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Metal Health: An Interview with Super 7 Designer Kyle Wlodyga
415 Plays3 years ago
On this episode, Dave and Erik sit down with artist and designer at Super 7 Kyle Wlodyga to talk about Super 7's heavy metal toys, the TMNT party wagon, and so much more!
Keep up to date with all of the Super7 news on Instagram @super7 and follow Kyle on Instagram @wlodygadude
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction to Adventures in Collecting
00:00:02
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, everyone, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting.
00:00:32
Speaker
What's going on everybody? Whoa! Look at you with the high energy subhead, audio subhead there. Look at you! I just wanted to mix it up today, you know? Man, people are gonna tune out. They didn't get your catchphrase. They got the awkward silence, but they didn't get the catchphrase there. Yeah, you know. It's more of a treat if you don't know what's coming.
December Episode and Holiday Toy Drive
00:01:03
Speaker
Well, before we introduce our guest, because of course we have another guest this week, there is a minor piece of housekeeping to attend to here. This episode is our first episode in December. And if you are listening to this, when it premieres, there is still time to donate to our holiday toy drive.
00:01:28
Speaker
So we have partnered with a local toy store and friends of the pod, Chubsy Wubsy Toys. You'll hear an ad spot for them a little bit later in the show, but we partnered up with them to make it easier for you to donate a toy or two or three or however many you're comfortable in donating to the Toys for Tots Santa toy train. So if you visit
00:01:59
Speaker
ChubsyWubsy.com. That's C-H-U-B-Z-Z-Y-W-U-B-Z-Z-Y.com. You'll see a big icon on there for their toy drive. It's really simple. All you have to do is pick out a toy from the website and when you get to the checkout screen, there's a little box, a little comment box. Just go ahead in that box and put toy drive or Toys for Tots
00:02:23
Speaker
Just something to signify that you're looking to donate it and select in-store pickup when you check out. And we'll make sure that that toy gets donated to the Toys for Tots train. We are going to help Super Chubsy.
00:02:39
Speaker
actually hand deliver those toys when the train rolls into the station in Pomp and Lakes on December 11th. So this is the last week. Yeah, we're listening to this live or at some point the week that it comes out. This is literally your last chance. So
00:02:59
Speaker
Yep. And he's got a really great, uh, sale section, sale and clearance section two that has some new stuff in it. So some stuff from the snake eyes origins movie. Uh, he's got everything on there from, from Barbies to Hasbro to, you know, super seven stuff to Mattel stuff, wrestling figures. It's all on there. Yeah. But whatever you're going to do, it's for the kids. So it's for the kids. Yeah. It's for the kids. It's like Wu Tang. Yeah.
00:03:27
Speaker
for the children. Yeah, so again, that's C-H-U-B-Z-Z-Y-W-U-B-Z-Z-Y.com. And let's help make the holidays special for some kids that could use a little extra joy under the tree this year. And with that, let's introduce our guest, Dave, because of course, we have a guest for this episode. We're gonna keep the guest train a-rollin'.
00:03:56
Speaker
Yes, yes, we absolutely are.
Introducing Kyle Wodega from Super 7
00:03:59
Speaker
So famous for their ever expanding three and three quarter retro reaction line, Super 7 has quickly grown from a purveyor of niche art house style collectibles to a powerhouse that handles licenses like the Ninja Turtles, GI Joe, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and even some metal icons like King Diamond and Ghost's Papa Emeritus. Joining us today on the pod is a man who has a hand in bringing many of those products to life, Kyle Wodega. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting.
00:04:28
Speaker
Thank you very much. That was a heck of an intro. Though I will say you've fallen into one of the classic blunders of mispronouncing my last name. It's a very good effort though. You followed the phonetics that are on my website to a T and that probably just means that
00:04:52
Speaker
I'm doing them wrong. All right. So as, as two, as two brothers who also have a name that is, is most oftenly mispronounced, please, please correct us. How do we do it? Yeah. So the L is silent. Uh, so it is Waddiga. Waddiga. Yeah. It's, uh, it's, it's very Polish and I usually, I usually let, let, let people, uh, try and fall on their face like you did.
00:05:19
Speaker
So thanks for being a good sport. The correct answer is Watiga. You'll get another chance next time. All right. Well, we're both half Polish. Oh, there you go. Yeah. So we get it. Just consonants mashed up against each other. Yeah. You basically, to put your last name into any field on the computer, you just smack your head against the keyboard and it usually works out.
00:05:43
Speaker
Well, welcome to Adventures in Collecting Kyle and we're happy to have you here with us tonight. Thank you guys. I'm pretty jazzed about being here too. I've been listening to the podcast for about half a year now.
00:06:00
Speaker
thanks to some friends in the industry who were lucky enough to be on your podcast recommending, you know, I talk to you guys and listening and it's some good insights here. You guys have a lot of good questions and good guests and I find it extremely valuable. Well, thank you.
00:06:20
Speaker
So Kyle, before we really get started with the whole interview here, we ask all of our guests, what are you currently collecting? Oh, man. Too much. So what's the line from office space? I guess I sort of like it all, right? Yeah. So right now, I'm on a big Godzilla kick.
00:06:47
Speaker
just getting back to my roots, because Godzilla is kind of the reason I'm an artist. I collect Marvel Legends and Mythic Legions and some Witcher stuff and some Hot Toys, Power Rangers, Star Wars, three and three-quarter stuff, records, comic books, posters, prints. I guess you can say I have the collecting gene.
00:07:15
Speaker
too much to my girlfriend's detriment. Yeah, we feel that. I'm sure Dave is sitting there in his room doing the same thing I'm doing, just checking all the boxes, like, yep, records, yep, we do that too. I'm literally just looking around the office that I'm in, like, what do I collect? Let me just look in and see what I have on the walls here, because it's so much I forget sometimes. Sometimes it's easier to answer what you don't collect. That's right. Stamps and coins.
00:07:45
Speaker
And, you know, uh, antique clowns or something. I don't know. You know, our, our mother actually used to collect clown, uh, like ant, like, like the hobo style clown art. Oh, really? Yeah. We grew up with that stuff all around the house. I was making that joke as a reference to Joe dirt, but I'm, I didn't mean to attack your poor mother. I'm so sorry. No, no offense. I don't know if mom, Dave, does mom listen to this? I don't know if mom knows what a podcast is. Probably not.
00:08:14
Speaker
My guess is going to be no. We've discussed having her on before, and it's been heated. We'll get there eventually, I think. For her clown collection? That would be a very interesting episode.
00:08:28
Speaker
No, see, I thought it would be fun. And you know what, not to air this in the middle of the interview, but I thought it'd be fun to have our mom come on and talk about like what it was like, you know, pre-internet hunting down toys for us for like holidays and, you know, like the whole, you know, really kind of what got us hooked on toys was all the fact that she enabled us, right?
00:08:54
Speaker
So I thought it would be fun to have her come on and talk about like, you know, stalking, you know, toys or us's and KB toys to try to get stuff for us for, for the holidays. Yeah, that'd actually be a pretty interesting episode. Cause you know, all our parents, uh, shout out to parents from, you know, nineties and eighties, having to hit up toys or us's and actually go to places to find things. Uh, we were rewatching jingle all the way. Uh, yeah.
00:09:22
Speaker
this season and he's running, you know, through all of these, these shops, KB toys and toys arrests and blah, blah, blah, all that stuff. And like just looking at all of the shelves in the movie, it's just it's Ninja Turtles. It's Power Rangers. It's, you know, and all this stuff. And it's like it just it's just plastic gold all over those shelves that you can't find now. That's the nostalgia hit in the movie, not the movie itself, but just like stores.
00:09:49
Speaker
Yeah remember stores with a carded ray fillet on it like oh man. I think that movie is celebrating an anniversary this year. I want to say it's already like 25 years old or something like that. Oh, I don't like that. It's bananas because Funko put out the the Turbo Man this year for whatever the anniversary is. I think there's pops coming too.
00:10:15
Speaker
Yeah, doesn't doesn't that turbo man get reissued like every five to 10 years? I feel like there's been like three or four people that have done it like Tiger and then Funko. And I want to say Mezco did one at one point, but I'm probably now it is twenty five. Is it? I was right. It's twenty five. I hate that. I hate that. I that I got that right.
00:10:36
Speaker
That's it. Hang up. Everybody. We're done tonight. Everybody go home. And it was like 25 years, like a week ago. And now we feel old. Yeah. Great. So remember stores and remember TurboMan. Remember SimMed, guys? So stoked to be here.
00:10:56
Speaker
Oh, man. All right. So before we get into what's going on at Super 7 with you and your history with toys, you recently went on a journey to a galaxy far, far away, man, with quite the crew.
Kyle's Collection and Disneyland Experience
00:11:12
Speaker
How was the galaxy's edge? Man, that was quite the trip because I had never done it before, ever. The last time I was in Disneyland was in 2018.
00:11:24
Speaker
Um, just because, uh, in 2019, I moved up to the bay to start working at super seven. So, um, I didn't actually get a chance to do galaxy's edge before all of this, uh, closed down. So, um, I'm kind of glad that I waited just so that there were more rides and more things to do. And it was a little bit more, uh, buttoned up compared to what I heard from my friends who went, you know, day one, um,
00:11:49
Speaker
But we did every ride. Um, we, we built the lightsabers and, uh, I shed, I shed many, many a nerd tier, uh, trying to hide them behind my masks. Uh, cause.
00:12:02
Speaker
I wound up going with a group called what they call themselves the enablers. Some of you may be familiar with toying around 796 Studios, Prime to the First and High School Creations, as well as my coworker, Yoko McCann. And we did the whole thing. We went at, you know, park open at whatever that is, like 7 30 a.m. to park close right around 12 or 11. And man, it was
00:12:31
Speaker
It was awesome. Uh, my, my wallet and I are not on speaking terms anymore, but, uh, but, uh, a hundred percent worth it for sure. Yeah. I have not been to the Anaheim one. Um, I do have something to cross off my Anaheim list, um, before that, which is a haunted mansion holiday, but I was at Orlando galaxy's edge and it, it was amazing.
00:13:00
Speaker
And the lightsaber thing, I don't want to get too deep into it, because if you've not done it yet, going in cold is probably one of the best things ever. For sure, yeah. I had never watched any of it. And so every emotional beat that they put into that, it hits. Yeah, right, pounded me right in my heartstrings. It was great. Yeah, I couldn't believe that I was doing it. That's a good way to describe it.
00:13:30
Speaker
You know, you're building it, you know, you hold it up, you turn it on and like magic happens. It's heavy and like, yeah. Yeah. Which color did you do? I went green. OK. So I went with the purple. Purple. Yeah. Kevin Kevin toying around with purple. Actually, it was pretty cool because all four of us who who did the lightsaber build, we built different kits. So all of our lightsabers look completely different, which I nice to it, which was really cool.
00:13:58
Speaker
Yeah, that picture you guys took by the Falcon all holding up your lightsabers was epic. That was an epic picture. Yeah. We were fortunate enough to actually, our mutual friend Jason Yang said, hey, man, I saw that you went to the Falcon in the morning. Go back at night. It's like a completely different thing. And I was like, oh, we're lightsabers at night? That's going to be awesome. So we did that. Do not regret that. It's probably going to be my Christmas card picture for the next 15 years.
00:14:27
Speaker
Oh, what's cool too is, um, I could speak to Orlando just for that, but like, look, the photographers will be like, all right, go over there. And then there's another photographer. Like they'll tell you where the good spots for nighttime lightsaber photography are.
00:14:43
Speaker
Yeah. And they had the guy who was doing it because we paid the whatever 20 bucks it was to just go for the full session. He was like giving us pose ideas and everybody put them together, act like you're fighting, use the force, that kind of stuff. And it was pretty rad. Because most of the time, they take the picture, all right, next, move on. But this guy, he was into it. So I think he felt the energy of however many seven of us there were with all our lightsabers together. It was pretty rad.
00:15:12
Speaker
What I always find amazing about that is I have not been to Disneyland since before California Adventure opened. I was very young when we went to Disneyland, but I've been to Disney World countless times. It always amazes me when I see those pictures of the lightsabers with the Falcon in the background. I know how crowded the parks get, and it was only you guys in the picture.
00:15:39
Speaker
There's nobody else. It looks like you have the entire...
00:15:43
Speaker
Planet of Batuu to yourself, you know, it's it's crazy how they how they you know angle it, right? Yeah. Are you talking about the night pictures or the day pictures? The night pictures. Yeah, that's crazy because that is that's like they definitely know what they're doing. But like we went, like I said, at like seven o'clock in the morning and there was nobody there and it was legit just us and the Falcon in like the morning sunrise kind of lighting. It was it was like that was that was the first time I cried at Disneyland. So
00:16:14
Speaker
Yeah, I'm worried I'm going to be a mess when I actually am face-to-face with a one-to-one scale Millennium Falcon. I don't know how I'm going to handle it, frankly. It's pretty great. I don't know if I'm ready to weep in front of my six-year-old. One of my favorite things, because Anaheim is the only place where Boba Fett is.
00:16:38
Speaker
So he was at the launch bay and all of a sudden we're like Boba Fett comes out and like if you If you ask around them like yeah, it'll be like they kind of give you an idea time-wise But he just comes out when he comes out
00:16:54
Speaker
Boba Fett talks and Boba Fett just will step right to you and it's the best. Like I am just sitting there trying not to smile and like laugh at how awesome this is that I'm getting yelled at like nose to nose from Boba Fett. That's pretty incredible. I did not know that Boba Fett is at Anaheim.
00:17:14
Speaker
Uh, now, now I have reason to go back. Like I, like I needed another reason. Uh, yeah, he's in, uh, he's usually in the launch bay. I don't know if that's still there though. Cause yeah, galaxy's edge was not built yet when I was there last. Yeah. I, we saw Chewbacca and Ray and Kylo and some storm troopers, and that was pretty cool. Um, especially Chewbacca, just like.
00:17:39
Speaker
chill and walk like a like because he was like underneath the Falcon. It made it like it looked like he was working on it, which was like, oh, yeah, that was really cool. It's awesome.
00:17:48
Speaker
Yeah, I literally so so pre pandemic we had a huge trip planned so this was before before we found out that you know, my wife was pregnant with our second daughter and And you know the pandemic was not even like there weren't even rumblings of it We had this huge trip planned we were gonna do like a Disney cruise and then go to Disney World and like there's gonna be this whole like 10-day ordeal and we were
00:18:15
Speaker
we're gonna go to galaxy's edge we're gonna build lightsabers and then it literally was just like global pandemic. I'm pregnant. Trip canceled. So I have I have been I have been patiently.
00:18:33
Speaker
patiently waiting and and avoiding Videos on YouTube like I still don't know what happens in rise of the resistance. I don't know what happens on the the the Millennium Falcon with smugglers run I I don't really even know what what like the inside of the bars look like or like any anything the cantina Excuse me. I don't know anything like I know very basically
00:18:59
Speaker
Like the the main exterior shots and like the super touristy stuff that people have done. That's really all I've I've seen. I have tried to stay as spoiler free as humanly possible. So that way I can have some sort of like a, you know, experience with it. Yeah. The only thing you know is you can get a porg mug at August. Yeah. And that's only because I've seen yours. That's pretty great. The cantina, we went very early. So we got bloody rain cores in the beginning, which was rad.
00:19:27
Speaker
Uh, I think the only, like I also went in no context of what's, what's there, what to expect or whatever. The only thing that was sorta like not ruined for me, but just like, Oh yeah, this is, this is a real thing is, uh, my friend's mom is a waitress at, uh, August Cantina. So, uh, it was like, Oh, Hey, Hey Cheryl, that thing, how you doing? Like broken a little bit there, but otherwise it was really cool.
00:19:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's, that's about it. Like anything else would be taking you into spoiler territory. But we've, we've talked about, you know, galactic history, but now we're going to find out about how your history.
Kyle's Journey into Toy Design
00:20:09
Speaker
So how did you start designing toys for super seven and what are some of your favorite products you've had the chance to work on there so far?
00:20:16
Speaker
Oh man. Well, that's a, that's a two, that's a two parter. So you're gonna have to remind me of the second part as I get into the deep long history that got me into, uh, the toy design industry. Uh, I think, uh, a common thread amongst most people who are part of the toy industry, at least that I've noticed is that, uh, most of us sort of fall into it. I don't, I don't know many people who, you know, I went to school for this. I, I studied to be an action figure designer. It's just.
00:20:46
Speaker
No, I closed my eyes and one day, look here I am working for Hasbro or whoever. So this is the legit actual connection that got me into toy making. I played water polo in high school.
00:21:06
Speaker
And some of you may be asking, well, how do you fit the horses into the water? That is not what water polo is. Water polo is a sport commonly played in California, Southern California, and Florida. It's basically like volleyball plus wrestling, where you have to tread water and throw a ball into a net.
00:21:28
Speaker
Um, so I've seen that in the Olympics. Yeah, it's an Olympic sport. Thank you. Thank you. It is hands down one of my favorite Olympic sports to watch. Yeah, it's, uh, it's brutal. So yeah, anything that's under the water that the ref can't see goes. So there's just a lot of kicking and punching and stabbing and all that fun stuff. So I don't miss it at all.
00:21:50
Speaker
Uh, yeah, so I played water polo in high school and, uh, my sophomore year, I was under the coaching of this guy named Daniel Adolph, who, um, is important to the story later. So, uh, I was, uh, he was, you know, this, this water polo coach who, you know, first day of, of practice, he wore an X-wing T-shirt with a belt buckle that said, speak friend and enter like, you know, Lord of the rings. And so I was like, all right, this is my guy.
00:22:18
Speaker
So he and I got to talking while he was my coach and talking about art and all this stuff. And he was an illustrator and things like that. So great time there. And then I stopped. I quit water polo. I graduated high school. Cut to a few years later. I'm about a year into college, year or two into college.
00:22:38
Speaker
And I'm working as a lifeguard at the local pool and working with this girl, Krista. So Krista's like, oh, like, hey, do you want to go to lunch today at shift? It was some random man like, yeah, sure. She's like, oh, is it cold? My boyfriend comes. I was like, I don't care. Whatever. And we go. I was like Burger King or something. And guess who it is? Her boyfriend is coach Daniel. Wow.
00:23:02
Speaker
No one saw that coming. And so he and I got to talking again. And, you know, he had just finished his master's in illustration. He was, you know, working as a designer and doing freelance and stuff. And he had this, you know, roommate and he played Magic the Gathering and it was all this nerd stuff. And I was like, yeah, I'm about this is what I'm here for.
00:23:24
Speaker
And I think Krista or Krista was kind of bummed that he and I connected so hard because it basically like she became the third wheel on the day. So that was fun. They are no longer together, of course. That ended very, very shortly after he and I started hanging out again. I think I took all of his attention.
00:23:44
Speaker
Uh, one day I go over to his house to play magic, the gathering with him and his roommate and it's, you know, a draft. I don't know if anybody does magic, the gathering, but it was one of the draft tournaments where, you know, everybody gets a bunch of packs and put stuff together and, you know, plays a tournament with decks. And, uh, the roommate was this guy named Ben stole and, uh, Ben was a card game. It was a game designer for a place called cryptozoic entertainment. And, uh,
00:24:14
Speaker
They, you know, they're, they're pretty famous for doing, uh, world of Warcraft trading card games, uh, walking dead trading cards and, uh, DC as well. Right. They have some DC deck building game. That's right. Yeah. So, uh, I was talking to him and he was like, Hey, you know, we, uh, we need an intern. Are you, are you available? I was like, uh, hell yeah, I'm available. Uh, I don't, I don't, I don't really get these card game things, but it's, it's a job in the entertainment industry. So here we go. Uh,
00:24:44
Speaker
That was, that was, I think winter of 2012 when I went into Cryptozoic and I interviewed for the internship and talked to the CEO, creative director guy named Corey at the time.
00:25:02
Speaker
I got to see my first real taste of what an actual studio looks like and there's games everywhere and there's art on the walls. These are my people, I found my home, this is what I wanna be doing. Yes, yes, 1,000 times yes, I will take this job, even though it's not paid. And so I interned for them from January of 2013 till roughly June of 2013. Got my college credit and stuff and it was awesome.
00:25:31
Speaker
Uh, during that time, however, I, uh, sat next to this guy named George Nadeau, who, uh, was the art manager for cryptozoic where he, you know, acquires art for trading card sets and, you know, works with, uh, artists to do sketch cards and one to one pieces of art, that kind of stuff. So he and I got to talking and, you know, I kind of expressed interest in doing some work for him.
00:26:01
Speaker
And, uh, he was into it. So when right around, when my internship at cryptozoic ended about two or three days later, I got a call from George saying, Hey, do you want to do some, uh, adventure time cards? Hell yeah, I do. So right after that, uh, kept going, did some adventure time trading card sketch cards, which for those who may not be familiar with sketch cards, they are blank cards in which the company will send out, uh, you know,
00:26:32
Speaker
60 to a hundred to an individual artist and they will draw, you know, hand drawn sketches of characters from that IP and then send it back and sign it. And it's, you know, it's kind of a rare chase card into the trading card set. And so I did that for him for a good long while. Um, and, uh, that.
00:26:55
Speaker
connection kind of fostered just ultimately what would become like my toy career in that, uh, for about six months there, I did the freelance thing with them. And, uh, when they had another opportunity for in-house work contract work, doing like data entry, I, you know, it wasn't art. I didn't care. I wanted to be in the studio. I wanted to be around these people. I wanted to be doing something. And so I took this job literally just scanning in trading cards.
00:27:24
Speaker
Into their system with like a full on like Xerox like ring scanner. It was, it was crazy. It was, I just, I did that for eight hours a day for a full month. Um, not that fun, but, uh, that is still probably the most important job I've ever taken because when I took that job, I was sit, I was put into a cubicle next to a guy named Jeff Parker, who at that time.
00:27:50
Speaker
was the brand new creative director of the collectibles department at Cryptozoic Entertainment. So he and I got to talking, we liked a lot of the same stuff like Star Wars and Godzilla and all that stuff. And so when my one month contract at Cryptozoic ended for data entry, literally the next day, Jeff took me out for lunch and hired me to do freelance on some DC collectibles
00:28:18
Speaker
Uh, little bombshell figures, which wrote blind box series that I did, uh, with them all freelance. And that was, that was like June, July of 2015. So we're skipping time here. Uh, I did that for six months. And, uh, after that, they brought me in full time and, uh, we did, I started working for them just because the department was growing.
00:28:48
Speaker
And we were starting to sell into places like Target and Walmart and so on and so forth. So I worked for Cryptozoic doing a lot of more, more statue type work, final toy type work on brands like DC, DC bombshells, Ghostbusters, Sony's Outlander. And I also had the opportunity to work on some in-house IPs and develop some, some product that had no licenses that we were really, really proud of.
00:29:16
Speaker
as well.
00:29:31
Speaker
pretty well ingrained into a line or a brand. When you say that you're helping design the toy, what part of it are you actually touching? How does it go from what you do to the next step to being a toy or a collectible? It's actually a pretty big distinction in terms of what I did at Cryptozoic versus what I do at Super 7 now.
00:29:57
Speaker
Um, so cryptozoic, I was mostly taking sketches that we were getting from freelancers, um, and coloring them and doing all the call outs and the, the, the PMS color call outs and setting all that up so that the factory could then paint the figures. Um, that was what I started out doing. I also wound up, I also started out doing, uh, what they call box mockups, which, um, I'm not sure how, how familiar you guys are with, um, the, the retail space.
00:30:25
Speaker
But as I understand it, most major retailers have fake storefronts in their headquarters. Yes. Or they plan out the entire thing. It's called planagrams and stuff like that. And so for these retailers like that, you have to mock up what that box is going to be like one to one so they can plan how it's going to be displayed in the stores. So I had to basically my very first jobs at Cryptozoic were just making these box mockups.
00:30:53
Speaker
to then get put into these fake storefronts, which then immediately get thrown away. It was a lot of work for something that didn't really mean that much. But it helped me kind of cut my teeth on some packaging design stuff and understand how that was really working because that was not really something I had done before, graphic design or construction type stuff. I was really illustration focused in college.
00:31:17
Speaker
But just just to to kind of give a some context to a planogram for those of you that might be scratching your heads listening to this if you've ever been in a toy aisle in Walmart or Target around like a reset like when you suddenly realize that like oh the shelves are have been empty for like a few days you might notice taped to the back of the the display like taped to the back of the shelf like behind
00:31:42
Speaker
the pegs like where everything would normally be hanging sometimes you'll see these like random weird pieces of paper that are just kind of have like.
00:31:52
Speaker
a random array of squares are seemingly random array of squares and rectangles on them if you actually look closely at that piece of paper that is a is a printed out planogram so you can actually look and see what is supposed to be on those pegs or potentially if it is right before a reset you can actually see what's coming so they might be moving
00:32:14
Speaker
You know, uh, like, like the target that we go to all the time just recently shifted all of their aisles around and like the stuff that was next to each other is no longer next to each other. And it's like the wrestling figures are in a completely different aisle than they were, you know, two months ago. Um, but a lot of times when they're doing those resets that the store planners, you know, whoever is.
00:32:34
Speaker
is helping with the reset will oftentimes just kind of leave that planogram taped to the back of the wall. So when we say planogram, it's that little piece of paper. That is correct. And forgive me for not explaining that further. Oh, no, I just thought it would be a good opportunity to talk more about a planogram because it's not something that has come up on this podcast yet, oddly enough. No, that does surprise me. But every day is a school day. So this is what people are here for.
00:33:04
Speaker
Um, but yeah, so what was I saying with, with cryptozoic, I did a lot of that, that planet gram stuff. And then I eventually shifted into a little bit more of the art direction stuff as well. Like I would get these sketches from the freelancer, like the freelance concept artist. And then I would work with a sculptor to make the sculptures, uh, happen and, you know, make sure that they can actually function as toys like we need them to. And they're within cost.
00:33:31
Speaker
uh, the cost parameters and they match budgets and all that stuff. So, um, that was, that was a little bit later. Um, just as my responsibilities with cryptozoic grew, I was there for about three years. So, um, it, it, it slowly, it started from the guy who was making the box mockups to eventually I wound up running the entire kind of collectibles department and doing line planning for, you know, the entire year and, you know, you know, multiple million dollars of sales and all, and all that fun stuff, but, but still with just the,
00:34:01
Speaker
The DC and Sony kind of brands and some of our own internal brands as well. Um, but after that, after eventually cryptozoic, I just, I wound up just not necessarily feeling challenged anymore. And so I looked for other opportunities. Um, and I was referred to super seven by a friend, uh, I think of the podcast guy named Daniel picket who runs action figure insider.
Joining Super 7 and Passion for Toyetic Bands
00:34:29
Speaker
Oh yeah. Super nice guy. Yeah. One of the best guys out there. He, uh, he, he sent me this, this link. He's like, Hey man, you know, super seven is looking for designers. You might want to apply. I was like, hell yeah. I want to apply. These guys look like they got everything I need. So, um, I, I basically like, I applied kind of cold. Uh, I think Daniel sent my descent and email to Brian Flynn just to say, Hey, you should look at this portfolio or whatever. Um, but for the most part, it was pretty much a cold application. And to my surprise, they, they got back to me.
00:34:59
Speaker
Um, and that was in November of 2018, I think. And so they liked me. I did a phone interview. They liked me even more and they said, Hey, we're going to be a designer con in, you know, a couple of weeks. You should come down and mole, you know, cause we're, we're NorCal, you're SoCal. Let's, uh, let's meet up. So they gave me a free badge for a designer con and, uh,
00:35:26
Speaker
I got to go meet them, which was really, really cool. Um, and you know, because I don't know if you guys have been to designer con, it's kind of like a, you know, uh, indie toy show, lots of Japanese vinyl and streetwear and stickers and posters and that kind of stuff. Um, so I didn't really feel it was appropriate to, uh, to, to like, wear a business suit or anything.
00:35:51
Speaker
to this interview, because I feel like I stuck out like a sore thumb. So I wound up wearing my battle jacket with all my band patches and my best ghost t-shirt to this interview. And my interview was straight up with just with Brian Flynn and Josh. And we talked and they asked about my work and what I had done before and what are the things I'm passionate about and where do I see gaps in the marketplace and that kind of stuff.
00:36:20
Speaker
Uh, and with that question, I was like telling them, uh, you know, I think I don't exactly remember the, the, the true, you know, uh, order of events here. So I'm painting them. So the broad brush, I'm sure, uh, what I'm, you know, if Flynn ever listens to this, he's going to roll his eyes and be like, no, Kyle, that's not what happened.
00:36:40
Speaker
But we'll just have to have him on to corroborate all of this. That's the goal. I realize why I'm here. Don't worry. Oh, come on. I know. I know. So he was telling me about it. I was like, oh, well, you know, if if you guys are doing because they were saying, oh, we're doing some heavy metal figures is like heavy metal. You know, you should do. And I pointed to my shirt. I was like, you should be making ghost figures. That's what's up. It's this really cool toyetic band that, you know, no one's really touching right now. And I think there's a lot of potential there. And
00:37:10
Speaker
I said that in both Flynn and Josh like kind of side eyed each other. And then they looked at me and they're like, we already are. I was like, Oh, man, no way. And I was like, Can I see it? And Josh was like, Yeah, I guess like, they're like, it was very clear to me that they were like, what is what is this band? Why is this guy super stoked on it? Like, okay, sure. And so they showed me the picture of it. And I was like, looking at it.
00:37:36
Speaker
And I just, I couldn't help myself. And I started pointing out what was wrong with it that they needed to fix. And they were like, uh, yeah, cool, man. Thanks. Well, we'll take that into consideration. It's like, oh, dang it. All right. Blew that interview. But, um, I, you know, to, to my surprise, I did not blow that interview. They gave me a design test and I did that over the Christmas break. And then I accepted my offer to go work at super seven.
00:38:08
Speaker
in January of 2019 and I moved up to the Bay. My first day was in some day in February, one of the early days of February of 2019. So I was able to work in the office for the better part of a year before this Panera Bread hit and ruined everybody's lives. But yeah, I don't regret anything about taking this job. I get everything I do.
00:38:36
Speaker
is there are no bad projects working at Super 7. And it's crazy because I think I mentioned at Cryptozoic that I think I worked on about three or four total brands, like in my entire three-year career there. Just in the first year at Super 7 alone, I worked on 30. So it was a big step up.
00:39:03
Speaker
and trial by fire, tossing off the dock, but I'm happy to say that it's worked out pretty well so far.
00:39:10
Speaker
Well, speaking of that, most of the designers that we've had in the past on the show kind of find them in a role where they're working on maybe one, two, at most three intellectual properties at a time. What are some of the challenges you face as a designer having to jump from not only form factors because of the variety of mediums that Super 7 works in, whether it's the ultimate to the reactions,
00:39:38
Speaker
Um, but not only that, but then all of these licenses. Yeah. Uh, I mean, they, they all present their own unique kind of design challenges. Um, and, and it's sort of, I guess it sort of depends on the order that you get them. Like, uh, you know, early on in super seven, I started working on the transformers reaction figures, which, uh, I love transformers of G one. It's there. They're such awesome designs and, you know, transformers really.
00:40:06
Speaker
kind of inform some of my childhood. But I had never really done transformers before in terms of design work. And so what I didn't realize is that like, Oh, yeah, it's g one, like, they're just a bunch of like squares and triangles and circles, and nobody cares. It's super easy. Like,
00:40:23
Speaker
There's no, there's no detail at all. It's like false. Those are any transformer design is basically geometry homework that they pay you to do. And, uh, it's, it's a lot, there's a lot more math involved, uh, because, uh, transformers and just robots and inorganic materials in, in design, just in general, like if anything is off by even like a millimeter, the whole thing is ruined. So you have to be very, very precise.
00:40:49
Speaker
in your, in your marks, in your, in your, your design and how that all works. Whereas, you know, if I'm working on, you know, uh, like, uh, like a mutagen man where he's just a bunch of guts and oozy stuff, then I can kind of go wild and make it look crazy and not have to be so, uh, literal and precise. Right. So, um, there, there's definitely some, uh, what I call, uh, kind of.
00:41:20
Speaker
creative whiplash and just just like, Oh, here's, I'm working on this robot and I'm like, Oh, let's go to the organic stuff. And we're doing creature of the black lagoon. And that's like, that has its own kind of challenge. So there, there is kind of like a, you know, you have to take, take the shifter in your, your artistic automobile and shift it from transformers to, you know, to ninja turtles and so forth. And that takes, you know, it takes a minute or two.
00:41:46
Speaker
So yeah, and they and to that point, I mean, they're they are so different. Like, I mean, it's some of the stuff that you guys put out, like, like, I'm just sitting here looking at my, my, my modest little reaction shelf and I have like, like, literally in, in sequence here in front of me, I have toxic Mr. Met, a vac metal Maria.
00:42:09
Speaker
from Metropolis, Skeletim, and Pee Wee Herman. And it's just like each one of them, they're, yes, they're all on the same toy line, but they're all so different. Yeah. It's funny that you say that the Toxi next to Maria, because that's exactly how I have them lined up in mine. For whatever reason, I don't know why.
00:42:31
Speaker
I think the STCC back metal Maria right next to the toxic Avengers or crusaders Yeah, yeah as soon as you guys announced a a vac metal Maria I was like in It that was an instant in for I love Metropolis. Oh, yeah. Yeah Thank you by the way Dave for giving me the all of the film nerd
00:42:55
Speaker
Goodness, but um yeah for that and just kind of in general vac metal. It's not something that you really see anymore
00:43:03
Speaker
No, but that's because it's pretty difficult to make it something that lasts, right? Because everybody's got a collection of vac metal toys that are just chipped and scratched and just look beat to hell. So to me, vac metal seems awesome in the very, very beginning. But then 10 years later, you're like, oh, why did I buy this? I can't display this anymore.
00:43:31
Speaker
Not worth it because all it takes is one good drop and then it's just ruined, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. That was one where my daughter was like, Oh, who's that robot? I was like, not one you can touch. We have plenty of other Maria options for your daughter to play with glow in the dark one. There's the, um, the original one, I think is just like a coppery, bronzy looking one. And then there's one from designer con. That's like a rust color too. Right? I think there's five total. Yep.
00:43:57
Speaker
Yeah, but she can't touch the back metal one. Yes, either of them, especially the the Star Wars nod one, right? Yeah, yeah. Oh, yes, I mean, I mean, it is it is really cool to like.
00:44:13
Speaker
to look at just kind of in general, the swath of IPs that Super 7 tackles. And it always seems like there's a new one. You blink, and all of a sudden there are gem figures. And you blink again, and you have the Haunted Mansion ghosts. And it's just like there's always Ren and Stimpy and Powder Toast Man. And it never ends. Never ends.
00:44:41
Speaker
Yeah, we've been fortunate enough to find that the retro kind of reaction format is pretty evergreen for us. People are eager to see more IPs translated into that format, which there's a lot of charm and instant kind of connection to that five POA three and three quarter inch form factor.
00:45:03
Speaker
And I have to, I have to call it out before I know, I know Dave is eager to talk more about ghosts, but I have to call it out before we move on. One of my favorite things of the year, like of all toys that I have picked up. Something I didn't work on, but go.
00:45:21
Speaker
Was it Milo? Did you work on Milo? Absolutely not. No. Oh, okay. I was going to say just, just the fact that there is a 3d version of the descendants Milo. Oh, for sure. Yeah. And then, uh, that, that was done by a very talented designer on our team named Nomi, um, who is a huge punk rock, uh, fan and loves the descendants. And she was given the, uh, the monumental task of taking essentially a napkin scribble and making it into a 3d figure.
00:45:51
Speaker
Well, she crushed it. She crushed it. Yeah. Nailed it. Yeah. She does a great job. So I will pass those compliments on to her for you. Thank you. And now a word from our sponsors. And now back to the show.
00:46:12
Speaker
And now we will talk about a thing that we all have in common. One of one of our favorite Super Seven releases has been the ghost products. And I'm actually holding still in the box. Papa, Papa one. Ultimate Papa one. How did that relationship start?
00:46:31
Speaker
Um, well, uh, as I, as I mentioned in my, my origin story segment of this, uh, this podcast here, uh, that relationship was started kind of before I showed up. So, um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna illustrate it as, as best as I can. Um, but eventually you'll have every other member of super seven on this team, uh, team onto your podcast and they can clarify and fill in any of the gaps.
00:46:54
Speaker
But one of our sales guys, I think he's our e-commerce manager or something like that, but he was employee number three at Super 7. For context, I think I was employee number 20 something.
00:47:13
Speaker
But, uh, he used to do, um, merch sales for, um, for ghost and Slayer and all these other bands through a, a licensor named global. And, uh, just so he, he had those connections and we were able to kind of use not, not use those, but, but, uh, utilize those, that knowledge to, to help kind of create this relationship between us and ghost and ghosts management.
00:47:43
Speaker
Absolutely brilliant because like you said before to talk about a band that is Toyota. I mean my god So yeah, and you know all the toys usually just scratch the surface on on You know Papa's one through four. I mean the ghouls are there though like the ghoul masks like there's there's just so much yeah, and you know there's you know in theory five papas if you can't pop a nil, but
00:48:13
Speaker
Oh, I do. How do you not? How do you not? It's what started it all. If you want to get really crazy, there's technically six because there's Papa Nil when he's young in the 60s doing Kiss the Goat and then old Papa with the saxophone and the solos and stuff. Then you could do the Cardinal as well.
00:48:38
Speaker
That's right. I mean, we're what, at seven mascots at this point now? And there's two versions of Papa One, and there's technically a red version of Papa Two that he only wore one time while he was performing in Argentina. Papa Three had a different mask before the mask everyone knows was finalized that he played three shows with that looks even scarier. So there's so much stuff with Ghost that we can do that, you know,
00:49:08
Speaker
I feel very fortunate that the ghost product has done as well as it has cuz i'm pretty sure it's just it's really just me and a couple other people at the company who really are excited about it but.
00:49:22
Speaker
You know, it, I'm just going to keep making ghost toys until they tell me to stop. So, uh, like, like I said, I got, I got a hundred more ideas that I'm not going to put on this podcast in case anybody, any other company listening gets wise. So yeah, that, that ultimate was like a, you know, what time does the pre-order start? All right. I will be on the website at that time.
00:49:43
Speaker
And see me, I, you know, obviously like I sprung for for at least one of the reaction figures. I have I have a couple other ones that I'm of the ghost ones that I'm thinking about picking up as well. But the moment that Dave brought that over and I kind of just took the slip cover off to look at it.
00:50:03
Speaker
I was like, yeah, FOMO, I should have ordered this. So I'm waiting for it to kind of come in stock and some of the third party sellers. So I can pick one up for myself because it's just, it's so good. It's such a good figure. And that's the thing I enjoy with the Ultimates too is like you have that
00:50:24
Speaker
across IPs, the familiar ultimates packaging, but how it's done differently for each IP brings it to life even more. And so with those, you have like the cathedral windows and the silver foil and it's just, it's amazing. I love it. Well, thank you very much. We have a very talented and dedicated packaging team who are, you know, uh,
00:50:52
Speaker
much more talented than I am in terms of visualizing what that can look like. I'm pretty focused on just making those figures function as much as possible, but the packaging team is really what, you know, seals the deal. I think a few people will agree that, you know, a good chunk of what gets people to buy reaction figures is that packaging. So who knows to the packaging team for, you know,
00:51:19
Speaker
Selling a lot of reaction figures and making you feel guilty for throwing away any ultimates packaging at all Yeah, it's it's they're the only car. I mean I carefully razor the bubble off the cards and then store the cards for I have an idea to make like a Reaction mural at some point when I have a little bit more space for it maybe in house number two or after like an addition or something and
00:51:45
Speaker
but the card art is just so beautiful. It's so well done. Yeah, we're very fortunate to work with a lot of talented artists, guys like Jason Edmondston and Ed Repka and stuff who just, they crush it and you get to see all of these cool new versions of characters that you already know done by them. Yeah, all my Ultimates packaging so far has been toted.
00:52:11
Speaker
Um, just because I can't, I haven't been able to kind of bring myself to like not keep it. Yeah, for sure. And I, and I realized that that's quite the undertaking in terms of space. Cause you know, each, each ultimate's packaging, you kind of get almost like four boxes. Right. So, uh, I appreciate, or at least three, you know, with the shipper box, the slip cover, and then the main box itself. Right. Yeah. At least the slip cover in the window box, the shipper, I.
00:52:40
Speaker
I have not kept. That's good because we shipped it to you and now you don't need it anymore. Yeah. You mentioned that when you're designing these figures, you're designing them to be as functional as possible, right? Make them as fun to play and pose and everything.
00:52:59
Speaker
made me think of something, right? Because if you think about other toy makers, so whether it's something like a superhero or a character from a video game or even a wrestler, you have all these frames of reference of what an action figure is supposed to do, what these characters are known for posing, the moveset they have, the positions that they need to get into.
00:53:30
Speaker
Take that into consideration with a real life person, like a person who's just on, I mean, granted, again, like somebody who's playing a character, but like, you know, somebody who is on a stage, they're a musician, whether it's, whether it is Papa Emeritus or like a King Diamond or something like that. Like, what are some of the considerations that you kind of go through when you're creating the design?
00:53:52
Speaker
Sure. I mean, I kind of feel like guys like King Diamond or Ghost or Papa Meredith, they kind of already are like these characters. I realized that they're real dudes. Our sales guy texts with Papa all the time. But to me, I still view them as these iconic characters. And so I treat them pretty much the same as I would like a Lion-O.
00:54:18
Speaker
or a Michelangelo or a Godzilla or whatever. Just square one. What do King Diamond and Papa Emeritus have in common? They're both singers. If they can't put their microphones up to their mouths, it's not much of a figure, right? So there's basic stuff like that. But then I'm pretty familiar with Papa Emeritus and I've seen them
00:54:46
Speaker
I think I'm going on nine times live. So I'm pretty familiar with how he moves, what he does when he's on stage, how he holds the microphone, that kind of stuff, how the how the robe should move and look. So, you know, I will send reference to sculptors and be like, make sure he can hit this pose. Like this is, you know, something he does a lot. Same with King Diamond. Like King Diamond is kind of famous for playing the air guitar with that crossbone microphone. And so I sent
00:55:15
Speaker
you know, the sculptor's that image is like, if you can't do this, then we're not going to ship it. It's, it's, it's sort of like, like I'm saying, it's very, very similar to these iconic characters that people revere who, you know, are fictional, but you know, they're, they're just real dudes.
00:55:34
Speaker
It's just it's so interesting to think about it like that because, you know, again, like, yeah, they are larger than life. They're just as iconic as any fictional character, if not, if not even more iconic, right? Because they're a real person. But it's just so interesting to see how, you know, how you guys have kind of captured
00:55:55
Speaker
I'm not laughing because you said that the figure can't ship if King Diamond can't air guitar with his microphone. But I've seen people take that picture with the figure. And he absolutely can. And it's incredible. No, it's as funny as it is for you to hear it. It's even funnier for me to have to type it out in a professional email with my Super 7 email.
00:56:25
Speaker
Yeah. No, I can imagine all that. Yeah. And I think, at least for me, when I work with the Ultimates and these highly articulated figures, being part of the action figure community and following toy photography accounts and being on Discord servers and checking forums and that kind of stuff and just looking to see what
00:56:51
Speaker
not what's hot, what's not, but just like what, what the community expects from the products, uh, kind of helps inform like, at least my own checklist of like, Oh, can it do this? Can I do this? You know, will it be able to pose like this? How is it going to look in this kind of light or, or what have you? So.
00:57:09
Speaker
So from something like a King Diamond or a Papa Emeritus figure, which is something that's unique to Super 7 and you guys are kind of breaking ground there with that, this year Hasbro began sub-licensing famous toy lines like G.I. Joe, Transformers, and the Power Rangers, of course. What was it like having the opportunity to kind of take a fresh new crack at something like the Power Rangers, a brand with such a rich and long toy history?
Challenges of Working on Power Rangers
00:57:40
Speaker
Uh, well, it was, uh, you know, kind of, you know, to, to sound cheesy and, and put it shortly, kind of an honor, just because there is such a, a huge precedence and reverence for this IP. Um, that, you know, I, I really, you know, I grew up on that. I, I, you know, I was born in 1990 and so I started watching.
00:58:01
Speaker
that show right around that time. And by watching it, I mean that my parents didn't let me watch it so I would have to go to my friend's houses and like sneak it in like it was the forbidden fruit or whatever. So I always thought of Power Rangers as cooler than it actually was because it was this thing that I wasn't allowed to enjoy as a kid because my parents thought it was too violent. So to get the chance to, you know,
00:58:28
Speaker
really get to sink my teeth into it, rediscover the brand, look at it through my, not only my designer eyes, but my adult.
00:58:38
Speaker
kind of mindset was really, really exciting just because you don't really get a chance to do stuff like that from the ground up that often. Usually when I get put onto something, it's an existing line or it's an existing IP or there's already all of this kind of expectation, but we were really given kind of a blue sky to just, you know, what would be the power ranges that you would want to make, which was really, really exciting.
00:59:08
Speaker
Yeah, and it was neat to see some of the things like, you know, some of the accessories, right, that were included with the Ultimate, some nods, but like pretty deep cuts in the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, you know, episodes, like the one figure comes with the doll, right? Mr. Tickle Sneezer, yes. Yes, yeah. There's just, there's a lot in there that like even,
00:59:34
Speaker
Like, you know, we're, we're only two years apart. Uh, you and I was born born in 88. Okay. And, um, same, same thing. Like I remember growing up watching the power Rangers. Like that was like, like I needed to get home in time from school so that way I could, you know, be in front of the TV and watch it, you know, whether it was at a friend's house or at my house.
00:59:54
Speaker
But, uh, like it was bringing back such memories, seeing, seeing those, you know, the kind of the execution of those figures when they were announced and like having to go back and be like, Oh, that looks so familiar. And I just can't place it. And then googling and be like, Oh man, they thought to include this. That's crazy. That, that comes from countless hours of rewatching the entire series on my own time.
01:00:17
Speaker
to try and find those accessories that are the, oh man, I usually get a 50-50 coin toss of what reaction it is. Like, oh man, what is that? Why is that in there? Why are they wasting plastic on this? Or, oh my God, they put Mr. Tickle Sneezer in there. This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. So, it's mostly worth it.
01:00:46
Speaker
for the most part, I find it to be a little bit more on the side of like, I can't believe they did that rather than why are they doing this? Yeah, but that's what makes it ultimate, right? Yeah, that's true. That's the point. Mm hmm. You know, there's there there is a clear separation, not just in scale between the other the other, you know, the other offerings that are out there for Power Rangers, but like,
01:01:10
Speaker
There is a clear differentiator like this is an ultimate product that is geared for collectors and it is meant for people who kind of live and breathe for the deep cut. The thing that really does kind of separate or differentiate the collectible from the toy.
01:01:31
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And there is kind of the ultimate stamp on there with the seven inch scale, the multiple hands, the different heads, the deep cut accessories. Like people may have seen, I've gotten questions like, well, what's the white looking gun that comes with them? Or why did the Green Ranger get a VAC metal shield and a regular shield? And those are nods directly to the vintage toys from Bandai.
01:02:00
Speaker
Because I also work on the turtles and we wanted to incorporate those toyetic heads for the turtles. A lot of people like them and so we're trying to think of what that
01:02:13
Speaker
What's that toy edit connection we can make with the Rangers and the accessories fit perfectly for that? Because the helmets on those original Bandai toys were pretty much perfect already. So I don't think it would be worth it to just, oh, here's a toy head and it looks the exact same as the other one. So it had its own challenges and trying to find what's that ultimate stamp while still feeling fresh and new.
01:02:42
Speaker
I'm just glad you didn't do seven inch figures with head flipping action. We thought about it actually. They'd all be very broad shouldered, very, very broad shouldered figures. Some of those nostalgic brands are better left in the past. That's all I'll say.
01:03:09
Speaker
So we're speaking of nostalgia. We're going to talk about the latest Ultimate Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles release, The Party Wagon. Yes. So what are some of the considerations you took when bringing the classic toy to life in the Ultimate line? Obviously you want to be kind of faithful to that original vintage toy.
01:03:32
Speaker
while also adding a lot to it. So it feels modern, it feels ultimates, it feels worth, you know, worth the amount of work and effort it goes, it takes to really make a vehicle like that. Um, cause I, and I will, I will say that, uh, Brian Flynn, our, our, our wonderful founder and leader has had a lot of interviews about the party wagon and I would go, I would, you know, not necessarily stop listening to me here, but I would go.
01:04:01
Speaker
As soon as you're done listening to this, go listen to all of those interviews with Flynn because he does a very excellent job about, uh, talking through all of those considerations. Uh, but for me in terms of just design wise, it was about, you know, what can we add to this? That is, you know, what, what are the things that were part of that original toy that,
01:04:22
Speaker
you know, or weren't part of that original toy that we wanted to have there now. So, you know, helmets and headwear for all of the turtles, you know, a tool set for Donnie to work on the engine and fix it up and whatnot. You know, a tow cable with a real chain so you can pull other cars and things like that. Opening up like the.
01:04:46
Speaker
like the cartoon top canopy, things like that. Just adding those little things that were like, it just, oh, like hit after hit and making it even better with every edition. It's such an interesting line because it really does, like when you get one in hand, it's different than seeing a picture of it, like a piece of that Ultimates line.
01:05:13
Speaker
Um, a friend, friend of the pod, good friend of the pod. And, and I guess you could say a part-time correspondent other, other Dave Crea, uh, creepy NJ. Um, one of his favorite figures, I think of like the past like 10 years is, uh, is, uh, be bought. And, um, he, you know, I got a chance to kind of have it in hand and it's crazy because you, you just sit there and you look at it and you're looking at all the little individual details and like the.
01:05:39
Speaker
the nooks and crannies and everything. And you feel like you're holding an updated version of the vintage toy that you know like the back of your hand because it's an incredibly famous figure. But then at the same time, you're like, but this is also different. And yeah, I think in my head when I was a kid, the paint apps were simple, but I kind of imagined that these details were there. And in your play pattern, you were like, yeah, he definitely had a wallet chain. And it was definitely
01:06:10
Speaker
Decode that way in your head, but it really wasn't like I mean it was it was a simple You know really really simple paint hit and all of those things just like a seemingly are there
01:06:22
Speaker
You know on these figures and I and I was looking you know prior to the the interview just to kind of refresh all the details on On the party wagon like I was just I spent a while just looking at the interior like what you guys did with The with the seats, you know and the cushions and like the things that are like on the wall inside the inside the van and it's just kind of all the details that like you imagined were there as a kid and some of which I at least as far as I could remember like you don't see every
01:06:52
Speaker
inch of inside that, that van on, on the cartoon, like, you know, changes kind of almost, you know, depending on the crew that was working on the cartoon at the time. Exactly. And this is kind of like, again, like it, like it sounds corny, but you know, if, if you were like super into the turtles and you found a big refrigerator box, you know, when you were a kid in all likelihood, like you got into the box and pretended it was the party wagon at some point.
01:07:18
Speaker
And if you didn't have a Sharpie and you were drawing a console and a computer and screens and stuff on the inside of the box, you were imagining it's there. And looking at this toy and looking at the images that Super 7 has provided, it's like, wow, all that stuff is there. This has been the thing I imagined.
01:07:43
Speaker
And the fact that it's going to fit six figures like there's there's just, you know, each thing that you see about it is just kind of like, okay, but also this. Yeah. Like I said, the just hit after hit, just adding more and more value to that van. Like, yeah, all it's ginormous. It does fit six figures, but you can put all four turtles plus April plus Casey in there with, you know, it's insane.
01:08:12
Speaker
All at once, not just, uh, you know, in, in, in, uh, shifts, like you can put all six of them at one time. In there. And we're not just piling six figures in there to try to where they needed to go. Yeah, no, I would not recommend trying to put beam opera rocksteady in there with them. They might get a little crowded, but, uh, you know, uh, they, they never drew, you know, they don't need to be in the van. It's not their van.
01:08:41
Speaker
That's what they, they have the foot cruiser or whatever, you know, so it doesn't really matter, but, uh, it's, it's going to be cool. It's going to be very impressive. Um, it's, uh, it's been a lot of work, but, uh, a hundred percent worth it. And, and it's very exciting to see just all of these positive, uh, responses to it. Uh, just cause, you know, one of the, one of the things that I think I've heard, uh, some other guests talk about is just like, you're, you're working on this thing.
01:09:11
Speaker
For so long, it takes hundreds of people, thousands of hours of work, and you're doing it, and you're kind of doing it in a vacuum, and you're not really sure. I'm like, oh, man, is this good? Is this going to be like, is anybody going to get the cares? And then you put it out there, and you get to breathe your sigh of relief that it all worked out. Everybody likes it. The lights get to stay on.
01:09:38
Speaker
We all get to go home to our wife and kids, that kind of stuff. I heard this awesome quote from Jason Reitman, specifically about the new Ghostbusters film, and I feel like it applies to stuff way more than what he was talking about, but he said that a lot of times when you're working on something that's like a smaller project, and in his case, a film that doesn't have an already built-in fan base,
01:10:07
Speaker
It's, it's your baby, like as the creator, like you, you have created this thing and you don't know how people are going to react to it because there's no established audience. And then once you put it out into the world, it becomes everybody else's. Like the fan base owns it at that point, like after you've kind of introduced it into the world. But when you're working on an IP that already has this.
01:10:31
Speaker
this established fan base, and especially if it's something that has a very active, very vibrant, very loud fan base, before you even get to put it out in the world, it has already been, the expectations are already there that you are going to do the thing justice. And if you don't, there's going to be hell to pay.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Resurgence
01:10:54
Speaker
That's the perceived notion at this point.
01:10:59
Speaker
Yeah, if anybody who's checked our Instagram comments will know that we pay hell all the time. And you're not alone, you know, like you're not alone, especially in today's world. But I feel like it's the turtles are kind of having this.
01:11:15
Speaker
Super super super cool resurgence and it's interesting because right like when the turtles first first launched you know into into the cartoon you granted they were the comic first but it was that like you know medium that you can watch on TV coupled with the toy line.
01:11:35
Speaker
And right now there's no new turtle meat. Like we're kind of like in between new turtle stuff. Like there's a new TV show that was announced. There's a new movie that was announced. I think there's actually two movies that had been announced. But there's no media to support this kind of like fervor for turtles. It is specifically right now.
01:11:58
Speaker
I guess some of it comes from the last Ronin, the comic that's out now, but I would say 90 plus percent of it is purely just toys. Yeah, I would agree with that. We call it the turtle sants in the office.
01:12:14
Speaker
Uh, basically there's never been a better time to collect turtles or, or be into turtles and stuff because any, any version of the turtles that you want, someone out there is making it. It may not be us. It could be neck. It could be playmates. It could be whoever, but there's a version out there of the turtles for every collector in every space. And that has never happened before. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
01:12:37
Speaker
Yeah. And it's, and it's crazy. And it's like, you know, we, we've said it multiple times on the, on the show, you know, with guests that it's, you know, it's never been a better time to be a toy collector, you know, with, with the variety that's out there, but just the variety alone for the turtles.
01:12:53
Speaker
Is insane it's it's and I mean like I say insane but I mean it in like The nicest way possible because like you said it any pretty much any format you want You want Kenner inspired three and three quarter five POA turtles? You got it. You want like the classic, you know five five to six inch You know playmate style turtles you want turtles that cross over with Cobra Kai. Guess what? You got it like there are turtles Yes
01:13:25
Speaker
I like peanut butter and I like pizza. That doesn't mean I want peanut butter pizza. That's wrong. Yeah, but but it is it's it's it's crazy. It's it's a great time to be a turtle collector.
01:13:37
Speaker
Well, you know, you were saying that too, like, even with just the breadth of stuff, you know, Super 7 does. Think about the Ultimates, like, there's Thundercats, there's Silverhawks, there's The Simpsons, and like, the first wave is like, Pucci and Bow, and Homer and Space, and the Itchy and Scratchy robots, like,
01:13:59
Speaker
You know, there's all this different stuff, like, and it's all just like, you know, I've never kind of wanted a buchi doll more, more in my life. So, so you're saying we got.
01:14:14
Speaker
all the different IPs. It's and with the Simpsons, it's just like, you can it's, it could go forever. I guess there's just so much I could not believe when the Simpsons wave like when the teas came out with like the the the the the piece of plutonium, you know, in rod we trust rod we trust I I'm thinking like, oh, okay, like, you know, Bart Homer, Marge, you know, maybe Flanders,
01:14:41
Speaker
Itchy and scratchy robots and poochy and Homer in space and the like the one like regular looking character was was mo I was like, this is the most super seven thing that has ever super seven and it's perfect Because I really like hoping that said I was hoping for an anemic carbon rod with the teas
01:15:06
Speaker
Well, you never know. We're going to be making Simpson's stuff for a long time, so there's plenty of opportunities to go back and revisit some stuff that we may have missed. Well, we're excited for it all. Yeah, I remember when that rod teased, I'm like, they're going to make an inanimate carbon rod? I can't wait.
01:15:28
Speaker
see that the ultimate figure that the two ultimate figures that I would want from for a Simpsons line would be would be stupid sexy Flanders number one like full full on ski suit stupid sexy Flanders with the with the you know the tight cheeks and everything and and I'd want grimy hmm I'd want I'd want I'd want a Grimes figure okay
01:15:56
Speaker
Just because if we're doing if we're doing weird cuts from the Simpsons like that's I mean stupid sexy Flanders isn't really a weird cut anymore at this point But uh, I and the other character I'd want um, I always forget his name. I Help me out the when he's the hammock salesman. Um With the boat Hank Scorpio Hank Scorpio. Yep. Thank you. He's not the hammock salesman He tells us Homer where to get that where they get the hammocks. Yes that that episode is
01:16:25
Speaker
Probably my favorite episode of The Simpsons. I don't know why I just suddenly couldn't forget Hank. I forgot Hank Scorpio's name, but yeah, that would be one for me, too. The softball team. Well, with that... Oh, all right. Okay. With that, let's head into some Q&A.
01:16:50
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.
01:17:07
Speaker
Visit them in person at 106 Main Street 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.com. And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you. So we mentioned him before, but actually, Dave, why don't you take the first question here? Okay. The super talented Jason Yang of At Work More or Less asks,
01:17:37
Speaker
What obscure IP do you think would be the perfect one for Super 7 to tackle?
01:17:58
Speaker
everyone in this room, uh, to get to do metallocalypse figures reaction, ultimates, all of it. I think that's such a, just, we, we've proven ourselves with heavy metal brands to be successful. I think that is such a toyetic IP that is just brimming with, with good toys to make that I just, that I would, that's the one, that's the one for me. I think that would be so good and it's, it's so obscure and you know, we would sell dozens of them, but I would be very fulfilled.
01:18:28
Speaker
So can I tell you which one I think would make an awesome while we're on the topic? I think so. Let's do it. Archer. Mm. Similar vein. Similar vein. There have not been good. There have been a couple of attempts at archer figures, but I think archer ultimates would be, and frankly reaction figures, would be out of this world. Would be absolutely out of this world.
01:18:57
Speaker
I think I agree with you there. That's not one I had thought of before. That's a good one. Dave, do you want to toss one in? Do you have one? That's right. Shoot your shot. I don't have an obscure one, but I mean, for me, like obscure is like mask, but it always comes back to mask. And if I had a dollar for every time we get asked about mask. But if we're going to do like an animated thing,
01:19:25
Speaker
Um, or like another, like as metal oculips, um, you know, you, you, you said Archer, um, I'm going to stay in the, uh, each John Benjamin, um, genre and say Bob, Bob's burgers. That would also be pretty solid. Yeah. And just each one, a lot of that stuff though. A lot of kid kid robot does a lot of Bob's burger stuff. Or am I, am I crazy here?
01:19:54
Speaker
I've again. I feel like it's it's stuff. That's either Like very vinyl toy like where it's it's very you know, they're like statuesque Like happy bras burgers would be such a good ultimate like couple the accessories and everything Yeah, there were a couple loyal subjects action vinyls, but that was part of like a whole Fox wave sure All right, but nothing that's like You know that would be that ultimate
01:20:22
Speaker
Now I'm going to have mermaids stuck in my brain for the rest of the evening, which is not a bad thing. It'll be a problem. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I'm going to write down and finish writing down my notes of Bob's Burgers and Archer. All right. What else we got? All right. So the next question, we've talked a lot about music.
01:20:41
Speaker
By the way, at Bob Burghardt does this awesome glow art. Glow Mania is his glow brand. He always shows up to local toy shows and fairs and flea markets and stuff with his glow art and he does awesome horror and just kind of like metal art. It's awesome. That's cool. I'll have to check it out.
01:21:06
Speaker
But he says you seem to have an awesome taste in music, which we've already confirmed. What are some of your favorite bands and artists? Well, that's very kind of him to say that I have a good taste in music. That kind of segues into, I'll answer the band question, but that reminds me of a story. Remember the designer Nomi I had mentioned before? Yes.
01:21:32
Speaker
Early on in the pandemic, we had done a fun activity in the office. We all slacked each other. We all sent in three songs for what we call the Quarantoons playlist. It was everyone's quarantine Spotify playlist or whatever.
01:21:53
Speaker
And I had put on a couple of ghost songs and Rush's working man, right? That's because all I was doing. And Nomi was telling me this story that she had that playlist playing at her house and her dad happened to be visiting and also working from her house during that time.
01:22:15
Speaker
He was like, listen to the music. He's like, oh man, so your coworkers picked all this? He's like, yeah, yeah, it was pretty cool. And then Ghost comes on and immediately he's like, what is this crap? Turn this off. So he liked literally every single person's choices except for mine, which to each their own. I always think of that as super funny that I managed to be the only person that he was not stoked on the choices.
01:22:44
Speaker
That was a very severe reaction to a very good band. It's not everyone's
Musical Influences and Art Design Aspirations
01:22:51
Speaker
cup of tea. The way I describe Ghost is basically, there's two ways to think about it. It's heavy metal ABBA or the satanic second coming of Blue Oyster Cult. I would listen to either of those.
01:23:08
Speaker
I'm going to forever refer to them now as Heavy Metal Abba. That's definitely. You're never going to not be able to hear it now, so you're welcome. Yeah. I don't hate it. I don't hate it. But to answer other bands that I do listen to, obviously, I listen to Ghost a lot, King Diamond. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Opeth and this other prog band out of Canada called Crownlands.
01:23:34
Speaker
Uh, they're very, very good there. It's basically, they have the full sound of rush, but it's only two dudes. It's kind of insane. Um, let's see. I listened to a lot of candle mass and we're listening to, uh, what am I listening to? Just, just a lot of just metal stuff. Uh, oh, typo negative. I've been listening to a lot. Um, Dio, um,
01:24:01
Speaker
Yeah, I kind of like it all for the most part. It's kind of hard to narrow it down. That's just what I've been listening to lately. Well, there you go, Bob. Nice question, Bob. Yeah, good question. So if you could work in any medium outside of toys, what would it be and why?
01:24:21
Speaker
Um, well, uh, probably not going to surprise anybody, but, uh, one of the things that I've always wanted to cross off of the bucket list would be, um, to do, uh, album art for metal bands. Um, just, I have, I have a couple of friends who actually do that full time, either for metal bands or synth wave bands or whatever. And, uh, you know, they all work freelance, so there's not the, you know,
01:24:46
Speaker
comfort of, you know, having health insurance while doing it. But, uh, it's definitely something I've always really wanted to do was, was work on, you know, album art and album illustrations and, you know, get, get some of my work on a, on a final LP. That'd be pretty rad. Yeah. And I feel like that's something that's given the kind of connections that you have with super seven. And I know, you know, Brian's always posting, you know, his, his 45s and, you know, he seems to have a very,
01:25:16
Speaker
big collection, especially of like, of, of, you know, Bay Area punk rock stuff. Um, I feel like there's, there's, there's an in there for you to get, to get your foot in the door doing that. I mean, I, I, I make no assumptions or whatever, but yeah, that would be, it would be really cool. So it just, I think it's just a matter of applying myself and really focusing on, on getting to do that in some way. It's just.
01:25:40
Speaker
We make a lot of toys, Eric. I don't have much time to do anything else other than work on this party wagon for you. I can fulfill my dreams of working on vinyl LPs or you can have the next party wagon. I have a feeling that the choice is pretty clear. Don't let me deprive everybody of their party wagon by suggesting that you work on your dreams, Kyle. That's right.
01:26:07
Speaker
Oh, and as much as I hate to open the can of worms here, but we are in
Favorite Toy Acquisitions and Unique Finds
01:26:11
Speaker
December. This is, you know, we are recording this episode, uh, in December of 2021 and it's the end of the year.
01:26:17
Speaker
Um, so a bunch of people wanted to know, uh, what are some of your favorite pickups of 2021? And I know this is always, uh, kind of ends up being a topic for an entire episode. So let's, you know, let's, we'll take, to take the pressure fully off of you. Let's just do quick. Each one of us picks two, just two things that, uh, that, that we, that we particularly enjoyed and no, in no particular order.
01:26:42
Speaker
from 2021. All right. I'd like to go last because now I got to sort through my Toy Migos top 10 thing that I filled out and figure out which ones I want to eliminate just a two. All right. I'll go. I'll go. And again, these are by no means that I don't know if these are going to be in my top 10, but they are top of mind. And there are two things that I really enjoyed this year that I picked up.
01:27:06
Speaker
One, I already mentioned on this episode, it falls into the category of things I didn't know I needed, which is my Milo reaction figure, Descendants Milo. Descendants is one of my favorite bands of all time, so super stoked to have any sort of figure version of that. And I'll say something else that I really enjoyed that I picked up this year,
01:27:32
Speaker
was, um, the, the NECA, uh, McCready figure from the thing. Cause also file that under a, uh, thing. I didn't know I needed was, uh, was NECA, NECA McCready that under, uh, FOMO for sure. Cause I had that in hand and I was like, do I really need this? No, I don't. And I put it down. And then like the next day I was like, you can, the new one, the one that comes with the flamethrower.
01:28:01
Speaker
Um, is pretty easily available. Right. Um, we'll say, I don't know. Well, I'll be presented with this choice again. And then I'm, I'm, I have a feeling I'm going to, it's going to take three times of me passing on it to finally pick one up. So I will say as far as a seven inch human dude figure goes, like just, just a guy, um, it's one of my favorite of all time.
01:28:27
Speaker
Um, A, I love that movie. Like the thing is, was probably my second favorite or second favorite John Carpenter film, but, um, it's just, there's, there are little things about that figure that are just, that are just right. Like the way that they textured the coat to make it feel like leather and look like leather, the way that it moves, the facial expressions, like it's just, it's a, it's a very, very good figure. That's a very untapped market.
01:28:56
Speaker
of figures, regular human dude. We can always use regular human dudes, us toy photographers. I always need people for the backgrounds of photos, as well as the foregrounds. Since Kyle requested to go last, Dave, do you have two that you want to just lay in real quick? Well, we talked about one that will definitely be on the list. It is Papa Emeritus 1, the ultimate.
01:29:22
Speaker
this figure rules. Thank you very much. That's very kind. It just does. All right. I'll go with this one, not to give too much of this stuff away, but before the end of the year, but I'm going to go with Mattel WWE Ultimate Edition, Sergeant Slaughter, the Comic Con exclusive one. It's just, it harkens back to the old mail away.
01:29:51
Speaker
Hasbro kind of LJN style figure but still is like this unreal Sergeant Slaughter figure. That's the packaging on the talk about packaging. Yeah, and then it goes back to the LJN packaging. So it's it's really cool Like there's just a lot there to it and it's it's one of those figures that where it's not just the figure it's kind of the experience of of the figure and
01:30:18
Speaker
kind of sort of like the Papa Emeritus. All right, Kyle, we've stalled as long as we can for you. Yeah, and I still don't have a decision. No, I'm good. We're going to go Super 7 King Diamond and Super 7 Papa Emeritus. No, I'm not. You shill. Not that guy. I'm not high on my own supply that much.
01:30:40
Speaker
No, actually, the two that I'm I was looking at, just because I'm looking around the room here, the ones that they actually didn't wind up on my Toy Migos thing, but I'm very glad that I had them and they kind of.
01:30:51
Speaker
The first one falls into the category of things I didn't know I needed. That would be the Mythic Legion's, I think his name is Balleus. It's the brown horse. Just such a versatile figure. It literally fits basically with everything. I don't know. A lot of what I collect beyond Star Wars or Witcher or Godzilla or whatever, I pick up a lot of stuff that I feel like I can
01:31:21
Speaker
learn something from, or it's an interesting example of how to execute articulation or sculpting or engineering or however you wanna phrase it, whatever I need to really say to convince myself that I need this big stupid thing. So the horse is, there's not that many horses out there. I think Figma has some horses that are kind of small, but then there were the, I think was it,
01:31:47
Speaker
Toybiz did some horses for the Lord of the Rings figures in the early 2000s and stuff. But then otherwise, there's not really that many articulated horses that are more or less affordable in this scale. So this Balleus is a really good resource in many ways. And then just for the sheer amount of work,
01:32:13
Speaker
and engineering and probably tiers that went into this thing that I'm guessing, but I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty confident about the Haslab Sentinel. Just not something I ever thought I would get at that scale, at that engineered, just incredible in every way. It's one of the modern toy marvels, really.
01:32:37
Speaker
So I'm very glad to have that guy in my collection here. I have way too many X-Men figures and I'm working on a display where they're all fighting him or attached to him or something. But right now it just looks like he's standing over them as they're just piled up bodies because I haven't placed them yet. That actually kind of works as a display. It may just wind up being just dead forever. Yeah, alternate endings.
01:33:07
Speaker
Well, with that, Kyle, you have survived the Q&A. You do not get a t-shirt, but you did it. You survived the Q&A. It was a lot of fun. I wish there were more questions.
01:33:22
Speaker
I want to answer more. Talking toys is my favorite thing to do. So I could do this for hours. We'll just have to have you come back on. But before we wrap it up and let you go, Dave, would you like to fulfill your role as this podcast's James Lipton and ask our final question? I sure would. So the final question that we ask all of our guests
01:33:47
Speaker
is what is your favorite and or strangest piece in your collection. Now it can be one of each or it can be both.
01:33:56
Speaker
Well, that's a great question, James, and thanks for asking it. Um, what I want to say is I'm going to do both. So, uh, I actually thought about this question, uh, for a good long while. And I feel like I've come out with, with the perfect answer for both. So, uh, we're going to go best for our favorite thing first, not best necessarily. Favorite thing that I have is I have the, uh, DC collectibles Batman, the animated series Batmobile that is scaled for the six inch scale, right?
01:34:26
Speaker
that vehicle that came out a little while ago. That's my favorite Batmobile design. You know, you and I are roughly the same age. So I feel like I probably speak for both of us and that that's the best Batman ever. Kevin Conroy is who I hear when I read my Batman comics, so on and so forth. I have that
01:34:46
Speaker
Batmobile, but I also had the opportunity to have it signed by Paul Dini when he came through the cryptozoic offices one day because it was in my office. That's awesome. I was freaking out and I was showing him all the Harley Quinn product that we were working on and he was super jazzed about it. I was like, hi, Mr. Dean, can you sign my Batmobile? He was like, sure, man, no problem. You want me to ruin this for you? Absolutely.
01:35:12
Speaker
Great. Thank you. Then that same year, knowing that I had Mr. Dini sign it, I knew that Bruce Timm was going to be signing at San Diego Comic Con, so I brought this. Anybody who has this piece knows that it is not small in any way. I think it's roughly
01:35:35
Speaker
two and a half feet long, maybe a foot wide. It's huge. So I carried that, you know, son of a bitch all the way through Comic Con to Bruce Timm's booth, you know, and had him sign it. And that's definitely the prized possession in the collection is the Bruce Timm, Paul Dini signed Batmobile. One of these days I plan to have, you know, Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, whoever I can get from that show to sign the whole thing. So.
01:36:05
Speaker
That would be fantastic. That's awesome. It's a cool, it's my wizard's journey, right? Getting those signatures between now and when I die. And then the weirdest thing that I have, is that the strangest weirdest? Strangest weirdest, yeah. Yeah, it can go either way. One of the very first records I started my record collection with was I bought
01:36:35
Speaker
So I bought a copy of Led Zeppelin two. But it is a Russian bootleg of Led Zeppelin two that was smuggled and traded in East Germany during the Cold War. So it was like illegal to have Western music and stuff. And I have a Russian bootleg of Led Zeppelin two from that time period.
01:37:03
Speaker
That's awesome. I've heard stories about some of those records where they were being pressed and copied.
01:37:11
Speaker
onto like really cheap kind of like really whatever kind of vinyl melt down. So like a lot of times like there aren't like wacky colors or there. Luckily, mine's all black, but there's definitely like a couple of gray streaks in it, like someone like melted down a bumper or something. I'm interested. It's pretty rad. So I almost never play it just because I don't know how many times you can mess with that, like not perfect vinyl. Right. Yeah. But yeah, that that's probably the strangest thing I got.
01:37:41
Speaker
That's awesome. That is very cool. I actually, that's a cool one. I know of their existence, but I've never spoken to anybody firsthand that actually has one. So that's, that's really cool. Yeah. It, uh, it feel, it feels special for sure. In like, uh, this is very, very old garbage. I like that. This is very old garbage.
01:38:09
Speaker
Somebody's Soviet era garbage is another person's treasure. Right. All right, Kyle.
Where to Find Super 7 Online
01:38:17
Speaker
Well, before we call it quits for the evening, let us know where can we find you on the Internet? Where can we learn more about what you're up to and what Super 7 is up to? Sure. For everything Super 7, go to super7.com.
01:38:33
Speaker
Uh, that's where you'll find links to available products and open pre-orders and stuff. And we, we post a lot on Instagram, uh, you know, talking about all of our stuff and videos and stuff like that. You can find me doing some product walkthroughs on the YouTube channel for super seven as well. Uh, and then just my own personal sites. Um, I'm what a good dude on Instagram, which is my last name.
01:38:58
Speaker
plus dude, I'm sure there'll be links in this website here where this is posted to do all that. My personal website is wadaga.com where you can see some of my, you know, design work and illustrations and sketchbook stuff and whatnot. And yeah, that is kind of, that's kind of, that's kind of me. So I don't, I don't have anything special coming up anytime soon. You know, just stay tuned for to super seven for more
01:39:28
Speaker
more products and, you know, go check out the party wagon. See what we're talking about. See what all the fuss is about. And maybe you can you can tell us how you really feel in the comments section of our Instagram. We have links to the to preorder the party wagon override at super seven dot com entertainment earth. All of the places where you you prefer to order.
01:39:49
Speaker
We have that in our Instagram, in our link in bio, so hit that if you're looking for a quick way to get over to the party wagon, but yeah. Kyle, thank you so much for joining us on Adventures in Collecting. This has been an awesome conversation. Can't wait to see what you and the folks over at Super 7 have in store for us next. Yeah, guys, thank you again for the opportunity. It's been really fun to talk to you guys. It's cool to see.
01:40:19
Speaker
behind the curtain a little bit, because I definitely like a lot of the other guests. I'll follow the links that you send out to spend money that I shouldn't be and all that. So now I get to tell you to your face, stop making me spend money. But yeah, it's been a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it again.
01:40:38
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
01:40:54
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
01:41:18
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.
01:41:48
Speaker
you