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00:00:01
A Very Special Episode of The Chick Foley Show
4 Plays4 years ago
The Foley Family does it again! Phil speaks to Mike Falcone (@mikevsphilly on twitter) about a fire that destroyed his fig collection of 30 years and surprises him with a gift from the Foley Family.
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Transcript
Introduction to Mike Falcone
00:00:01
Speaker
All right, Foley family, a special segment here on the show. We've been wanting to get this gentleman on the show for quite some time. We've been playing phone tag, it feels like, for weeks now, Mike. But we finally have you, Mike Falcone. What's going on, Mike? Not much. How are you, Bill? You know, yeah, yeah, I was going to say like, yeah, it's definitely a little, a little busy right now. So I do apologize, Phil, for the delay in getting on the show here, you know, but it's just kind of one of these things where, you know, getting, getting everything all set up squared away.
Mike's Fire Escape Story
00:00:31
Speaker
you know it's a little tough you know especially
00:00:33
Speaker
being going back and living with my parents, and it's a little funny too. I never thought that would be going on. Totally understandable, man. You guys can follow Mike on Twitter at MikeVSPhilly, Mike versus Philly on Twitter. He's a great follower. Before we get into it, I wanted to have you on and talk about the history of wrestling in Philadelphia, because that's where you're from. But tell us about the situation that you've been dealing with and what's been going on with you, because we've talked about it here a little bit on the show. We wanted to just get an update and see how you're doing.
00:01:03
Speaker
the the
00:01:24
Speaker
after a long holiday weekend there. And I telework. I have a job where I'm able to telework. So pretty much I'm just sitting in my living room just drinking a Red Bull, just trying to wake up, watching Seinfeld on TBS, just trying to wake up. And then all of a sudden, I just started smelling smoke. And it's just like what someone in the next room was making something I wasn't sure. And then all of a sudden, it really got to be pretty intense. And then it just was one of these things where someone knocked on my door and was just like, hey, you got to get out of here now.
00:01:54
Speaker
I wasn't really thinking. I was still kind of half asleep. I was wearing shorts and it was still cold for me in January. I had that going on too. To be honest with you, I was saved. My life was saved. Because who knows if this happened a few hours earlier what the situation could have been.
00:02:16
Speaker
I had to leave my apartment as, you know, a fire quickly had spread and pretty much spread the entire roof and then just caved in the roof, you know, and caved in the floor. Yeah. So, I mean, pretty much wiped out everything. You know what I mean? So it made the insurance claim a little easier where, you know, try to try to get whatever I want for the insurance. I mean, they're pretty much, hey, you know, hey, what are you going to do with that? I mean, it's got, you know, they kind of came up there.
00:02:42
Speaker
So the insurance was pretty easy, so I didn't have to worry about that as far as getting that, but that even covered so much. I'm very fortunate when I was even able to, I had insurance, because I think it's something that maybe even people just blow off. I mean, they're just like, ah, I rent whatever, no big deal. But I definitely at least had some of it.
00:03:05
Speaker
I didn't have like collector's insurance, which is something, you know, I, you know, when you, sometimes when I go to these, you know, uh, conventions and stuff like that, you'll see someone even, you know, at a table with like selling collector's insurance, which, you know, I guess the thing now, I mean, just, just, you know, just protect your stuff. Cause I think there was like that issue with the baseball cards years ago where baseball cards were maybe valued to be a lot more than what they actually are now, you know, and that kind of made me burn some people. So.
00:03:29
Speaker
the the
00:03:47
Speaker
That is one of the many things I lost.
Loss of Action Figures Collection
00:03:50
Speaker
Speaking of that, I lost all the Hasbro's, everything I pretty much collected for the last 30 years. Big action figure guy. I collected on card too. I was a big guy where I collected... I was a really big myth guy too.
00:04:07
Speaker
If it had a little ding on the side of it, or if it was maybe full. You know how if it's full a little bit, you could tell. It's like, oh, I don't want it. You know what I mean? I was too big of a snapper. I remember there was that one Dusty, the one Dusty elite in the series that came out maybe like last year sometime around. I remember I found it in stores, and there was a little ding up on the side. And it was just like, I remember turning it down just because, like, ah, there's ice. Don't want it. Just because everything else is on. It was perfect. The figure was perfect if I opened it up.
00:04:37
Speaker
this is it, I was one of those guys too, so go take someone like me where I was that much of a psychotic for the mid-collecting action figures, I had all that stuff from them.
00:04:49
Speaker
If there's people that do get it, it's the people like you guys, the people in the toy community that do understand that. Dude, it's my biggest fear. Other people, yeah. Even before I started collecting really heavily over the last couple of years, my biggest fear is just having a fire like that, losing everything. And it sounds like you have some family that are close that are able to help, so that's good. About how many figures did you have total? That's what you said. Ooh, God.
Envisioning a Collection Museum
00:05:14
Speaker
How did it be like in the thousands?
00:05:16
Speaker
I mean as far as between loose between loose and on card because as far as loose You know I had you know all the loot You know all like say like elites in the basics like loose and like on card so like I was one of those guys where I would collect to one on card and one open and that was for what you know like the last 10 years I was living down there in Philadelphia because I was I I moved down there 11 years ago for my job so around 10 years ago is when I finally maybe started making a little extra income where it was just like I
00:05:44
Speaker
Oh, I should start maybe collecting action figures again. And well, you know, you know, the rest, you've got the rest and you know where that goes. But, you know, action figures and magazines were like the two things that I felt ever since I was a kid, you know, that were, you know, just so important to having as a wrestling fan, you know, so I had every magazine, every action figure, you know, and all the
00:06:05
Speaker
Like I said, all of my Hasbro, I even had the same Hasbro as I had when I was a kid. I was one of those kids where I would maybe let people play with my toys a little bit, but not too much. You know what I mean? Because you got to keep them nice and clean and safe. People would be all rambunctious when you know how sometimes people could go crazy. So I was just like one of those people where I wasn't like...
00:06:28
Speaker
the the
00:06:48
Speaker
Pretty anal. I played them. I had many Royal Rumbles and Survivor Series. I mean, I transported them around, you know, everywhere, you know what I mean? So, you know, they, I probably even took them in restaurants with me, you know what I mean? It was, you know, think about, you know, when I was young, you know what I mean? Take them in like, you know, like Friday night, like going out for pizza and bringing the wrestlers with me. And I just like, I had those, you know, those same ones. Yeah. Even you could even recall, and it's crazy because like in 1990, I would have been maybe six years old. I even remember like,
00:07:18
Speaker
the stores that I bought some of them in still, you know what I mean? Like it's weird. Like I remember buying the Akeem Hasbro at a Clover, which is like a regional, which was a regional department store in the Northeast for a while. Anyway, you know, or various toys I would get at Hills, you know, I don't know if you had Hills wherever you were. Yeah. Or I'm sure there's different regional department stores that you had, you know, on the way that. Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of those special things. And then even collecting, you know, as I would recollect on cards,
00:07:47
Speaker
you know
00:08:08
Speaker
it was a very specific kind of collection that was destroyed. And I think what I wanted to do eventually was kind of have, obviously I wanted to have like a whole downstairs in my, if I was to get a house, move into a house where I would have the entire downstairs and kind of just build the plate, just like a little museum as well. But also I wanted to even maybe get like all of like the on-card,
00:08:35
Speaker
of the
00:08:58
Speaker
Like there's different, you know, uh, picture encyclopedias or something like that. You know what I mean? That, you know, I was even thrown around to of doing where, you know, to try to, you know, maybe even just not even just, uh, you know, to make a book to profit off of, but just to have like a big, just a collection, you know what I mean? Just to have one general thing where people like us can maybe all, you know, come together to try to, you know what I mean? Just put that together. Cause everybody between me and you know, everybody else, you know, listening to this, I'm sure it could probably,
00:09:29
Speaker
You know how it has, you know, everything to put together, you know, good collection as far as, you know, high quality photos to, you know, produce like an encyclopedia like that. And I still hope to, you know what I mean? Like, you know, like I said, I'll just, I'll just take this.
00:09:41
Speaker
Let's take a few more years now for me to put together, you know, so. Well, I told you that I wanted to have you on the show to discuss the history of Philadelphia wrestling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Finally after you played on there. That's actually not the reason I want to have you on, man. We have a group of Patreon subscribers and our Facebook group, about 100 of us.
Community's Generosity Surprise
00:10:01
Speaker
We all just collect figures and listen to our show that support us. I put a post about your situation onto our group and we raised a little over $200 for you.
00:10:13
Speaker
No. Oh my God. Are you kidding? Well, I was gonna say I I'm that's unbelievable. We actually we bought the Mattel rockers legends to pack for you. You are. Oh my God. You told me that that was one of the ones that you missed the most. So that oh my God, dude. And that that's when I can't even find that now. I was gonna say I'm gonna even surprise you.
00:10:34
Speaker
Wow. I'm shocked that you even found that one. Yeah, dude. So I've been trying to get you on this goddamn podcast for weeks because I bought this from a guy. I didn't want to tell you about it. So I bought it from a guy. And he's like holding onto it. He's like, dude, do you want me to mail this to you? I'm like, yeah, hold on. I got to get the address from this guy. So I just had to mail it to me. So I'm going to send it to you. And let me tell you, I was going to say, let me tell you. And for everybody listening, why are you taking so long? I'm actually living back home with my parents right now.
00:11:04
Speaker
and my sister and my two dogs. So basically, I should even say dogs, they're two puppies, they're three months old. So they're two little B-shines and they just bark constantly. And I'm pretty much in charge of them for most of the day, you know what I mean? Because my parents are busy in my, you know, or whatever. So it's just a lot to even just to sit down and record this. That's why he said like, it's kinda one of these things now where I was like, trying to get in a car. So I'm like, dad, just don't try to get in my studio, you know what I mean?
00:11:33
Speaker
like a makeshift studio but yeah that's that's that's unbelievable you shocked the hell out of me so no problem we'll definitely have you on the show again for real you know so we're not gonna say we're not gonna talk about Philadelphia no no man sorry sorry that was my only I was on my own the hook of getting you on the podcast man well maybe I guess if enough people want to hear it won't be pretty cool because that's a city that has an awesome history
00:12:00
Speaker
I'm sure we could talk about other more maybe toilet related stuff, too. You know, so you actually even like the non wrestling figure stuff to it. We could even talk about, you know, there's.
00:12:11
Speaker
Like the Dick Tracy stuff, you know, so I. Oh my God, unbelievable. You guys have a GoFundMe page set up, though. We're going to tweet that out. So you've been raising a bunch of money. Our buddy, you know, after I'd already set this up, I saw Josh, Josh zombies, Johnny Sailor posting about it. So a lot of people are coming to your aid, which is awesome. So we were happy to do our little part, man.
00:12:35
Speaker
You just did plenty and now you just struck the hell out of me. So I'm forever in your debt now. It's somewhere. Oh, I'm sure you listen. And I think, you know, I definitely have, you know, where a lot of people, you know, uh, it definitely opened people's eyes. So if I'm like the guy where, uh, you know, it happened to happen to me, you know, Hey, so be it. Hopefully maybe it'll, it'll help some other people, you know, along the way. This may prevent, you know, but, uh,
00:13:01
Speaker
Wow, yeah. Like I said, it's really been the worst five weeks of my life. And stuff like this right now, I'm blown away. I mean, I don't even know what to tell you.
00:13:16
Speaker
I was ready to talk about Raven and the Sandman. Sorry, I hope you didn't do a bunch of research for this. We'll definitely do it again. No, I was going to wing it all, but now I just feel bad that I just was a guy. Do not feel bad at all. Because I had to take care of the dogs and take care of the dogs. I can't record. No, because I didn't want to tell you the real reason. Well, hey, you got a genuine reaction out of me, I was going to say.
00:13:46
Speaker
fully podcast they shocked the hell out of me folks I honestly asked like all of our folks like hey if all of us donate a dollar or two we can get this guy something pretty cool and I had some 10 10 15 $20 donations coming in and we would get some really awesome listeners man. Well when we talk to them I
00:14:07
Speaker
I mean, or I'll talk to you, but I want to get their name. Well, I want to, you know, contact them if, if they're willing. Cause there's people who have donated anonymously or people are just like, Hey, you know, whatever. But I would like to talk to these people and just tell them, thank you directly. And I mean, so we'll have to talk, talk to you, you know, get me that information.
00:14:24
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. For sure, man. That's awesome. As I say, that beats watching a guy walk a volcano right now, I guess. So you just leave. There you go. We'll tweet out the link, man, and all the support to you. Best of luck. And we appreciate you coming on, man. And everybody can follow Mike again on Twitter, at MikeVSFilly. He's a great follow and a great member of our Fig community. We want to help out. Thank you. Yeah, man. Cool. Thanks for coming on, dude. We appreciate you.
00:14:52
Speaker
Hey, and I appreciate you. I thank you guys so much. I really do.