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Don't Knock the Hustle! A Hasttel Toy Update from Mitch
327 Plays5 months ago
Friend of the pod and returning guest MItch of Hasttel Toy is back to give us an update on all things Grapplers and Gimmicks. From the retro-inspired figures that got him started to the new modern, articulated Regium line, catch up on what's going on and hear all about where the line is headed in this exciting episode!
Follow Hasttel Toy on Instagram @hastteltoy and visit https://www.hastteltoy.com to get your figures!
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Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
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Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction & Hosts' Banter
00:00:03
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting. Where we talk toy news, culture, and halls. Along with our journeys as collectors. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. It feels weird now that Chris Jericho does the high guys. like It's so close. i I don't know. Are we going to sit under your learning tree? no there's No, I don't know what there is to learn. um you know There's a lot. You've got a lot. You've got a lot. got um I guess I've got experience, if if nothing else. That's true. Hi.
00:00:58
Speaker
Hi. um I was going to make a Joe Hendry joke and I was going to say your name and have you appear. Have me appear? yeah But ah but you you jumped in with the Chris Jericho on first. It's audio. I can't just appear. It's true. It's true. it It is. It is audio though. We might have a couple of them. We might have some surprises this week. wow Who knows? yeah Who knows? Who knows what happens on this show? I sure don't.
00:01:25
Speaker
um don't then But I do know that, that, uh, that I'm, I'm not supposed to bury the lead, right? The thing that I'm not supposed to do. if Not, not on this post holiday long weekend yeah episode. That's right. yeah this This will be airing after after Independence Day. So welcome to Earth and ah and and and and all the other fun quotes from yeah from that wonderful, wonderful classic movie. But but not the sequel. but not No, either of them. Neither neither of them.
Interview with Mitch from Hasseltoy
00:01:59
Speaker
um But yeah, so today's guest, this week's guest, returning guest, friend of the pod, somebody that that that we hold we hold very dear here on on Adventures in Collecting. um We had the privilege of of meeting him in person finally last year at New York Comic Con, which was absolutely splendid. But the Hustleman himself, Mitch of Hasseltoy of Grapplers and Gimmicks, ah is is back. It has been a ah ah hell of a ride for him recently. lots of Lots of new toys, lots of new signings, very exciting things.
00:02:37
Speaker
um you know we it's been It's been awesome to watch this ah this toy line grow. so So we are excited to welcome back Mitch. Mitch, ah welcome back to Adventures in Collecting, buddy. What's up, guys? How's everything? Happy 4th of July. i We're here. where We got ah beer in hand. we're We're doing good. I got the patriotic shirt on. You can see it in ah internet land. And we're I'm just happy to be here again. Thanks for having me back. If for those that, uh, you know, again, there might be a video, a special little video element to this week's episode, but, uh, that lead I will Barry.
00:03:17
Speaker
Um, but but mit Mitch and I are, are, are rocking some, uh, some matching tank tops. Dave is, is very, uh, he's wearing a Hellraiser shirt. He's got the Doug Bradley on. He's got the Doug Bradley. Yeah. Perfect. It's perfect. Well, Mitch, uh, yeah, man. Well, welcome back to the show. It's been a while since we've, uh, we've chatted, but we're, we're excited to hop back in with you and, and catch up on all of the amazing. things that you're up to you know constantly moving and hustling as as is your namesake so uh yeah you're you're living living up sometimes you know it's a curse sometimes but uh but yeah i'm here uh
00:03:57
Speaker
you know We're chugging along here with the grapplers and gimmicks and the Hastel toy ah machine. And um you know we're very excited about our Regium regium series. ah you know However you pronounce it, just remember the name, hopefully. ah Just remember the name. And ah yeah, we we we got a lot of exciting things for that. A lot of surprises coming ah in store for everybody with the with that toy on, our six inch ah fully articulated ah articulated figures. I can't talk, people. My brain's shutting down for Fourth of July. I apologize if I startle or mumble. um It could also be the beer. I mean, I am a one beer ah yeah drunk these days. If I have one beer, I'm i'm usually you know dancing on the table, so I don't know. but and You'll have to add cheap date to your... ah Yeah. Hey, you know what? i yeah
00:04:49
Speaker
it's all that weight you lost That's what did it you lost all that ah that's what it is man now you're a cheap date. That's what it is. It's a weird thing I it's funny you mentioned that because even sometimes like because it's still so new like getting back to like my my happy weight, I guess ah Not happy for eating but happy in like just a health position ah Because I like to eat But, um, it's just, uh, you know, it's, even when I get up, sometimes I'll go into the bathroom and then I'll look in the mirror when I'm brushing my teeth. And I'm like, it's weird. It's sometimes it's weird because I'll, I'll still be in dreamland. And I forget sometimes that, you know, like, who is this guy? Who's this guy I'm looking at right now? You know, but I'm i'm happy and I feel a lot better. I feel a lot better physically. So yeah, the thing for me when I, uh, so years ago when I, when I lost a bunch of weight, um, I just remember being annoyed that all of a sudden I felt cold all the time.
00:05:43
Speaker
Like I didn't have like that's what I'm experiencing right now actually here in my basement vault and and ah It's uh, it's very cold down here, was especially when you have the air conditioning on ah this room is not it's not very insulated So it's it I've always been warm no matter what my weight is but the one that I have was I had to shave my ah beard for a For Halloween for Eric's oldest daughter's costume and I looked at myself and I don't like this. I don't like this Yeah, you know hair was a bit much like I it had been it had been too long. Um, I look like a large child. Yeah let's
00:06:24
Speaker
I do too, actually. A baby, even with my bald head. It it definitely ah has baby qualities, you know? I was a professor. I had the bald cap on. I was like um like, I don't even need that, bro. Like I just, I got it. You know, like I just wear my, if I get in my house coat, like, oh, I called my wife, makes fun of me. My bathrobe, if I get in my bathrobe with black and it's like fleece and if I, you know, Hey, you know, I'm like uncle Fester. It's pretty funny. It's a good visual. so So Grapplers and Gimmicks, you know, he mentioned it at the top there, has grown significantly since the last time we all you know we all chatted together. ah we've We've seen Nelson Frazier, we've seen Bobby Horn, Carlito i catch us up. What's what's ah what's hitting now? What's ah what's arriving in in ah in your ah your your collector's hands? And and what's what's kind of on the horizon here?
00:07:16
Speaker
Well, literally, I mean, it's good timing with the pod. ah Literally within the last, like, seven days, I think, ish. Not not not necessarily a week's time, but seven days. I shipped out, like, over 600 packages. We got, in those packages, we have the wild man in in his red attire. ah We got the wild man. It's in his yellow ah limited edition attire um And we had the the Canadians aka the Quebecers Jacques and Pierre in their not Mountie outfits and then we had the limited edition black Mark merrow so so yeah, those those were going out people are posting them as we speak I think and I
00:08:08
Speaker
Good. and Everything's good. I mean. ah Motivational speaker now, Mark Marrow. Yeah. Yes. ah He actually, I mean, I ain't going to lie, man. He's a, he is a, he is a very nice guy in real life. I, yeah I enjoy speaking with him. I enjoy, ah you know, communicating very easy. Like, you know, I, I have no complaints with Mark Marrow. He's a great guy. Very nice. But there will be a Johnny B. Bed coming, by the way. I don't know if I'm just dropping bombs here. But there will be a Johnny B. Bed. I don't know what we're going to call it. Maybe it is Johnny B. Bed. I don't know what the thing is. But this is newly inked information that literally just happened this afternoon. So it will happen. You could always just add an extra D and then it comes to hand. No, it was one less. You got to take one out.
00:09:02
Speaker
Yeah, or BEE bed, you know, mean like he's a bumblebee now. We just put him in that yellow outfit again. You just got to go, that you got to go the the classic WWE Taz route and just add an extra yes extra Z. Didn't they do that with the Dudley boys too or something like that? Wasn't there like in a... I don't know. that was the I think TNA, when they were Brother Ray. Yeah, and then they became Team 3D, and then they they tried a bunch of different ways. But now that the Dudley Boys again, if you go to Bojangles, you can get the, I think, didn't they make a Dudley Boys cup? A cup? There's like a New Day sandwich. Yeah. And I have a Bojangles that just opened near my house here in ah beautiful Canton, Ohio. So I think I'm going to visit them this weekend at some point and see if I can get some of these cups.
00:09:46
Speaker
so I remember we talked about this way back you know when you when you started kind of signing these contracts. What's it what's it been like you know keeping that going and and and you know forming these relationships with these you know people that we enjoyed? We all enjoyed watching them you know when when we were younger. What's it what's it been like you know kind of having now a professional relationship with them?
Mitch's Background in Wrestling and Toy Design
00:10:07
Speaker
i mean it's great because with my like Short-lived, you know 10-year span of being involved in the wrestling business as far as like both a ah talent and then also like DJing the wrestling of like indie wrestling events and stuff like that ah So I kind of pulled double duty a lot of the times on those shows it was cool to start interacting with them then and then a few years later, you know, we fast-forward and you know, then we had the the online thing and then the Instagram it turned into
00:10:40
Speaker
whatever it turned into, and then it turned ah into an actual store. And then from the store, we kind of evolved into making the our own stuff. So a lot of these relationships I had already established, thankfully, through having these wrestlers appear for autograph signings at the store. At the stores, you know, because we we kept upgrading. Then we eventually moved here from New York. So, you know, it was cool that I kind of already had that base, you know, and and You know, Charles Wright, the godfather was the, it was the first guy to, to give me a chance, I guess, you know, allow me to make a figure of him. And, uh, that was, that was, you know, that's kind of where it all started. And I, as as I said before, uh, in the past, like it was just supposed to be that one figure. It was never supposed to be, uh, an entire toy line. And that's why I, uh, you know, I put myself, my family, my friends on the back and the people that were involved. And then older people who purchased got their name on this.
00:11:38
Speaker
You know, bowl of fame, I guess, you know, and love and support. And then it just snowballed, you know, and and, you know, Tony came after and then it was, you know, it was off to the races after that. I just, I just caught the wave. I guess I got lucky, you know, cause everybody knows everybody. And then, you know, between the guys that. You know, I had already established relationships with, uh, that kind of spawned into, you know, maybe referrals and things like that. Hey, what about this guy? What about this guy? You know, at one point I was like, whoa, I gotta, I want to make a ton. I want to make everybody, but I can only like, I can only do so much at once. Like I'm not a multimillionaire, still not a multimillionaire sadly. Uh, but you know, I, uh,
00:12:24
Speaker
I just, it just, it just grew. And then, you know, then we obviously shifted, not shifted because we're still going to make the vintage style. Um, but now as we were saying, we're going to be doing the, the six inch style now, the fully articulated figures. And this is like a different challenge, which is something that I love now because I don't ever want to become like complacent with what I'm doing. I always want to evolve and, and kind of like. do something different. It keeps me entertained like in a business aspect. like It keeps me um keeps me always looking for like the next the next big thing, I guess. you What can we do next? but can we What can we you know sink our teeth into? you know it's It's fun. It's my weirdness, I don't know. but yeah I think that's kind of par for the course though, even with like the collecting or the making it is the
00:13:18
Speaker
you know, always striving for perfection or having that, that kind of addictive personality to just kind of keep yeah everything moving and keep everything coming in and all that. Um, and so you know, one of the things that we've seen from you is just the product continuing to improve and grow in quality and just get better and better as it's gone on. Um, so you've seen that with each release from the figures themselves to even just the packaging and the the continuity with the packaging and the improvement in it. um what is What's led to these improvements over really such a short time span? it's a lot of Well, a lot of it has to do with me wanting to... like i really really like My goal, like my I guess my like brass ring was like...
00:14:08
Speaker
i Wanted to I really wanted to I wanted my figures to look as if they came out of 1994 95 or whatever it was like if you put one of mine next to an old Hasbro figure I wanted it to if somebody wasn't in the know I wanted them to think that wow I didn't know they made a mark mirror when we were kids like it it fits You know it fits right in like you'd seamless right like that's what they say so you know every time I did it or I made a figure I always try to like like what can I do to make this like better and better and better and and just try to like make it closer like closer to the Hasbro's and you know the most gratifying thing now is like I was just listening to the most recent major pod and even the like Cardona said like and it literally it literally brought a tear to my eye only because of my long-term friendship with him even though sometimes he breaks my balls
00:15:04
Speaker
Uh, was that he finally said like, you know, Mitch's Mitch's got the closest thing to the old, the old Hasbro's now. Like they literally said it on the podcast and that, and that really meant a lot. Like that. I finally, I i feel like if these guys are the aficionados of wrestling figures, right. In in a lot of the public side and for them to say something like that like that really Yeah, I really meant a lot, you know, so I feel like i've gotten maybe i've reached that that point but I still want to like There's always little things that ah even ah even like ah as flawless as I feel like this is or ah as a lot of people are saying Like I I still think there's certain things that I still want to like even do better So, you know, even if it's a 1 uh improvement as we go on it's still
00:15:51
Speaker
It's still, you know, an improvement nonetheless, you know, so. Yeah. I mean, and it's, it's crazy. Cause like dave Dave mentioned it and I, and I'm sitting here and as you're answering the question, I'm thinking about it, like the amount of time between that Charles Wright figure and the Mark Miller that you just showed the, the, the, and this is no knock to that Charles Wright figure. Cause like, I don't know how to make an action figure. Dave does not know how to make i get it bigger. It's trial by fire. You literally jumped in, you you've held your nose, closed your eyes, jumped in. And yeah you sometimes there's no better way to learn, you know? like It's true. and But the the night and day difference between that figure and even and even the the the Frasier figure. Even Nelson Frasier, yeah. But we saw, yeah and we're at Comic Con, when I held that,
00:16:45
Speaker
That is the first time that I have held something and this is no knock to anything anyone else is doing, Mattel included. I felt like I was holding a Hasbro. You were busy because you were doing your thing. You were hustling around. Oh yeah, hustling around. And I looked at Dave and I just kind of gave him this look of like, oh my god, and like handed it over to him and he was like, oh my god. The boy did it! Yeah. It was like, it was like holding Yoko Zuna. Like it was just like... Yep. Yep. Where it was like heavily inspired by that, you know. If I put Nelson Frazier in a sock.
00:17:25
Speaker
And I swung it and hit somebody, I'm knocking them out. like You would hurt them real bad. Trust me, I did it without kidding. But yeah, it's, that it's you know, the and that's some of the things. It's like, you know, there's there's so much to contend with because other than Mattel, nobody can really afford to do the the action features, right? So it's it's a question of, so taking that out of the equation, It's a question of nailing, all right does it look right? And the weight. Does it have that shine? The proverbial shine. Anyone that has played with Hasbro's, we ever everyone knows what it's like to hold one of the figures. The only way you can describe it is by saying like, oh yeah, like holding a Hasbro figure.
00:18:13
Speaker
yeah like because you can't quantify it verbally, you just know it. Right. And so to like, I remember holding that Nelson Fraser and being like, this is yeah, this is it. Yep. Yeah, I think that was when we went in the lab and he got it. yeah Exactly. I mean, it's I still love the Ahmed, ah Tony, I thought it ah you know it was definitely he does have the shine. ah Because we with these we definitely had you could hear there there was this was ABS in the chest there um So I tried to do that, you know to the best of my ability with these first ones, you know, I i love him I still love him. I still love this like you said before I still love the smoke train ah It'll always have a special spot in my heart But I would be like delusional if I didn't say that, you know by the time we got to even even Tony Norris
00:19:07
Speaker
where it's already started pivoting as far as scopes go and then when you no pun intended but you took a huge leap like you said with that nelson and bobby even i mean he's you can't we can't forget poor bobby he looks great too you know um but it's just such girth on that that nelson navel or whatever you want to call him you know what i mean so uh but yeah i appreciate that man i'm glad that people appreciate you know the strides and the the uh the leap of faith, as you say. It's very gratifying.
Creative Process and Challenges
00:19:42
Speaker
And like I said, I only listen to this because it only got released this morning. So I was listening to the other pod. And I couldn't believe my ears almost. I was like, oh, shit. Did they really just say that? All right. Now the bar is really high. You got to keep the bull in the air, right?
00:20:06
Speaker
So well yeah we're hoping to do that. Speaking of raising the bar, though, you know, before before we hop off of this line and into your your your newest venture, um the stars aligned for a bunch of creators and and designers out there in the past like year or so with opportunities to bring Macho Man Randy Savage into, you know, into these toy lines. Right. Like, yeah, that was a ah kind of kind of war. Yeah. This is like a dream come true, too. I mean, like, even when I announced it, I did a video and it was like the boyhood dream comes true again. Like, did I ever like if you had gone back to 94 and said, hey, listen, whatever, because I was customizing up until like the early 2000s, I was painting my own Hasbro's and stuff.
00:20:49
Speaker
um But like if you had gone back and said, hey, you're going to make an officially licensed Macho Man figure, but not only one, um I can't find the other one right now, he's here somewhere, but I have a mess on my desk. ah But um it's just it's it literally is a dream come true. It's unreal. ah And, um, I, I love them. I love the way they came out. I feel like these are people, when people get these and they're going to be like, holy shit, this, this is, this is a Hasbro we never got. Like that's, that's the way I want it to feel, you know? And people were saying, Oh, it looks like, yeah, it kind of looks like the other one, but let me see if I can get over here real quick. Well, the original with the coat was a jumper. Yeah.
00:21:32
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you could you could see there is some similarities, but it's not a it's not a blatant ah copy or ripoff. ah I always this figure always. I loved it because of its colorfulness. And I used to make him come to the ring like this and then he would switch into the other Macho Man or whatever. Yep. ah even though he would never remove his pants in real life. But still, it was kind of cool, you know? Because that's what we had to do back then. You had to use your freaking imagination. Not like now. These kids are so spoiled. They got removable lists, removable that. They got trash cans. They got tables. Like, I used to have to use cardboard as a table, like, with two nails, with four nails in it as a breakaway table. Like, it's just insane, like, this the stuff that I had to go through. I used to use one of those. The pizza boxes. The little, the little, like, white. Yes! you Yes! The round ones! Yes!
00:22:19
Speaker
Yep, those you know, I used to use those work tape cases too cassette tape cases were great tables that works Made a lot. Yeah, I actually I used to take those and I would I would put a piece of scotch tape over the top of it So then it would fold like this and then I would put like a piece of cardboard under it So when you slam them into it, it would break like the two tape cases would break So i'm on the same page boys, you know, yeahp um But I it always pissed me off enough for the fact that they gave him the hat they gave him the jacket But they never gave him the sunglasses. So if you're gonna put all that crap on him Why would this be the one macho man Hasbro that doesn't have glasses? Like it just didn't make sense to me So that's one when we did this one and I said we got to give him he's got to have the whole kit and kaboodle He's got to have the jacket the glasses and the hat and I don't think they should be removable I wanted them to be
00:23:09
Speaker
Mold it on, you know what I mean? Yeah. And and then in the upcoming weeks, we're going to see everything unfold and we're going to see ah the other macho that has this wrestling gear from WrestleMania 8, as we know. um And we'll see this one in its full colored glory. And it'll all make sense. It'll all come together. So that's it for that. So you mentioned the WrestleMania 8 gear. What made you go with that for that ah that figure? I feel like it was... is still in like the, was it 93, right? It was still in the, it was still in like that era. Like that. It could have, it could have potentially had been the Hasbro figure, right? Uh, part of it was too bad. Right. And the red trunks. So yeah I, uh,
00:24:02
Speaker
i And plus I wanted to do I wanted to do a figure on gold just because you know, I there was still that little bit of ah You know stigma from the the men on a mission thing and all that other stuff So I uh, it was a couple of reasons, but I always I always loved that match and I loved that the match You know, it didn't end with like a finishing move or something like it was a roll-up like I don't know there was something about it was just something and I love macho man, obviously or else I wouldn't have paid the big bucks to get his his royalties, you know, his permission. ah So I don't know. I think that that's one of the reasons. It was one of my favorite Wrestlemanias too back in the day. I just liked that whole whole thing.
00:24:49
Speaker
Just his look. I just looked, I thought it looked cool. And they always said Macho like when he was going to win a belt, he would always wear something gold. Like there was like some kind of like subliminal thing to to that. But anyway, I thought it was cool. It was something that hadn't been done before. And we've rarely gotten that out. I think that Mattel made an elite of it, but there really wasn't much of anything else, you know? Yeah. So yeah yeah so we talked about Macho Man. We've talked about a couple other pipeline things, but what are some other things that are that are kind of coming com through the works for grapplers and gimmicks?
00:25:26
Speaker
Oh, we got a lot, man. i yeah i just I was just telling you guys, I think, Ophir, that I had some surprises for you. we got I got a whole box of... Now, for people that are... Again, not everybody knows everything about toy stuff, and then there's even some people that think they know everything about it that really don't. ah yeah So, it's like... I got a whole box of test shots. So this is now pieces that are actually from the mold ah that are going to be finalized like within the next couple of months. So we got one of our bulldogs here. ah This is going to be the one with the long pants. They obviously, they injected the legs in white because he's going to have like white, blue, and red.
00:26:14
Speaker
you know throughout here so this is going to be a special edition uh where is it and i have they sent me the sample for the card too which which is really cool so that's how it's gonna look yeah we got the artwork from carl in the uk and uh it looks cool you know so that's going to be one of them we got uh This also came and this is literally like I said two or three days ago I got these in the mail. This is a final ah mold, I guess test shot from the one that we had done the pre-order from for the Bulldog with the vest, like the Heart Foundation costume outfit. ah So he'll have this on his card. So he's cool. And then this is one that I'm very proud to do because
00:27:06
Speaker
um This is gonna be the first time that this incarnation of the Bulldog is gonna be ah in action figure form. They've never made a Bulldog with this hair and this with the shorts Yeah, like when he came out and was at 94 94 95 ish ah So we're we're really excited about this one. I love the way it came out. I love the sculpt. ah There's so much detail here I know my You know, 2010 camera may not show all the good details, but I'm proud of this one. um The aesthetics, and so there's little things about the Hasbro's, I don't know if I ever mentioned this publicly before, but there's little things about the Hasbro's that i I always remember in my mind.
00:27:55
Speaker
a lot of them had like because they had the actions so a lot of them had like sometimes the wastes were a little oversized or like there were like certain little like aspects of them that so we try to like I try to maintain that too in these when we do these sculpts so you can kind of still it still has the appearance of an action maybe But obviously it doesn't have it, as I said before. But but i love I just love the whole aesthetic of how they're designed. And I try to keep that in mind when we do our or stuff. um We got this back.
00:28:29
Speaker
i never I never thought about that. Yeah, there is. There's like a skew to the proportions. Tiny legs. Yeah, they almost have like tiny legs. But like and theres an extractor the proportions are extra skewed because they have they had to hide the the springs and levers and stuff inside the the chest cavity. So maybe I'm giving away the trade secrets here. I don't know. But some of them have it. Some of them don't. I i tried to... I try to like mix it up like and I try to keep it accurate. like You'll see like even him, like he doesn't really have it because the original one didn't have, he had the action with the arms, so they didn't have to do that. You know what I mean? ah i i Like I said, we try to just kind of, I use it sparingly, but I think it works and it kind of differentiates the each figure from itself.
00:29:15
Speaker
um And then you got the guys that have like bellies and stuff like this. This one just came in as well. The mold is finished. Uh, that's amazing. I turn that i was again, it's that he's got the, he's got it. The towel molded out of his mouth yeah little towel, you know, uh, and he's got the ah removable, uh, and removable plunger, you know, uh, accessory. It's got a little flex to it. So it won't break like kind of like the smoke trains, uh, stick. Uh, but yeah, there's detail there, man. You know, it's kind of like reminiscent of the sit a little bit. It has that, that feel to it. Uh, I love this figure. Uh, nice guy. I literally was just talking to him this afternoon. He, he called me, oh, he texted me and then I called him and I said, was just giving him the updates. I said, dude, I literally just got your test shot and that, you know, I was explaining to him about what that means and everything.
00:30:07
Speaker
and it was cool man just to talk to him and he's very happy and i showed him the figure and he was he's very excited about everything uh and then we got the infamous toilet that will come with him as an accessory uh is in packaged packaged with him it has the poo i know it's controversial for some reason i mean these are supposed to look like action figures from the 90s everything was off limits back then i mean nothing was off limits is what i mean to say the gloves the gloves were off uh so It will have the toilet with the poo in it. um We like that. and i got the I also got this test shot, and I haven't even shown these on my yeah my Instagram or anything like that, so you guys are getting like the first public appearance by these test shots.
00:30:52
Speaker
But yeah, we got the Frankie with, with the Coco, you know, the bird. There's like a sweet spot on his arm. It is. Yeah. In the beginning of, in the beginning of high energy, he still had the bird for a brief period of time. Uh, and then they stopped carrying it. I guess it became too much of a hassle or whatever. So, or I don't know if that's the time when the house burned down and bird died or whatever. I'm not sure, but, but he's here. We got him here. I didn't want to make it. Exactly the same as the Hasbro one and I could actually I can actually grab them because he's right here on the edge of my display but um
00:31:30
Speaker
I got show and tell today, boys. I didn't want to make it exact. It's definitely different. It's it's sculpted from scratch. It doesn't have like the open beak. It's more of a chill Frankie. he's not He's not looking to fly away here, although I do like the spread wings here. But again, I wanted to do something. I wanted it to be a little bit different. So he's got the nice long feathers in the back there. ah I'm proud of this one. I think this one is going to be awesome. They're all going to be awesome, but I really am excited about it. ah the the coco so and i showed these i think a couple weeks ago or last week or one of the other weeks but these are the redone um molds for the bulldog and diana ah i did have the molds the molds were done for the originals they had seams i wanted to do away with seams i wanted to eliminate any of that um unsightly stuff ah so i literally spent
00:32:30
Speaker
Quite a few thousand dollars more. And I reinvested and i yeah and I made new molds for these. So I think it's worth the wait. We got a couple extra months wait from what I anticipated. But I think it's for the best. I think people are going to be happy when they when they finally come come out. And then we got the ah my friends here, the ah the fabulous ones, the Rougeos. This is so cool. from the mold, from the injection mold. They're going to look really good. like They still have to put the floor as the lease. I think that's what it's called. Still got to be put on ah here. And then it's still got to say Fabulo on the on the butt there. But this is the you know this is the almost final product for the cape. get is still I'm still going to change it a little bit. So they're working on that now. They're going to hate me. but you know And then we got
00:33:27
Speaker
uh jock here in his younger form not quite a quebecu yet even though technically he was a quebecu in real life uh so those guys will be coming uh sometimes too too i can hear the theme song now yeah yes one of the one of the one of the all-time greats all american boys that's so good it is so good from montreal to memphis back in the morning that one amazing yeah i'm not a wedding so good ah but yeah it was great And, uh, but yeah, so that's some of the goodies that we got coming. And they're always hanging out with me over here to the, uh, Quebecers. Um, I'm excited that people are really digging them. And, uh, like I said, it's very, very gratifying hanging out with my boy, uh, Dan Spivey also, AKA Weyland Mercy. So he's gonna, he's gonna be a good one too. umm I'm looking forward to seeing it all all painted up and, you know,
00:34:25
Speaker
He can, he can actually turn all the way around, which some people are obsessed with that for some reason. So I made sure he's got the sleeper hold arm so he could do the old finishing move. Um, it's going to be a good one. That one will be coming soon too. And now a word from our sponsors.
00:34:47
Speaker
This segment is brought to you by our friends at Chubsy Wubsy Toys. A traditional mom and pop toy store in Little Falls, New Jersey, Chubsy Wubsy Toys brings you the best new toys from the brands you love without the hassle of pounding the pavement searching for them at larger retail stores. Visit them in person at their brand new home at 101 Newark Pompton Turnpike Suite 1 in Little Falls, New Jersey, or online at ChubsyWubsy.com. That's C-H-U-B-Z-Z-Y-W-U-B-Z-Z-Y dot.com. And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you.
00:35:28
Speaker
And now back to the show. So from ah from from classic retros or classic Hasbro style figures to something a little ah newer and a little more complicated. Grapplers and gimmicks has grown into a second line. ah Tell us ah what what led you to going down the road to ah to reg regime reggie is a pink it's a yeah Regium. Regium, Regium, Regium, Regium. Realistically, it's it's A lot. I can't even pronounce it. No. it's ah it's It's basically regium. it The G is like an E.
00:36:06
Speaker
Yeah, but right but But I still say regium and I still people say regime as long as you know Who it is and as long as you know where it's coming from I don't care how you pronounce it but I had to come up with something that was meaningful to me, but also Was different from anything else anybody would ever think of or anything anybody else would ever put out I mean you have Ultimates you got Supremes you got ah Elites there there's there's Um, what was the other one deluxe? There's just unmatched, unrivaled, unmatched, unrivaled. Uh, there's just so many like over, I feel like they're overused and I just wanted something different. So it has a little bit of a sentimental meaning for me, uh, with the, you know, me learning does to speak Latin, which that was, you know, I stopped doing that when I was 18. So we're talking 20, 24 years ago.
00:37:00
Speaker
So, uh, but it's still, like I said, I was part of my childhood and I wanted something that was a little different. So you say it however you want, but as long as you know, it's, it's my thing. I'm happy. That's it. But yes, we're we're starting this. It's not the easiest thing in the world. Uh, it's a little harder when you're dealing with all these different points of articulation as opposed to four. And, uh, I think we finally, we finally got it down to, uh, You know, to the proper like movements and the pieces are right now and all the connecting pieces are where they need to be. And ah I, you know, my sculptor staff, he's the godsend. I'm so happy that he and I started working together.
00:37:45
Speaker
um And he's happy too, because these are actually the first two figures, him and the Quebecers, the first three figures, I should say, that he sculpted that actually got put into into production. So these are sentimental, you know, for the company itself and for him. And ah i yeah I have full confidence in his his ability to make articulation. So they they should they should be really awesome. I think people will be very happy. So, so what would you, what would you compare them to like articulation wise? Are they going to be closer to something like an elite or closer to something like the classic superstars? Like where, where, where are you at? Do you think in terms of they're going to be, they're going to be like more like the Mattel or like the, uh, jazzwares, they'll be.
00:38:30
Speaker
I know there'll be you'll be able to do splits you know and sit down and ah super kicks and you know the arms will be able to rotate and ah the head will be able to swivel in most cases unless there's like some kind of ridiculous hair or something on them. They'll be a little bit more limited, but they'll still be able to turn and move. and ah The stomach will they'll have the ab crunch where they you know, they could sit up and kind of bend that way we have some ah Secret cool ah slightly innovative um Like mechanisms built into the articulation ah so it won't be exactly like any of the other lines um Some of them will have like oh if you ever if you could imagine like a ratchet and
00:39:16
Speaker
still not a ratchet girl from the streets, but like a ratchet, like a tool that you use. ah ra ahra rat bra Yes. ah But it'll, it'll kind of click. like Like almost like, ah I guess, you know, the sound of a ah a roller coaster, you know what I mean? But it when you bend, ah it won't just be floppy. Like, so the stomach won't just like fall down. It'll be a little bit more, there'll be resistance there. So you can kind of click them into place a little bit. It's cool. Like we got some some different stuff that some of it's going to be similar, obviously not the same exactly, but some of it's going to be like the point, the point of articulation will be not on the side, but it's going to be in the back.
00:39:58
Speaker
So you won't have like that unsightly like round mark in front. It'll be in the back. So most people aren't going to pose that figures backwards. So it'll be in the back. So you won't, if you do like figure photography or something, you'll have less Photoshop to do. You know, uh, I try to take everything into consideration. They'll be very playable. Like, you know, you want to play with them and make them wrestle or whatever. Um, they'll be able to do that. You know what I mean? So. it's a There was a lot of trial and error. it wasn't as It wasn't as simple as just sculpting and parts and then sending it off. it it had to be There had to be a lot more development involved and more complex.
00:40:40
Speaker
so yeah so it's yeah They're going to be closer to multi-articulated figures that we have currently in the marketplace. Very cool. Yeah, and I mean, you've shown the designs for Al Snow, for Mark Canterbury, for Dennis Knight, and you've announced ah David Heath, which is, oh yeah he's kind of made a little bit of a comeback. And then Tony Norris as well. um yeah And we got plenty in the works. I got plenty, plenty more. so
00:41:11
Speaker
Now some of them you please some of them you'll be able to figure out I'm sure you know because it's a lot of them are guys that we've done smaller versions of but you know, there's some surprises and hidden in there and I even uh, I actually today This is actually hot off the press. I think ah They still say that but this is an image of I'd say this is probably like ah Let's give this like um
00:41:40
Speaker
75% done, maybe. It's not 100% there yet, but we're working on the the Henry Godwin right now. Or Mark Canterbury. ah So you can see it's it's definitely it has a lot more detail. ah Like I said, some things have to be added. Some things have to be toned down. But this is this is basically like what we're looking at as far as a base. um But yeah, it it it kind of looks a lot like him, actually. That's awesome. We wanted him to still have the like that bad guy look to him, because no matter what, he was always a tough son of a gun. ah So he can he can kind of fit in. um The hat, ah we're still working on the hat. um I will say, I'm trying not to give out too, too much here. I'm giving you guys a lot, though. Because I appreciate you having me back.
00:42:38
Speaker
um the though The actual head is not going to have a molded on hat, so hill that hat will not be you know on this first head. So we're still toying with the idea of how we're going to do this. Because a lot of the time when you have removable items, I feel like they're either too bulky or they don't fit right or they just look too weird. so especially if you want to give the hair lots of detail, it's hard to, even if you mold the inside of the hat to fit the head, then it's like there's still some awkwardness there. <unk> There's nothing really like having something sculpted on like an actual accessory sculpted on because it it's meant to be there. It's not meant to be taken off. So there's a weird dynamic. And and I want to make these figures, um,
00:43:32
Speaker
as awesome looking as possible, um but also still like retaining the ability to move and to be playable and stuff like that. So we're still figuring it out. I'm not sure 100% whether it's going to be a removable hat or if it's going to be another head that you can switch and you can give them a hatless head or you can give them the head with the hat on. so We're still in that phase now, but then the main head will be the one without the hat because to date, there's never been a Henry Godwin or a Mark Canterbury without a hat sculpted on. Yeah, molded on. Yeah. so yeah Yeah. And that was going to be my question, like extra heads and hats and accessories or like how are those going to be in play with the... where it's needed i will i think we're gonna try to go i always try to go to the extra mile like with these when we originally showed these like there was no cape but then i was like we need to give them capes so yeah it cost me ah a significant amount of money because these are not these are not paper they're not like cheaply made they're they're double layered like there's two things sewn together here so i didn't want to just go cheap but i also didn't want to like
00:44:48
Speaker
go too much because i feel like we're still trying to keep that hasbro mentality right so what if hasbro definitely wouldn't have they might not even given them tapes you know i i don't want to stray too much from the source material like berserker had like that felt cloak or you know whatever they call it coat whatever you know it wasn't it wasn't really well well made you know so this is really well made but i didn't want to i didn't want to make it too to too detailed, you know what I mean? Like we could have threw rhinestones on it, I could have really went the full Monty, you know? But I feel like if you're putting that next to your other Hasbro stuff, it's it's probably not gonna fit in as good as if you gave it like a nice color and you made a nice material but just didn't didn't overdo it, you know? That's another problem I have with these figures.
00:45:40
Speaker
So the undertaker had the duster, so everything's fair game. yeah Yes, you know, and it was a nice material. It had that. That's how you can tell the fakes from the real ones. They still had that stretchy. It's almost like an ah elasticity to it, but it wasn't ah it wasn't like the greatest cloth ever made. You know what I mean? Like so, you know, these you have to find that middle middle point where like you don't want to make them too detailed, but you still want them to be detailed enough where they're going to be. gonna be recognizable but also they're gonna they're gonna look nice next to your other your other Hasbro stuff you know so yeah it's the opposite problem of i think what toy makers have these days they they want everything to be oh it's gotta look exactly like them and it's gotta have every point like the toes gotta to bend and all right boys like they're still action figures we still gotta kind of we still gotta maintain there still has to be that spirit there like this
00:46:37
Speaker
ah That's why like my hat my vintage style or whatever you want to call them. They don't I don't stray too far away from the source material. I just You know, I try to like I have to hold back sometimes because I want it to be great But I also don't want them to they don't want it to be too much either, you know, so Well with that it's time to ah to jump into our Q and&A here. So oh boy, you know, let me take a swig of beer for the working man. I We do have some questions from ah from our followers, but before we jump in, Dave, remind our listeners, ah how can they submit questions for future episodes?
Q&A with Mitch
00:47:19
Speaker
Yeah, so, um, before we record, so usually you'll see it on like a Sunday or Monday. Um, in our Instagram story, we will end in an Instagram post and a threads post and wherever you see it on social media, your social media, um, pro, yeah, like your social media weapon, oh choice, we'll call it. Um, you'll see, uh, uh, uh, a story and a post saying like, hey, we're going to have Mitch from Hastel Toyan. Do you want to ask Mitch a question or whomever the guest is? I'm just saying Mitch because he's our guest this week. There'll be a spot for you to tap on that or click on it or whatever it is you do.
00:48:06
Speaker
add your question and then we get to see it and we get to put it on this list of questions that we have. Um, so make sure to, you know, slam those like buttons and follow and all that good stuff on your, your Instagrams and threads and X's and Facebooks and YouTubes. Perfect, Dave. As, as always, um, this week we have whittled it down. It's been a while. I was a little rusty. and You were good. It was, it was exactly what it needed to be. as as an always
00:48:38
Speaker
um That's my learning tree, by the way. Perfect. Oh, here we go. We've whittled it down to three questions from our followers. Yeah. That's it. All right. Well, we got a ton, but we have to be cognizant of time as well. You should have told me that before I started rambling before. I don't know. I don't know. We're good. None of that was rambling. No, it was all good stuff. It was all showing the test shots, the things that people likely want to see. People love that. I just hope it's transcribing good on this crappy camera that I have on this computer. Yeah, they look great. They look great. Truth be told, I thought it was going to be on my phone, so that's why I was... I know my camera on my phone is really good. This old computer just squeaking by here.
00:49:26
Speaker
It's doing what it needs to do. Yeah, it's doing what it needs to. So we have three questions. Dave, do you want to take the first one here? Yes. At Kevin Thomas QMI asks, is there any chance articulation can be added to Lord Alfred Hayes and Sean Mooney to sit at a commentary desk?
00:49:54
Speaker
ah Spoiler alert. Yes, they're going to they're going to have articulation and breaks. Yes. Yes. We've, uh, we've already taken the steps to start upgrading, not only thanks to Matt Cardona's incessant incessant. Is that the right word? Incestant incessant? that's bit That sounds about right. Yeah, but yes. Uh, uh, Yes, they they will have articulation in the legs somehow. I don't know how we're going to do it, but i I don't want it to hinder the aesthetic of the figure. But yes, they will. The short answer is yes, there will be some sort of articulation in that soup body. We've already added the, yeah you know, so we can use the body and kind of do like we did with the soup bodies that we had made recently. They will have like a
00:50:42
Speaker
a piece that is going to be changed out by the factory and you'll be able, to they'll have bow ties and then some of them will have little ties and stuff. So it's the same premise that we did with the, all the other suits that we're making, but, uh, you know, the legs will, there'll be something there. I'm going to try to figure something out. Like we're, we already kind of like have it revised, but we're, we have to make sure it can work. So, okay. I still don't think a suit body needs to do a split, but... Probably not. No, they could they could be at the desk or they could be at the standing in the controls. That's it. Do they need to do a split or a superkick? I don't think so. you know It's not not Commissioner Cheryl Michaels. I might be overthinking it, but like...
00:51:23
Speaker
maybe if it's like what if it's just swappable bottoms like he you just like pop the torso off and plug it into a new set of legs that are just like one that's sitting already sitting that would be cool i like i said when i first envisioned this whole um thing again it was only i really was only gonna make one six inch figure it wasn't gonna be it was gonna be the fuller to go with your other ones that it fits in with from the movie, right? So i when I did it, I was like... He just happens to be here, of course, because this is my desk. ah So I was like, he just got to stand there and he's got to he's got be hanging out with Zeus, right? And and that's it. He's like, you know, he's going to be talking shit to Rip, right? So does he need to, does he need to bend? Like what's what's this guy going to do? Did he sit for more than two minutes in the movie? I don't think so. But then as we started progressing, now it's like, ah, I should be able to sit. He should be able to do this. He should be able to do breakdancing.
00:52:25
Speaker
fine okay so now he's gonna do that I guess at some point so yes yes the law I'd say this is why you need do you need to you know I got me off so but yes he will have he will be have some kind of ah articulation his legs now I love personally I love the way the pants look They have, I don't know how good you can see a 1985 camera. A little little like crazy. Yeah. So then you you start adding that. It's, you you know, I wanted them to be a cross between like the movie maniacs from MacFarlane that were almost like statues, but they were still figures. Uh, I understand their wrestlers and they got a band and all sort that kind of stuff, but I figured each figure could have its own, uh, his own set of articulation. So this one would have been like an announcer.
00:53:09
Speaker
So you put in with your other figures and he's fits in seamlessly as far as like size and proportions and things like that, you know, then you have the wrestlers who, you know, if you think about the movie though, all he does is yeahll like yell, say, jock ass and get electrocuted. Like that's it. And he dies at the end. That's it. so We think he dies. Maybe there'll be a sequel one day. Who knows? Uh, he seemed down for it. I don't know. Maybe great guy, by the way. Uh, love him. ah But yeah, so it will have some kind of Some kind of adjustment where we're working on it now now that we have the pegs and we have all the different means to ah We finally figured out all that stuff so it'll it'll it'll come to pass at some point So he'll probably be now further down the trough ah but um It'll still it'll still come to fruition, you know
00:54:04
Speaker
Alright, so our our next question comes from DavidXParks and he asks, are there any updates on the Valvenus and Titanka figures? ah Sean Morley, aka Valvenus, is still coming. I'm still going to make him. um making a figure of a wrestler that i enjoyed watching and i mean who was not an adolescent that didn't love seeing jenna jameson without venus in the vignette i mean we were all watching the movies anyway in high school i mean that he was the man right like he was awesome a porn star wrestler it was the my two favorite things when i was in high school but i mean you know uh so yes i'm still gonna make it and the man
00:54:50
Speaker
the i
00:54:55
Speaker
i do not I'm not making these as political statements. I'm not making these as controversial things. i I signed the man to make a wrestling figure of him from when he was in wrestling. like when he was a wrestler, a full-time wrestler. So that's what I'm making. Anything that anybody says, ah you know, at or outside of what I'm producing here, um you know, it's that's out of my control. I'm just, like I said, I'm making a figure for the fans of Val Venus, AKA Sean Morley, what he later became known as, right, with the whole,
00:55:30
Speaker
truth commission not truth commission sorry right to censor yes yeah so that's that's what I'm doing you don't you can choose not to buy it if you don't want to buy it you don't buy it if you want to buy it you buy it um I guarantee you it's gonna look awesome it's gonna look like it fits in with You know, the late mid to late nineties, uh, Valvenus, you know what I mean? So it, it'll be cool, you know, whether or not I'm still going to make it a jumper or I'm still on the fence about, I wanted to do it. That would have been the only one that I think I ever jumped. I hate the jumpers. Uh, snooker was my favorite jumper, another controversial one, I guess now. Right. But, uh, but, uh, all the other jumpers, they kind of, live I couldn't live without them. You know, they were never my.
00:56:15
Speaker
I always made them either jobbers or, uh, that never used them. I hated those legs. You couldn't put them in like submission holds now. I think I did. That's what I'm saying. Gennady Coco was my favorite. It wasn't Gennady Gennady. I used the, i when the other Gennady came, I was so excited. Like the dark blue card with giant Gonzales and everything. That was, that was, uh, that was, I loved it. Cause I loved that body. That was like, like, when the fuck is it? I don't know where I put him. Like the warrior and and Macho Man being jumpers made me so mad. Yeah, that's silly. The warrior was the weirdest. That was the weirdest. The best warrior was, you know, the series two warrior with the breast, the press slam. So, yeah. The other one was okay. You know, but it just, he was totally immobile. He couldn't do shit, you know? Yeah. like ah And his feet went up and down, which, what does, what good does that do us?
00:57:10
Speaker
ah But yeah, this is probably one of my most favorite style Hasbro bodies. So yeah that's why, I think that's another reason. And I think a lot of people love this body. I think a lot of people love that macho man, number one. A lot of people like the Shawn Michaels, right? Both of them. The Marty Gennady, like I said, there was even what Rick Martell used it to. But yeah, it was ah ahs a great body. great Yes, and the the the fact that these were kind of like, they the feet were together, but they still weren't jumpers. for For some reason, it just helped the aesthetic of how it looked, you know what I mean? yeah ah But name anyway, yes, still coming. And yes, ah we will still make my friend, old Chris Chavis, my buddy, one of my first friends in the wrestling business, actually, ah as far as ah talent that came to my store and helped me.
00:58:04
Speaker
ah get a little bit more notable in the wrestling world. So yes, his figure will still come at a later date. So yes, both of those are coming. Very cool. dave oh by are I hope I, hope I expressed that the best way I could. I, like I said, I'm not making a figure of the man who is on Whatever whatever the man's doing now, it's it's his business. I don't know. I just like I said, I'm making a wrestling figure So whatever else is I mean it let let's I think we can we can all say kind of confidently that yeah it's It's it's really hard with how connected The world is and how fast information is shared and how public people can choose to be with their opinions and feelings about things yes You know i
00:58:54
Speaker
It's one of those things where, you know, we just, these people never voiced their opinions for a very, very long time. And there's a part of, ah you know what, the the example that I think everyone is probably most comfortable with at this point is Hulk Hogan, right? Like Hulk Hogan is problematic. He's, he's a problematic guy. Did I just happily buy Ichiban Hulk Hogan legends the other day at Target? my Target? Yeah. Yeah. Did it, you know, did I, did I love that then now forever four pack featuring another Hulk Hogan? Absolutely. Like he's just, that there are some of these guys that are just, they're, they're part of our childhoods. And we're buying, you're buying a figure that represents their wrestling 10 year old when they were in the spotlight for that memory you hadd i seven world champion intercontinental gym. Yeah. I do not, you know what I mean? I do not, uh,
00:59:51
Speaker
It's almost like I'm in a bubble. I just want to make my figures and and if people like them and they want to, they want to you know, buy them, then I get, you know, buy them. And people who don't want to buy it for the reason that they don't want to buy it is is it completely, ah is a completely perfect and respectful reason. And that's their right. That's like, even if I, you know, I put out any figure, let's just say for some reason somebody, they don't like, uh, dance by before they didn't like wayland mercy that there was a stupid idea even though it was the the seed planted for a bray Wyatt many years later uh but it's like you know he was the he was almost like his you know grandfather in wrestling in a way you like if you really think about it's weird but uh i always thought it was a cool character you know i mean uh i always liked the bad guys i was like the heels i was i always found them to be more interesting than the goody goody uh baby face you know like
01:00:41
Speaker
There are, of course, baby faces that I loved, but I always kind of gravitated towards the heels. They just just made it so much more interesting. like Always the rogue gal, even in Batman. You look at all the play face joker. You know what I mean? I love it. And like I said, you know I'm not trying to be ah an asshole. I'm not trying to offend people. I'm just making the figures that I um you know
01:01:12
Speaker
Contracted to make and of wrestlers that I enjoyed when I was a kid. So that's it. Hey, I will never I in a million years I will never forget it is one it is a promo that is permanently burned into my brain because almost without without Venus because it almost Got me banned from watching wrestling um The the ah the famous honey, did you find the remote? you know, a promo where he's lying in bed with ah i Mrs. yamagud mrs yamma Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi's son's wife. Yeah. Yeah. i and ah My, our mother happened to walk in the room. Oh no. I mean, they, that's before you tried the choppy peepy, right?
01:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, yeah remember that whole I mean, again, problematic as hell now with the the lessons of yeah, well, I don't know. They're saying Netflix is going to be a little raunchy now. So I'm kind of excited. and I'm hoping that they're saying that the row is going to be Roy again. i don't I don't know. I don't know if they're going to cower out, but. yeah You know, hopefully they just stop it's very annoying now with the when they have to meet the crowd when the crowd's just chanting like, you know, somebody fucked up or you fucked up or something like that. And they have to get the whole broadcast to because the crowds are so big now and everyone's so or like when a person in the crowd gives the finger and like the screen goes black. Yeah, it has like a nasty sign. It's so silly. It's you know, they they I don't think they should go
01:02:42
Speaker
I don't want to see Attitude Era stuff again. Me neither. The product has evolved so much. No, I want to see what it's doing now, but without bleeps. yes That's it. exactly Right. And like when the rock did that thing with Cody, like love him, hate him or whatever. Like I love that hole. I love that. Like when the rain in the back and they would fall, man, I was like, wow, this is like it was. yeah was like so It's hardcore cinema. It it was like kind of was a movie. Yeah. Yes. I love it. I loved it. it looked I love later on it. Runner him wiping the blood on the thing. It was fucking awesome. I, I, I love the rock. I don't, I don't care what anything. Oh, day but whatever that man, like it's part of me wishes. They'd still gone with the original, the original plan. I thought it would make sense. And then like he could have beat Roman and then
01:03:33
Speaker
It would have made it would have made then Cody could have beat the rock and that would have been more like the rock was the one who beat Cody, but then like if if Cody beat the rock. then that means technically he beat Roman and The Rock, you know what I mean? It would have made a lot of sense that way. I understand the, I love Cody. My son loves Cody, my wife loves, everybody loves Cody. We're cool with Cody. We love it. But I think if they had maybe just let it roll a little bit, I think it would have, it worked the way they did it too, but I think it would have worked. Or they could have had Roman versus Rock in the first night and then whoever won that goes to fight Cody the second night, that would have made sense.
01:04:14
Speaker
but you know they didn't they didn't do that either so they made it work they made it work yeah they made it work everybody was happy i guess you know but i love the rock and i thought that was awesome that what he did and he really he really pulled it off i think at the in the match it was very little except for that one when he slipped in the corner they showed him falling like in the turnbuckle or whatever but other than that i thought he did did pretty good you know yeah so Dave, do you want right do you want to tackle our last Q and&A here? I got one from at Phil09061984. Happy birthday in September, Phil. um Will you shift over to WCW era stuff and go after talent like Glacier or Norman Smiley? And you tease this a little bit with Mark Marrow.
01:05:03
Speaker
There will be a Johnny B. Bad looking figure. I don't know. What I, I don't know if I'm allowed to call him Johnny B. Bad yet. I have to still like research this, but this is kind of still fresh, but it will be reminiscent of what he looked like when he was Johnny B. Bad. So we're going to do that, which I think is falls into, obviously falls into that, that timeline. Right. When, if he was in WWE as Johnny B. Bad, it would have, they would have made a has problem. Right. Uh, he kind of missed that because they made a San Francisco toy maker, a big rubber guy of him. Right. Um,
01:05:34
Speaker
Just please are making the globe style guys, stuff too. Don't don't go down that road, please. Please. No, I have my trust me. I have my it would have been easier than doing these. It would have been a lot easier than doing the fully articulated ah figures, I think. But, you know, there's like zero articulation there. So there's nothing to worry about. No breakage. You know, it's one solid piece. At least it's supposed to be. So ah that's what when you play with them. when you were a kid, like the paint would scratch off because they just, they injected the molten skin tone and painted everything on. So now it's like, you know, and back then they weren't using the same kind of paint. I think that they use now, you know, guys that ended up looking like they were naked because their trunks were. Yes. Yeah. It was like LJN but small.
01:06:19
Speaker
Yes, and you you find like your dollar bin, sometimes you find them chewed on too, like in the LJNs. Teeth marks, like my n NES controller when I was a kid. Because I'd get so mad I'd fucking bite the controllers. um But yeah, they, ah no, you don't have to worry about that with me. Maybe one day I was special edition of something, but i I don't see that, in I don't foresee that happening ever. I'll never say never for anything. Let's put it that way. But, uh, potentially like WCW guys. WCW guys. Yes. I already have, I have two of them signed already. Yeah. I'm going to be coming out very soon. And, uh, the molds are already under, under making, as they say in China, they're under making Mr. Mitch. So yes, they will be a WCW.
01:07:12
Speaker
more WCW known characters than they were known for in WWF e f at the time. So yes, there are there are we are leaking into that territory, I think so. OK, well, with that, we have we have finished our Q and&A. It has yeah been a packed, a packed episode. Action packed. um There's a lot. As you know, from from the last time you were on here, we have a little bit of a tradition where before we let our guests go, we we have a a final question that we ask. Since you are a returning guest, we have a an alternate ah final question for you to answer. So Dave, would you like to fulfill your role as this podcast's James Lipton and ask Mr. Mitch our final question? Why, yes, I would. So Mitch, as you are a returning guest, you have already answered the final question that we ask all of our guests. So we have prepared a new final question for you.
01:08:11
Speaker
Mitch, your new final question is, if you could make yourself a figure in any line, what would it be and what would your accessories be?
01:08:22
Speaker
It would definitely be a Hasbro, for sure. And i think I think I would make him in a suit, like a pink suit, like the way that I appeared on the ah FWF multiple paper views in the pink suit. um
01:08:42
Speaker
I may or may not exist one day. Okay. All right. and What about your accessory? Oh, an accessory. I may get some microphone. I'm boring or a little, a little figure in myself. Maybe I don't know. I would say microphone is probably a safe bet. What about a pen for all those contracts? you All the signings, sign on the dotted line. A pen and a clipboard? Well, like the that Sargent Slaughter ringside collection where he has all those papers in his hand and it's like he can't even take them out. And other ones like this. Or the Batista. Yeah, Purr Purr. Oh, yeah. A good stack of papers. Yes. um But yeah, it's definitely a...
01:09:26
Speaker
Although nowadays I might be able to get away with my old wrestling gear. I feel like it's not as shameful to make that now because I'm a little bit in better shape now. So, but, uh, I would say the safe bet would be pink suit. Pink suit has bro. All right. A lot of people at, I believe it or not, a lot of people have asked me, where's the mitchvay you're coming? Cause now other people. you know, may not be as notable have gotten figures of themselves. And they're like, why didn't like people always like, why don't you make a Mitch figure? So if I do make it, it won't be like a thousand made. It's probably going to be like 100 and maybe also half of them. That's that's fair. But no, it's cool, though. I'll buy the other half. Yeah, that's one of these. That's the thing, like one of these ah about being a smaller company like this, like you could do like I say this word out of
01:10:18
Speaker
respect and in an an endearing way but like you could do like stupid fun stuff like that like you have the power to be you make the rules which is I mean it's stupid but it's also awesome like you have the opportunity like like they you know ah ringside just shared that video of of Maxine Dupree getting her first fate like her first figure for the first yeah she opened the box yeah yeah and that feel and watching that like it's just contagious and if you have the opportunity to make an action figure like If somebody asked me and it was within means like, Hey, Dave, Eric, do you want to have action figures in yourself? Absolutely. Yes. Like absolutely. Yes. I keep, I keep like stopping myself from doing it. Like I.
01:11:01
Speaker
It's one of those things like I really would just love even just to have one. You know what I mean? Like even a customer. You know what I mean? Like I just want like and will he will he still have the glasses? That's the question. Like now do you still make him with the glasses or you give him no glasses now? I don't know. I think he's kind of having he's got to have the glasses. It goes like that one. Yeah, it goes with the. Yeah, all my logos, like all the things that I, you know, embarrassed myself with over the years, like they will have the glasses, right? So maybe it kind of has to have, my logo has just been the same idea for the, since I started. So maybe it needs the glasses. Maybe he's got to have that, you know, it makes more sense. Yeah. Now I i wasn't sure if you were going to go like Hasbro or a Ghostbuster. So that's why.
01:11:46
Speaker
Oh, that's a whole nother <unk>s all known the story. Yeah, I would I would love that too. I ah that might be like a 3D printed type thing where it's it's just going to be like a one of one. You know, the other thing I think is a strong possibility. You'll see you'll see it down the line somewhere. It just has to be done. It's to be done. yeah Well, mit but that's a great question. I love it. but Thank you again for you know for joining us tonight for for giving us a look at everything before we get off and and let you go to sleep um Tell our listeners, ah you know, where can they find you online? um Where can they they order figures? ah Let a rip where where where you at? It's a hastel toy comm
01:12:35
Speaker
um You can find us on Instagram. That's where I'm most relevant. I think, uh, Facebook is probably second most relevant. And now we're slowly building up our, uh, X account. Uh, I still want to say Twitter, but X I think we just broke. Uh, it's not a big number, but we've, we've been, I've had a buddy of mine, uh, Hasbro Dan and, uh, in the UK, he's been helping me with that. I kind of gave him the reins to be like the moderator of that, uh, realm. which is something I never thought I'd do, but he, you know, he's been doing such a great job with that. So we just beat like, I think 300, well over like 300 followers on there, which is, it's only been a little bit of time, so it's not bad. um We just, actually, I didn't even make a post about it because I've been so busy with my other personal stuff in my life. But we just broke 18,000 followers on Instagram, ah which seemed like it took forever. We got to 17 and then it took like months to get to 18.
01:13:33
Speaker
Uh, but I think, uh, the Regium figures, uh, definitely helped propel us a little bit more because now we're tapping into a little bit, even though we had, you know, customers that would buy elite figures from us and stuff. But now you're, when you're making your own, uh, six inch articulated figures, you're kind of tapping into, um, other, other audiences and stuff like that. So yeah thank you to those people for coming aboard. Appreciate it. But yes, that's where we're at. We'll be sure to share links to all of those things in the show notes. That way, if you are not following already, all you gotta to do is go tap on the links and and and hit that hit those follow and like buttons and ah and stay tuned for much, much more from Hasseltoy and Grapplers and Gimmicks. ah Mitch, thank you again one last time for for joining us. Thank you for having me. um It's always a blast chatting. i Dave, send us home.
01:14:30
Speaker
I was gonna sing the Rouge Oz theme, but I'm still not that bad. All American boys! There you go. Thank you, dear listener, for hanging
Closing Remarks & Acknowledgments
01:14:40
Speaker
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. Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
01:15:10
Speaker
don't try this at home voido prohibited in some assembly required each sold separately not a flying toy consult a physician if your toy run exceeds more than four hours
01:15:18
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.