, you know, for an entrance ramp, get cardboard and whatever else you need to do. But um, you know, now we had not only did we have an entrance ramp,
00:54:13
Speaker
with the Titan Tron, but now you had new figures that when you press their metal plate on the Titan Tron, it actually played their entrance music and announced them. Sometimes. Yeah, when it decided to work. Or being early, well, not early Jax, but early Jax Titan Tron figures. Some of them came with the wrong plates. It's like you put down a figure and you put down Stone Cold Steve Austin and get the Undertaker's intro.
00:54:42
Speaker
But then you figured out if you turned it the right way, or you grab another figure real quick and just tap it down and have the other figure come out, we figured out ways, we were creative. But yeah, that Titan Tron was amazing. And in a world of being used to having toys with playsets, whether it was the X-Men playset or the Spider-Man web trap playset with all the magnets or the bat caves.
00:55:10
Speaker
This was really the first like real wrestling playset that wasn't a wrestling ring. You know, a real entrance ramp, you know, it really kind of, and it had lights and sounds and it was, there had really never been anything like that previously. So we got legs out of that thing. Like even long after, you know, that they had stopped making the Titan Tron figures and they had moved to, you know,
00:55:38
Speaker
I think it was what ruthless aggression was, was after Titan Tron. Um, we kept using that ramp. That ramp got a ton, a ton, a ton of use. And, uh, that Christmas was totally, totally derailed when I opened that box. Cause I didn't know what it was. I didn't know it existed. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And it's one of the, probably the later memories, or I should say the last time that like something like that happened. Cause after that.
00:56:07
Speaker
You know, I was kind of old enough where I was, you know, toys weren't necessarily as exciting, you know, for Christmas and, you know, with the advent of the internet and things like that, being able to figure out what was coming next, reading news and stuff. That was like one of the really big surprises, like totally blew my doors off. Yeah, I was heavily involved in that too. Making all that happen. So when you say you're heavily involved, you mean it wasn't Santa Claus?
00:56:35
Speaker
Um, yeah, I found a lot of that stuff. Um, what? No, that doesn't surprise me at all. Because A, like looking back on it now, it's like, Oh, my brother like did a really cool thing for me. You were playing with that. You were playing with that as much as I was. So, yeah, I mean, it was like I had a hand in that because I wanted to play with it, but it's all good.
00:57:04
Speaker
It makes sense though. It's, hey, listen, that I'm talking about a toy from 1999. It's been how many years? I can't do math. It's like 20 plus years. And I'm still thinking about that toy fondly. So congratulations, you got a good one. Thank you.
00:57:25
Speaker
But yeah, so I mean, Christmas this year, you know, it's gonna definitely be a different one for a lot of people. So, you know,
00:57:35
Speaker
If you have any good memories of Christmas gifts and you're listening to this, visit us on Instagram and Twitter at AIC underscore podcast and let's talk about fun Christmas memories. Tell us about the cool Christmas toys. We'll post something up on Instagram throughout the week leading up to Christmas. They give you the opportunity to share your fun Christmas memories and your favorite Christmas toys and, you know,
00:58:03
Speaker
and we'll try to have some fun talking about it, right? Yeah, for sure. And with that, you know, the Christmas spirit fully running through us, having talked about these fun memories. Toyshiz, thank you so much for joining us to take the trip down memory lane and look into the horizon at 2021. No, thank you. You know, as always, thank you for having me. This is always fun just to talk about
00:58:33
Speaker
whatever's happening in the toy world, right? Especially things that have come happier days that have come before. You've got to grasp onto whatever we can here. Yeah, right. That's that's like the tagline for 2020 just grasping on that whatever we can possibly grab onto at this point. Hey, but we made it. We made it as as of airing of this. We've got like a week to go. We're just about there. Home stretch.
00:59:02
Speaker
It was the longest year in existence. Yeah, it feels like three years ago that we just did this in March. Yeah, seriously. Seriously. It was less than a year since the last time you were on this podcast. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, and it was funny before we even started, I thought about it. I'm like, what was the last time I knew this? I'm like, oh God, that was like March, right? March or April? Yeah. Yeah, like the first guest of the pandemic era.
00:59:32
Speaker
Oh, that's 17 years ago. This pandemic has been going on now. Well, just think, you'll have bookended this experience. You helped us usher in the pandemic and hopefully you're helping us see it leave. That's a good way to look at it. That's hilarious. Well, with that, a happy holidays to everybody. Hope you have a safe and happy holiday. Yes, happy holidays. Same to you.
01:00:13
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.
01:00:29
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.
01:00:53
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer Frank Kablaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial no derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information visit non-productive.com.