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Open Mic: Figure Kingdom
30 Plays3 years ago
On this episode of Open Mic, The MVP chops it up with the one and only, Figure Kingdom! They talk about what motivates him to create, the process he uses for his photography, and the BIG NEWS regarding the next chapter in his career! This is one you don’t want to miss!
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Transcript
Introduction and Pod Foundation Promotion
00:00:03
Speaker
Who the hell told you tonight was open mic night? Welcome. Welcome back, everyone. Hopefully you're back. Welcome again.
00:00:33
Speaker
to open Mike with the MVP Marco. I'm the MVP Marco. And this is the second episode. I didn't think I would make it past the first one, but we did. We'll go for lucky number three and see if I can break that curse. The last episode I had was we had a conversation with Chick Foley, also known as Sheena Phelps. And we kind of talked about a lot of how the podcast
00:00:59
Speaker
don't last past most past three so well hopefully we get a third one in this and we'll uh we'll make it we'll break that curse so um
00:01:09
Speaker
Yeah, thank you again. Um, I'm always going to thank you. And if you're listening, um, for your first time, for your last time, um, just, just thankful, just thankful that you're listening either way. Um, I always want to say the show is sponsored by powered by and tolerated by yes. Tolerated by the pod foundation. Uh, the pod foundation is an independent network of podcasts and creators that consists of the chick fully show, the extra cooler show, the turnbuckle Tavern and coming down the aisle.
00:01:39
Speaker
We have new shows every day of the week that cover all your podcast needs, so no need to look anywhere else for your wrestling or figure news or any other type of category.
00:01:51
Speaker
Just go to the Pod Foundation IG and Twitter and get all your updates there. And while you're at it, definitely follow all those individual shows.
Meet the Guest: Figure Kingdom
00:01:59
Speaker
They're always posting something funny or insightful or just downright silly sometimes. So yeah, and follow me while you're at it at the MVP Marco on IG if you want to. I post as much as I can, but hey, I mean, if you follow me, I'll be forever grateful to you.
00:02:21
Speaker
So let's move in second episode second guest This guest is a
00:02:29
Speaker
Kind of like a close friend, I would say. A close friend that I haven't actually met in person, if that's weird enough, not really because we're in that day and age where you just meet people online and you become close friends even though you haven't sat down with them, drank a coffee or anything like that. I feel we're close enough to have this in-depth conversation that we're going to get into. This individual is one of the
00:02:59
Speaker
If not the forefront of figure photography, if not the best figure photographer, I'm going to be biased and say so myself. This person is none other than Figure Kingdom. Figure Kingdom, how you doing? Figure Kingdom in the house. Thank you so much for having me on, brother. It's been a long time coming. I've known you all seven years of high school. It feels good to be here.
00:03:28
Speaker
Even though we've never met each other, I do consider you to be a friend of mine. So thank you.
00:03:35
Speaker
Wow, jeez, it's been that long. Holy moly. That's insane. But yeah, no, it's no, it's definitely great to talk to you. Like I said, this is kind of like our first, you know, actually like having like an actual conversation. I want to say physical conversation, but actually having a conversation like normally where, you know, going back and forth and in the chat. So this is there's going to be like there's going to be a special episode.
00:04:00
Speaker
Because we can actually hear our first words. Feels like I've spoken to you before, so let's have some fun. Yeah, definitely.
00:04:10
Speaker
Like I said, you're one of those lifelong Chick-Fully people. We have you as our official Chick-Fully show photographer. You've done a few of our covers. I've reached out to you for... You did one on the fly for me once, and I've used a couple of yours as
Photography Projects and Community Support
00:04:30
Speaker
well. I'd probably have to say my favorite, I think, was the first one I ever reached out to you for. It was for Black History Month. We were doing a
00:04:38
Speaker
uh you know top uh black figures um you know yeah that that that photo is awesome like that just the way like just the way the angle looks with the figures and it was uh it was really it was really awesome just to see like just to see what you could do um with something like that so yeah i was definitely thankful for that that was a uh that was a patreon exclusive uh uh episode that we had so yeah you uh you did that one you did one for the um i believe for uh hangman in
00:05:08
Speaker
Kenny Omega, I think you did that cover art as well. We did the, uh, preview for, um, uh, was it full? Was it full gear that they face it? Yes. It was full gear, right? Last year. We're talking about going down memory lane, man. We got to do this again. What was that? Like over a year ago, since I've done the last one I've done. Yes. Holy show. I want to do one for the MVP, the main man himself, Marco.
00:05:35
Speaker
We gotta do this. Oh, definitely. You let me know what it is that you want, when you want it, and I'll make sure to get it done.
00:05:43
Speaker
I actually, I do have an idea of, uh, something for like the actual show for the members of the show, for myself, Seth, Sheena, and, um, Jordan, the figure. So I actually have an idea. I want to like reach out to you to see if you have the, uh, if, if you have the first of all, the figures to do the, to do the photo that I want. And I, but we'll, I guess I will, we'll talk offline and I'll reach out to you because I do actually have an idea for, uh, for a nice, uh, a nice photo that you can actually, then we probably all hang up in our houses too. So.
00:06:13
Speaker
I'm excited, bro. Let's make it happen. Yeah, definitely. Like you said, you're definitely one of the OGs of us. You've been around forever. You've done live behind the scenes shoots at the Chick Foley Show Facebook group, which I always say is the greatest group of people known to man. Absolutely. The most drama-free group I've ever been in in my life.
00:06:42
Speaker
And they always hook it up with the figures because I live way out in the country. And for the longest time, like I would tell everybody there, it's like, I get all of my figures from like eBay or, you know, scalper prices. And they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah. Like, you're, you're with us now. So, uh, I never had to pay a single scalper fee. It was just cost shipping done.
00:07:04
Speaker
Yeah, that's how it always should be. I mean, obviously, you know, there's a, you know, there's the people that, you know, the FOMO people out there that feel like they're going to miss out on a figure if it's, you know, but if you have the patience, you know, and you pick and choose what you want, don't, we talked about this on the last episode, you know, don't fall into the hype of, you know, a first time figure like coming out, just like, you know, just, you know, collect at your own pace, collect what you want to collect.
00:07:32
Speaker
And don't feel like you need to, you know, you know, put up a front for anyone or anything like that. That's, that's how it, that's how it should be. You should, when you collect, it should be for your own, your own collection and your own, your own feeling of, you know, owning something as opposed to showing other people what you're, what your collection looks like that comes afterwards. Think about it. It's never going to end. You know what I mean? Like that feeling of chasing that, you know, it's like, Oh, well I gotta be the first, I gotta have it. You know, it's just like, you're never going to be ever like fulfilled. But if you're.
00:08:01
Speaker
Just getting stuff that you like, that you enjoy at the end of the day, that's all that really matters. Yeah, yeah, definitely. You know, and one thing I want to get into is what they, what the, like I said, like the beginning of the, you know, the figure kingdom name. And you were like, you know, like you said, the other platform that the chick Foley show helped out with.
00:08:23
Speaker
Uh, with you, um, with the, uh, like you said, with the live, you know, going to Facebook live and, you know, showing your behind the scenes, uh, photo shoots and how you like set that stuff is really intriguing. Like the amount of work that goes into those photos is, is pretty insane. Like it's, it's, it, how many, uh, how many like hours would you say you logged and doing just one photo shoot? So just one. Oh, geez. I don't know about one.
00:08:52
Speaker
But it's probably now in the 10,000, when they say it's like you start to become kind of good at the 10,000 hour mark, I really do believe that over the years, I've easily put in 10,000 hours. No joke. Because I would sit there at first for hours. If you look at my content, when I first started, it was just so cringe. I was just like, ugh. What was I doing? What was I even thinking?
00:09:22
Speaker
Um, I still have those pictures kind of, uh, as a, you know, like just to remind myself, it's like, okay, you weren't the most talented guy, but you were the guy that was willing to put in the work. Um, so I still pride myself in doing that. Um, you know, I don't, I don't like to miss days because people are, you know, like I see some other people that are like, well, why can't I get any traction? Like how often do you post? Imagine going to like some kind of job
Figure Kingdom's Personal Journey and Inspiration
00:09:48
Speaker
and only showing up two or three times a week and be like,
00:09:52
Speaker
Well, why can't I get a promotion? Well, wait a minute. Why didn't I get a raise? Why is that guy getting a raise over there? Are you showing up? Are you putting in the work? So that's how I live it by. Oh, yeah, definitely. And it's that, you know, consistency is key, always with with anything with anything you do with, like you said, with with a hobby with a with a collection with, you know, with your work, like you said, your even in your personal life being consistent, definitely helps out with your relationships and
00:10:19
Speaker
things like that, and you're definitely right about that. I've definitely noticed, you know, just following you for, I don't know how long, I don't even know, like, I can't even, I'm bad with, my memories are horrible, but, you know, since the beginning, you can definitely see the different, you know, different styles you used and, you know, you can definitely tell that you elevated your craft as you went along and stuff like that. Like, now you're just like, one thing I noticed is you have the most unique,
00:10:46
Speaker
like ideas for photo shoots. They're not like the most straightforward. Sometimes they're like out of left field. And actually, I think that kind of separates you from a lot of photographers out there. I'm not going to limit you just to a figure photographer, because you are a photographer. And I think it shows, especially if you just go to... I mean, if anyone's listening and you're not following in Figure Kingdom,
00:11:16
Speaker
definitely go to his IG and see the work that he's put in. Like there's one picture that I really, really liked was the recently was a Jade Cargill hoisten up the Incredible Hulk with one hand. Like, yeah, there's an idea. You know, like any any other figure photographer, you see the same thing, you know, it's like body slam, drop kick, pile driver. It's like, how many different times can we see that?
00:11:43
Speaker
So I want to do the most outlandish, ridiculous thing. So I'll have like Marvel against WWE or Eddie Guerrero there with the chancla, you know, about to lay the law down on a Dominic Mysterio. The most ridiculous kind of stuff. You'll see it on the page.
00:12:03
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's like I said, I'm just actually scrolling through now just seeing like the all the like I said, I what I did was I did the same thing with she and I kind of like, you know, went way back, like scrolled as far back as I could just to see the early stages of like, you know, her page. And I did kind of the same thing with you. And yeah, you can you definitely see the like the like the growth as a as a as a creator with you in your photography, definitely.
00:12:33
Speaker
Like you said I I figured that you know kind of the same wavelength in essence I was like I was like when he does pictures he takes a different approach He does he wants to be different from from every everyone else out there. You can definitely tell just by the different concepts you have When you do that so like what's what goes into that like how do you like?
00:12:50
Speaker
sit back and go, I'm going to do, uh, I'm going to do CM Punk versus, uh, Wolverine in this, in this, so like, how does that like, how do you like come up with these ideas? You like have like a note pad. Do you sit down or you just like, you know, just hanging out one day and you just think of something like, how does, how does that, how does your brain work in that sense? So I write everything down. Um, all of my goals, my ideas, I'm very much like pen to paper, like none of this like notes app thing.
00:13:18
Speaker
Yeah, so every single year I'll write down, you know, like the whole What are the what are the the elite call it the rich people like the the vision boards? Yes Yeah, I guess I have my own vision board and you know what? there's something to that because when I Started writing down all of my goals and my visions and dreams and stuff like that. It just it just started happening man I can't explain it. But yeah, I write down all of my ideas all of my goals and
00:13:47
Speaker
And so I'll get DMs at least once a week, once every few days, like, Hey, what do you ever do when you run out of ideas? Just like, well, I don't, you know, like I have like, probably like 1500 ideas that I've yet to do. And everything's just written down. Um, so I'll be at work. I'll be at the supermarket and, uh, I'll just come across something to jog up my memory. Like, Oh, this right here would make a cool shot. Bam. Write it down. Yeah. That's, uh, that's how it is.
00:14:17
Speaker
Wow. That's a, that's, you know, that, that actually makes sense. You know, they, they say like, whatever you, whatever you put out into the universe, that's what you're going to get back. Um, so when you, when you're doing that, even it doesn't, I mean, you could speak, speak things into an existence and you do, and you can also write things into an existence. Cause what you're doing is when you're writing something down, you're actually reading it and you at the same time you're repeating it in your head. Um, but you don't really think about that.
00:14:44
Speaker
Yeah. On my cell phone, like on my, uh, my lock screen, my, uh, it has like all of my goals, all of my dreams. Whenever I'd like boot up my computer, like I have no pictures of like dogs or kids or anything like that. Like it's all my dreams. So I read them every single morning. Every time I look at my phone, it just, it helps me be accountable for it. And, uh, you know, if you're listening right now and you know, like you're kind of stuck in a rut, you know, just write down those goals.
00:15:11
Speaker
It costs you nothing. I'm not selling you anything. I'm not selling you a book. I'm just the guy. I'm just the regular guy. I'm a regular vato, you know, from, from, uh, from Los Vaniels, from Caliphos, from California. I'm no one special, but trust me, there's something to that. Write down those goals, no matter how lofty they may be.
00:15:31
Speaker
Oh, yeah, no, I totally agree. And like I said, you could speak to it, like I said, we'll get we'll get to that stuff a little bit later in our conversation about like all the amount of the amount of things you accomplish, because I see them, obviously, you know, you know, I retweet all the stuff that you post with a big one that I haven't. Yeah, there's a big one that I haven't put out there yet.
00:15:55
Speaker
um well this one's this one's even yeah this one's even massive bro this one uh like it even shocked me it's like whoa whoa this wasn't supposed to happen um it'll come out in time well you know what the cool thing is i was i thought you're gonna give me exclusive i was like oh boy oh
00:16:15
Speaker
But no, the other thing too is you work hard, you hone your craft, you do what you need to do, and it gets you places. We were talking about with Extra Cooler. He obviously does a lot of designs. He's a great artist. He's probably one of the best out there. Just recently, he got that deal with Chalk Line.
00:16:42
Speaker
Where he's you know, he's designing stuff for the WWE and you know helping you know create you know stuff for them and chocolate like that collaboration like that that that all came out of just you know, just his hard work and you know, you know, obviously you need you need
00:17:01
Speaker
Yeah. Cause at the end of the day though, it's just, you know, like just the one guy show, you know, it's just somebody with the dream and passion and somebody who's willing to put in the work. And you know, good on him though, for making that happen. Seriously. That's fantastic. Yeah. He had that.
00:17:16
Speaker
he had that retro, it was like a retro jacket. Actually, I purchased it. It was like, I think everyone at the pod foundation actually purchased one. Just because obviously that helps. It actually sold out. It's the retro figures. It's like the old poster with the
00:17:35
Speaker
not the retro figures, but the Hasbro figures, the old advertisement that they had back in the day. But he just updated a little bit with the different artwork style, and we all purchased it. That was a moment, too, as well. Just seeing that, knowing somebody that actually made it, in a sense, is pretty awesome. It's really cool. Like I said, I definitely want to run down the
00:18:02
Speaker
You know your accomplishments that you've done over the past past years or so but i want to get into your origin story. I want to know you know where figure kingdom came from it you know at the same second part of that is what made you want to like get into photography like what like.
00:18:22
Speaker
What was, what was the approach? Was that like a, you know, was that a thing as when you were a kid, like I wanted to take pictures of things or was that something that came out? But let's first go with the, with the name. Where did the, where did the name come from? Well, I guess we need to go back to the, to the very start, um, before we get into the name is how I kind of fell into it. Cause it wasn't something that I always wanted to do as a kid. Um, okay. It's a very,
00:18:51
Speaker
tragic but yet a beautiful story all at the same time where I remember I just had a dead-end job and I hated going to this place and I remember it was a Friday afternoon I just gotten paid I was supposed to go and see my girlfriend I was smelling nice I was just getting onto the freeway about to go pick her up go have dinner you know do the girlfriend thing
00:19:17
Speaker
And then just out of nowhere, just blindsided. Um, I just, uh, got into the biggest car accident where I got hit by a drunk driver. And I just remember just, um, like just being totally out of it. And like my car's flipped over and like, it seemed like somebody got there just like super fast within to me, it seemed like seconds. They got there before even like the cops were there just to make sure that I was all right. And, uh,
00:19:46
Speaker
Like the very next day, like the adrenaline had kind of wore off and I was just like, Oh my gosh, what is going on? Like my neck was all tensed up in my back and like, I couldn't feel anything. Like I was numb, but yet the, like I would have a lot of pain at the time. And then I go from doing so much, you know what I mean? Like a young kid at the time, yeah, the, you know, the, the, the life by the balls, uh, so to speak. Yeah.
00:20:15
Speaker
from one day to doing a lot to the next thing, not doing anything really. Cause you can't, you can't move, you know, like your friends, they stop calling. Uh, you lose your job, you lose your money, you lose your house. Uh, like my girlfriend had broken up with me because obviously, you know, like who's going to want to be around some guy can't even walk anymore. Um, so the time where I needed everybody was the time where everybody just kind of left me high and dry.
00:20:45
Speaker
And it's not a sob story or anything like that. That's just the way it happened. It isn't like, oh, woe is me kind of thing, because I didn't feel sorry for myself. But at the same time, I was just thinking, oh, wow. Now I kind of know who my real friends are. So it took eight years, I guess, for me to get better.
00:21:12
Speaker
So there was a time during that where I couldn't come out of my room at all. I just remember my nephew, who's more or less like my brother to me. He's like my little brother. He was just like, look around you. Look at your collection. There's something here. What can you do? Because obviously, I couldn't work. Couldn't do anything. So I remember he was just like, just think about it. Not everybody has what you have. Make something happen.
00:21:43
Speaker
And then at first I was just like, what the heck does this punk kid think, you know, like trying to give me advice, but at the same time I was just like, you know what? He's right. There is something here. And it wasn't like an overnight thing. Like it, it took me like a good six months to kind of figure out, okay, well, what do I do? So I remember like, do you remember the, um, the, the wrestling figureboards? Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah. So I went on there and there was a guy, Nate.
00:22:12
Speaker
ring skirts. I'm sure you know of him. Oh, yeah. I know that. Yeah. And he had the coolest ring skirts and arenas and setups. And when I saw it, I was just like completely blown away. I was like, no way. And so I messaged him. Of course, Nate, the coolest freaking guy ever made you feel like like you were his best friend hooked me up with some ring skirts.
00:22:41
Speaker
And then I started taking my own pictures. And at first, like I said earlier on, they were awful. They were atrocious. Like the lighting was all bad. The posing was just like a little spotty and it was actually very spotty. And on a scale of one to 10, I probably had to rate it like a negative four, just really bad. But the more that I did it, I was just like, wow, this is really enjoyable. So then you start to meet other like-minded people in the community and like, wait a minute, other peoples do this?
00:23:10
Speaker
It's like, wait a minute, these guys are really good. So I would message them and many of them, and by many of them, I mean all of them like left me on red, like nobody wanted to give me any advice on how to start. Other than Nate, other than Nate, Nate was, he's the OG man. Like the way that I treat people now, it's like because of Nate, you know, ring skirts, which by the way, if you're listening now, do follow him on Twitter, do follow him on Facebook,
00:23:39
Speaker
on the Instagrams, do all that stuff, Nate is the man. But yeah, so I just started taking pictures and then I made an Instagram. And then you asked me earlier, how did I get the name Figure Kingdom? Well, during the time, obviously can't get to work. You know, you're still in pain. So I remember like watching the very first Wrestle Kingdom, New Japan.
Creative Process and Photography Tips
00:24:06
Speaker
And I was just thinking, Oh, that would be a cool name, wrestle kingdom. And then of course you go on Instagram. It's like, ah, crap. Somebody already took this name. So I was just like, well, I guess I'm going to do the action figure thing. The next best thing is figure kingdom. So that was basically it. Like my first choice was taken. So it's just like, I guess I'll take this bigger kingdom thing. And, uh, yeah, that's, uh, how I kind of got into it.
00:24:36
Speaker
that's actually, you know, that's actually pretty cool that, uh, you know, cause it's, it's not, it's not wrestling figure kingdom. It's figure kingdom. So you can like literally go anywhere with that. Like your, your, your name's open to the point where you can, uh,
00:24:50
Speaker
go anywhere with that name, essentially, which is pretty cool. But yeah, I mean, your story is, like you said, it's not a sob story. I see it as a triumph story, like some things that you, in life,
00:25:08
Speaker
They have to happen in order for you to get to the next step. If you want to get religious or whatever, you could say, a lot of people say, you know, God closes one door, but he opens another door for you. And that's pretty much what happens. That was 100%. Or if you want to say the universe, whatever. Yeah, that was 100%.
00:25:28
Speaker
Yeah, it closes one door and opens the other. Like, however you want to put it, whatever you believe in. But I believe that happens. I believe, you know, things happen for a reason, whether they're good or bad. And the bad doesn't last long. I mean, Razor Ramon said it best. I mean, he said at the end of his speech, tough times don't last, you know.
00:25:50
Speaker
But, uh, that was definitely my, my, uh, my story though. It was a lot of ups and downs. I was sick for like eight years. And, um, you know, like you were mentioning God earlier and it was a hundred percent that, uh, you know, like I felt like borderline sometimes like, am I going crazy? You know, cause I remember like family would come by like every Christmas and then they would ask like, you're still not better. Wait, you're, you're again, it's like, what?
00:26:19
Speaker
It's like, yeah, you know, like I'm not a doctor here, you know, like I'm not, like from my part, I'm doing everything that I can to get better. And it seems like I always got like the same looks. It's just like, oh boy, you know, like this guy's never going to get better kind of thing where, whereas I was doing everything that I could, you know, to heal, but, uh, eight years now, I can honestly say I'm a hundred percent healed from my neck, my back, mind, body, soul, spirit. Um, yeah.
00:26:48
Speaker
You ain't seen nothing yet. Oh, no, that's definitely the, you know, I was actually when you said that, you know, when you said, you know, you were sick for eight years, I like, you know, the main thing that can make you like sick is like your own body can actually like
00:27:07
Speaker
you know, make you, you can you can make yourself sick, it doesn't have to be you don't have to get like a cold, you're not thinking like, you know, you can actually like, you know, your mind, your brain can actually, you know, make you physically sick. I've met a few people in my, in my time where
00:27:24
Speaker
They've never, they're the healthiest people in the world. Never had any illnesses or anything like that, but the things that they went through in their lives, their jobs, maybe stress them out so much that actually made them physically ill, which is pretty insane. To me, it doesn't sound crazy. What comes out of your mouth, things that you watch on TV, you become your surroundings.
00:27:49
Speaker
You know, like the things that you listen to, the podcasts, the books that you read, everything, it does come out. You know, like whatever you put out into the universe, you know, we were talking about earlier, whether it's good or bad, if all you put out is, you know, like hate and negativity, well, guess what? You're going to get that back tenfold. Oh, yeah.
00:28:09
Speaker
No, I totally agree with that, definitely. Obviously, we see that a lot. I mean, you're on social media, you're on Twitter, you're on Instagram, you see the comments whether they're positive or negative, they're there. You can either take whatever one and run with it. But obviously, the best thing to do is take the positive ones and run with those and not look at the negative as much as you can.
00:28:36
Speaker
Like I said, your story is definitely heartfelt. That's definitely inspiring for anyone else that's out there that has gone through something where they didn't think they were going to make it through and then obviously they made it through at the end. One of the things I want to transition to as a Facebook group that we have is we share a lot of stuff in that group.
00:29:00
Speaker
It can be, like I said, it's not only about figure collecting and wrestling. There's a lot of people that share their child's birth, stuff like that, birthdays, just like all these personal things and stuff like that. I think that's what it always should be about is just making those connections with the right people.
00:29:22
Speaker
you being in that group and having that platform, I think that definitely helped you get that confidence. Like you said, you're doing those behind the scenes videos and they're weird. They're awkward because you're like, who's watching? What are the people going to say? That type of stuff. You've never done anything like that before. I made myself do it every single Friday and I was keeping track. I was like, no, I will not miss a Friday. It was up until
00:29:51
Speaker
a year, a little over a year plus where I didn't miss a single week. And it really helped me come out of my shell, helped me to speak better, not be so like in my head. Because I guess, you know, it's like that old saying, if you don't use it, you lose it. So I wasn't very social because, you know, like you're in a room, you can't really talk much to people because you're by yourself. And so when I was barely starting to come out of my shell, Sheena gave me the awesome opportunity. I've never forgotten it to this day.
00:30:21
Speaker
you know, that she gave me the opportunity to go on her platform on Facebook for Figure Fridays and do the live tutorials, which were only for a few minutes. But man, they were like so therapeutic to me. So yeah, I never ever forgot that. I'm super grateful. Yeah, definitely.
00:30:39
Speaker
I want to kind of transition into that because I definitely want to like, you know, you know, definitely, you know, we kind of get, I gave Sheena her flowers on our, on the, on the last episode and she kind of, you know, she did, you know, she said the same thing. Her, her whole, her whole idea for her chick fully like page was to, you know, give a voice or give like, give the platform to other people, not really for, for her to like, you know, display like, you know, her wrestling knowledge or herself or, you know, put herself out there. She wanted to help.
00:31:09
Speaker
other people, and I think that's what she did. I think she did her job. I think she has more to do. If you listen to the show from last week, you'll find out what the future holds for the Chick-Fully brand.
00:31:27
Speaker
just going out there and doing it. Like I said on that last episode, I said, I wasn't even going to do this show. I was supposed to do this back in May of this year. I had this idea for the open mic show and I was like, man, I want to do an interview type show where you kind of break it up from what we have going on. We're always talking wrestling. We're always talking about figures.
00:31:48
Speaker
you know, let's let's kind of break it up. And you know, just like, you know, get, you know, get the people that are in that realm, like yourself, and others out there, and you know, you know, get them on a show where they can, you know, talk about things other than, you know, what they do, you know, obviously, give some insight on, you know,
00:32:04
Speaker
you know where they're from like what you know what stuff you know what motivates them all that stuff but you know have those conversations and you know try to get to the you know i hate to use the term human side of those personalities out there and i said i was gonna do it i was scared to do it because it's literally just a one man show it's just me and someone else
00:32:25
Speaker
And for the most part, I don't know anybody. I know you because we exchange messages and stuff like that. But at the same time, we've never met. This is the first time we're actually speaking. And if I didn't tell you that, it would sound like we were friends that just picked up microphones and just started talking pretty much. It's a little bit scary whenever you do something that's totally out of your comfort zone. But it's when you really challenge yourself to do these scary things that
00:32:52
Speaker
the best things are on the other side for those. So, you know, I have to commend you on that, Mark, for taking a chance on yourself because it's not easy, you know, because sometimes, you know, like we see people on the, you know, like we hear people on the radio, we see people on TV and look at them that they're just talking. They get paid for that. It's just like, whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy. There is a lot more to it than just talking. But I think you're doing a great job. I know that this is only your your second episode, but it feels like you've been doing this forever.
00:33:22
Speaker
So I can't wait till episode three and beyond.
00:33:27
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I want to get because he actually kind of transitioned. He actually brought up you got it. That was a good segue because I want to get into because he said, you know, you know, it's not just talking. That's a lot that goes into it. There's a lot of prep prep work and stuff like that. Like I said, I had to, you know, I went through your whole Instagram paid, like scroll through everything. I did the same thing, you know, with she and I try to do my research a little bit. And, you know, you kind of you brought up the fact that it's not easy.
00:33:54
Speaker
And I want to kind of dive into your process on the photos that you take, because definitely there's a lot that goes into it. Like I said, I've seen firsthand what we just spoke about, the videos that you supposed in the Facebook group. It was a couple of minutes, but I know there's a lot more that goes into those couple of minutes.
00:34:16
Speaker
Can you explain what, from beginning to end, obviously you said you get the idea, all that stuff, you write it down, so from there, what does that process look like for you when you're going into shooting these photos? Yeah, so like I said before, first step is writing it down. What's your idea? And then afterwards, it's just like, okay, well, how am I going to execute that? What exactly am I going to do? What pieces go here and there?
00:34:45
Speaker
I've never changed. I've never even told people that I do this, though. And it's going to sound a little odd. It's going to sound a little peculiar, though. But I do pray before, during, and after every single shoot. And you look at the kind of stuff that I was producing way back when. And you look at to where it's at now. And you can't tell me that prayer didn't help. And I'll post those pictures just so you can see how God awful my photos were.
00:35:14
Speaker
So, uh, yeah, I'll, uh, I'll start praying, um, over my works and, uh, I just kinda take over from there. You know what I mean? Like, uh, say for instance, like what was today shot? Um, I, which by the way, I did post, uh, as we were on the show, uh, which is, um, it's John Cena and you know, like he always does like the, the make a wish. The make a wish, uh, the kids, the, the, where he meets them.
00:35:43
Speaker
So I was just thinking, oh, okay, well, what's timely? Okay. Stranger things just came out not too long ago. Okay. Bam. So, uh, Mike, he's in a, in a wheelchair. Um, John Cena there, uh, and he has the, uh, the, you can't see me. And of course, you know, like with the, the make a wish kids are always holding some kind of like stuffed animal. So it was just like, okay, well, nobody's ever done this to my knowledge. So let me go ahead and do that. Um, so he's there in a backstage, uh,
00:36:13
Speaker
Scenario, you know, like you get your crates you got your your your fan And yeah, so writing it down pray over it Setting up your figures framing. The biggest thing though is always lighting Okay, what kind of lighting all right there in the background there in the backstage right so backstage is usually a little bit darker a little bit dingier and
00:36:40
Speaker
Um, but you also want to highlight the figures themselves. So, uh, yeah. Um, lighting is always key. Lighting should always be number one. Um, to anyone who's starting out, um, like a lot of my shots are shot with like a plain black poster board, believe it or not. Uh, like I just posted like a few. Yeah. A few days ago, there was a picture of Wolverine. Um.
00:37:08
Speaker
that right there is shot with the plain black poster board and just the props around it. Wow. Yeah, I'm actually looking at that one right now. That's impressive. Wow. I'd never even thought of something so simple. Yeah. That makes sense. That's so awesome. 50 cents at your local Walmart for a poster board. I went through a whole
00:37:36
Speaker
time as well like I want to see was last year where I was just taking like action shots with just a plain black poster board in like some colored light so I would switch up the lighting and that way it would look different every single day and I would purposely make it harder for myself just so you know like you can improve so yeah I did that
00:37:59
Speaker
Um, yeah, I was gonna actually, I was gonna ask you about a few other ones that I've seen on there. I did mention the, uh, the Jade cargo, you know, hoisted up the incredible Hulk, which is pretty awesome. I actually really enjoyed that one. Um, yeah. So storytelling, right? Um, you know, like you can have a picture, um, like the, like that old saying goes, you know, like a picture of what says a thousand words. Is that the same? Um, so you always want to tell some, yeah.
00:38:28
Speaker
So you always want to tell some kind of a story, right? All right. So who is Jade, right? Jade is this bad-ass from AEW. She's undefeated. She's super strong. Like she's legit like the it girl right now. And probably all of wrestling for me, like she's bad-ass. You know what I mean? Like I could totally see her in Hollywood. I could totally see her going above and beyond, you know, like even like this wrestling thing. So it's just like, all right.
00:38:54
Speaker
She's larger than life. She's larger than life than more so even the Hulk. So yeah, she hasn't moistened up even with just one arm.
00:39:05
Speaker
Yeah, that one right there, I was like, that was pretty awesome. Obviously, there's other ones where, like, there's one with Rey Mysterio. He's, like, running on the ropes. How do you do stuff like that? Like, is that, like, how do you do a shot like that where he's, like, he's standing on a ring rope, like, bouncing? Yeah. So I've heard of people call Rey Mysterio el Rey de las Cuertas, which means, you know, like, the Rey of the ropes. So I'm thinking, oh, okay.
00:39:34
Speaker
Well, what's more godlier than, you know, like the greatest high flyer to run the ropes? So how would I get the the action figure to to run the ropes? First, you got to pose them up. All right, what's life like, right? Just do a life like pose like he's actually running beforehand. All right, you got your posing down. Now you just get yourself some kind of, you know, like mom string, like there's
00:39:59
Speaker
Like I get messages all the time. It's like, Oh, well, what kind of string do you use? Is this something special? Is it expensive? It's like, no, it's just string. You can use clear string. You can use black string, sewing string, any kind of string. Just use that. Um, just, uh, kind of hoist it up. And again, people ask me, so what kind of device do you use to hoist it up? And I tell people all the time, like don't spend any money. Just go in your attic, go in your basement, find like an old,
00:40:27
Speaker
Well, what I use is an old lamp, right?
Handling Criticism and Industry Partnerships
00:40:30
Speaker
And, uh, I got an old broom. I just use tape. I had some crappy tape. I taped it up. And then I, you know, like when you're, you go painting, they give you like that painter stick to, uh, stir it up. Yep. Yeah. I used one of those and I used more tape to, uh, to tape that, I guess, uh, to the end of the broomstick. Um, so I'll just tie the string.
00:40:53
Speaker
And I'll kind of just hoist them up from before. And it's just kind of like a balancing game. And the more that you do it, the just the easier it gets. That's not even the hard part, though. The hard part is the lighting. OK, how is your lighting going to be balanced? Is it going to look clear? Is it going to look like presentable? Again, what kind of story are you telling with your lighting? What era is it in? Different eras have different lighting. So I'll try and switch it up with that, too.
00:41:21
Speaker
Yeah, man, like I said, just for anyone that hasn't, hasn't fallen figure thinking about, you're definitely missing out on some like awesome photography. Like, just like I said, as I'm as you're, you know, talking, I'm actually like going through a lot of the pictures and they're just, like I said, did
00:41:37
Speaker
They're just mind-blowing some of the stuff that you're able to do. Obviously, you have the simple wrestling ones where they're pulling off moves, but they don't even look simple. They look simple, but I know there's a lot that went into those. I want to ask you about a few other ones that are
00:41:56
Speaker
horror-esque. Where do you get that? What does that come about? More like the violent-looking photos that you come up with. I remember there was John Moxley, which is actually very timely, with I believe it's CM Punk's head. Do you recall this one? This photo?
00:42:20
Speaker
So again, there's the theme, but there's always like, MJS head, sorry, MJS head, but there's always like a method behind the madness. Um, like most of these, you know, like, okay, AEW jazzwares, they have their own line called blood and guts, right? They produce bloody figures themselves. So whenever I, you know, like hear people say, it's like, oh my God, it's like, why do you put
00:42:45
Speaker
more blood on top of the blood. It's like, what, how am I the bad guy? It's like, they produce the figures. The whole line is called blood and guts. There's a paper view, an event called blood and guts. So just because I cut somebody's head off, that makes me the, that makes me the villain. It's like, no, no, no, my friend. I'm just playing off of whatever they're giving me already. And I'm enhancing.
00:43:11
Speaker
Yeah, I was just curious. I was like, how does he come up with these like, like I said, your photography is very unique in the sense where you do a lot of different things that other photographers don't hate. I've gotten hate for many of them. Really? Oh, daily. I get so much hate for my photography and for my ideas. They're like, well, why do you add blood? Or sometimes it's just like,
00:43:37
Speaker
This figure doesn't look right the way you posed it. I'm just thinking like what the heck is wrong with you guy Yeah, and a lot of it Yeah, and a lot of the times like I would just get like mean and nasty like DMS and stuff like that But then they'll unfollow me and then they'll follow me right back and then I'll see like a trend just like wait a minute I see you guy Well, you know what it is, you know, I think they
00:44:03
Speaker
It could be like jealousy if they didn't think of that themselves. It's like, damn it, why did I think of that? I'm just going to go criticize it and then go try it myself to see if I can do it. That's what usually happens sometimes when people have negative comments. It's usually something that they want to do that. I was actually just watching these guys. They have their own podcast already. I won't give them the satisfaction of saying the name or the guy.
00:44:32
Speaker
But I remember, I guess he didn't expect me to go on his live YouTube. And it was so weird though, because it was my very first time ever turning it on. And the very first thing, he was talking about my blood effects and how it's so, and he said the word, it's so awful. And I was just like, oh.
00:44:55
Speaker
Well, you tell me all the time that I'm like so good and so nice. And the first thing that you do is like you trash me. Thanks, pal. So yeah, I didn't even, you know, like want to, you know, get into any kind of drama. So it's just like, no, let me click off of here. Focus. Yeah, it's, yeah, it's better. Yeah, it's better. You know, stay, stay clear of any, uh, any negativity, but you know, with you anyway, I mean, you, you even have to worry about that because you have, uh,
00:45:25
Speaker
You have tons of different sponsors and different people that reach out to you and use your services. Kind of want to dive into that a little bit.
00:45:36
Speaker
Obviously, you said there's a big one coming up, but right now, I know a few of them, but I want you to run down the list of collaborators or people that have reached out to you. I know one specifically that I see all the time, but I want you to give those credentials out. All those people that say your blood effects are horrible, tell them
00:46:02
Speaker
Tell them who you actually work with. Thanks, bro. So my very first sponsor was Extreme Sets. And again, you know, like with Shaina, we were talking about earlier, like I never forgot, you know, like what she did for me. I never forgot what Joe from Extreme Sets did for me. It just gave me confidence. Because at the time, I was just like, well, am I am I good enough? You know, like you start questioning yourself.
00:46:30
Speaker
Uh, do I have what it takes to compete with these other guys? Um, but, uh, yeah, so, uh, extreme sets was like a huge deal for me. Um, afterwards, uh, it was, uh, I started posting on a toy news international where again, they would, uh, you know, like I got to post daily on their platforms and the, you know, like they got to, uh, you know, like show off my work on, on their website and, uh, the same guy.
00:46:59
Speaker
I guess, um, also does like the marvelous news.com, you know, for like the Marvel legends and all that kind of stuff. And, um, he also does reviews like on YouTube. And so part of the elite squad, I was like the very last, I guess, member, you know, like the WWE Mattel elite squad, like everybody else got the deal. And I remember like, I was just like, huh, I was like, they didn't reach out. And instead of, you know, like pointing it at everybody else is just like, well, why didn't I get, I, I hate that.
00:47:29
Speaker
So, uh, I didn't want to play like the blame game as like, why not me? And I was just thinking like, okay, well, there's obviously something wrong with me. Let me go ahead and fix that. So I was just like, well, everybody else is doing one post. Let me do 10. And I did that every single day. And what that did, it kind of forced me to, uh, you know, like up my game and just improve because I was putting in the reps, you know, it's like with anything else, you want to become a chef. You know, you're not going to become a chef doing this part time.
00:47:59
Speaker
Got to put in the reps. Yeah. So I started doing that. And the guy from Toy News International, I guess he also gets sponsored packages. And so he was just like, well, if I send them out to you, you could do the photography, we could post them on here, and then you could just keep the figure. So I was just like, oh, well, let me do that. Perfect. Yeah. And so when I started doing that,
00:48:27
Speaker
Um, Steve, uh, action figure attack. He like reached out to me and he was just like, Hey, um, you don't have to do that anymore. Uh, we're going to send you out the sponsored, uh, packages or whatever. So they've been doing that for like, like two or three years now. And I've just been super grateful ever since just for the opportunity. Um, you know what I mean? Like not so much that they're free, just
00:48:56
Speaker
to know that you're considered, you know what I mean? Just the whole opportunity. Just to know that you're even under the same breath as some of these other amazing figure photographers and producers and content creators. And these guys do amazing things. And just to be under the same breath as long as it's like, holy smokes.
00:49:19
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's pretty instead. Like I said, that's why I wanted you to kind of run that down. And you've done some other stuff too. Like you have a, I know you have our rank side collectibles as well. That was another thing. Um, well, again, all the other figure photographers, you know, like they all had a code. Everybody else was doing, you know, like these big, uh, elaborate features with them and, and having, uh, you know, like these big promotions. And I was just thinking like, what else do I have to do? It's just like, in my mind, I was just like, okay,
00:49:48
Speaker
I'm not just going to stick to Instagram. I'm going to do it everywhere. And whether or not they want to give me an opportunity, it's on them. But at least I'll know that I did all of the legwork. So I started posting on Twitter. I started posting on Facebook. I started doing the TikToks. I started doing the Toy News International on their website. So I was like, well, if they're not going to give me an opportunity, well, damn sure they're at least going to see my stuff. I'm going to make sure of it. And so it's like everybody's going to see it, whether they like it or not.
00:50:18
Speaker
So that was my whole, I guess, you know, like the method behind the madness kind of thing was just like, well, I'll show them. It was, it was so weird. I remember again, like I'm big on like motivational stuff, right? I don't know if you ever listened to Chris Van Vleet and his podcasts.
00:50:40
Speaker
Yep, yep, yep. Yeah, it's pretty much like where I got the idea to do this. Essentially, he's one of my muses for this show. Yeah, so Chris is the man, like I never hear him put out, you know, like anything negative or, you know, like, whenever you listen to his show, it's nothing but positive, right? And so he had this one
00:51:05
Speaker
I guess it was like a mantra. It was a saying and he said vague goals get vague results and he was saying like when if you want something, you got to let it known. You got to put that thing out into the universe. You got to tell people because then you become accountable for it. Other people know they start cheering you on. And so I did that. I remember it was in the morning when I listened to it and I was so fired up. I was just like, you're right.
00:51:30
Speaker
And so I still have the pin tweet. It's on my Twitter. If anybody wants to go in, uh, and check it out. Um, it's, uh, eight 27, 21. I'm looking at it right now. It says I'm putting it out in the universe. The goal is to work for a major toy company in helping to promote their products. I'll work my butt off for an opportunity hashtag vague goals, get vague results. And, uh, I tagged everybody.
00:51:59
Speaker
I tagged Jeremy, I tagged Jazzwares, Chris Van Vliet, Mattelo, Ringside, everybody that I wanted to work with. It's crazy because that tweet right there, it really did set things in motion. That same hour, I got a message from John from Ringside, and we had this hour-long conversation.
00:52:27
Speaker
Well, we just talked about everything we talked about, like, from things like wrestling to life to action figures. And he seemed like a total bro. You know what I mean? Like a total cool guy. Just like the nicest guy ever. And again, gave me an opportunity. And so again, you know, like when I was thinking, OK, well, other people are going to do, you know, one, I'm going to do 10. I'm going to go above and beyond. And another thing that I wanted to do, which
00:52:57
Speaker
You know what? I'll just see, I'll just say it right now. I will give you the scoop Marco. Oh, all right. Okay. I'll just say it. It's, it's pretty much already a done deal. Um, where that tweet, it says the goal is to work for a major toy company. Right. And then I tagged jazzwares. And, uh, so ever since January of this year,
00:53:23
Speaker
I've been going back and forth with Jeremy and jazzwares how to get figure kingdom to do content for jazzwares. And originally I was going to do something similar to what, you know, Matt Goldberg, MBG, what he was, what he does. Like he does the photos, but he does them, you know, for like at home, right? It's like a, they send them the stuff and then he does them kind of like a freelance work. So yeah.
00:53:53
Speaker
They made me do like a whole bunch of tests earlier on this year. And it seemed like the longest process. I was just like, geez, am I ever going to hear back from them? They made me do all these different tests, like photography tests. Can you do this? Can you do the plain white stuff that you'd see on websites? Can you do the, they call them the artistic shots.
00:54:23
Speaker
I want to say it was about a week or so ago. I had a Zoom call with, uh, I guess two of the higher ups from jazzwares and they were offering me an opportunity for me to either move out to Culver City, California, or it was somewhere back East. It's off of the, it's on the tip of my tongue, but they basically want me to move to go and do.
00:54:49
Speaker
photography for their website and for their social media. That's amazing. That's the scoop. I was talking about it earlier about how I wrote that down. Think about it. That's not a job position. You can't go to school to be an action figure photographer. They even told me in that conversation, they're like,
00:55:16
Speaker
So this position doesn't really exist. Um, so we're going to have to get it cleared with the higher ups. And they were just saying, and, but basically Jeremy is like the main one that's in your corner. So we're pretty sure that we're going to get this cleared. Um, so yeah, they just basically told me, they asked me if I would be willing to relocate and move. And, um, it's scary, man. I don't want to move. I don't want to be away, you know, from like everything that I've known and
00:55:44
Speaker
the people that I know and, you know, like my family and, you know, whatever friends I have here. Um, but, you know, life's kind of a risk. Um, so I don't want to be, you know, like 80 years old and to be like, well, why didn't I just give that a go? Why didn't I just try? And, uh, yeah, man, I'm gonna just sacrifice it all. And, uh, I'm going to make the move. I'm going to make the jump, if you will. Um, so I can't believe I just told you Marco, but you know what? It feels like I've known you forever.
00:56:13
Speaker
It feels like you're one of my best friends. Um, so you get to scoop, um, other than, you know, like close family, like no one else knows, but I trust you. I mean, a lot of people are going to know cause, uh, there's going to be broadcast at some point, but, uh, yeah, man, that's, that's, you know, that's amazing. And, uh, I, I, I knew you were, you know,
00:56:34
Speaker
I had a feeling, not that you got too big for doing your behind the scenes stuff and posting things in the Facebook group, but people get busy, life happens, we all know, everyone goes through it. But I had a feeling that you were going to
00:56:56
Speaker
get something special or do something special with your skill set and what you're able to do. Like you said, the way you're motivational and the way you talk about motivation,
00:57:12
Speaker
We talked about this on the previous show with Sheena. We got into a little bit of motivational stuff towards the end and stuff like that. She was like, I hope people are still listening. That's why I made the show forward. Get that you can do it type of thing.
00:57:30
Speaker
You're able to go out there and you know, write like you said write down what you want But you want in life and you know, you can make it happen. Well, is it gonna happen overnight? No, definitely not. It's gonna take some time. It's gonna take hard work dedication Just like you know, Floyd Mayweather says that hard work dedication. He if you ever see his training videos He'll he'll just yell it out hard work on the rest of the scene says dedication. So yeah, I love that guy and he did make it happen, you know what I mean and
00:58:00
Speaker
you were saying it didn't happen overnight like for me it took eight years you know like I was you couldn't get any lower than where I was Marco like I was legit confined to not only a room but I was confined to a bed and then like I had overcome you know like for okay yeah the the physical was was pretty tough but it was more so like the mental and
00:58:24
Speaker
That was like the, how am I ever going to get over this kind of
Motivation and Building Connections
00:58:28
Speaker
thing? Cause it comes with, you know, like anxiety and then the lack of social skills and then the depression. So every year it was just like overcoming another hurdle and another obstacle bullet. But at the same time, it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me because it made me hungry. It made me appreciate life. Um, made me appreciate what I have, you know, like the talents that I was given. You know what I mean? Like everybody, everybody's born with a gift, you know, like I'm.
00:58:54
Speaker
Affirm believer of that, you know, like a lot of people like that. They pursue their passions, but they should be pursuing their gifts So and what is your gift? You know what? I mean is the thing that you do with the least amount of effort, you know Some people are great with their hands Some people make the best pancakes in the world Some people fry the best chicken in the world and guess what they get paid millions of dollars. What are they doing? Just frying chicken
00:59:18
Speaker
So don't run away from the gift, you know, go towards the gift. Everybody has it, you know, God don't make no junk.
00:59:29
Speaker
No, no, it's true. It's true. Like you said, I mean, I, by all means, don't think I have any gifts whatsoever. But the one thing I do have is, you know, the ability to speak, just like everyone else. Everyone can, you know, open their mouths and say something. Our very first conversation, you made me feel so at ease. You know, like we're having an awesome conversation. You made me spill the beans. You're like a modern day Barbara Walters.
00:59:58
Speaker
See, that's what I'm trying to go for, is the Barbara Walters of the Pod Foundation. I kind of want to get into the Joe Rogan territory, where I don't want to go three hours. I'm not going to do a three-hour podcast. But just have a conversation. That's what the whole idea of this show is. And I'm hoping when people are listening to this, like I said, I'm going to try to get the personalities that you know
01:00:26
Speaker
love and follow and all that stuff but you know when I bring them on it's not gonna be just about you know figures and wrestling and all the stuff that we you know that we know that they do and they know that we love I mean that's what brought us together in the first place was our love of wrestling and that's never gonna go away like that that that brought a lot of people together like
01:00:45
Speaker
a lot, pretty much everyone in the broad foundation is, we all got together because we have a love of wrestling. Yes, so we have our differences when it comes to different ways things are booked and different... Of course, that's what wrestling fans do, but at the same time, we all love each other. We all consider each other friends. That's the other thing. I've never met anyone in person, but I feel like I've... Like you said, I've known them forever.
01:01:10
Speaker
I could just call somebody up or text them and we could have a text message conversation. It's so random and weird. I love it at the same time. Like I said, it's what brought us together. That's what I'm hoping to do with this type of show is get more insight.
01:01:30
Speaker
into the different personalities out there, the different creators. Like you said, everyone has a method to their madness, essentially. I want to try to get more into that. What makes that person tick? Why did they start doing this? Why did they start doing that? You did the job.
01:01:48
Speaker
You explained everything. You brought us pretty much through your beginning to, you know, not your end, but your, your continuation. That's, I mean, what you just, what you just told us now is, uh, that's huge. They literally just created a position for you. That's if that's not special, then I don't know what is at all. Like, what else could you say about that? And it made me think, you know, like, did I go through all these other obstacles and hardships in order to get here? And I truly do believe that because.
01:02:17
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like this opportunity isn't just going to go and just land on somebody's feet just because, you know, just because. So, yeah, it definitely life is crazy, man. I'll tell you that much, Marco. Like I never, ever expected to be here just because if you saw, you know, like where I came from and to where I am kind of now and.
01:02:40
Speaker
all the hoops I had to jump through. This year was just, it was just like the biggest mind screw ever though, because like I said, I started getting the ball rolling in January, right? And then initially they told me yes. And so when you get a new job, what happens, right? Oh, you tell your old employer, hey, I'm about to bounce here in my two weeks. And then guess what? Everything kind of goes silent. I don't really hear back. I don't really hear back.
01:03:10
Speaker
for like months, and then out of nowhere, I get an email, hey, we're still interested, but we want you to take a test. So I was just thinking, so wait a minute. So what was the whole point of you telling me yes, back in January when we had our initial interview? So this is going way deep down, but you know what, though? I like being honest and just telling it how it is. So yeah, so they made me do the test.
01:03:38
Speaker
uh again the I hear back from them in a couple of weeks and then that's just how it uh I guess it all uh started again um how they got the ball rolling and they were just telling me that like we just didn't want you to think that we ghosted you we're trying to figure out uh basically what to do with you where you uh could plug in and um yeah they were talking about like
01:04:02
Speaker
So, uh, how much space for a studio are you going to need? And I was just thinking in the back of my mind, like, whoa, whoa, whoa, it's lippy. You know, like, do you know where I work? I work in my garage. It's like 110 degrees in there, like legit. And then like you turn on the lights, like some of the overheads and then just gets much hotter in there. Like last summer I had to shave my head, Marco, because it was so hot, like legit.
01:04:26
Speaker
And there was a few instances where I had to like take photos in my underwear just because it was so dang hot. Yeah. And you think that I'm joking, but it's really true. Hopefully the garage door was closed when you were doing that. Oh, definitely though. Because again, the method to the madness, right? So in my photos, like the main focus is always like lighting. So.
01:04:52
Speaker
to where I get my lighting, it needs to be pitch black. That way, I can control the lighting because if there's sunlight peeking through, then that messes with the final shot, I guess, if that makes sense. Yeah. It needs to be pitch black. My garage is pitch black, but then again though, it's super hot. It's so muggy in there. It's hard to breathe sometimes.
01:05:14
Speaker
Guess what? You're not going to have to worry about that pretty soon. I mean, you're going to be stepping into almost like a state of the art studio for you to do your... I just can't even imagine what...
01:05:29
Speaker
given you the type of budget that you'll probably have to do these types of shoots, what it's going to look like. What you're doing now is phenomenal. Just imagine there's money behind it and there's more manpower behind it. You have an actual company behind you doing this. I see some special things, even more special things happen in your future. When you're telling the story about how long they took,
01:05:58
Speaker
just judging from that I'm not sure if you see the the fig night on turnbuckle tavern they did they did an interview with Jeremy Padau or a few weeks back and just watching that interview you could definitely tell he's a like a there's always something be like he's he's a thinker and he's definitely an innovator
01:06:21
Speaker
He's very innovative. I mean, if you follow Jerry Vidal's career, you know what he's done to the figure world. I mean, they don't call him the fig father for nothing. He's created a lot of, you know, influence a lot of people as well. That thing just inspires me like on so many levels. You know what I mean? Like this guy is everywhere. You know, like one day he's, you know, like at CES and next thing you know, like he's hanging out with a freaking Logan Paul.
01:06:48
Speaker
next thing you know, like this guy's everywhere. You know what I mean? Like that's, that's like the coolest thing. You know what I mean? Like my life, I like, I don't want it to be like, you know, like money and you know, things like I want my life to be about the moments and the things that I was able to accomplish. The people was, you know, like able to help along the way. So yeah, Jeremy, 100% the man and so inspirational.
01:07:14
Speaker
Oh yeah, I always say it's not what you know, it's who you know. And who you're connected to is worth a lot more than any money you're going to make. The connections you make throughout life is what gives you that wealth. It can be wealth in knowledge, it can be wealth in dollars, but who you're connected with and how you move throughout life
01:07:39
Speaker
and how you maintain those relationships is what's going to get you going. I mean, that's the name of the game. I mean, just being connected to you is being connected to Jeremy Padau or being connected to even Sheena. I mean, Jeremy Padau is a huge fan of Chick Foley. He falls in the
01:08:00
Speaker
the Instagram account, he follows Twitter account and Iraq with them on Twitter and stuff like that. So like, you know, just making those connections and maintaining them, I think is, like I said, is a lot worth a lot more than any money you'll make, because that's going to take you a lot farther than anything. And I always I always say this to like, when you you spoke about like, you know, did you think it was going to happen after, you know, after your accident and all these things like going through your head and, you know, am I going to be able to do it? But one of the things I always
01:08:29
Speaker
I took it to myself and I forget why I heard it, but before you, I always heard this term, before you get blessed, there's a test.
01:08:39
Speaker
And that could be anything. Like you said, before you got, we'll put it in your turn. Before you got blessed with that job, that position, they tested, you had to get that test. You had to be tested before you were blessed with that. And that goes through anything, anything in life. Like before you get blessed with something, you have to go through a test. Whether that test is a easy test or a hard test, you got to get through it before you get that blessing. And I think what you went through and
01:09:08
Speaker
Uh, what you're, what you're at now, I think that's like a perfect, like a perfect Testament, uh, to be, you know, that saying Marco, you need to write a book legit. I'm like, I'm over here. I'm, I'm hearing you. I hear, I'm hearing this wisdom and I'm feeling so fired up right now. You know what I mean? Like a coffee table book, a set of fortune cookies. Can we get something going here? Like motivational quotes. I love that.
01:09:39
Speaker
That's another thing. Write it to your list, bro. Write it to your vision board. I'm going to write it in my goal list. I just try to, myself, we're all humans. We all go through good and bad things. I do the same thing you do. If I hear something or I see something, I try to take it in and use it in my day-to-day life. We spoke about it on the last episode with Sheena. She does a lot of
01:10:07
Speaker
At the beginning, she did a lot of health stuff. She was a fitness coach and all that stuff. She used to post these daily routines that you could do to try to improve your life. One of them was right when you wake up in the morning just to drink water. Get water in your body because even sleeping for whatever, seven, eight hours,
01:10:26
Speaker
be dehydrated. So the first thing you should do when you wake up before you touch your phone, before you brush your teeth, obviously, you have to go to the bathroom. That's that's first, the priority. But right after that, drink water and, you know, nourish your body with with that, you know, with with that liquid. And that's how they get you know, something like rejuvenated.
01:10:46
Speaker
So yeah, my mom growing up used to tell me the complete opposite. You know what I mean? Like crazy Mexican moms, like they have their own health. And she'd be like, no, Thomas, I wanna you and us, which basically means don't drink water on an empty stomach. That's going to be really bad for you. And I'm thinking here as a full blown adult, like, wait a minute. She was giving me all this bogus advice growing up and it's actually the opposite. It's like, wait a minute. You should be drinking water.
01:11:16
Speaker
Um, yeah, she was doing stuff. Like whenever I was sick, like she would give me like Gatorade and sodas and beaks. It's like, what, what the hell does nothing good for you? Like soda. No, that's bad. Seven up.
01:11:31
Speaker
That's not to dry you out, if anything. It's a dehydrator. It's not a hydration drink. It's got to make you more dry. It takes all your liquid. Well, Mexican moms, you know what I mean? They use the rub on your throat and send you on your merry way. I don't know.
01:11:53
Speaker
I don't even say it. It's old school parenting. That's all it is. That's pretty much spread across all races, cultures, and creeds. Old school parents are like, yeah, you fall and hurt yourself. Get up, walk it off. It's fine. You don't need anything. You're good. Don't worry. You're good. You're good. It'll heal itself. Just got hit by a car. You'll walk it off. It's all right, son.
01:12:18
Speaker
Was I like eight eight or nine? I got hit by a car before like Speeding down the street like it I still have like hip on my right side I actually still have like an issue with my hip I was why I was running across the street or something like that this car like I don't know I just hit me boom went flying like fluidly like just slow-motion. That's what it felt like hit the ground And then the lady I mean that she she actually got out and you know seen if I was okay insane
01:12:49
Speaker
Yeah, it was it. No, it was it was it was lucky enough. There was like people around. It was like, you know, she couldn't go anywhere. There was like way too many witnesses. She did that. But no, I remember like, you know, well, just walk it off. You're fine.
Future Plans and Episode Teasers
01:13:02
Speaker
Because I didn't have any scratches or anything. I didn't like I did fly away in the air. I just flew and landed on this.
01:13:10
Speaker
Yeah, right in the street, right in the cement. No, I didn't skid or anything. So I got up and I felt like I could walk and stuff, but obviously they had to wait for the ambulance to come and they totally didn't move. Well, it's kind of like the babies, you know what I mean? The babies that fall from a high building or something like that, and they come out unscathed, I think because there's less mass. Yeah, there's less mass than worth an actual person.
01:13:36
Speaker
Yeah, if I was an adult, I probably would have been way more injured, but I was little or so. Obviously, getting hit and flying in the air wasn't going to hurt as much. When you're younger, you're way more durable. You can do anything and get any type of damage that you find. You just flew in the air. You just flew in the air. I never figured that out. You're fine.
01:14:00
Speaker
I'll never forget that day. It was pretty frightening, first and foremost. Back then, those cars weren't fiberglass. They were metals. They were actual metal cars back in the day. Getting hit by one of those was not fun at all. Didn't feel good. Like you said, you go through the hardships, you go through all that pain and stuff.
01:14:27
Speaker
You know, if you make it, you make it out. Like I said, you just, you just get blessed with, uh, whatever's coming to you. So, but yeah, man, this is, uh, I mean, I don't, I don't, I don't even want to end this conversation. This is actually really going good, but I want to go like two over time, but, uh, definitely have to have you on again. We will definitely have to do a part two because I want to get into like, you know,
01:14:48
Speaker
your wrestling background, what you're into, how you started watching wrestling, who's your favorite, all that type of stuff. We're definitely going to do a sequel.
01:14:58
Speaker
Uh, there's a lot more for at least like a part 10. There's a lot more that goes into the whole bunch that, uh, you know, like I kind of left out of the story. Um, there was a, some supernatural stuff in there. Some, uh, I don't know if you're, you know, like we're talking about like the horror and, you know, like the spooky kind of stuff. There's some spooky stories in there as well. Um, but yeah, we'll, uh, we'll save that for, uh, for part two, the spicy stuff, the spicy sequel. You know what?
01:15:26
Speaker
we'll do that for, you know, I mean, you know, Halloween's coming up. I mean, obviously, it's only August. But I mean, in my area, I've been I've been Massachusetts. So Halloween starts like, pretty much now. What's up? What's up all heads? And I live I live near Salem. So all the spookiness happened. So I'm definitely we should definitely do a I'll have you on again. And we're gonna we're gonna talks about
01:15:49
Speaker
some supernatural stuff, like you said, some spooky stuff. We'll get into that, definitely. I think that would be a pretty cool concept for an episode. And maybe if Sheena too, because she's into horror and all that stuff, so maybe we can get all three of us on this show together and talk some spooky stuff. I'm pretty sure she'll be down for that. Dude, I'm sold. You got me sold. I'm in.
01:16:15
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, I mean, I don't want to take up too much of your time. I know it's pretty late on my end. It's almost 11 o'clock here. But I definitely want to say thank you for joining me, man. Thank you for sharing your story, too. I mean, like I said, it's definitely empowering. And to anyone listening to this episode, definitely listen all the way through. Don't skip around. I mean, right from the beginning, I mean, you got to listen to everything.
01:16:42
Speaker
that this guy went through. I mean, just to make it to where he is now. And, you know, with a story, and I guess it hasn't ended yet, it's still going like, you know, you're into another chapter, man. And I say, you know, take that opportunity that was given to you right now and just, you know, move, just go. I guess, just no questions asked. Just, you know, I feel like there's going to be, you know, bigger things happening for you when you do, you know, move and, you know, take this position.
Dreams and Community Aspirations
01:17:10
Speaker
I feel like, yeah, I feel like you're just going to be
01:17:12
Speaker
I mean, you're going to be up with those higher ups, essentially, with jazzwares at some point, with your ideas, because, I mean, you have a creative mind. I mean, they definitely look for stuff like that.
01:17:24
Speaker
I think that's one of the reasons why they chose you, obviously not because of your photography, but what goes into those pictures and what ideas go behind them and stuff like that. It takes a lot too. I think, like I said, you'll definitely be in that higher position.
01:17:42
Speaker
But it might not be with jazz wears it might be somewhere else with someone else might might might scoop you up and say hey You know, let's steal him. Let's steal him from jazz wears right now and uh, make him make him some other position Some high some high paying position. But uh, they said thank you for coming on man. This is this is great It was great talking to you for the first time. I mean, hopefully hopefully we beat person at some point I mean Russell media. I mean I would love to go Hollywood Go to the Holly B talking about that
01:18:12
Speaker
That'd be the place. I've never been to a WrestleMania. It's always been a lifelong goal to make it to one. But yeah, man, we'll have to make that happen at some point. And I have a friend that lives in San Diego, so I'm probably going to message him and be like, hey, WrestleMania weekend, you have enough to crash there. I'm not paying for any hotels out in California. Especially during that time. That's out of my pay grade.
01:18:39
Speaker
Yikes. I don't even want to think about that. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, I mean, it's, it's crossed my mind, but yeah, definitely. I mean, I definitely definitely want to meet up with everyone at some point, like, you know, just try to get a get together, like get all, like, you know, all the turnbuckle tavern guys and, you know, chick Foley crew, you, uh, just like, you know, just everyone just beat up and just, you know, just actually beat in person and, uh, you know, kind of, I mean, we all vibe off of each other anyway, you know,
01:19:07
Speaker
I think just like that other element of actually seeing each other would make it even better. Yeah, that was the theme of the show. We're speaking things into existence and that's something that's going to happen.
01:19:24
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
Conclusion and Gratitude
01:19:25
Speaker
Like I said, I keep on thanking you, but I can't thank you enough for taking the time out and talking about your losses as well as your wins. Just continue to be great. Just do what you do. Like I said, it's going to show for it. Whatever you put out there is going to show for it. That's pretty much what it comes down to.
01:19:53
Speaker
Like I said, we can all definitely learn from you and what you went through. I mean, your story's motivational enough. And I think anyone that's listening should definitely... I think you're gonna change lives depending on who's listening to this episode. I mean, I think whatever all the stories that you put out there, they're just...
01:20:18
Speaker
They're just positive. And, you know, even though there's some negativity that happened to you, I mean, you stayed, you remain positive and you're able to, you know, overcome all those obstacles. And that's, I mean, that's a win in itself. I mean, there's nothing else I could say. I mean, but just a thank you. Can't thank you enough. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate you, Marco. And once again, thank you for this opportunity and for letting me come onto your platform. All right. Um, we're going to end it there and, uh, thank you everyone for listening and, uh,
01:20:48
Speaker
It's on to the next episode. And yeah, let's just stick around. I have some cool things happening. We're still going to tweak the show a little bit. We're going to add some things. Maybe I'll add some more sound effects and stuff like that, try to get some more interesting people on and stuff like that. But yeah, thank you for listening. And we'll see you next time. Later.