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The Best in Toys: 2019 Edition
396 Plays6 years ago
On this episode, Erik and Dave cover recent toy industry news along with their holiday 2019 toy acquisitions. Then, the brothers Weinbrecht cover their favorite toy moments from 2019!
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Transcript
Listener Survey Invitation
00:00:02
Speaker
Hey folks, this is Frank from the Nonproductive Network wishing all of you a happy birthday 2020. That's not what anybody says. Happy New Year from everyone here at NomPro. Yeah, that's it. In this new year, we need your help to make our network better than ever just by answering a few questions.
00:00:20
Speaker
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Introduction to Adventures in Collecting Podcast
00:00:47
Speaker
Hi, Dave. Hi, Eric. Hey, Dave. Do we curse on this podcast? Yes, Eric. Yes, we do. 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.
00:01:08
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. Happy New Year. Hi. We are back. Yup. I hope everybody had a absolutely wonderful holiday. Dave and I saw a lot of each other over the holiday.
00:01:35
Speaker
Yeah, my relatives have a tendency to do. Um, so we're excited to be back. Uh, first episode of, of 2020.
Favorite Toys of 2019
00:01:44
Speaker
Um, we're going to go through the, some news and halls. There's been some really interesting kind of like blips of news in the past couple of days. Um, and of course we'll, we'll talk about what, what we got, uh, around Christmas. I actually got, uh, an interesting.
00:01:59
Speaker
Picked up an interesting sale the day after Christmas And then our main topic today will be some of this some of our favorite stuff from 2019 Not necessarily just the things that we bought but um, you know, just our favorite toy stuff that we saw in in 2019. Yeah I Mean there's
00:02:19
Speaker
No need for pause for effect there. Straightforward, I got it. All right.
New DC Multiverse Figures Discussion
00:02:24
Speaker
So I'll kick it off with some news just because I've been pretty excited about this. I am not a DC collector, but I have long kept my eye on the DC multiverse figures when Mattel was producing them.
00:02:41
Speaker
to the point where I was thinking not necessarily for my main display here at the house but for I have a little display on my desk at work that you know kind of keeps my zen I was thinking it would be it would be fun to have a kind of just a really good Batman and a really good Joker
00:02:58
Speaker
for that. And the last wave, unbeknownst to me, it being the last wave of the Mattel multiverse figures, they had a really cool 89 inspired like black Batman, and, and not necessarily like a Jack Nicholson looking Joker, but it was akin to a lot of like the Joker art they use for that movie. So like the really like elongated chin. Yeah, I would say it was kind of a killing joke Joker in a way. Yeah.
00:03:24
Speaker
reminded me a lot of the squirting flower toy biz figure from those there with the gold card backs yeah same same kind of concept or principle I guess yeah
00:03:38
Speaker
But I didn't realize that was the end of that line. And when I saw them in person, I was not very impressed with the final product. The paint paint apps were all kind of sloppy on all of them. They looked a little cheap. They did not hold up to what they looked like in the promo pictures. So.
00:03:55
Speaker
doing a little digging, and I think we mentioned it on one of the early episodes, but McFarland Toys is taking over that line, and they're changing it up a little bit. They're moving it to a seven inch scale, so they're a little bit bigger than the Marvel Legends, which is a choice. But over the past couple days, today is the second.
00:04:18
Speaker
Starting yesterday, uh, late on the first, there started to be some leaks and today some official images, um, which we posted on our Instagram, by the way, uh, which is at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram. If you're not following us, but, um, we posted them there. Uh, they look interesting. Um, they have a, the first build a figure for the wave is actually a Batmobile.
00:04:47
Speaker
but it's not, it's like a small Batmobile. Yeah, it's not, I guess it's meant to be displayed separately. Yeah, it does not scale with the figures. The only vehicle they've announced so far is the Batraptor, I believe it's called. It looks like a Batcycle to me. For the Batman who laughs? I think it's for the other Batman, just the one that's called Batman.
00:05:11
Speaker
Like they, so why? I'm pretty sure that was a Batman who left vehicle, but I could be wrong. Okay. I think they, they, the picture they had of it had the regular Batman in it, but maybe that was just for the purposes of taking that photo. But it is an interesting, it looks like maybe it's two waves that they're showing off, um, from the get go and it's a mix. So there's a, um, a Bruce Timm style animated Batman and Superman.
00:05:38
Speaker
which the Batman in the animated series Batman is cool. Yeah, it looks really cool. They still to me look like early promo pictures, so I'm not sure what the final product is gonna actually look like. There's a lot of odd gaps, especially in the chest ab crunch area. So I'm curious to see what they're gonna look like officially in the box in person.
Leaked Toy Information
00:06:05
Speaker
So there's the Batman, the Superman,
00:06:07
Speaker
Then they have just a Batman and Superman that are kind of a general all-purpose Batman and Superman. Superman comes with a flight stand which is a really nice touch.
00:06:18
Speaker
They have a Nightwing, a Batgirl, a Harley Quinn in the style of the Bruce Timm animation. I think the Harley Quinn is actually supposed to be from that new Harley Quinn show on the DC streaming service. Um, do you mean where like the torso pieces meet? Yes. I mean, that's, it looks, it looks more of a gap than I'm used to seeing in modern figures.
00:06:49
Speaker
Which makes me think that they're still models. They're like final models, they're not production.
00:06:56
Speaker
Because that's the only time that we see that kind of stuff. Because even on some of the Marvel Legends, when they had at New York Comic Con, when Hasbro was showing off some of the final models, like the hand-painted final models, they had that look to them. Because the way that they're assembled and painted, since they're done by hand, they don't fit as kind of snugly as we're used to seeing finals fit.
00:07:23
Speaker
But we'll see once they're on shelves, which apparently is soon. Like it could be before the end of the month. I saw that Toy Shiz was posting targets in California already have labels on the racks for them. So I mean, they're inbound. They already have codes and stuff. So I mean, they're coming in.
00:07:46
Speaker
And then they had a comics, or a cartoon-style Green Lantern, not Hal Jordan, who's the- John Stewart. John Stewart, thank you. And then they had, I saw a picture of Arrow, Green Arrow. That's Steven Amell. But in the style of the CW show. Yeah. There was a Batgirl too that looked pretty good. Yeah, Batgirl did look good.
00:08:14
Speaker
I mean, they look good. Yeah, the best feel I got for them was that Entertainment Earth video where they actually got, they had some early product and seeing just like a person hold them and kind of, you know, move them around a little bit gives you an idea of the scale, which they look big. Like they look bigger than almost like a Marvel select, but not that big.
00:08:40
Speaker
They look bigger than a Marvel Legend, but the Marvel Selects are bigger than the Marvel Legends, so I would say I'd put them more in that scale. Which, I mean, is a shame for, you know, we got first-hand experience watching a small child play with Marvel Legends over the holidays. Which is awesome to see, by the way. But it's unfortunate for kids that buy these because
00:09:09
Speaker
They're not gonna scale like Batman's gonna be as tall as the Hulk. You know, if you have the Marvel Legends, and I feel like crossover play, you know, like we used to have when we were kids is so important because you never get to see it, you know, otherwise. Yeah, which is apparently where like, you know, storm and super seven are doing it right with the
00:09:28
Speaker
their wrestling figures yeah for sure boss fight um so well it lets it's it's um it's left to be seen how it goes um you know McFarland has a long history of putting out some really cool shit so you know we'll see what they continue to do with the line i know there are some people that absolutely love the Mattel line and they're kind of you know disappointed that the new multiverse stuff isn't going to scale with their old stuff but
00:09:54
Speaker
You know, it's left to be seen what happens with it.
Hasbro's Acquisition of Entertainment One
00:09:59
Speaker
The other big piece of news that I had was, did I have another piece of news? I thought I did. Let's see. I don't know. While you find that, I guess I can do one. Yeah, go ahead. So it's a bunch of pops were kind of announced slash released.
00:10:23
Speaker
You had the Mandalorian, wave two, all the characters that you didn't need to know about until you watched it. Get me a Warner Herzog. Yeah, a Warner Herzog is pretty insane that that exists. Need it. So basically, you know, everything you need to know more than the Mandalorian, the child in Cara Dune. There's also Carl Weathers, so that's cool.
00:10:51
Speaker
Then, um, I'm trying to figure out if that one, that blue one is the heavy, the Paz Vizsla. Oh no, there's two different ones. Okay. So yeah, Paz Vizsla is the other one.
00:11:03
Speaker
That's super interesting. The other blue one is Deathwatch. Well, it's from that flashback, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. That's very likely, because I'm only assuming that it's Deathwatch, because that's the same armor that they wear in both the Clone Wars and Rebels cartoon. There also was the announcement and release of the Birds of Prey.
00:11:35
Speaker
Pops they just they just pretty much you know that were announced and came out so that's cool We also had some Mulan ones some more venomized Marvel characters so there was there was a good a fair series of announcements there yeah the venomized collection it's still I mean I I
00:11:59
Speaker
I get it, because Venom is awesome, and it's fun to see the symbiote on other characters, but some of those make no sense to me. I am all in for the Venomized Groot, though. That one looks really cool. I might have to pick that one up. Yeah, that's a good one. The Birds of Prey ones look cool, too. They do. I'm really hyped for that movie. Yeah, it should be good. I was hoping there was going to be a black mask with the mask on pop.
00:12:29
Speaker
I'm sure that will be later. Yeah. Cause I saw they had two. They had two, two of the black mask ones. The, uh, two of the Roman sonus. Yeah. Yep. But without the mask, I think it's like a white suit and a black suit. I remembered what my other piece of news was. Um, so Hasbro, uh, behind the scenes acquired, uh, one entertainment.
00:12:52
Speaker
Which is pretty cool, so they they own And then this news is good for you know really entertainment one yes entertainment one sorry um is good for parents with kiddos because that that company has
00:13:10
Speaker
Hasbro now owns, fully owns the rights to some IPs like PJ Masks, Peppa Pig, and Clifford the Big Red Dog just to name three big ones, which spans across three different
00:13:27
Speaker
networks where that content is shown. But it's interesting, you know, that much like My Little Pony, Transformers, those toys that they don't just own the toy manufacturing rights to, they actually own the property. They now own a very popular Disney kids show, a very popular Nickelodeon kids show. And then the third one is Clifford. So, you know, Scholastic, where you at?
00:13:55
Speaker
That's what I think of the old. Like the book fair. Yeah, the Scholastic book fairs. But that's really cool that they acquired that brand. Hasbro's just so big they kind of have their hands in everything. We've had conversations with people where they've kind of complained about that, but at the same time I think they're doing some really incredible work right now. So we'll see what they do with that acquisition.
00:14:23
Speaker
But that being the end of news and toy news is going to be a little bit slow in the coming weeks. Toy fair is the next to last weekend in February. Might be the last weekend of February. I think it's the 22nd, 23rd. Yeah, I think it's the 22nd through the 25th in New York City.
00:14:46
Speaker
That's going to be where the majority of new news is coming.
Post-Holiday Toy News
00:14:50
Speaker
So anything big that a company is holding on to, a big toy manufacturer, they're going to be waiting for Toy Fair to unveil at this point. It just doesn't make sense. People just spent a ton of money getting Christmases and Hanukkah's and all the other December holidays taken care of and early January holidays. They're going to wait for February to come around to announce anything new that way.
00:15:12
Speaker
people can prepare to spend more money in the spring. Yeah, you're not gonna get the January 1st announcement of when Mattel took over the WWE license or things like that. Ooh, yeah, that was an anniversary, right? Yeah. So let's move into halls. Dave, why don't you go first? Okay.
00:15:33
Speaker
I mean, I got stuff as gifts, like I'll count it. All right. Um, got that whole WrestleMania 36 set, um, with Kofi and Mick Foley and Matt Hardy and Booker T and the Danny Davis build a fig, which is, uh, the Danny Davis build a figure referee is cool.
00:15:55
Speaker
Comes with two sets of hands so you can do the kind of slapping the mat three count hand Has the articulation on it like can he get can you get him down in that like? You can you can do or a reasonable facsimile thereof, okay? I also got from you. I got the Batista and Becky Lynch elites. That wasn't for me. That was from Santa Claus. Okay
00:16:23
Speaker
Um, I also got, um, my girlfriend got me for Christmas. She got me the, uh, date mic, uh, Funko pop from the office. And, uh, the Lego Batmobile from the, uh, 89 Batman, which is just fantastic. And I mean, it probably will take me at least a full day to do so. Oh, I was going to say you haven't, you haven't begun yet. No, those are ones I like to generally sit down and do too.
00:16:54
Speaker
Like I don't like to leave them sitting. Oh, really? Yeah, like when I did the Aston Martin, I did it in one day. See, I'm the opposite. I like did it in like five hours. I like sitting and like. First, I got to sort everything and I got to like. That's why the bags come numbered. But even even once the bags numbered, like I open it and I put line up all the pieces so that way I can just.
00:17:18
Speaker
building, building Legos with Maddie is very different. She's, she builds them like you do. She just opens a bag and kind of goes to town.
Holiday Toy Haul
00:17:25
Speaker
But like me, I like a nice big clean table and I like to set up all the individual pieces and super organized. Nah. Um, but yeah, that's, that's a really cool set, um, that I'm looking forward to.
00:17:43
Speaker
Yeah, I can't wait to see see that done. I saw it. Actually, I saw it in the LEGO store. I saw that they had it built now. The LEGO store at Garden State Plaza has it built above the Star Destroyer. OK. I did get to see it, but behind glass. I also found on well, actually, you found the Kairi San and Elias lead 73s, which lead 73s are out there.
00:18:11
Speaker
I also picked up a Sonya Deville basic because I have no idea if I'm ever going to find that elite. So I might as well just have the basic just in case because it was a five below, it was five bucks. And then the series three ultimate editions are also starting to make their way out. I found Triple H. Nice.
00:18:33
Speaker
Nice. Yeah. I saw the, the day that I found the Elias and the sailor. I keep forgetting her name. Kyrie scene. Kyrie scene. Um, the day I found them, they had the Triple H from series 73, the one with like the hood. Yeah. Um, from this past WrestleMania. Yeah. Good looking figure. Yeah. But I didn't realize there was, there was an ultimate coming. Yeah. The ultimate is more, um, the game, like he's got the long hair.
00:19:01
Speaker
Yeah, long hair attitude era, the beret, so the McMahon-Helmsley regime. Oh, okay. First world title, it comes with the big eagle. That was a great belt. I got to hold that belt.
00:19:16
Speaker
in real life. Nice. You got anything else? No, that's it. So I too got some some cool stuff for Christmas. I got the vulture figure from the Spider-Man homecoming wave. Super cool figure. I'm really bummed at the fact that I originally said like I'm not going to put those wings together, but then I took them out of the box and I realized how kind of like dopey he looked with just the backpack.
00:19:48
Speaker
So I might be going down that road. We'll see how that goes. Um, some of those, some of those wing pieces cost as much as figures. And I just, I, I don't know if I want to do it. Um, so I got that. I got the ego and star Lord two pack from guardians to, uh, two incredible figures. Um, I can't believe how different.
00:20:15
Speaker
How much better the face and head is on that Star-Lord versus the Guardians 2 with the long coat that came out right before it? Just such a good figure. What else did I get? Oh, and I got something I have been...
00:20:34
Speaker
waiting for for quite some time. I got the Return of the Jedi Java's Palace playset and I'm going to talk about it more later. So I'm just going to leave that there. The day after Christmas, I found some crazy deals on Walmart.com.
00:20:56
Speaker
For 24 bucks total, I was able to get the vintage collection Chewbacca from A New Hope from the most recent wave of vintage collection figures, or one of the more recent waves of vintage collection figures. I got the Walmart exclusive Luke Skywalker Yavin ceremony with the yellow jacket. Brand new figure, was released on Forest Friday, $6.
00:21:21
Speaker
Um, which, okay. And then I got the binary captain Marvel that I said I wasn't going to buy. Um, I've never seen it in person at a store, but they had it for $8. So I figured, you know, at the very least.
00:21:38
Speaker
For the display, I can use some of the pieces and swap them out with the regular Captain Marvel. The one head looks a little funny to me, but having the glowing hands and stuff like that, there's definitely some poseability and stageability there. So I'm excited to pick those up. I actually, just before we started recording, got the notification from Walmart that they're ready to pick up. So I will pick those up tomorrow. And then lastly... And the power was on. Yes, this time the power was on.
00:22:08
Speaker
Lastly, I picked up the Marvel Select Thanos, the Endgame Thanos, full armored. He scales incredibly well with the Marvel Legends Avengers. He actually scales better with them than the Build-A-Figures, the two big Build-A-Figure Thanoses that they put out.
00:22:29
Speaker
So I'm really excited to get him. Also, he somehow miraculously actually works with some of the Marvel Legends pieces. So you can actually put the endgame, the nano gauntlet on him, along with the unhelmeted head from the build to figure and have that like final endgame look Thanos, you know, as he puts on the wrong gauntlet. Spoiler alert.
00:22:58
Speaker
But yeah, that's all I have. So I'm waiting for Disney to send me that. That'll be probably a week from now. But yeah, I'm really excited to see what happens with Playfair in terms of things that I will be buying in the future. I'm sure there will be some things that they reveal there. Yeah, I'm sure we'll see more stuff. I mean, we always tend to.
00:23:24
Speaker
Yeah, Mattel, Hasbro, you know, the big names will show heavily, very much so there. So we'll see what happens with that. Hoping maybe we get here more, you know, like a series two for New Japan for Super Seven. Yep.
00:23:42
Speaker
We'll, we'll have to just wait and see. We're only a few weeks out. But, um, 2019, speaking of, of super seven with the new Japan stuff and, you know, all the incredible Marvel legends.
Best Toys of 2019 Reflection
00:23:53
Speaker
And we mentioned, um, you know, uh, I mentioned the Java's palace playset. 2019 has been, was a really, really good year for toys.
00:24:03
Speaker
Overall, it was, it was. Um, and I, and, you know, we're just going to kind of shoot from the hip here and talk about some things that we liked and, you know, things that we saw in 2019 that, that really kind of, um, you know, either caught our eye or, you know, got into our wallets. But, um, we're not going to talk about the stuff that's bad. There's a lot of bad toys out there, but why put that negativity in the world? So let's just talk about good stuff.
00:24:30
Speaker
Sound good? Yeah, that works. So I'll just throw this out here first, something that I have seen over and over and over and over in the toy aisles, and it's actually from a franchise that I'm very, very fond of, and that's the Godzilla movies. There has been some awesome Godzilla toys.
00:24:54
Speaker
Full disclosure, I'm we're like I like I mentioned, you know, we're just kind of shooting from the hip here I I don't know who makes them but they are they are awesome figures and they make I'm not talking about the neko ones That you find in like the the media sections and Target and Walmart. They're they're in the toy section They're like by the dinosaur toys and the Jurassic Park toys and stuff and they're just kind of the old-school like
00:25:20
Speaker
limited articulation where basically like the arms and tail move. From the second movie or from? No, it's like it spans everything. So like you could get like a black and white, you know, 6050 is Godzilla.
00:25:35
Speaker
in that line and then they'll have, um, you know, though I want to say it might be playmates might make them. I think it's, I think it's playmates now that I'm thinking about it, but like you can get like old school Mothra. You can get, um, all the way up to like skull Island, uh, King Kong.
00:25:59
Speaker
and everything in between. You know, King Ghidorah, Godzilla, the Godzilla from like 2014. You know, not just the American stuff, but the Toho Godzillas and everything. And they're really cool. They remind me of, I'm actually looking at it at my desk right now. I'm gonna hold it up so Dave can see what I'm talking about. But they're kinda like this. They're just those like solid chunks of plastic. Like these?
00:26:30
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, those are Bandai. They are Bandai. Yep. This one's Bandai, too, actually. But they look they're they're super cool. And I mean, they've been they've been out for a long time. Like they've been making these. But I've just, you know, every time I go down the aisle, I feel like I pick one of those up and I go, like, these are, you know, these are still really cool. And I'm glad that like kids are buying them. And they always played really well because they're kind of they're light, but they're chunky. You know, they're just great toys.
00:26:58
Speaker
They're great toys and they nail the likenesses. The paint apps are always a lot of fun on them, you know, super colorful or black and white when necessary. That's actually the one that I'm looking at now. I have a I have a black and white original Godzilla. But it's it's it's always one of those things that catches my eye. For me, one of them, I guess I'll go next. Yeah, we'll do it lightning round style or we'll just kind of hop back and forth.
00:27:28
Speaker
I'll start with the Galaxy of Adventures line, the Star Wars ones. They were something that I considered dabbling in. I chose not to, not because of lack of quality of the toy, but just because I don't have room for the stuff that I have now, let alone for stuff that I don't have, haven't started on yet.
00:27:57
Speaker
Yeah, they are super cool. Yeah, it's a really cool line of toys. It's good, like if you go back to the episode with Yuma, we were talking about how it's really cool because it's a new scale, it's a new line, so it's good to get if you're gonna be jumping in. But also what's neat is they have the action features
00:28:24
Speaker
where they the the toys do some sort of motion or some sort of action feature, for lack of a better word. And they're pretty stylized. They have almost like a I would say almost like a Clone Wars Rebels type of look to them. Definitely. And they're pretty great. They span the the whole saga pretty much.
00:28:51
Speaker
Yeah. And I actually can speak to the quality of them. Um, we let Maddie pick out some toys after Christmas with some of the gift cards and money and stuff that she had. And, um, and she picked those out. And at the time target was doing a buy to get one free. So we ended up getting, um, Ray, Kylo Ren and Finn. And she wanted to open them, open them immediately. So we did as soon as we got home and they are.
00:29:19
Speaker
They're super for a $10 figure. They are articulated almost identically to a Black Series figure, you know, down to like heel rockers and stuff on them. I mean, they really like you can make them hold a lightsaber with two hands.
00:29:36
Speaker
Um, they have working holsters. So like Ray comes with her blaster. It fits snugly into her holster. Same with Finn's blaster and his, um, Kylo Ren's, uh, cloak is. You know, plastic it's molded plastic, but it's you, he can wear it while still holding a lightsaber with two hands. Like it's.
00:30:00
Speaker
I almost think that they don't know who the wine was for. Like they made it with like kids, kid friendly stuff, like the bright colors, the hyper stylization, but they almost, I almost feel like they had collectors in mind to a certain degree because of some of the stuff that they're working into them. So like the Walmart exclusive Luke Skywalker from Return of the Jedi.
00:30:24
Speaker
You can actually take his vest off and he goes from like the Java sale barge, you know, Tatooine tunic to that, like, you know, pop open, like weird, like chest fold thing that he had on once they're on Endor. So, I mean, they consciously worked in like two very subtle looks to that character. And, you know, even the black series figure that they just put out doesn't do that.
00:30:53
Speaker
Yeah. And then you have the, uh, you know, the Kylo Ren and Rey figures where the two pack figures are different from the regular figures. Yep. So, uh, different accessories for Rey and different. Yeah. She comes with her staff and that set, I believe, and her lightsaber, and it only comes with the lightsaber and the blaster and the regular pack.
00:31:14
Speaker
And then Kylo Ren has the removable mask in the two pack and doesn't have the mask but has the cloak in the single card. Yeah, it's a super cool line. Unfortunately, I mean...
00:31:30
Speaker
They warmed the pegs for a while and then got moved to the clearance section and then disappeared. So I have no idea what the future holds for that line. Um, they really, I know they have more coming out. They have a next wave announced. Yeah. With, uh, Darth Maul, Yoda, Boba Fett, um,
00:31:51
Speaker
Han Solo. Well Han Solo is out. Yeah, Han Solo and 3PO. They were technically wave one. Yeah, they just got, they were added to the packs later. There's somebody else I'm missing in that second wave. Darth Maul, Yoda, Boba Fett. Is this Stormtrooper maybe? They had the regular Sith Trooper? It might be.
00:32:16
Speaker
I'm crossing the streams with the Disney toy box line because I know they they they their Rise of Skywalker stuff is out and that's actually very similar to what they look like. They're stylized almost to the degree of a of a Disney toy Disney Store toy box. Oh, it's a it's a Jeff Jeff, a Sith jet trooper. Good, good old Jethro Sith's trooper. Complete with with Rockin Flute Solo.
00:32:46
Speaker
Yeah, Jethro Tull. They play flute now? You're supposed to say they play flute now. Yeah, no, good call on that line. That line was a surprise. I was pissed when they announced that line. I was I was legit fucking furious that they had that line and not a standard five points of articulation three and three quarters line. It's still it's and it's a five inch line, but I mean, it's still really good.
00:33:15
Speaker
It is. It's something where if they did become available at the right price, I'll say this, the only one that figured to me that was a miss was the vehicle. Yeah. But it's the only way to get a proper stormtrooper. And I don't even think he, I think he articulates funny when you take him off. I think he's like meant to sit on that thing.
00:33:35
Speaker
Yeah, I have I have not seen a single picture of just that trooper standing. And actually, you know, what was to me was what led me to not get it was the vehicle. OK. That made me make my decision because it was like I can't you wouldn't want to not get the vehicle, but I don't like the vehicle.
00:33:57
Speaker
Yeah, that is. It's a perplexing. It's a perplexing choice only because like functionally speaking without getting into like, you know, the nitpicking of Star Wars. Why why is it a belt driven ground vehicle when everything else flies? It's such a weird choice. Yeah, it's. But yeah, I get it. And it looks like one of those like cheapy toys.
00:34:24
Speaker
Yeah, it does. It does not reflect on the rest of the rest of the line is off the charts if you're going to get the just the figures. I mean, I'd be hard pressed to tell you not to. It's a really cool line. Yeah, definitely, definitely, definitely. It does not replace the standard three and three quarter line in my heart, but I I understand
00:34:48
Speaker
I think I understand what they were trying to do with it, which is get people who have never collected anything to buy something. And we'll see if they accomplish that. I know I mentioned it before, but my absolute favorite toy of the year, hands down, without question, has been the Return of the Jedi Jabba's playset. Return of the Jedi is,
00:35:18
Speaker
I know it's not the best Star Wars movie, but sometimes I feel like it's my favorite. It was kind of how I was introduced to Star Wars.
00:35:26
Speaker
You know, those characters, um, you know, it's just like, when I close my eyes and think of Star Wars, I think of all like the weirdo aliens and like the, you know, the, the, the battles and like the, you know, the, the bikes, the, the speeder bikes going through the forest of Endor and going to Disney world and the giant, you know, uh, ATAT outside of star tours and star tours always kind of had this very like.
00:35:52
Speaker
Return of the Jedi vibe to the front of it, because you're walking through the Ewok Village and stuff. I just have all these visceral memories of Return of the Jedi. And frankly, the original Star Wars toys from Return of the Jedi, because you had them. So having Jabba's Palace as a playset, I have a permanent cube dedicated to Return of the Jedi, which I have now updated.
00:36:19
Speaker
You know, move things around to make room for the new walls and stuff, but like just the little touches are great. Like the, the, the Hansel and carbonite is magnetic. They inserted a magnet into the back of it. So it, um, it's, it actually like hangs on the wall and like can move a little bit. There's a switch on the back to raise it and lower it. So when you lower it, it drops to the floor. Um.
00:36:42
Speaker
So you can really recreate scenes from the film. And I love the fact that they included two figures in the, in the packaging, but they weren't in like, uh, poly bags. They were fully carded. So you had the opportunity to not only open and assemble the playset, but then, you know, actually open two figures on top of it. And, uh, it's, it's Han Solo and Carbonite, which is necessary in order to get that wall hanging feature there. And then, um,
00:37:11
Speaker
Reese, who's actually my favorite, my favorite alien outside of size, doodles in Java's palace. He's the one most famous for when Java and the rest of the palace wake up and kind of spring the trap on on land Han. He is the alien that has his hand over C3PO's mouth. He's kind of like holding him back. Just a weird, like,
00:37:41
Speaker
I think he's got like four or five eyes. He looks more like something out of Men in Black, but he's just a classic Star Wars alien. But that has been my absolute favorite Toy of the Year, and I'm so happy to have it. And I hope they make more playsets. I would love like a Dagobah, like Yoda's Hunt playset to go with that Cave of Evil three-pack they put out.
00:38:06
Speaker
I would love some Death Star stuff, like even if it's just kind of like a Death Star hallway or like a, you know, a core reactor or something so that way you can have like walls to play with. You'd need the, the like conference room. Oh, that would be awesome. That would be awesome. Yeah, like give me like a vintage collection in Admiral Modi so that way I can have Darth Vader force choke somebody.
00:38:34
Speaker
You can have the missing seat for chronic to missing seats, chronic and strong. Yeah. Got to love. Got to love when a good retcon works. Yeah, Dave, back to you. Back to me. What was another good toy for this year? Um.
00:38:57
Speaker
I mean, there was a lot of a lot of cool unannounced stuff. Actually, I'll give you one because the more I've I've seen it, the more I think it's it's really unbelievably cool. That's the Mario Kart. I think it's a Hot Wheels set. Oh, is that the so our friend of the pod, Yuma?
00:39:21
Speaker
landed briefly on his journeys in order to deliver the message to Santa to deliver the Hot Wheels set to his meme son, right? His meme son. His actual son who is a meme. His actual son who is a meme. Yeah, no, really super cool set. Yeah, that thing looks fantastic.
00:39:45
Speaker
Yeah and it looks, it reminds me of like some of the Hot Wheels and Matchbox stuff we had when we were kids with like all the tracks. It reminds me of a Tycho RC. Yes. Track. Spot on. Spot on. It's got you know very much like a vibe to the game and to a roller coaster.
00:40:05
Speaker
really cool looking set for for Hot Wheels cars. Yeah, for sure. And those are two things. Like one day we got to have a whole episode about we got to do like a Hot Wheels episode. We got to find somebody who's like a big Hot Wheels collector. Yeah, we need we need a Hot Wheels person. So if if you hear us out there and you are a big Hot Wheels or Matchbox collector, hit us up so that way we could talk Hot Wheels with you and you can teach us about Hot Wheels in 2020.
Popular Lego Sets of 2019
00:40:35
Speaker
Yeah, accurate. That would be awesome. Um, trying to think there's been a lot. I mean, we've mentioned them a bunch of times, but those Hasbro power Rangers figures are gorgeous. Um, the, the, uh, you know, since they've taken over the, the brand from, um, from Bandai, um, they're producing six, six inch scale figures that are are out of this world. Um, 2019 for, I think across the board, um, for both.
00:41:05
Speaker
Mattel and Hasbro, what they've been able to accomplish with the new faces. Yeah, the face scan technology and apparently like when you get into the more current elites, 72, 73, 74, there are some uncanny likenesses. Oh yeah, the Triple H figure is one of those. Supposedly the Natalia figure is one of the best ever.
00:41:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's that tech has come such a long way in 2019 across the board, whether it's whether you're looking at the Power Rangers figures, you know, like a likeness like Tommy, you know, the Green Ranger, White Ranger is easily one of the most recognizable, you know, people from that from that brand, you know, with his signature ponytail. And they've just nailed that that likeness. And, you know, of course, the Marvel Legends, they just get better and better.
00:42:00
Speaker
The cape Blanchett likeness on the the hella figure was probably my favorite of that for the year They just and uncanny is the right word like it's it's crazy how they look like like little people You know even on the three and three-quarter scale with some of the Star Wars figures like you put the new rise of Skywalker Ray up next to the one from the Last Jedi and it's just
00:42:24
Speaker
You know, there's no, there's no question how far they've come with what they're doing with the faces where they, they look, they look like little people. They look like little real people, you know, sitting there posing. So I'm really curious once you start really getting into opening all of your, your elites, like, you know, you getting a ring, you know, cause you're, you're a very, you have a very photographic eye. So I'm, I'm excited to see what you do with some of some of those figures once you open them.
00:42:53
Speaker
Yeah, I've got ideas. Another kind of great toy. We talked about the
00:43:04
Speaker
the 89 Batmobile, but I think one of the Lego sets that has just been phenomenal to the point where I don't have it yet because I haven't been able to find it, but it's one that's been on my list of things to find was Central Perk, the friend set. It is awesome to the point where they've made it look like a TV studio. No shit. Yeah, there's like TV lighting on it.
00:43:33
Speaker
which is really cool. And it comes with the main cast in Gunther, which is also really cool. But yeah, it's a neat little central perk set and it's...
00:43:47
Speaker
I'm very kind of well priced for the set that it is and for the number of minifigs that you get. I think it's like a $70 set. Sounds terrible. But it looks like it's a lot of fun to build and it's, you know, it's a pretty iconic.
00:44:07
Speaker
Iconic location yeah TV history While we're on the topic of Lego another Lego set that came out this year that I absolutely loved was the upside down The stranger things yeah that um that's a cool set on absolutely unreal You know with the fact that you can rotate it. It's and it's it's Will's house, right? Yeah, it's Will's house. Yeah um so cool like that's that is a
00:44:34
Speaker
Well, I love when Lego really kind of delivers on the like the imagination end of the bargain. Well, that has, you know, Hopper's truck in it, too, which is crazy. It's a great set. It's expensive, but it's a great set. There were a lot of good Star Wars sets, too. Like there's a Mustafar duel that just came out. They did like a second Mandalorian set.
00:45:04
Speaker
Yeah, because it's this year they're celebrating, or yeah, 2019 they were celebrating the 20th anniversary of Lego Star Wars. The license, yeah. But it's, you know, they've just recently announced now that the movie and the show have completed the kind of, I'll say the spoiler sets. Yeah, with like, do they have one with the child yet? Has there been a child yet? No, none yet.
00:45:30
Speaker
I'm very careful now that I've heard that Jon Favreau gets mad when people call the child baby Yoda. I'm very careful now. Just in case he ever hears anything that I say, which he likely never will, I want to make sure that I am in Jon Favreau's good graces because everything that man touches is wonderful. A little off topic, but I saw a really great meme where it was like,
00:46:00
Speaker
John Favreau decides to make a Christmas movie, makes Elf instant classic. John Favreau decides to make a superhero movie, makes Iron Man, kicks off the MCU. John Favreau decides to make a movie about food, makes one of the most important and accurate chef movies ever. John Favreau decides to get involved with Disney, gives us The Child.
00:46:21
Speaker
It's like the man could do no wrong. He could do no wrong. He's he's wonderful. I feel like that would be like the Black Series figure I'll get. Oh, I want a happy Hogan figure so bad. Oh, no, I meant the child. Oh, OK. Well, yeah, that's that's 10 bucks. Yeah, it's 10 bucks. I mean, it's 10 bucks and it's to scale. So it'll be like probably like an inch and three quarters tall comes with a frog. They said that they're going to make it in the vintage collection.
00:46:49
Speaker
Okay. And that was exactly my reaction. It was like, please don't make me pay for him on his own. Please pack him with somebody. I mean, did they make porgs for the vintage collection? They didn't make porgs for the vintage collection, but they did make them in the three and three quarter scale. The Last Jedi... There was an Ochito? No, it was, I have it right here. Came with Chewy. Okay. Super tiny.
00:47:15
Speaker
Yeah, he's real little. After the movie came out, I was seeing a bunch of because the Chewbacca figure that he came with was not great. But I saw so many Chewbacca on the shelves with the porgs missing because people were literally like the porg was sitting at the bottom of the package. So people were literally just poking holes in the bottom and pulling the porg out through the bottom.
00:47:42
Speaker
because people are awful, but at the same time, Porg. I almost got the Black Series Porg. You did. I was there when you almost got the Black Series Porg. I did buy the Lego Advent Calendar this year specifically for Porg and a Santa hat. You have another good Porg story about, isn't it Kinder Eggs?
00:48:09
Speaker
Yeah, there was a Kinder Egg for Star Wars, and one of the toys was Chewy Holdin' the Porg. And I'm like, oh, just get one. They're delicious. And I pulled the Chewy Holdin' the Porg. Because of course you did. Yeah. Great story, too. Before Last Jedi came out, we went to Disney, and I'm wearing my Three Porg Moon shirt.
00:48:38
Speaker
and one of the photographer goes, really? You don't even know what they do yet. I go, they're gonna save the galaxy, who cares? They're gonna fuck up the inside of the Millennium Falcon was the answer. They're gonna be a chewy snack.
00:48:57
Speaker
They were in the rise of Skywalker, they made it. Yeah, they were there. I raised my arms in victory. I will say this, the child 10-inch Funko Pop will be there. That will be my second 10-inch Funko Pop to go with Porg. The only child toy that I've
00:49:18
Speaker
pre-ordered is the Hasbro, the one that makes noises, like the plush that's the size of the actual child from the show. Okay, I'll be in the parks next week, so I was looking to see if there was gonna be anything there.
Closing Thoughts and Engagement
00:49:37
Speaker
Well, Disney did announce their Shop Disney plush. I know.
00:49:43
Speaker
And it's just like one of their Disney. It's a stuffed stuffed animal, but they make the best stuffed animal. Yeah, like they're they're plush line is just I still have a figment from 30 years ago. They're so good. Like I love my I love my corduroy steamboat Willie plush. But yeah, spoiler alert, that's, you know, not next episode, but the following.
00:50:09
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that's right. So, you know, we've covered a lot. You know, we could sit here all night and talk about how awesome 2019 was. I didn't even talk about wrestling figures. Yeah, but we always talk about wrestling figures in Star Wars, you know. Yeah. So next week's episode is we're really excited. I had an opportunity to interview Weapon X Customs. He does incredible Marvel Legends work.
00:50:37
Speaker
And you'll hear from him on on the episode in two weeks while Dave is is traipsing around The Magic Kingdom Magic Kingdom and also while he's competing in a 10k, right? Yeah competing Hey while he's building a lightsaber in galaxies edge so jealous Well with that I think that's uh, that's how we're gonna wrap it up
00:51:29
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.
00:51:30
Speaker
Alright, cool. Consider it wrapped. Borg.
00:51:53
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.
00:52:23
Speaker
you