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Ghosts of Christmas Past Vol. 5: The Joys of Holiday Catalogs
436 Plays10 months ago
It's that time of the year once again! It's Christmas and we're turning back the clock to take a look at our pasts and enjoying the bygone art of the Christmas/Holiday Catalog! From the Sears Wishbook to Toys R Us's Big Toy Book, let's celebrate by reminiscing about all of the excitement and joy these catalogs brought us.
We'd like to thank all of our previous guests that called in on the AIC Hotline to send their holiday greetings and to all of you - our listeners for tuning in all year. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and happy new year!
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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 Surprise Shoutout
00:00:05
Speaker
Ho, ho, ho! Greetings, Adventures in Collecting. Santa here, taking a quick break from toy making at the North Pole. You know your passions for collecting warms my heart, like a cup of hot cocoa on a chilly night. Ho, ho, ho! Keep spreading joy and cherishing the magic of discovery. I look forward to hearing about all the wonderful toys the children and grown-ups will want through your show.
00:00:34
Speaker
Even though by the time you all hear this, it will be after I make my yearly journey. Know that I wish you a sleigh full of happiness this holiday season, and a Happy New Year! Now, where did I put that new Batman toy for that Danhausen boy? Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho! Merry Christmas! Ho ho ho ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!
00:01:04
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast.
Holiday Special Introduction
00:01:15
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.
00:01:30
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. Hi. Hello. Now that everyone is deaf.
00:01:44
Speaker
Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Welcome to the annual adventures in collecting ghosts of Christmas pass holiday special. Uh, we, we do have a guest and this is a guest that you guys, listeners of the show from the very beginning, people who have listened to
00:02:02
Speaker
or listening to the show for the very first time, is somebody you already heard. Wow, I miss a week and Eric doesn't even let me ask if he wants to bury the lady. I go on vacation in Eric's format. Listen, I'm just really excited because Joe has been with us since literally day one. Yeah. This is the first time he's on the show as himself, the wonderful human being.
00:02:30
Speaker
You may remember Joe from our video visiting the Tamashi Nations, New York store. Yes. Where could they find that video, Dave?
Engage with AIC on YouTube
00:02:42
Speaker
They can find it on YouTube. Yeah. What's the address? At AIC underscore podcast, baby. On YouTube. Yeah. We're, we're. Do that search, subscribe, like, leave a comment. We're just throwing, throwing caution of the wind.
00:02:58
Speaker
All of the format stuff format no format. No format. It's a holiday
Guest Teaser and Holiday Spirit
00:03:03
Speaker
special. It's but Eric if you wouldn't Put the lead on the you log Here to tell us all about his log voice of the pod Are you ready kids? Joe welcome welcome to the show as a as a guest as
00:03:27
Speaker
Look, I'm about to reveal this log to everybody right now. You're just ready to burst with the holiday spirit. Always. It's everywhere. Eggnog. Well, welcome to the show as yourself for the first time, as not a
00:03:50
Speaker
You know what, we don't need to reveal that much behind the curtain. Welcome to the show as yourself. Yeah, just as me. Nobody needs to know everything. Yeah. Yeah, let's do some magic. Yeah, it's like we don't need to know what species Yoda is.
00:04:04
Speaker
We don't need to know what Joe does behind the curtain, but let's just say Joe is one hell of a voice actor. We'll put it that way. Thanks, guys. He's our favorite voice actor, even, one could say. But yeah, so this is the holiday episode. I've lost count of how many of these we've done. I feel like it's going to be four. Is it?
00:04:30
Speaker
Yeah, I guess we did one the first year. So in the Ghost
Evolution of Ghosts of Christmas Past
00:04:34
Speaker
of Christmas. Yeah, we did one the first year. We did. OK. How zealous of us to think that we'd have more than one. Back when we had no guests and barely knew what we were doing. One could argue that we still barely know what we're doing, but we just do it anyway. In the history of our- When you're looking back on that,
00:05:00
Speaker
those episodes, that early Ghosts of Christmas Past episode, do leave a review. Sure. I mean, I'd rather them leave a review based on current product. Help the algorithm. Help the algorithm. Let us show up in more places. Yeah. Ratings and reviews are the best Christmas gifts that you can give us.
00:05:25
Speaker
Yes. But in the long history of our Christmas episodes, the ghosts of Christmas past, we revisit our past Christmases to talk about
00:05:39
Speaker
things from our, either our childhood or just kind of the, the past in general that revolve around Christmas last year. Our, our, our special guest for the episode was, was dear old mom herself. Uh, she, she, as she recounted what it was like to deal with us as children. I'm buying toys in the eighties rear, pre-Amazon and all your online shopping. And you know, Dave, the shopping you did online was waiting in line at the register.
00:06:09
Speaker
And and you know that's that's a great point Dave shopping before Amazon is is directly connected to what we're going to talk about today because these items not necessarily the toys themselves but these items have become
00:06:27
Speaker
Huge collector's items throughout the community in fact This the idea for this episode was inspired by at battle armor dad on both on Twitter and Instagram if you don't follow him Do yourself a favor and do it he has a extensive collection of vintage
00:06:50
Speaker
vintage toy books so vintage catalogs holiday catalogs this was the way. Growing up that way we knew about what was what was going
Nostalgia and Vintage Toy Catalogs
00:07:01
Speaker
to be in stores and what was going to be available around the holidays and you know a lot of times we would get the catalog and flip to the section with.
00:07:08
Speaker
the toys in them and circle things. And that's how we were able to tell old Saint Nick, who, by the way, thank you as always to our good friend at the North Pole, Santa, for sending that little holiday message there in the beginning of the show. I can't believe you guys get Santa every year. I really, you know, he's so busy. Some might say he was an early guest.
00:07:34
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, one of our one of our earliest guests, Santa. We, you know, we guys do it. It's it's the magic of Christmas. Truly. To the way you talk about shopping before Amazon, you told me we were going to be sitting down and watching Jingle all the way. And now I'm very upset. Those are my cookies. Put the cookie down.
00:07:57
Speaker
No, but to quote a very, very beloved Christmas movie, Santa, I know him.
00:08:09
Speaker
That's how we get him every year. I know him. He's my good friend grandma. No, my good friend Santa Claus. No, but Christmas catalogs. That's what we're going to talk about today. So yes, I guess currently, current situation, there still are some Christmas catalogs that go out via snail mail. So we have- Usually get like a Walmart and a Target? Yep. Walmart's got one.
00:08:40
Speaker
Target's got one and Amazon has has those are the kind of the three that come to mind Now these are three books much like I guess one could say that the probably the most famous like toy Exclusive holiday catalog was probably Toys R Us. You know the big big toy book and
00:08:59
Speaker
the big toy book or the big holiday toy book. I think that's the point. Yeah, those were dedicated purely to toys like the Amazon, Walmart and Target ones of today. But what's really interesting is, you know, you go back to, you know, when we were all kids and you had JCPenney. Oh, yeah. Sears. Wishbook. Oh, man. Yours Wishbook was
00:09:28
Speaker
what I remember the most. Um, even, uh, Macy's basically the department stores, right? Like, and some of the, the regional, you know, regionally specific, um, department stores too, right? Like they, they had them. Um, but they weren't all dedicated, uh, specifically to, to toys, right? Like, you know, it was the holiday catalog. So you had to flip, flip through menswear and
00:09:55
Speaker
Bathrobes and we weren't circling lingerie every page that there was not a circle on it was that yeah like dishes Yeah, we're where yep. Uh, yeah bedding. Yeah, but yeah, and then there would be the Well, actually no because you'd go through the kids section for like, you know, like football jerseys or like pajamas like bedsheets
00:10:23
Speaker
bedsheets. Sometimes you wanted the Batman bedsheets, the 90210 bedsheets.
00:10:29
Speaker
Oh, definitely. Oh, he's the 90210 one. We had those. Sure did. The thing that's really cool, though, about these and the first thing that I think of personally when I start thinking about these old books. And they have records in them too, like records and tapes and stuff. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like the entertainment section. I don't remember records and tapes. I remember video games.
00:10:53
Speaker
there was video games, but like they would have there was a section that had like TVs and VCRs and, you know, home home
Regional Toy Availability and Catalog Influence
00:11:01
Speaker
entertainment stuff. But the thing about them that I think of kind of first and foremost was the photography in them. Because like people who are
00:11:11
Speaker
you know going back to those the newer catalogs like the the Amazon Best Buy target they're literally just kind of those like stock glam shots like white background just like the figure maybe the figure loose and in package like these photos going back to like this year's like Wishbook and stuff were elaborate like I mean like
00:11:34
Speaker
If there was a playset available, it was the playset and it was set up in an atmosphere with the figures. It was the coolest way to imagine the playset up of these. I'm thinking about the Masters of the Universe ones. It's usually a kid in a sweater standing behind a table with Skull Mountain set up in front of him and all the figures on the ground in front of it.
00:12:02
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it was generally like somebody who worked there as kid. Yeah. Yeah. Like the art of these these these toy catalogs like going back is one could say has definitely inspired a lot of the toy photography that you know that we see out there today like this is
00:12:27
Speaker
It's early. Dave is currently showing off. Was that the Beatles or the Monkees? That's just four dudes. Oh, just four dudes. We definitely urge people to go back to the 90s Wishbook image search because it's like the 60s. Like the 90s one with all the neon jackets in the sled. Oh man, that's great. 91. I'm going to bring that back. Let's bring back those, those neon coats.
00:12:52
Speaker
Like, come on, like, look at this, this, this picture right here is of, I'm trying to see what 1984, this is 1984 JC Penney. They actually were allowed to, in this book, pose the Kenner superpowers and Mattel secret wars figures together.
00:13:10
Speaker
Oh, that's so good. Like cross-selling the two of them in scale fighting each other. Like you have like Superman getting tortured by Brainiac and you have Batman and and Spider-Man teaming up to like take on the Joker. And that's the Secret Wars playset. Yeah. And it's and it's the Secret Wars playset like like you. Could you imagine that today if somebody tried to like
00:13:35
Speaker
put like Marvel Legends figures and WWE elites in the same picture and like have them finding each other and put that in a Wishbook. I mean, I'm not going to lie. Like this, this, there's definitely one that speaks to you guys immensely. I just found 1981 Sears Wishbook. It is just a splash page of Star Wars. They've got, they've got 80 80s. They've got the snow speeders. They've got a lot of, a lot of lens flare.
00:14:01
Speaker
There's a lot of lens flare going on. The other thing too is like, so I want to say things were a lot more regional back in, in the mid early to mid eighties. Um, like, you know, something like a Remco AWA figure was, wasn't going to be somewhere where it wasn't on TV. Yeah. Right. Or like starting lineup figures as you got to the late eighties.
00:14:29
Speaker
The ones that were on the shelves here when they first started were the Mets, the Yankees, the Knicks, the Nets, you know, the Giants, the Jets. So like teams you didn't, unless it was like a Michael Jordan or somebody along those lines, teams that weren't in the area, like you weren't getting LA Rams.
00:14:53
Speaker
starting lineup figures here, or you weren't going to see, you know, Chicago Cubs or the Texas Rangers or anything like that. Um, because they would be in their regional JC. No, they, they would be in the wish book. Everybody was in the wish book. So that's how I would get to see, Oh, like I want Michael Jordan or I want, you know, Mark McGuire or I want Jose Canseco or whomever.
00:15:23
Speaker
I want Joe Montana, because I wouldn't have seen them on the shelves. Every once in a while, as they got later on in starting lineup, you started to see more famous players outside of their playing city. But otherwise, for those first couple of years, you didn't see them here. If I wanted Magic Johnson, the Wishbook was how I got to see what the figure looked like and be like, I want this guy.
00:15:51
Speaker
Now that's fascinating because right, like going back to starting a lineup is a great example of this. That was like sort of a region locked line, right? It makes, it makes sense. Same way that like, you know, Jersey's on the shelf, like you get, you know, the regionally specific, um, you know, teams that like your, your Dick sporting goods or, you know, whatever your, your local clothing, uh, you know, like sports stores and modals and all those stores are gone now, but, um, you know, and then you'll get like,
00:16:22
Speaker
the a couple of the famous guys like you'll see like our you know um like you said like those kind of transcendent players that that cross markets yeah i can get all the lts i wanted here but if i wanted mike singletary like i had to i had to get sears wishbook but that was the that was the other thing too is like the cross sell on the back of them they didn't like were they advertised on the cross sell i don't remember because it was a big checklist on the back here's who's available no
Modern Toy Catalogs and Sticker Fun
00:16:52
Speaker
Yeah. And I didn't know what they look like. I didn't know what stance they were in or anything along those lines. Now, do you, do you remember taking like, cause I have specific memories, but like, you know, while we're still on the topic of the starting lineup and like you said, the wish book, like, do you remember taking stuff to like mom and dad, like with like a pen, like a pen or a marker and going like, this is the one. Oh yeah. It would be circle who you want. So it was that and like wrestlers.
00:17:15
Speaker
Awesome. Yeah. Now they, they, uh, I don't know if I'm like human. If you guys got the most recent, um, Amazon one, but they actually give you stickers. Now there's like a tear out book inside the Amazon one. And it's like weird. Put stickers next to the ones that you want. Oh wow. I gave them to my wife and I said, take these to your students. Do you give them to them as, as prizes, take them stickers, take these stickers, Bezos stickers, um, take these Bezos bucks.
00:17:44
Speaker
But yeah, I thought that that was a clever little. Yeah, I'm surprised it hadn't been. I'm sure it's been done before, but not in a noticeable way. But you go back to some of these ones from the 80s and 90s. And it's amazing the larger toy lines. So Joe, you mentioned Star Wars. But even Masters of the Universe, when there were Rambo figures,
00:18:13
Speaker
My Little Pony, they had full spreads. So there would just be the Star Wars page. And when you're flipping through, it's like, oh, the Ewok Village is there in this year's book. And it's got all the figures posed out. And then usually on either the far right or far left, depending on the page layout, is just a huge column, just text with empty squares. So that way, you could check the one that you want.
00:18:43
Speaker
Yeah, I highly recommend if you're listening to this this episode and you are you are extremely Confused as to what these books look like and I you know I did mention battle armor dad and as I'm sitting here talking about this I'm flicking through his his Instagram feed Definitely check out his feed but also I mean if you just search your sears wishbook you'll get a pretty good idea of
00:19:10
Speaker
of what these look like. And now I'm starting to get the itch of like going back and like looking at certain years and seeing if I can pick up some of these books. Cause like I would, I would love like a mid nineties one with like the power of the forest relaunch figures in there. Yeah. Cause the only time I like star Wars was basically long gone in my wishbook height.
00:19:37
Speaker
I remember Jedi briefly being in the store. So Star Wars 1995 or 1995 JCPenney Star Wars is it has the Millennium Falcon on it's like full page. That's perfect. Yeah, the Toys R Us like big books though.
00:19:59
Speaker
Like when those used to come in, it was just, that was it. Oh, it was like an event. All bets were off. I circled the power wheels for years. There's Batman powers for years. Never got it. Buryups. I want one now. I won't fit. Still on it. Um, which was the power wheels that you wanted? Like, which was the one you're trying to learn which Batman when it was, uh,
00:20:20
Speaker
It was definitely, it was like a full on Batmobile. I don't remember which Batmobile it was. And I'm like, I could be driving around and fighting crime as a child. I would do it. Now you could do it as an adult. Yeah. If I had Bruce Wayne money, I could. I don't have Bruce Wayne money. Um, I am looking at a Toys R Us big book. There's a crime busters page that has Batman forever figures, but they also mixed in Batman returns figures.
00:20:49
Speaker
And a Jurassic Park T-Rex. Perfect. All on the Crime Busters page. It's pretty amazing. That's perfect. Crime Busters. Crime Busters. And then they show off a camcorder for children. I love that. I remember that. I love that. You remember the camcorder? Yeah, that was around the same time that the Talkboy was really taken off. Consumer Electronics targeting children was a... Hey kids, we're home early.
00:21:18
Speaker
It was like a thing. Oh, man, there really was. I this is the first time I've ever seen this before, but there was like an 89 style Batman power wheels like ride on thing. It was so they're so good. Years, I kept going like, no, I want this power wheels. My dad, I guess, was just like, no, I can't have too expensive. So the one that you're thinking of, though, isn't the one I remember. The one I remember was the PXL 2000.
00:21:49
Speaker
The XL 2000. It was a VCR. And it was basically just shot in black and white. Sweet. On audio cassette. Okay. I do like the way that they scanned in one of these pages. They have a virtual boy and it just says, bargains. You can't.
00:22:12
Speaker
but it doesn't say you can't miss, it just says, bargains, you can't. Cause the miss was on the other. You can't. A $30 virtual boy. I'd pay $30 to go blind. Remember that here's a great page of so good from 1993. They're like G two transformers and a robot cop.
00:22:40
Speaker
I mean, perfect crossover. Like they had they had a square for a 12 inch tall battery operated robocop. The other thing that's wild about these needs to make a robocop. So this is this is the 1993 JCPenney, by the way, highlighted on this robocop is is says, quote, drugs are trouble.
00:23:09
Speaker
Not dead or alive you're coming with me. It's drugs are trouble. Drugs are trouble. So is that like a Robocop 3 brand in one? So it's 1983. I think that's two. It just says Robocop. It was $20, which for everyone that says like, you know, prices are out of control, for a 12-inch tall 2 AAA battery Robocop that makes sound,
00:23:34
Speaker
That would still probably be $20 today. And what year was that? 93. Do you think that would still be $20 today? That's Robocop 2. I think so. Oh, no. I feel like maybe 30. Maybe 30? Yeah. Comes with the battery. Oh, no. That's Robocop 3. That came out in November 93. That is three. But he dealt with the drugs in two, whatever. Maybe. I don't know. Drugs are bad.
00:24:01
Speaker
So it says Robocop. New Detroit. In New Detroit, drugs are bad. And remember, it's Nuke. Nuke, yeah. The thing that's crazy about this page, though, is nowhere on it
00:24:15
Speaker
Does it say like Hasbro transformers? And also it has transformers as two words, which I've never in my life seen before. It's trans space formers. Very progressive. Very progressive. Hey, for the 90s. Roll out in style. It was G2 after all. The
00:24:38
Speaker
But nowhere on here does it say the manufacturer of any of these, like it doesn't say Hasbro. I haven't, I mean, obviously we know it's Hasbro for the Transformers, but I have no idea who made this. Um, it just says imported from China, but it says that for the Transformers too, the transformers. Um, we're all like flipping through these, these pages, right? And I'm hoping the listeners, when they do this, they're going to be like, Oh man, I got to look this stuff up too. Um, but you know, I found a French wish book.
00:25:08
Speaker
And randomly, and now it has a Robocop Batman splash page. Hey, he's he's one of those characters that could that could just kind of fit in. And he just speak in French part way. Island made the 1990s. It's an eight inch talking Robocop. Twelve inch. Twelve inch, twelve inch talking Robocop. To a island. Oh, it was. I actually remember the toy island figures, too.
00:25:39
Speaker
toy. Oh yeah. I'm looking at toilet, toil and Robocop now. But yeah, like, I mean, just look like you look at some of these right now I'm, you know, we're looking at a bunch of dudes. We're looking at the, uh, it's the playmates, how the, the, the, um, technodrome playset would connect to the, the sewer play sets. They made, they made a little connection there, but like you look at these, these pictures, these, these dioramas that are set up and it's literally like, you know, what NECA
00:26:06
Speaker
is doing now, like how they're staging the modern, you know, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle retro figures, but like the setup is like there. Like you could tell in somebody's house. It's a blue background with a skyline. No, but I just mean like with like the sidewalk, like they have like the foam sidewalk and like then they have the street and then, you know, like like
00:26:30
Speaker
The method of how these toys are presented to us as like children is informing the adults that are now making the toys. And it's funny is like we would do our best to recreate. Oh yeah. We saw in the catalog. I can, I can specifically remember with one of the bat caves. I think it was actually the three tier bat cave, the one from Batman forever. I can specifically remember after getting it and having it
00:26:58
Speaker
you know, put together and everything. You're welcome. Going back to the catalog and setting up the figures the way that they were in the catalog. And that was how it was displayed and left when I wasn't playing with it. It had to be the way that it was presented in the catalog. I could vividly remember doing that. It's funny. I had no patience as a kid. But when you ask, hey, could you put this together for me? I'm like, sure.
00:27:29
Speaker
Oh, there's a sticker sheet involved? There's a sticker sheet involved? Okay. Well, let's let the clumsiest person in the house do this. I'll spend the next two hours meticulously putting on these stickers for you, Eric. Thanks, older brother. And I'll make sure the TV screens in the back game are exactly how they are on the box. Because there's no number as to which one should go in which.
00:27:57
Speaker
Oh man, those are such good sets. Such good sets.
Unreleased Figures and Collectors' Nostalgia
00:28:03
Speaker
Now, the other thing too that, you know, is kind of of note about these wishbooks and these catalogs is sometimes the figures that were in the catalogs never got made. There are... When one case only came out in Canada. Yeah, there are... Well, talk about that. Talk about that. Well, I wanted the blank for years. That's really what it boils down to.
00:28:26
Speaker
Yep, the spoiler, the Dick Tracy spoiler. Um, yeah, there, there were times where, you know, prototypes and stuff and like, you know, there are, there are countless podcasts and, and, and other, uh, our, our other friends in toy journalism that have covered these things, but like, you know, and some of them actually own prototypes, like, you know, uh, Mac Cardona and, uh, you know, and, and the like own prototypes that were featured in the catalog, but, um,
00:28:56
Speaker
you know, either changed once they made it to production. Cause it was like an early sample that they used for photography or, you know, figures that, that, uh, that fell into the ranks of, uh, unreleased figures. Um, but you know, it's one of those things where I like, you kind of take it for granted now that, you know, all of the, the major toy companies kind of like feed us the latest pictures. Like we don't have to like hunt for them. They're, they're made available.
00:29:24
Speaker
that you can kind of look at any time. To Joe's point, specifically with the Wishbook and the Toys R Us big toy book, it was an event getting these things. It was like, clear the schedule, the toy books here. And then, so obviously first handful of years of my life, I could just circle whatever. Didn't we use two different color pens or two different color markers or something? Yup.
00:29:52
Speaker
which was great with a dad who was colorblind. Yes. Very helpful. Very helpful. In all fairness, though, we didn't have a lot of crossover. And the parts, the areas where we did crossover, like say wrestling figures, we kind of knew that they were all going to the same pool. No, especially early on for Mattels and Galoobs, there were two.
00:30:22
Speaker
Oh, that going back that far. Yeah. You played significantly rougher. Yeah, I did. And it's just weird because I'd like make up like cassette tape cases or tables and stuff. But like somehow my figures were like less beat up. I also I also like to customize my figures like I like drawing on them and making them other people. I did that with GI Joes a lot.
00:30:51
Speaker
I mean, my best friend did that with some, some figures. We would pop heads off and put things together. And yeah, I melted figures together. I was a real Sid sometimes when I was a kid. Let's melt it. Let's put it together. Let's, let's combine these two figures together forever. Let's take this Scooby Doo head and put it on a GI Joe. What would that figure sound like Joe? Depends on which GI Joe.
00:31:21
Speaker
Um, it was pretty close though. Scooby Doo. Scooby Doo head on Cobra Commander. Go. Oh God. Destro, you're out of the van. Perfect. Perfect. Nailed it. And now a word from our sponsors.
00:31:46
Speaker
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00:32:03
Speaker
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00:32:28
Speaker
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00:32:58
Speaker
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00:33:27
Speaker
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00:33:55
Speaker
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00:34:16
Speaker
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00:34:44
Speaker
Um, Joe, what are some of your favorite memories from, from toy books? Honestly, like it was a lot of it was, was the circling. It was just like getting everything, getting it in my hand and just starting to circle everything and being like, you know, if you circle everything, you're bound to get something. Aim high.
00:35:05
Speaker
The best part was like my brother and sister were 10 years older than I am. So it was just like, they never had the wish book. It was all me. When I was younger, it was just like, no, no, no. Hand that off. You guys don't want toys. You guys don't want that stuff. It's all for me now. I'm the baby.
00:35:25
Speaker
That's that's kitty stuff. These are my toys. Yeah, I mean, it was it was just circling all the things being like, oh, man, like, I didn't even know this was coming out. Oh, this is coming out now. And then, you know, as I as you get older and, you know, and 64 came out and Dreamcast and all that stuff. And it was just like,
00:35:46
Speaker
You know, I want that but I definitely want the Nintendo 64 and I was a Nintendo 64 kid You know remember that video? Yeah, that was me Yeah, yeah, yeah the video game stuff was was huge and again like you know so many memories with like early video game stuff that the yellow slips at Toys R Us Yeah, I remember the toys like
00:36:16
Speaker
The Toys R Us big toy book was more video games. It definitely evolved into that, you know, when they, their song with toys and video, like that was at the very end. Video games. And it's like, Oh yes. Video games. Yeah. We do that now. Yeah. Like I remember, remember the Nickelodeon super toy run and you try to enter. I would be like, I just run down the video game aisle and just yellow slips. Oh hell yeah. Fill the cart with slips. Yeah.
Power Rangers and Childhood Excitement
00:36:46
Speaker
I mean, I got so much Power Rangers. Who wants a bike? I want all these yellows. Like, dude, so much Power Rangers stuff. I had. What were they called? It was.
00:37:01
Speaker
It was like the, the extra, the, the big figures with like the, their power Morphers were, had the red dots in them. They were like the super ones. Yeah. It was like the super something collection. And then you had the evil space mutants. Never once did I get an evil space mutant. I had every single ranger had no villains. They had nobody to fight. My guys had nobody. There was this, and I'm looking it up now because I remember, um,
00:37:32
Speaker
I'm trying to find the toy. Yeah, that's, it was, it was the, it's 1994, the, um, the red dragon thunder zord. That was like, I wanted that thing more than anything else that year. And like, it was one of those things where like, I circled it and then like would draw like a star next to it. Oh, you did the starring too nice. Like this is if there's one thing.
00:38:02
Speaker
there's one thing please make it this one thing and uh and i do remember getting it and was like completely blown away by how cool it was um and that was like jeez 1994 that was that like really like the height that from between like 94 to like 97 everything everything and like it was one of those things too where at least you know in 94 95 96 i wasn't old enough to like
00:38:31
Speaker
I wasn't watching the news. I wasn't catching like the, you know, the, the reports about how difficult these things were to find. And like, you know, like none of that was, I was completely oblivious to it. It was just like, Oh, it's in the wishbook. So like, or the toy book. So I, you know, Jack, this is the thing I want. Like going back in time now, it's like now I know I was, I was asking our mom to like, you know,
00:39:00
Speaker
Please, please attempt the impossible. You bring it back to jingle all the way. You were trying to get a turbo man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just wanted turbo dragon man. Yeah. You just wanted the turbo man. It was red. It was, it was red, yellow. You had it. Yeah. Turbo man doll man. We knew each other as kids. We could have totally, you know, played guys who would have brought, you know, I would have brought my power Rangers who would have had your power. Perfect. We could have sat, crisscross applesauce and played guys. Great.
00:39:30
Speaker
Yeah, I mean you mentioned something a second ago though that I think is Understated talking now about these these guides is discovery like a lot of times this was you know and Dave mentioned it before specifically with the starting lineup figures too But like a lot of times this was the first time you were seeing some of these toys let alone seeing them all together at once You know
00:40:00
Speaker
Again, it's just one of those things where it's like, I can't believe this thing exists, I need it. I had no idea it existed. This is the only way that you could find out about it. Yeah, unless you got an advertisement with a new series of figures. Yep. You happen to come across a new one in a store and you saw the cross cell. These were how you found out series were out or existed.
00:40:26
Speaker
I mean, like how many commercials do you really get to, you know, you do, you know, you watch a lot of TV as a kid, you're watching cartoons and yeah, advertisements all over, but this was all compiled. Yep. This was a database. And a lot of times those advertisements were, were plugging what was already in stores, you know, for obvious reasons, right? Like, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't showing off like the new thing always. Sometimes it was, you know, sometimes you did get like that new, you know, you know,
00:40:55
Speaker
feature or something but for the most part it was showing you you know it was trying to drive hype for what was on shelves already and people who were deep into toys you know even as kids it was like you know I saw it at KB last week you know it's nothing it's nothing new to me um but you know I'm I'm kind of glad that the you know in a in a world where like everything is is digital and you know everything is like a click away
00:41:22
Speaker
It's still kind of nice that even though they're, you could argue they're kind of a shell of what they used to be. It's still kind of nice that they send out, you know, the toy book and these, um, these catalogs. Uh, and you know, who knows? I know Toys R Us. They're giving it the old try again. Well, that new, you know, you get the Thanksgiving week circulars now and you're, you're, you're looking at, all right, which video games are on sale. All right. Yep. Yep.
00:41:52
Speaker
the Black Friday sales that now go on for like three weeks. Black Friday makes no sense. One week beforehand and like three weeks after. Shouts to our friend at Ringside who keep the Black Friday dream alive for six weeks. Good on them. Good on that. Pre-Black Friday, Black Friday.
00:42:12
Speaker
Black Friday 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0. Don't forget the Cyber Mondays too. Cyber Monday, yeah. You get like six weeks of sales. In some of these now, it's like if you miss out, I mean, you're the busiest person alive.
00:42:33
Speaker
And the only advice I could say to those who, you know, going off of the last two years, like the best Black Friday sales, like I got,
Modern Toy Sales and Deals
00:42:45
Speaker
what is it? We're recording this. It's December 20th. I got two like brand new GI Joes, GI Joe classified figures, like the most like recent wave or so for like $10 each at Target like three days ago.
00:43:01
Speaker
Like we're so past all of the sales. With like a ringside sale, it's like get a whole wave for the price of like four figures. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, these, you know, these guys weren't, weren't, you know, touting discounts. Usually it was, you know, it was just, you had to get those like the week of or in store or whatever. Yeah. So like I was having this conversation with somebody the other day, like when you think about
00:43:29
Speaker
kids today, right? They don't have the commercials like we used to have. No, they don't really have the wishbook. So like, how do they know what they're interested in now? Like, what is these like hot properties for the kids that are just like, yeah, I saw, I saw a commercial for big years during Monday Night Raw. I almost fell over. Whoa. Did you really? Yeah. Mattel Mattel's good about getting like two to three in a year. You know, they'll show up at like, if you go to a live event,
00:43:59
Speaker
And it's a great commercial, by the way, too. Yeah, they usually get talent. I think the most recent one has Sheamus in it. Yeah. But they've done them a coffee. They usually get, you know, substantial talent to be in them.
00:44:15
Speaker
But if you go to a live event, like when they're either at commercial break or if it's just a, you know, a non televised live event, they'll show them on the, unlike the, the Titan Tron in between, which is always fun. Um, chats to our, our buddies at Mattel to help put those together. Really, really cool commercials. But you know, it's, it's a great, um, it's a great point because like, I mean, we don't have cable, you know, where I've seen commercials these days than anywhere YouTube.
00:44:45
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. They, they do show up on YouTube, but like, I saw like squish mellows and like fingerlings. Yeah. Or the last two toy commercials I saw. It's, it tends to be those, the, the toys that show up in those commercials tend to be kind of like the viral things, like your furbies, your fingerlings, uh, squish mellows and furbies are back. Yeah. Like they're, it's not like, you know,
00:45:15
Speaker
Marvel Legends are making there are even like the kid for like a tight. Oh, RC. Yeah. Wall climber. Yeah. Oh man. Which I had. Yep. Like my nephew, he's really into Ninja Turtles now, which is awesome. Awesome. That's I love that. You know, he went to go see mutant mayhem and now he's watching like
00:45:36
Speaker
What year did that CG animated Turtles cartoon come out?
Passing Down Fandom
00:45:40
Speaker
The 2008 one? The... Is it more serious or is it like goofy? The one that was just called TMNT? I don't know. Yeah, I think it was just called... Well, it was whatever the animated show that came out that was all computer generated. 2008. Yeah, 2008. Yeah, he's been watching that now. So he's like, oh, I want...
00:46:02
Speaker
Leonardo I want so I actually I buy a lot of like retro stuff off of a guy on Instagram and I found him like a super like flipping Leonardo Probably spent more than I should have for somebody for a kid who's gonna open it and play with it But I was like look if I was buying it for myself. I'm gonna open it. Yeah play with it so So I sent him that and he's like uncle Joe can't can can I get a shredder like this? I'm like I I
00:46:30
Speaker
Maybe. I don't know if they made it. But it's like, if you get a chance, sort of kind of off topic, but not really. At American Dream, the mall, the Nickelodeon theme park.
00:46:48
Speaker
the turtle stuff in the theme park is based on those turtles and they have those turtles in costume that you can do like meet and greets with but it's it's the 2008 turtles that's pretty amazing actually like if he's really into that like you should totally take him there because there's like photo ops with like their turtle van and they're they have like
00:47:10
Speaker
family-friendly turtle roller coaster that's called the shredder It's it and you don't have to anymore like you used to have to pay like a theme park rate to just get in Now you can pay almost like a carnival like you can just get like five tickets and just get on the one ride and you can walk through the whole like theme park area and they have like turtle merch that's like I said in the style of those turtles, so If you get a chance during like the holiday break
00:47:38
Speaker
They'll have to fly in. They live in Florida. Well, if they're ever up here, definitely make it a point. If he's still consuming that turtle, 2008 turtle goodness. I hope he's consuming turtles forever. I want him to be consuming all of these good things forever. My brother now has a full Castle Greyskull and original Motu figures. He plays Master the Universe with my brother and I'm like, good.
00:48:08
Speaker
Good good do it Well, I mean I think you know, it's it's uh We we've we've waxed poetic enough I think on on the uh, the the history of of toy gods um This episode is airing on christmas
Gratitude and Holiday Wishes
00:48:32
Speaker
day. So uh, you know what better way
00:48:36
Speaker
to close out an episode talking about holiday guides and all fun things for the holidays and from hearing from some of our previous guests, friends of the pod with some lovely holiday wishes for everybody. But before we do that, let's just sign off the three of us here. It's an absolute pleasure
00:49:01
Speaker
to do this podcast with my brother and one of our best friends every week. You're hearing from us and we're on social media and the community keeps growing. We say the AIC family.
00:49:21
Speaker
And we mean that it's an awesome opportunity to get to talk to the people that we get to talk to, go to the places that we get to go to. And we certainly don't take that for granted. It's something that we're...
00:49:34
Speaker
we're very thankful for. And we hope everyone listening has an amazing holiday, has a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year. And Dave, Joe, anything you guys want to say before we kick it to our friends of the pod? Yeah, thank you, everybody. It's really cool getting the opportunities to do the things we get to do and to really
00:50:03
Speaker
kind of share the stuff we enjoy with everybody. So thank you, everybody. And we'll see you next year. Have a great holiday. Enjoy all the times, however you choose to celebrate. Awesome. Yeah. Stay collecting, everyone. That's what I want to say. Stay collecting. It's a great time to collect. It's a great community. I enjoy being a part of it as well. My office is just chock full of toys.
00:50:32
Speaker
And, uh, yeah, I just, I love being a part of this show and getting to hear all this, all this goodness and joy spreading through the world. I'm done. Thank you for bringing your, your YuleTime cheer and your log. Happy holidays, everyone. Bye. Bye. Hey, it's Kanek and I'm shaking with excitement to wish you and all your listeners a happy holiday.
00:51:02
Speaker
I hope everyone got a Superman this year to go with their major bennies and big rubber guys. Bye.
00:51:09
Speaker
Hey, what's going on adventures in collecting listeners? This is zombie sailor, the creative director of the hit toy line, wrestling, heels and faces. I just wanted to take this moment to wish everybody a happy holiday season. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy Kwanzaa. Whatever it is that you celebrate. I hope you enjoy it with your family and your loved ones. It was a great year for us. We appreciate all our supporters. You guys take care.
00:51:38
Speaker
Enjoy yourselves. Happy Healthy New Year. All the best. Hello, adventures in connecting voicemail. It's Stevie18 here, aka Steve Evans, aka Steve, aka Steven, aka Tink, aka whatever you want to call me. I just wanted to leave you a secret message to say, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, or whatever you're celebrating this time of year. And thank you for helping us all get through a crazy, crazy 2023. I know it's been tough for everybody,
00:52:08
Speaker
But I love that the collecting community has stayed together and we keep pushing our passion. Anyway, 24 is going to get better and 25 is going to be even better. And we go onwards and we go upwards. Okay, I've got to go and make sausage rolls. Bye. Hello, hello, Adventures in Collecting. It is Blaine with Things here, wishing you all the best in your holiday seasons and looking forward to what you guys have coming in the new year.
00:52:36
Speaker
Hey Adventures in Collecting, this is Magic Olmos from the Jaguars team for AEW. I want to wish you guys a happy holiday and say thank you for all the support and coverage you guys have been giving us since day one. You guys have been there being nothing but the best towards us. I just really want to thank you and wish you guys happy holidays.
00:52:53
Speaker
Season's greeting my friends, long time listener, first time caller, this is Justin Kavanagh here, and on behalf of the entire team at Bandai Namco Toys and Collectibles America, aka BNCCA, we'd like to wish Adventures in Collecting, along with all of your listeners, a very happy and safe holiday season. You three are an absolute delight, and I look forward to the countless episodes to come. Mom, I'm on the phone!
00:53:22
Speaker
With my internet friends, hello. Not like you know anything about that. Delicious story. Anyway, Happy New Year and keep rocking on, baby. Thank you so much. Hey, guys, Ryan King here from the inaugural Archie Award winning Marvel Legends team. I want to wish the adventures and collecting podcast listeners a happy holiday season filled with more than just toys, but also family and friends, gratitude and laughter.
00:53:50
Speaker
Thanks to the AIC crew, Eric and Dave, for another year of comprehensive action figure news coverage and some of the most insightful and entertaining interviews in the biz. Keep up the good work, fellas. Olay, Olay, Olay, Olay! Hey, Adventures in Collecting. This is your boy, Kyle Waddiga of Super 7, aka the creator of SecuWack King. Just kidding. That was a keen decision. But, for some reason I'm the face anyways. Wishing you guys a happy holiday.
00:54:19
Speaker
So excited for another year of contests, another year of great toys. Cheers to all of my contemporaries and colleagues in the toy industry who put out banger after banger, absolute fire, amazing pieces, a new, another record year for toys. Amazing, amazing work. As I like to say, the inmates are running the asylum now and the work shows it's amazing. Everybody firing on all cylinders.
00:54:46
Speaker
It's an amazing time to be a collector, an amazing time to be a designer, an amazing time to just have, you know, any involvement with this amazing community that we are all part of. So cheers to 2024. Thanks a lot for 2023. Looking forward to what the future holds. Hope you guys are safe. Take care, everybody.
00:55:21
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.
00:55:38
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.
00:56:02
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.
00:56:33
Speaker
Hold on, I f***ed it up. Make sure you cut that. Santa doesn't curse.