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The Big Really Big Super Mega 2025 New York Toy Fair Recap Episode
236 Plays6 days ago
Let's talk about the 2025 New York Toy Fair! What was exciting, controversial, disappointing, surprising... ALL THE THINGS. In this packed episode we unpack the timeless toy industry event and tell YOU about our experience there.
Come see us LIVE at Zapp Con on 3/29 - Get your tickets
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Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
Proudly part of the Non-Productive Network
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Transcript
Introduction to Adventures in Collecting
00:00:03
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric.
00:00:15
Speaker
And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and hauls, along with our journeys as collectors.
Casual Banter and Humor
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. Hello. ah Dave. Kicking it old school. just ah Just the two of us today.
00:00:39
Speaker
Yeah. ah We have lots lots to talk about. Building castles in the sky. have I don't know why that... it's It's actually slightly later than it usually is when we record. And I'm i'm already like... I don't want to say loopy, but like... I'm a little loopy. it's been a you You could not be loopy and murder your thirst. Yeah.
00:01:01
Speaker
have just some plain still water.
00:01:08
Speaker
But cheers, nevertheless, Dave. Cheers. Yeah. With our our hydration hydration. Stay hydrated. Murder your thirst. Liquid Death, please sponsor us. buts I enjoyed Liquid Death last night. and ah yeah well We'll get into
Upcoming Guest Announcement: Jeremy Gerard
00:01:25
Speaker
that. Let's definitely talk a little bit about a little bit about nxt um we're We're testing out kind of a new format here because ah I guess we could plug this. Actually, first and foremost, um we have our next guest has been ah has been announced here. So let's switch over to this whole view thing.
00:01:50
Speaker
um so our next guest will be ah Jeremy Gerard from Four Horsemen Studios. And ah we are going to be talking about Mythic Legions, ah obviously Four Horsemen Studios as a whole, as we've never had anybody on from... ah from New Jersey's finest purveyors of sword and sorcery ah action figures and collectibles.
00:02:17
Speaker
um So yeah, we'll be we'll be talking ah to Jeremy on the next episode. So as you can see, the post is up on ah on on Instagram. If you are ah listening,
00:02:31
Speaker
Head on over to our Instagram at AIC underscore podcast where you will find this post and and you can submit questions to maybe be featured on the ah on the next episode.
Live Show at ZapCon Details
00:02:42
Speaker
We'll be talking all things dragons. Yes, so we'll be talking about Baethyr, the absolutely gargantuan, massive dragon that ah that they are currently crowdfunding.
00:02:58
Speaker
um They're about halfway to their funding goal as of the recording of this ah this episode. so Thank you for pronouncing that for me. i Just like the Lord the Rings animated movie, i there are consonants in there that I'm not quite sure what to do with. I'm going with Baethyr only because Faith...
00:03:20
Speaker
be sir yeah that's probably year yeah that's that's all i got it's the best well we'll we'll find out next week won't we yeah um so while we're talking about what's in the pipeline for march let's also talk about our next live show so really exciting ah we will be at zapcon on uh the 29th of this month, March 29th. Uh, the doors open for zap con at 10 AM, uh, tickets are $10 and, uh, there's going to be a ton of, uh, retro video games, uh, comics being sold,
00:04:04
Speaker
Artists, i Jean St. Jean, Toy Sculptor, Extraordinaire, will be there. ah But of course, we will have our our second second ever live show, the recording of of which starts at 4 p.m.
00:04:20
Speaker
So if you are coming and would like to be ah in attendance for the the live recording of the podcast with Chris Rameau and Blaine Roddenbaugh from necca i make sure you're there four
Exploring Toy Design Process
00:04:34
Speaker
o'clock. so This is going to be a fun conversation because we've we've never had at the same time, right? Like we've had in the past guests that have worked on packaging. Chris, of course, being one of our previous guests.
00:04:47
Speaker
And like Blaine, who was a previous guest, we've had, um you know, people who could talk about the actual toy design process. But with the two of them together, one of the things that we aim to do in this live recording is is kind of break down the whole process.
00:05:02
Speaker
Specific NECA magic. Yep. So we we want to take you through the specific magic. NECA magic specific to NECA.
00:05:15
Speaker
Yeah. that's what that that Yeah. um So, yeah. So, again, ah you can you can visit ZapConNJ.com to get your tickets ah or if you're already in the area.
00:05:30
Speaker
you can go to zap comics. So at either Wayne or Manalapan, either location will sell you a badge. Yep, and we're really excited.
00:05:40
Speaker
ah We've got some giveaways too during the during the the panel slash live show. it's like after you can get a little lunch at the the snack stand. Yeah, it's all it's a whole day affair. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. There's a lot of stuff going on. Of course, there's there's other live shows that are actually being recorded as well.
00:05:58
Speaker
um there There are a ton of things to do at ZapCon. It is yeah it is a
Excitement and Activities at ZapCon
00:06:02
Speaker
fantastic show. So um if you are in the area, Don't miss it. It's wonderful. um And then also this month ah is our giveaway. So March 2025 giveaway is live.
00:06:16
Speaker
It is this gorgeous PVC gallery diorama from our friends at Diamond Select Toys of AEW star ah Brian Danielson.
00:06:29
Speaker
The legendary American dragon, the legendary American dragon. Yeah. So, uh, again, ah all of this information can be found, uh, on our Instagram page. So that's at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram.
00:06:43
Speaker
Uh, there is a pinned post both for ZapCon and for this giveaway. Uh, make sure that you check those out. Make sure that you enter to win.
00:06:54
Speaker
So we'll be giving one of these away. i Throughout the month of March. So you have all of March to enter. um But what are you waiting for? Actually, you should just do it now. Like, just just go and do it. Rules are really simple.
00:07:09
Speaker
i Read them all. And then, ah yeah, enter to win yourself a ah ah Brian Danielson ah statue. It's like and it's pretty big, too. Like, it's I want to say it's maybe just shy of one six scale.
00:07:25
Speaker
but it's It's pretty big. like Yeah, it's it's going to take up some you know desk or shelf or mantel space. so Yeah, but really great likeness on it. As any good statue would.
00:07:38
Speaker
yeah we're We're big fans of what ah what Diamond does and yeah know that their AEW stuff is a lot of fun. So yeah, definitely make sure ah you you enter to win yourself a Bryan Danielson. I was going to say, and Diamond makes good statues. so They do.
00:07:56
Speaker
One of the things they're known for. um So ah housekeeping out of the way, ah as we mentioned on the last episode um on the the premium toy event, which was a lot of fun. we had a lot of fun breaking down the illumination chamber.
00:08:13
Speaker
ah We mentioned that this week we would be coming back to ah talk about Toy Fair.
Wrestling Event Experience and Analysis
00:08:18
Speaker
i So we will do that. But before we jump into Toy Fair, Dave, you did something pretty cool last night.
00:08:26
Speaker
Yeah, I got myself a ticket to NXT Roadblock. um yeah ro Rolled up solo. um Had some cool people around me. So thanks for being my friend for a night, everybody.
00:08:40
Speaker
um But it was it was a lot of fun. It was sold out, packed house, ah theater at Madison Square Garden. So it's a little bit of a different type of setup um in the sense of like everything is is on the camera side.
00:08:56
Speaker
So um behind the the hard camera, in this case, it was actually a crane that was serving as the hard cam, um was like production. So that was pretty neat.
00:09:09
Speaker
You know, the theater at Madison Square Garden is a stage, so mostly you'll see like um music musicians or comedians or you know things of that nature there.
00:09:22
Speaker
um You know, it's rare that they've had kind of sporting events. So or, you know, things of like, you know, a wrestling nature. I think the Liberty played there on the stage at one point.
00:09:35
Speaker
um I've only seen one thing there. I saw a very strange and cramped version of like a Cirque du Soleil Christmas show. OK, I think that's where I saw Ricky Gervais.
00:09:49
Speaker
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's where I saw Ricky Gervais. It's typically used for more kind of intimate, intimate performances. Yeah. Or they'll show like if the Rangers are in the playoffs or if the Knicks are in the playoffs, they're like watch the overflow for a watch party.
00:10:05
Speaker
Yeah. Which I would imagine is pretty cool. Having been in there yesterday. um The crowd was great. Oh, yeah. Great crowd. um I think the NXT crowd is one of the more, I'll say, fun crowds.
00:10:22
Speaker
Because um you've got... pete If you're an NXT fan, I feel like you know all wrestling at that point, almost. Because you're you've got people from TNA coming in You've got people who were in AEW. You've got people who are coming from the main roster.
00:10:39
Speaker
like You know the NXT roster. like You know... all televised like North American wrestling, like pretty much like the back of your hand.
00:10:51
Speaker
Cause like even, you know, now granted the Hardy's that's, that's, know, they're hall of famers, they're legends. Um, one of the greatest tag teams of all time. Everybody knows who the Hardy's are. Um, but you know, when somebody like Moose, who's been TNA his entire career, um, or, you know, when any of the other TNA stars were, were in Joe Hendry, um,
00:11:15
Speaker
Rosemary, people like that. Like you've got to pretty much know the product in order to know that other than I don't know who this person is, they must be from TNA.
00:11:27
Speaker
um But it's, it was really cool. It was a lot of places online that I'm reading, like response was, it was one of the best like regular televised shows ever. Yeah.
00:11:41
Speaker
um Maybe not PLE, but it was ple level on a regular two-hour weekly broadcast. Oh, yeah. I mean, when you have the Hardys opening up your show. Yeah, Hardys and Fraxium in, like, I don't know, one of the Hardys' best matches and since they were signed to WWE. Yeah.
00:12:02
Speaker
Yeah, it's we were talking about this offline. um First of all, shouts to Kanik and the gang at a and the ah Collect Major brand.
00:12:13
Speaker
um They had a lot of talent, lot of their signed talent yeah on that show last night um in various forms, right? like you know Whether it's Jordan Grace, whether it's the Hardys, they have Ethan Page.
00:12:29
Speaker
you know A lot of guys that they've that they've made figures for were were on display last night. um But i yeah, that the, the, the Hardee's looked, I mean, you put it best and I, you know, I, I think it's,
00:12:45
Speaker
It's blunt, but it's accurate. I mean, they they didn't look great in AEW. Yeah, it looked like it was like, is this it? Yeah. And they look almost reborn in TNA.
00:12:56
Speaker
Yeah. like Like they're having fun again. it's crazy It's crazy. It's especially so like Jeff. He was always able to still move. So like even in like the AEW stuff, it just his timing looked off. Like he looked like he was literally just like hurling himself around the ring.
00:13:15
Speaker
um They didn't look comfortable there. No. And Matt was starting to look stiff. Like they have have, I think, two things, right? Like I think they're a little reinvigorated being in that environment, being around maybe some of these younger you know, younger talents, maybe the, the schedule, whatever it is familiar to them in TNA. It's working, it's working for them. And they look fantastic to the point where like, if they did make a move to like the w WWE, you know main roster in some, in some fashion, if they did sign something, I, they could be on TV.
00:13:49
Speaker
Like they're, they're, they're ready to rip. I think they've, they've got one more in them at least. yeah And seeing that match against Fraxium last night. It was really good.
00:14:00
Speaker
I think at some point, one of these... Somebody from another show has to win one of these other brands' belts. Yeah. In order to kind of make it seem like, okay, we know what's going to happen.
00:14:15
Speaker
i That was my one my one piece of feedback from the show. i thought... I honestly thought it was going to be Moose and do like with like weird interference. And maybe I thought it was going to be the Hardys.
00:14:30
Speaker
Well, they, it was their titles on the line. That's what I mean. i I thought that they were going to drop it to Fraxium, which would have freed up the Hardys to make a jump over to, you know, either a raw or SmackDown. I still think they're contracted for a little bit.
00:14:45
Speaker
Yeah. So I could see them actually winning the NXT titles because, Oh, maybe. and Maybe that's the the inroad. but I don't think they're going to.
00:14:56
Speaker
yeah I think they'll ultimately resign, but I don't think I think they're going to stick around in TNA for a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. But it was it was a really cool show. um Dude, Obafemi like needs a figure yesterday.
00:15:10
Speaker
He is awesome. That was the most impressive part of the show. we're Just watching it from home for for me was that match. Dude, that crowd, like they were making fun of Moose being bald, which was funny.
00:15:24
Speaker
But like that crowd was it was. I think the people they were into most were it was kind of 50 50 for Julia and Stephanie. The people they were into the most were the Hardys and Obafemi.
00:15:40
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Corey Graves, one of one of I love him on commentary, first of all. One of the best calls I've heard in a while was, you know, but Booker made his call for like meat at the beginning of the match. And then Corey said, um and I think I actually texted it to you. So I'm going to see if I can pull up the actual quote because i it was so good.
00:16:08
Speaker
He said um it was a comment about meat and it was excellent. ah one ah One of the best calls. but While you look for that, I'm going to say that however good you got it.
00:16:24
Speaker
OK, I was going to say, Booker, you're in luck. This match is going to have more meat in it than a Brazilian steakhouse. And this this was not a Haas fight. It was a Haas war. I mean, yeah they were they were unbelievable.
00:16:38
Speaker
They were just both of them were so good. Yeah. Moose is like almost feel like he's been like kind of underrated for years because he's only ever been in DNA.
00:16:50
Speaker
Yeah, and they were, i wish, i don't know if you went back and watched it, like watched the replay to hear some of the commentary, but like, they that's the other thing that's so cool about this relationship is...
00:17:05
Speaker
they're openly talking about cross brand stuff in a way that I'm just not used, still not used to hearing like a wwe WWE commentary, commentary team talk about it. Like they were talking about TNA and how TNA kind of has a chip on its shoulder because it's always felt like a, you know, um,
00:17:23
Speaker
like a little like a little brother or sister to wwe you know that for that reason all the athletes there feel like they have something to prove now that there's you know this relationship and it it was just it was awesome because they they were singing moose's praises like all three of the all three of the the commentary team like how he's been the face of that brand. He's like such a loyal guy and yeah hard worker. And like, it it was just, it was excellent. It was, that that's what I mean about that match. Why I was so impressed with it was not just the presentation of those two athletes in the ring, which I'm sure in person, like there was that superplex that looked like it like shook the entire,
00:18:07
Speaker
like arena little arena. Um, but, and I wanted to ask you about that. Like what did, was that as impactful in person as it looked on TV? It made like the people, everybody went nuts with that. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was crazy.
00:18:22
Speaker
Um, and then following that Moose is a big guy, but Oba is a bigger guy. Yeah. I mean, he when, when Obafemi gorilla pressed Moose out of the out of the ring, um,
00:18:33
Speaker
just wild. And I mean, there were a couple of times where on CW, they had to go full mute. Like they had to full mute on the broadcast because of what was being, the crowd was very into it. Yeah. um And like when Moose just, you're an AGI to OBA through the table, like the announced table. Yeah.
00:18:50
Speaker
Like, I didn't think the table was going to explode. I thought he was just going to like, it was going to be sturdy. When that thing exploded, the place went nuts. Like, Oh yeah. That was another, everybody was there for that match. yeah um Oba, as good as he comes across on TV, as impressive as he is on television, that dude is...
00:19:10
Speaker
as soon as the lights go off and his music starts and I tried to record the entrance for, for, uh, stories like that entrance, you're chanting, like you're getting fired up for that.
00:19:21
Speaker
Yeah. He has a presence like that dude is going to be a, is going to be a main roster world champ. Yeah. And if he's not, then it's somebody else's either got hurt really bad or it's somebody else's fault because that guy is, that guy is a star.
00:19:38
Speaker
And he was a shot putter. no No indie background. I think he might be one of the best like WWE, wwe like NXT performance center kind of trained wrestlers. Definitely the best um male wrestler like that has ever come through.
00:19:57
Speaker
Because if you think about like Seth and Roman and maybe Big I'd put Big E up there too.
00:20:05
Speaker
But like... this Ova's for real, man. Um, it's, it's, it's, I need to see Ova and Dunther yesterday. i so admittedly, I don't watch a whole lot of NXT. Like I'll, I'll catch clips of things like, you know,
00:20:22
Speaker
keep up to date with some of the things that are happening, but like, I don't, he's a good promo. Like it took me a little bit to like, to like, cause I'm like, this is just this big dude. Like what's, and then like you, the more you see of them, the more you're like, oh okay. I get it now. Like this dude rules. And he had a nice little moment with the undertaker, which was, which was cool.
00:20:43
Speaker
Um, at when that was which to me thought I was like, oh he's going to lose this match. Oh, see, that was when I saw that, i I thought the writing was on the wall at that point. Like, i going into it, because I thought the same thing. I was like, he's he's going to drop, like, Myers is going to show up. and Yeah, I thought the system was going to show up and interfere. And then we were going to lead to some sort of thing. Eddie Edwards. Eddie Edwards, yeah. I figured one of them was showing up. and Oh, i i yeah I thought it was going to be like all three were going to need, they were going to need all four members to
00:21:19
Speaker
Yeah. Well, that's what i mean. i Like, some combination of shenanigans was going to happen and was going to screw him out of the NXT title, and it was going to paint TNA as kind of, like, the heel brand, and yeah that's that's where the direction I thought that they were going, but as soon as he had that little thing with the Undertaker, I was like, oh, no way. Undertaker did not just tell him to defend his yard for him to, you know, for him to lose.
00:21:42
Speaker
See, I thought that was going to happen, and then, like, oh, I gotta actually get this title back, like, and... But yeah it was it was cool to watch. i'm i'm you know I'm excited you got to be there in person. And you got to see... ah We won't won't talk about it, because I guess it's still spoiler territory for people who are watching LFG.
00:22:00
Speaker
But you got to see the finale of LFG, so yeah you know who wins, which is fun. um but yeah. Stephanie and Julia was great. um Wish it was a little bit longer, but Julia seems to be like legit hurt, so...
00:22:15
Speaker
And honestly, you wouldn't, you really wouldn't have known it from watching. Yeah. She was still very sharp. So I don't know what the injury actually is. and don't know if they've said, but, um, no, they, they looked great. And I mean, another, another ah talent that's like, both of them are main roster bound sooner, probably rather than later, but you know,
00:22:38
Speaker
They're just both of them are so good. personally, I prefer Stephanie Vicker over over Julia, just like the style of wrestling um and her overall kind of just like presence.
00:22:50
Speaker
They are both but they wrestlers with great presence. Like, yeah. Yeah, they're they're both fantastic. Javon Evans is another wrestler NXT star that I'm like.
00:23:03
Speaker
yeah, this dude's, this dude's got it too. Like they they have a lot of, they have a lot of good things going on. um You know, I think the, the, the one piece of feedback, right. is like, ah we've seen many examples where NXT guys have been moved up to the main roster and either not, they're not sure what to do with them. They're not sure where to take their character. And they either, you know,
00:23:27
Speaker
fall to the wayside, end up being some sort of enhancement talent. Like there's a couple of guys recently, you know, that have, have unfortunately seen that, that fate, you know, you have at the bottom of the barrel, right? You're Cameron Grimes, who was, you know, fantastic. And, you know,
00:23:46
Speaker
to the moon and then past the moon and and to into orbit somewhere. um But then you have like, you know, Carmelo Hayes and and Grayson Waller. Carmelo's just starting to like get on TV more.
00:23:58
Speaker
Yeah, they're they're still figuring it out. But, you know, it's hopefully when it's their time, it's well thought out. Yeah, Carmelo's another guy who's got like short thing on him. Like, but he was a great indie. So, yeah. And I think I think Trick Williams is is coming. Trick's another another guy who was not a wrestler.
00:24:18
Speaker
And he's well, he's he's my he's personally he's my favorite guy in NXT. Yeah, period. Like, I I I cannot wait to see what they what they do with him eventually in the main roster. he i I could watch that dude wrestle all day.
00:24:36
Speaker
And he got he got very good very quickly. Yeah, that little that like program towards the end of Carmelo Hayes' time in a with him and Melo. I watched a lot of that. The thing that I think puts Oba over the top for me is just how quick. like As quickly a trick took a little while.
00:24:56
Speaker
Oba's like hella quick. Well, he's also ah like a specimen. I mean, that dude is't um he is enormous. I get the feeling. And again, like, you you know you kind of alluded to it.
00:25:09
Speaker
But it's like that time that you the the the first time you see like Brock Lesnar in person, like you see him on TV and he's like massive. right Like you could see how big he is. But then you see him in person and you're like, oh, that's a a monster of a human being this is an imposing human being yeah like you he's oba's one of those people you see from far away and still looks enormous yeah he i get that impression have having seen wrestling in person enough like you see one of those guys on tv and you're like i bet that's one of those guys or somebody yeah they call it the airport test you see somebody in person out somewhere and you're like that person is somebody famous
00:25:49
Speaker
Oh, that's what that means? I've heard that that airport test thing thrown around. I didn't know what that actually meant. It's like you see somebody out in in just the airport or in public somewhere, and it's like, yo, that's somebody. Got it. That got it got it that person right there is a famous person. yeah I don't know what they do, but they can't not be famous. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, all right.
00:26:11
Speaker
Now, that makes sense. That makes a lot of sense. All right, so... um let's Let's switch
Toy Fair Coverage and Significance
00:26:18
Speaker
topics here. Let's talk about Toy Fair. um We've talked about it a little bit in kind of like bits and pieces, but i' I'm going to go out on a... um I don't think it's really going out on a limb, but I'm going to go as far as to say this was the best show I think we've ever executed on, if that's if that's the right way to put it.
00:26:43
Speaker
um ah As far as like... coverage getting stuff done yeah like like i just oh fourth time's the charm right like seriously um i mean it's um it's a very important show for us you know not just us as in like adventures and collecting but like us as in like toy blogging sphere right like it's yeah it's an opportunity to have some really cool conversations with, you know the people from around the industry, um, from the brands that we, we collect, we follow, we report on, um,
00:27:19
Speaker
Yeah, friends we are new that are new to us. Yeah. And and we, you know, we probably could have used another day, like truthfully, because I i found out like after the effect that there were some brands there that like I would have loved to have gone and like talk to a little bit more and just didn't know that they were there, um you know, completely lost in the shuffle or like buried in somebody else's booth, you know, under a name that like you wouldn't have found them on the list sort of thing. Yeah. I saw some coverage um specifically shouts to to daddy bears.
00:27:53
Speaker
There was a whole daddy bears thing. And oh wow. And we totally, totally had no idea it was there. So and they're they're amazing. We've we've talked to them, you know, a few times. and and And I know we've tried to figure out how to get them on. They are. Yeah.
00:28:07
Speaker
Yeah. We got a very different time zone. Yeah, we're we're still working on that. We will. And if if if they are listening, we're we're sorry we missed you guys. Yeah. but um Anyway, i there there was a lot.
00:28:21
Speaker
There was a lot to do. um It was two days straight of just like running and gunning. and um And I think one of the things that kind of I'll say, and this is just on a like personal kind of inside baseball behind the scenes thing, um behind the scenes, like a little topic.
00:28:39
Speaker
There was a point where we did have to split up um late in our or it Sunday. Was that Sunday? Yeah, like very end of the day. Yeah. Yeah. And, um you know, that that might not be a bad idea for a couple of things moving forward.
00:28:54
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's one of those things where, you know... Because in an effort to get, like, more... To cover more, by us staying together as much as it's, like, that's what...
00:29:08
Speaker
the audience knows. I think for big things, yes, that works. And I think for, you know, some maneuvering around. I mean, there, there are pros and cons to it. Cause like yeah the, the example, know, we'll, we'll get into it a little bit more, but like the, the example that, that Dave is referring to is unfortunately, um,
00:29:31
Speaker
Dave missed the, the interview with Todd McFarlane and missed the interview or like the experience of like the jazz where it's vault opening. And, you know, there was a, a delay in our, in our schedule and, you know, Todd was running a little bit behind and it was like, well, we can't get out of here without, it was like our last chance. Basically. It was like either one of us sits here and we get him when he's out, you know,
00:29:57
Speaker
we're locked in or we miss jazz wears and it was like, we can't do that. So, so, know, we did have to split up and yeah I think it's, it's less of a, it's less of a strategy thing and more of a like FOMO thing. You know, I don't think like, like I don't want to miss stuff. You don't want to miss stuff. It's just kind of like,
00:30:19
Speaker
and And we planned it very well. We planned it, in in all fairness, we planned it very well where we we weren't back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back things. like We did have like a little bit of downtime in between scheduled interviews where we were able to like squeeze in something that maybe we didn't have on the schedule.
00:30:37
Speaker
yeah I didn't feel like we were overrun. um i mean i didn't at all. I felt tired in the sense that it was a long day. like We did a lot.
00:30:48
Speaker
I didn't feel overrun until we got home and I started editing.
00:30:54
Speaker
So I tried to do as much editing. thank Thank goodness for the the good folks at CapCut for existing because that tool is so powerful on your phone that I was doing a lot of the editing um as much as I could on the fly just kind of get stuff out. and And shout out to taking a break to eat in order to allow you to do... Yeah.
00:31:19
Speaker
Thanks. Thanks, Dave, for for sustaining yourself. i yes So I get into this mode at these things where like it's like it's like weird to like get personal for a second. Like i forget that I'm hungry. I forget that I need to use the bathroom.
00:31:35
Speaker
Like, like all of the things that are in my normal, like day to day schedule. I'm just like, Nope, my brain is there is a different mode that's on. I'm good. Yeah. Hydrating like, well, that I did do that. I did do.
00:31:49
Speaker
I made sure I stayed hydrated. But yeah, it's just one of those things where like, I'm there to work. I know how much time that we have and you know, I want to make the most of it. And now a word from our sponsors.
Toy Fair Highlights and Industry Insights
00:32:07
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.
00:32:23
Speaker
Visit them in person at their brand new home at 101 Newark Pompton Turnpike Suite 1 in Little Falls, New Jersey, or online at chubzywubzy.com.
00:32:36
Speaker
That's
00:32:42
Speaker
And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you.
00:32:48
Speaker
And now, back to the show. you know Speaking of making the most of the time, we did get to see a lot of a lot of things um did that were really that were really cool.
00:33:00
Speaker
ah Some stuff that was on display for the first time. We're not going to go over every single thing. We'll be here for... So, preface it with this. Hey, you know where we did go over every single thing?
00:33:12
Speaker
what I was going to say. On YouTube and Instagram. Yep, exactly. i If you have not watched our our booth coverage. And thank you to everybody who had, because a lot of people did. And I just want to shout everybody out because I am very appreciative that you took the time to find us and to find our coverage.
00:33:33
Speaker
Yeah. um And leave comments and all that good stuff. Yeah, I mean, some of some of our most watched videos of all time, honestly, on on YouTube. So, you know, I'm really happy everyone enjoyed the coverage, found it useful.
00:33:47
Speaker
But um if you want to see the in-depth coverage, full booth tours, things like that, uh we're at aic underscore podcast on on youtube um you can go to our website aicpodcast.com uh has links to everything where you can you can find the the full tours but we have full booth tours with neka trick-or-treat studios uh super seven um has the hasbro media event uh Mattel is up there. i think there are snips from Mattel and Spin Master shorts. I mean, snips. What's this snip?
00:34:28
Speaker
Just making up snippets. um No, but it but shorts from certain aspects that we were but in places where we were we were allowed to film. ah Trick or treat. Did you say that? Said that ah the full interview with Todd McFarlane, nine, five, ah nine to five warriors, plunderlings.
00:34:46
Speaker
I think those were all of the main. Oh, and and collect major. um Yes. Yeah. those Those were all of the main, main booths um that we have full tours of. And then of course on our, on our Instagram at AIC underscore podcast. If you go,
00:35:04
Speaker
just scroll a little bit down on the feed. You'll, you'll see the toy fair stuff. We'll start to come up. We have full galleries of pictures and everything. Um, did you say NECA? said NECA. Yeah. Yep. Um, ah But yeah, it it was it's a really it was a really cool event. For those who are not super familiar with the format of Toy Fair, it's it's much different than your your typical con.
00:35:24
Speaker
um you're You're like a fan con. ah It's not like a New York Comic Con or a San Diego Comic Con in that it's not technically open to the public. There are really only three types of people that are there.
00:35:36
Speaker
ah Your media slash influencers, ah your retail representatives, and then your representatives from the toy industry. um in in some capacity, right? that you could You can kind of bifurcate the the the crowd into those three groups.
00:35:55
Speaker
So you don't have people that are ah there to get autographs, that are are there for photo opportunities, that are there you know as fans. And i mean, obviously we're fans. That's why part of the reason why we're doing this, right? like You don't see your your troop of cosplayers or I would go as far as to say it's if you've ever been to New York Comic Con at the at the Javits Center, especially if you went in 2024 when it was like the most attended Comic Con in the history of Comic Cons, maybe about a third of the people.
00:36:27
Speaker
that that were there for comic-con roughly yeah um you never have to wait in line for a bathroom the wi-fi and cellular work because there's there's not too many people in one spot um you're not you can freely walk up and down aisles and you know stop and lean against the wall somewhere and you know find a seat uh don't you Dave, you didn't have to wait in line for food ah single time. You just kind of walked right up and got what you needed. ah it It's much more relaxed than that. But there always is a line for Starbucks.
00:37:02
Speaker
Yeah, that's the one thing. No matter when you go. it was It was a really great event. And I and i think you know i think I could say comfortably on you know for both of us...
00:37:17
Speaker
Toy Fair is is very special for us, you know, being that it was kind of the first thing that we ever went to, like event we ever went to as Adventures in Collecting. And the first time we went five years ago, we didn't know anything. We didn't know how it worked.
00:37:35
Speaker
We got turned away at places. We didn't know anyone. And it is just, it is very, if if I can be... Self-congratulatory for a moment. it is very vindicating.
00:37:47
Speaker
After doing this for five years. To be able to go into an event like this. And know people. And be able to have conversations. and like It just it felt nice. some instances met people in person. For the first time. yeah like That is just. and People that we talk to on social media all the time. this i mean The community is so awesome.
00:38:05
Speaker
um you know People that we've had on here. People that we. you know Have kind of. Work together with as yeah far as like. Jimbo, no chewing. Yeah.
00:38:18
Speaker
You know, those guys like. Toysh's. It's weird though. It's weird seeing a logo walk around though. Like. yeah You haven't realized until you see just the Toysh's logo.
00:38:29
Speaker
Yeah. With arms and feet. Yeah. It's very. It's unsettling. It's like being in a theme park, but like a real person. We got to see the three Dans. It's always a pleasure to see the three Dans.
00:38:40
Speaker
um That being Dan Larson, Pixel Dan, Dan Pickett of Action Figure Insider. um this The three dan three of the best Dans to ever do the Dan thing. well um ah And Dan Yoon.
00:38:54
Speaker
And Dan Yoon, but Dan Yoon is not a toy blogger. That's true. He's he is a toy maker. He's a maker of toys. But yeah, so always a pleasure to see and see Dan Yoon as well. But um all right, that's enough of the back patent.
00:39:08
Speaker
ah Let's let's talk about some of our favorite things that we saw. So I'm going to pull up this this ah little reference material here. um Eric's going to pull up his photo gallery.
00:39:20
Speaker
But ah just kind of skimming through and starting at the beginning, it was it's really it was really great to see Art the Clown in from NECA. i That's one I was really hoping that they were eventually going to get to, and they absolutely crushed it. So whether it's um whether it's Santa art or whether it's you know the the classic art, and they actually said that there's going to be a clean art the clown as well um a non-bloodied version so uh really really excited for for all of the terrifier stuff and of course the the um the little well this is the the ultimate girl i forget what her and her name is the little demon girl
00:40:04
Speaker
little art girl. um But yeah, and the and then the Toonies as well. i just Just again, like i we both love these movies. We've done you know our toys on film about them.
00:40:17
Speaker
i And I'm just so excited to see them get the NECA treatment. i mean they just Nobody does horror quite like NECA and um the fact that I'm going to have an art, the clown that I can stand next to a Jason Voorhees and a, you know, a Freddy Krueger and a Michael Myers and it'll all be in the same scale. Right where this belongs.
00:40:39
Speaker
Yeah. It's just, it's just, just perfect. um The other thing in the horror realm that I loved from NECA were these blind box Chuckies. um The ultimate, the ultimate child's play Chucky is, is,
00:40:51
Speaker
fantastic and he's he's so little um because again he's in scale with seven inch figures so he's what he should be uh in in seven in one tenth scale so they're doing these awesome blind boxes where each chucky is uh some sort of messed up variant or just the regular like good guy doll um and there's a yeah there's a uh a chase kind of element to it. Like you don't know which one you're going to get. Some are more rare than others.
00:41:19
Speaker
They come in a little, in a little good guy box. I mean, it it's just, it's just amazing. Um, I love, I also loved the show on, on sci-fi. Uh, thought it was fantastic. It's shame it got canceled, but, um, yeah, I mean, NECA is doing some, some really, really cool stuff when it comes to their, their horror.
00:41:42
Speaker
And, um, And, you know, it's it it's always great to see that booth as well, ah whether it's at something like Toy Fair or at something like New York Comic Con.
00:41:55
Speaker
They are a brand that cares very much so about. um ah Reveals and and doing cool stuff for the community, um which I also think they care a lot about genre, too.
00:42:11
Speaker
That too. But the the the thing that I was kind of trying to get at was more so like, right, at Toy Fair, you have two different types of booth presentations, right?
00:42:23
Speaker
You have stuff that's like, okay, we know we have media here. and going to do some reveals. We're going to do some stuff that people have never seen before and show off, you know, what's coming ah while also catering to ah the appointments that they have with retailers where they need to say like, okay, here's the kind of stuff that you can buy and here's when it's going to available, right? Like that sort of thing.
00:42:46
Speaker
um NECA edges more towards the media reveals influencer kind of stuff, which was awesome. It was really, really great to see.
00:42:56
Speaker
ah And again, really, really excited to... And maybe you can see some of this stuff in person on March 29th at ZapCon. Yep. And I was, I was, you you took the words right out of my mouth.
00:43:09
Speaker
um Yeah. ah That's, that's exactly right, Dave. So Blaine and Chris will be bringing some surprises, things that they might have shown at a,
00:43:22
Speaker
at a toy fair that have not otherwise been available, uh, to see with, with public eyes. So, and we don't even know, we won't know until we get there. So yeah, it's, it's, it's legitimately a, um, a surprise, but, uh, yeah, i mean, uh,
00:43:40
Speaker
the another another brand that's like very near and dear to us is is Funko and Funko Pops and Dave do you want to talk a little bit about a Bitty City yeah so they're going into um you know the Bitty Pops are the smaller um It's like a really scaled down version of a Funko Pop.
00:44:03
Speaker
um I don't have any in front of me right now, otherwise I would hold one up. But it's like super tiny. It's a little um you know a box and figure, and they've moved into um almost like a little tiny statue of a figure.
00:44:18
Speaker
And they've now moved into um rides and houses and like bitty towns and stuff like that. So it's just like the entire Funko catalog is shrunken down and now they're going into like, well, what's next?
00:44:35
Speaker
And you think of like a whole kind of train station diorama, like a train set type of deal. And they're making Bitty City, which is ah city element where you can connect all of these elements together to make like a big Funko world, which is pretty cool.
00:44:54
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, and that's ah that's ah exactly what I kind of... um You mentioned, like, a model train city. You you think about, like, those old, like, you know, not old, but, like, i when people used to build, like, the big tables in their basements, you know all of, like, the the the train, the model train ah village.
00:45:14
Speaker
That's definitely the vibe I got from these. Like like Mickey's husband and Mighty Wind. Exactly. What a reference. The town of Crab. It's Crabville.
00:45:25
Speaker
I have a little red wagon. um ah real a A real red wagon. A real red wagon. A real yeah red wagon. Yeah. It's a tongue twister.
00:45:36
Speaker
But yeah, i again, lots of lots of really cool stuff from NECA across the board. The Biddy City stuff was definitely fun to see for the first time in person. um We also got to see you know the the Ninja Turtles, or um I'm sorry, the the real Ghostbusters, i the 112 scale Mondo ones, because of course Mondo and Funko being owned.
00:46:01
Speaker
by Funko. um These look really great. mean, the detail on them, they, they for the first time, they're they are figures that look like they they walked off the the real ghost Ghostbusters TV show. So really excited to see, you know, I think these are still prototypes.
00:46:18
Speaker
Not that I think these were still prototypes um that were there. So yeah, really cool too. Yeah, because I don't think those were even out at ah Comic-Con yet. No, no, no, no.
00:46:29
Speaker
They hadn't even new York Comic Con. They hadn't gone up for pre-order yet. um They were just announced. Yeah. This freaking thing was cool. ah The you could you can watch a um an unboxing of sorts of this.
00:46:46
Speaker
I'm sorry. Just the way you said. Well, I'm like, it was cool. I'm like re I'm like re reliving. Yeah. like Reliving as I'm going through the the gallery here. So yeah, the, um, moving from Funko spin master spin master had a really cool booth.
00:47:02
Speaker
Um, lot of stuff that we can't talk about that you're going to be really excited for, ah mostly revolving around Superman. Um, maybe, No, we could say that it revolves around Superman. We just can't say what it was.
00:47:16
Speaker
But we saw lots of really cool Superman stuff and heard about some really cool Superman stuff. That's true. Mark mentioned yeah Superman on the show. It's all we can say. um But whether whether you're a whether you're a fan of superman or jurassic park or jurassic park or how to train your dragon there's some really really cool stuff coming from from uh spin master so um one of the things self-hatching t-rex yeah the little t-rex egg that's again it's we have a full video of it up on our up on our instagram but uh yeah that thing was cool you can you can relive the the moment from like the little incubator and the the the
00:47:57
Speaker
the T-Rex hatches out of the egg. I mean, there's no other way to put it. It's hilarious. and And we had a little Chris Pratt remote and where you can like make the T-Rex nice. Yep. You can make it nice or you can make it um protective. You can make it fierce. I think they said it was nicer, kind or fierce.
00:48:14
Speaker
um We had Joe with us who was whispering John Hammond lines in, in my ear while I was filming it in, in the voice of, um of John Hammond, which was,
00:48:27
Speaker
a treat, but, uh, yeah, that this thing was, was just really cool. I mean, if you, if you're a fan of Jurassic park, um, and you're of a certain age, like, you know, I i was like I don't think you have to be a little kid for two. No, I just mean like for the original one, like being a little kid when that came out, watching that dinosaur hatch out of that egg, that's like an experience I have always wanted to have. So getting to stand this close away from one and watch it happen, I was, I was completely blown away.
00:48:56
Speaker
My mouth actually, my cheeks hurt. Cause I was smiling the whole time. Yeah. that was really cool. It's just, it's just a really cool, uh, Toy. I mean, flat out really cool toy.
00:49:07
Speaker
We talked a little bit about the major, our friends at the major brand. They had some cool new stuff on display. um Namely, ah this Rambo figure, which was really neat.
00:49:19
Speaker
ah So they are bringing... Rambo, big rubber guy. They're bringing Rambo to the big rubber guy's line. i He looks awesome. um You know, it's it's ah first blood Rambo.
00:49:34
Speaker
And it looks great. Comes with his familiar knife and... um A whole bullet. Giant machine gun and bandolier.
00:49:45
Speaker
Yeah. um They also had on display for the first time ah some new bendies, including the Hardee's debut attire, which was which was really cool to see.
00:49:59
Speaker
ah It's one of these. Um...
00:50:06
Speaker
but it's in their, like, there we go. hey there yeah In their plaid, ah their plaid ring gear. We're talking w WWE debut. Yeah. Yeah. Like, uh,
00:50:17
Speaker
It's like shotgun Saturday night. Yep. Thank you. um And we're also getting, they're making a ring. So there's going to be a little ring um that will be ah for the, big the, the bendies or the, ah the super, the major stars, which um the major stars, a lot of people are asking like what scale they're in. um The best thing I can do describe them like is if you remember and dave what's the actual name the the loyal subjects um action vinyls the action vinyls yeah the little the little ones that had like a little bit of articulation kind of a they're they're almost the close closest thing yeah because they're bigger and more and they're articulated compared to like um
00:51:11
Speaker
it It's like the pro wrestling tees, guys. Like the brawlers. Yeah, it's like it's like if a Funko... Funko Pop, an Action Vinyl, and a Remco had ah had a baby. Because like they have the larger head, like a Funko.
00:51:31
Speaker
they Yeah, I would say it more like a bottle head because they're body more... Well, detailed. Yeah, it's not like it's not like but I'm just mean in terms of like proportion. But they're these are really cool. And again, like actually, you know what they remind me of the boss fight.
00:51:49
Speaker
Legends of Lucha Libre Lucha Citos. OK, yeah, that works, too. um But again, you know, the something new from from them, which is on my desk. So, yeah, they're kind of like.
00:52:05
Speaker
This in a way. Okay. Here, wait, wait, hold that up again. This is what they remind me most. Nope. That's you. There we go. What they remind me most of. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep.
00:52:16
Speaker
Definitely. Definitely. Definitely. Okay. Um, on through, we saw the new power Rangers figures.
00:52:29
Speaker
Um, couple different scales. So they have the the head flipping action, ah like classic action figures. um But they're automatic. You don't reset them now. Yeah. Yeah. They just you hit the button and they keep going again. Video video of that on our on our feed.
00:52:48
Speaker
um But they also have these other. i I guess they're they're technically 112 scale figures. they They're somewhere between 5 and 6 inch figures.
00:53:00
Speaker
Very reminiscent of the old Bandai's. yeah Well, no, these these are more so like what playmates is known for putting out oh okay i'm thinking of the other other ones and then yeah and then they have a a re another line of retro throwbacks that are that's what i think first yeah the big the big bandai ones and these are these are super cool with like the articulated the articulated fingers and yeah you know all that good stuff um
00:53:31
Speaker
Again, the thing with this line that a lot of people need to kind of remember and you know check themselves on, I guess you could say, is this is these are designed for children.
Hasbro's Innovations and Collectibles
00:53:42
Speaker
like These are not meant to be I mean, anything can be collectible if you try hard enough, right? They're not a replacement for the Lightning Collection. No.
00:53:50
Speaker
These are meant, the down to the actual name of the line itself, being the Reignition. The um power it Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Reignition is meant to reignite a new generation of...
00:54:05
Speaker
um or reignite Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for a new generation of fans. So it's going be targeted towards kids. um They're going to be re-releasing the episodes on Netflix with um an element of, like, toy animation.
00:54:24
Speaker
So they're going to basically put in toy commercials for them ah and and hopefully attract fans back to, know, new fans back to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and, you know, we'll see see what happens after that. But, uh,
00:54:37
Speaker
Yeah, that was um it was it was cool to get to see those for the first time. I know a lot of people were curious. i I'm not the biggest Power Rangers fan um personally, but I was when I was a kid.
00:54:52
Speaker
So they you sure were like, um but I kind of I kind of stopped at at the movie. with like Ivan who's and stuff. That's where I love that movie. It's my favorite power Rangers thing. I have, I actually watched it again recently and I still love that movie, but um yeah, I mean, that was, that's pretty much, you know, hi where I, where I fell off.
00:55:16
Speaker
So I don't know about like power Rangers in space or, you know,
00:55:22
Speaker
PD or like any of the other. um and I will go so far as to say that, you know, more than I do about those. ah So then ah moving on to Hasbro, Hasbro usually not in the house ah in in the Javits Center. Usually they have some sort of offsite thing, um but they were there this year ah in person and we made a beeline directly over to Maximum Spider-Man when ah when the little fan event opened and I got hands on with it and I am so glad that I pre-ordered one.
00:55:58
Speaker
Which is also available on YouTube. Yes, it is. It is awesome. I love this figure. um I'll kind of reiterate some of the things that I said, just because, you know, I know ah I got to pick it up for a couple seconds, too. And i thought it looked cool or was cool and moved cool.
00:56:17
Speaker
Yeah, but at the end of the day, it is a Marvel Legends figure. but yeah don't Don't go into this with the expectation that like it's going to have new style joints or it's goingnna have it's made of a different plastic or it's it has... It sings. I don't know. like people people are It's not an import.
00:56:36
Speaker
No. It is still a Marvel Legends figure. There are a lot of things about it that are
00:56:43
Speaker
tweaked. And by import, of course, you mean like, you know, you're... A MoffX or an Essie figure. it It still has the sturdiness of ah of a Marvel Legends figure. um It moves the way that you expect it to, but better.
00:56:56
Speaker
um There are very subtle things about it that are cool, like... Again, if you watch the video, you know I point out that that there's sculpting details in like the legs and in the in the um in the back and the torso where like there are these pinch points of fabric um that are sculpted and modeled in, which makes it look more like he's wearing a suit, which is really cool. It doesn't just look like he has like a suit painted onto his body.
00:57:24
Speaker
um And you know I'm sure at some point down the line, this body will be used again. Hell, it might even end up in a regular $25 Marvel Legends figure. Who knows?
00:57:36
Speaker
But in in terms of the whole package, what you're getting here, i think there's value. If you're a Spider-Man fan, especially if you like you know the Todd McFarlane era Spider-Man, this is this is the way to go, man. lot of accessories, too. Yeah, crap ton of accessories.
00:57:51
Speaker
Which I think there's a picture of. of I mean, you could just see it in the box there. Yeah. There's a ton going on there. All but all the different hands and arms. and yeah it Spidey sense. like It's cool. Yep.
00:58:06
Speaker
They also revealed Toy Fair Archangel. And this is this one ah has subsequently gone up for pre-order. i think it's still available on fan channels. So you can go to AICpodcast.com forward slash links and grab this for yourself on ah on Big Bad Toy Store.
00:58:25
Speaker
Very cool figure. ah love that run of X-Force. Yeah. and Great figure. They also revealed uh, at toy fair, the, the Dr. Doom one-to-one scale wearable helmet.
00:58:37
Speaker
Um, these role play items are super detailed. They're awesome. If it's, if that's your sort of thing, of course, this is actually wearable too, which is hilarious and awesome. Um, so you can walk around with your Victor Von Doom mask on, uh, the hood does come off. So it is just kind of like a, a, a dome under there.
00:58:58
Speaker
um But really, really cool figure. A really, really cool release. And Archangel is an awesome figure. um The other big thing that we got to see in the in Hasbro ah booth was the G.I. Joe section.
00:59:13
Speaker
um There was a lot in there. So there's a lot from Transformers. There's a lot from Star Wars and G.I. Joe. ah But there was some things that we we got to see revealed kind of for the first time. So...
00:59:26
Speaker
um In person, we got to see the snake armor again, video on our social media on YouTube. Lenny actually gave a really in-depth tour of the entire display and he opened the snake armor.
00:59:40
Speaker
ah We got to see the inside of it, how everything works, um how a figure can live in it yep yeah really really really really cool uh they also had the packaging for the upcoming san diego comic-con exclusive um the cold slither yeah cold cold slither uh so we got to see the figures weren't in there but the package is going to fold out it's a it's a stage there's a ton of fun easter eggs on it that call out like other hasbro things there's like a a poster on one of the um for for gem in the hologram yeah for gem in the hologram so yeah just again like tons of really cool stuff throughout all of Hasbro stuff that was previously announced but again like just being able to see it for the first time so lot of the spider-man stuff that just came came out um or was just just announced ah spirit spider all the stuff from the gamer verse
01:00:36
Speaker
um lots of the transformers the age of the prime stuff just again like hasbro basically used the the majority of their booth to show off um the things that they've announced in the last like i'd say six to eight months so that entire comic book uh mini comic book wave was there um Speaking of mini comic books, actually, they they did they did also do, which I thought was really neat, and I have have it right here. um They had an exclusive, I'll switch to one here just for a moment.
01:01:11
Speaker
yeah They had an exclusive miniature comic book. So like the ones that are coming in that that ah that wave. Exactly like those. um But this was exclusive to New York to new york Toy Fair. So we've got Spider-Man on the cover and on the back, Marvel Legends. It's got the date.
01:01:30
Speaker
so and the The thing that I love about that is the staples. Yeah. You can kind of see it on there. It holds it with the back towards the.
01:01:43
Speaker
There you go. Straight on. You'll see it better. Oh, there you go. Yeah. yeah There you go. Yeah, it was. really like I think that's a really cool detail. I mean, the the the figures look really cool holding them to, you know, and in terms of like scaling and just I I have. um Stan Lee holding a copy.
01:02:04
Speaker
I managed to to secure two of these. So, well, no, you have mine. Yeah. I thought you had yours too. Oh, then I guess I have yours here. Yeah. um But, ah but yeah, so figure holding it looks really cool.
01:02:21
Speaker
I have Stanley holding my, my, my copy. So Dave, this one's, yeah, it's headed your way. with i get it I would like to put one ah in the hands of a certain motorcycle riding. Okay. That makes, that makes sense.
01:02:35
Speaker
Um, So just kind of skipping ahead here to some other stuff. Again, oh and Diamond Select. There's a full booth walkthrough of Diamond Select. I didn't didn't mention that, so that's that's also on our...
01:02:50
Speaker
um on our YouTube again, we mentioned trick or treat studios. They have a lot of really cool things cooking. um The whole guar set was was amazing. Similar idea to the House of 1000 corpses set with a build a figure element with getting the figure case.
01:03:07
Speaker
Yeah. If you are a big odorous fan, rest in peace odorous. He is the build a figure. Yep. There he is in all of his. All of his glory.
01:03:20
Speaker
His, his, his member and all. Um, it's the first thing you see whenever you see guar or anything. Yep. I love the day of the dead five inch action figure line. i will probably be on the hook for each and every one of these as well. especially this, this guy right here, Bob, my, my favorite zombie related thing ever in anything for until the end of time.
01:03:46
Speaker
um I mean, they're just doing some really, really cool stuff. they they They're doing figures for the gate as well as 1-1 scale ah gate demons.
01:03:59
Speaker
um They're continuing their five-inch... I kind of want the gate the gate demon, to be honest. they're They're continuing their five-inch Terrifier line as well. We're getting Sienna in her Golden Angel outfit.
01:04:12
Speaker
ah We're getting the the little Terrifier girl again, like the clown girl. um Another new art with some very Terrifier 2 accessories, including bleach. um it's what ah What a time. Don't they have ah sunglasses art as well?
01:04:33
Speaker
and then there's ye And then you have ah you have flower sunglasses are with the blowtorch. The accessories on these are hilarious. like he i He's got the the art cri crispies, the the the um cereal, the gutted...
01:04:50
Speaker
the serial the the gutted ah i Possum. um Yeah, just again, some some some really cool stuff coming from Trick or Treat Studios.
01:05:03
Speaker
ah Skipping ahead a little bit more here. ah We mentioned Plunderlings. We got to see the Plunder Beast on display for the first time.
01:05:14
Speaker
um This is what's coming next from from our friends at ah at Lone Coconut. i These things look... unreal couple people did mention in the comments when we were doing our our quick kind of tour of these plunder wings was was right on the tip of the tongue and they went with plunder beaks but um the beak is kind of the the the focal point uh there's some ricky did some really cool things with the articulation on these wings too the way that they can
01:05:46
Speaker
kind of move around and be reconfigured and um we're starting with three different plunder beaks uh you know the the three different shades uh the body the skin tones on the bodies are all the same from the plunderlings so your little hatchlings will will work with these um
Future of DC Licenses with McFarlane and Spin Master
01:06:08
Speaker
yeah. So stay tuned for, for more on the plunder plunder beaks, uh, as they will be coming to a Kickstarter near you, um, very, very soon. Uh, and, and honestly, I mean, that's kind of really quickly like the, the highlights, uh, I would say ah of, of the event.
01:06:30
Speaker
Um, you know, again, I'll, I'll, I'll jazz where it's five nights. Yeah. Um,
01:06:40
Speaker
if you want to see full coverage of Toy Fair I think we posted that right? the We did. Yep. The Jazz Wars vault opening. It's also hard to remember because so much happened that I'm like did we do that? yeah we covered that.
01:06:55
Speaker
So the the the one thing that I guess we should touch on before we we wrap this up, the last two things that we did, of course, were the Jazz Wars vault opening and sitting down with Todd McFarlane. So the the big news of Toy Fair, obviously, was the the but the announcement that Mattel ah was reacquiring the rights to D.C.,
01:07:16
Speaker
ah So we talked to Spin Master about that. We talked to McFarlane about that. Spin Master, very cut and dry. They have the license until the end of 2026 and that's it. So after 2026, no more DC stuff from Spin Master. So um presumably the last kind of you know property you'll see from them will will likely be Supergirl, would be my guess.
01:07:40
Speaker
um yeah with that With that movie coming out i and next year, right? Or at the end of this year. can double check that for you. Likely the last thing you'll see from them, but you will see some Superman movie stuff.
01:07:54
Speaker
um And ah and you know that their continuation of their DC dc line. um In talking with Todd, he is confident that There will always be a some sort of DC representation coming. That is actually due next June. Okay. 2026.
01:08:15
Speaker
Okay. So there you go. So yeah they're saying they have it till the end of 2026. I think that's a that's a pretty safe bet. But um Todd, on the other hand, was not as cut and dry.
01:08:28
Speaker
ah They are still figuring things out. um They have the license again until 2026, so they were are going to continue producing ah producing toys until... you know DC toys until they can't anymore.
01:08:42
Speaker
um and Unless they figure out something. They have a very strong relationship with Warner Brothers. That is not changing. So Movie Maniacs, Mortal Kombat... Yeah, those Mortal Kombat were announced and so were the Turtles. yep um But again, if you want to see...
01:08:58
Speaker
Full coverage of that booth, the full conversation with Todd McFarlane, I highly, highly recommend you go and listen to it. Watch it on on ah on our YouTube channel. it's It's awesome.
01:09:09
Speaker
And um as we said at the very beginning of this episode, we split up. I was talking to Todd. Dave got to go to the Jazz Brothers vault opening. So Dave, ah what are some of the things that you saw there that I, I mean, I caught like the tail end of it, but you were there for the whole thing, so Yeah, so there's, of course, more... um Well, Orange Cassidy was was kind of stuck in the vault. He came came from the vault. um I guess he got locked in as Orange you know kind of finds his way into places.
01:09:41
Speaker
It's whatever. Yeah, it's whatever. His ah pencil line drawing figure, which is already out, you can order it and... Get shipped to you and all that good stuff. um That was the first kind of vault release from the vault opening.
01:09:58
Speaker
um There's an FTR set, which it's this is the FTR we've wanted. um You know, they have the ah jackets and boots and all that good stuff.
01:10:12
Speaker
um Dax has a mustache. We also have was there was some Halo in the ye in the vault? Some Halo. There was some more Micro Galaxy Squadron. Micro Galaxy, yeah. There's a the outside of the vault.
01:10:32
Speaker
um Five Nights at Freddy's is coming. Yeah. Shouts to, to friend of the pod, Aaron, Aaron, Aaron. Yeah. Uh, it was great seeing him. Um, great seeing all the guys from jazz. So we saw, uh, Jesse, uh, retro zone neon on, on Instagram. He's the, uh, the sculptor and designer on, on halo and, and, um, the, uh, avatar. avatar Yeah. Last Andrew airbender stuff. That's, that's coming.
01:10:58
Speaker
Um, you know, we got to see our buddy, Dan Friedman, who is the designer on, uh, on the aww line dan making quite a few appearances on uh social media as of late very media as of late yeah yeah one one could say he's over af yeah he is over um But yeah, the and then we kind of closed out our our evening with ah the Five Nights at Freddy's stuff, which looks really cool. They're doing some really interesting things with like the um the animatronic like skeleton and you can you can dress it with the ah pieces. And yeah that was really neat.
01:11:35
Speaker
Choose kind of like your own adventure there, like have like dirty or messed up parts or clean parts. But um yeah, overall, And hopefully we'll get to ah have Aaron back on when it comes time.
01:11:49
Speaker
Yeah. If he's not too busy trying to find a, find his way to, to beautiful Dallas Fort worth. um We can, we can definitely have him on. If you, if you don't follow ah Aaron on social media, ah the guy is, he just has a hell of a time. Every time he gets on a plane, he's he's just trying to go to beautiful Dallas Fort worth, Texas. And he always ends up somewhere else.
01:12:10
Speaker
um It's just, it's, he has got a rough go. One of these days he'll get there. But, yeah, it's been a while since Aaron's been on. Yeah, since the Pokemon 25th anniversary. It's the Select, right? The Select launch?
01:12:26
Speaker
Yeah, it was the 25th anniversary of Pokemon when we had him on. That's like forever ago. Yeah. But yeah, I think with that, it's we can finally stop talking about Toy Fair. we can We can move on to what's next. Oh, mask. We didn't even talk about mask.
01:12:42
Speaker
Didn't even talk about mask. But again, there's a full video of that, Dave, on our social media. um Well, subjects of doing mask. And they have Hasbro, ah longtime Hasbro, or former Hasbro, but longtime Hasbro ah designer.
01:12:59
Speaker
And Kenner, even. Yeah, going all the way back to Kenner. um John Warden is is consulting. so Yeah. And ah reached out to our friends at the Loyal Subjects, too. Maybe we can have ah Jonathan and and John.
01:13:13
Speaker
And or John Warden. Come on and talk a little bit about what they have going on. So something else that's maybe cooking in the pipeline. um But with that, ah let's let's put Toy Fair 2025 bed um and and move on to what's next.
01:13:30
Speaker
we're And reconvene next February. We're moving moving right into con season very quickly. ah ah San Diego Comic Con will be here before we know it. ah which is terrifying to say because it's only March. I was going to say WonderCon is either happened or is happening. I think it's happening this weekend.
01:13:48
Speaker
Okay. But um yeah, I think with that, it's a good place as any wrap it up. Yeah. Hope you guys enjoyed the Toy Fair coverage. Again, like you know we had a blast doing it. um and Always. you know it's it's It's still a pinch me moment that we...
01:14:07
Speaker
We get to go to these things. It's not it's not lost on us. So if you guys have any feedback, any suggestions, any things you liked, things you didn't like, things you want to see more of. Things you want to more of. Or less Even things you want to see less of. Like, yeah. Yeah.
01:14:24
Speaker
We are totally open to feedback. you know we're doing we're We're producing this coverage so that way you guys can see what's going on in there. So if there's something that you want more insight into, comment. Let us know.
01:14:35
Speaker
Whether it's on one of the Toy Fair videos, whether it's on the i one of the Toy Fair posts, whether it's on the post for this episode of the podcast, whether it's in the comments section for this episode of the podcast.
01:14:46
Speaker
Let us know. um How can we make our Toy Fair coverage better? What can we do better? can we make you happier? We did some things differently this year, so compare and contrast. do you What do you like better? We are here for you.
01:15:02
Speaker
and Dave, I think with that, it's time for ah for us to sign off. send us Send us home. right See you next year, Toy Fair.
01:15:12
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.
01:15:26
Speaker
Find more about them both in our show notes. Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
01:15:44
Speaker
Don't try this at home. Voidware prohibited. in Some assembly required. Each sold separately. Not a flying toy. Consult a physician if your toy run exceeds more than four hours.
01:15:53
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Frank Hablaoui. 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.
01:16:16
Speaker
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