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"Don't be that person..." The Toy Hunting Edition
390 Plays5 years ago
On this episode of Adventures in Collecting, Dave and Erik talk the latest from the fall European convention circuit, Ringside Fest, early Black Friday reveals, announcements from LEGO, and tackle the ups and downs of toy hunting at brick and mortar in 2019 as the main topic.
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Intro by Joe Azzari
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Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi, Dave. Hi, Eric. Hey, Dave. Do we curse on this podcast? Yes, Eric. Yes, we do. 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.
00:00:21
Speaker
I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and halls, along with our journeys as collectors. Hi, everybody. Hi, collectors. Hi, toy friends. We're back.
00:00:41
Speaker
We are. We're here. Thank you again for joining us on Adventures in Collecting, a toy collecting podcast. We have a subtitle now. I think it's always been there. I've just never said it. It felt kind of weird saying it. But I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween and enjoyed our Halloween episode. It was great having all the Daves.
Toy Catalogs and Star Wars Announcements
00:01:10
Speaker
All two of us.
00:01:12
Speaker
But we are back to the Brothers Weinbrecht here in the House Weinbrecht attic. And we're ready to bring you some more toy news and some more talking toys. And other alliteration.
00:01:31
Speaker
So right off the bat, let's just let's let's dive right into the news. So it is it is toy catalog season. I'm starting to receive all of the holiday toy catalogs from the one that was expected from Walmart. But I also got one quite unexpectedly from Amazon. Oh.
00:01:52
Speaker
It's really nicely done. It actually reminds me of the big toy book from back in the day with Toys R Us, but it's a neat toy book. It's got a range of stuff from toddler toys all the way up through the collectible stuff, so it was really neat getting that in the mail. It took me back.
00:02:14
Speaker
But in terms of other news, if you've been following us on Instagram, which, by the way, if you're not, let's plug that, at AIC underscore podcast, we do our best to post any kind of toy news and stuff that's being announced as we can. And there have been a lot of conventions going on in Europe across the pond.
00:02:42
Speaker
And there's been some really cool prequel trilogy Star Wars Black Series announcements. Some very, very long awaited Jedi figures coming to the line for the first time in Plo Koon. Yeah, Heather's boyfriend will be very excited about the Plo Koon. I have already confirmed that he has it pre-ordered.
00:03:07
Speaker
But Heather's boyfriend. Yes, okay. I just wanted to make sure that we were still talking about Heather's boyfriend. Yes, Heather's boyfriend has pre-ordered Plo Koon. Thank you for making sure that we're staying on the mark there. Yeah, I wanted to make sure that we were speaking of Heather's boyfriend. Yes, Heather's boyfriend.
00:03:29
Speaker
Yes. Along with Plo Koon, Kit Fisto, another awesome prequel trilogy Jedi is joining the line, along with Count Dooku is finally coming, and really cool. It seems like it's just a repaint, but the Geonosian battle droid, so the one that has that kind of red tint to it, that's also coming to the Black Series line.
Ming Na Wen in The Mandalorian and S.H.I.E.L.D. Figures
00:03:56
Speaker
They're rounding out that prequel trilogy checklist, supposedly according to one of the sites that I keep a close eye on for Star Wars news, Yakface. There is a Jar Jar Binks figure coming.
00:04:13
Speaker
That's pretty exciting stuff. Jar Jar doesn't get enough love in my book. I'm in Camp Jar Jar. I like him. Yeah, a couple friends of the show will probably be very excited about that. Yeah. I'll tell you this much. If I collected Black Series, I would get Jar Jar. I would imagine the detail on it is going to be fantastic. Oh, yeah.
00:04:38
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, that's one where, you know, they have still have the actual models that they use to to produce him digitally, you know, in the film. So they have those two to access. So it's going to be spot on. You know, that that's going to be one that's that spot on.
00:04:54
Speaker
Along with sticking with the Star Wars news, something that I'm actually really excited for that doesn't necessarily have a straight up toy implication yet. One of my favorite actresses has officially joined the Star Wars universe. She'll be in the Mandalorian, Ming Na Wen. The voice of Mulan, she's Agent May in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
00:05:20
Speaker
But what I'm really excited for is there has never been an Agent May figure. So if they produce the, I think her name is Fennec, if they produce her figure in the Black Series line, you better believe that I'm putting that head on a Black Widow body and kit bashing an Agent May.
Wrestling Figures and Batman Lego Sets
00:05:37
Speaker
Which is weird that there's not been much other, other than Phil, who's really been in Legends. They did a three-doo-a-daisy? No.
00:05:48
Speaker
They did a three-pack of Phil Coulson, Nick Fury, and Maria Hill. That's from the movie. Yep, that's from the first Avengers film. Yeah, they have not done any figures from the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
00:06:07
Speaker
Yeah, I remember you almost bought that. I was actually watched, I watched you almost buy that. Yeah. And now I have, I was able to get Nick Fury broken out from that set for very cheap. I got him for like 18 bucks. No Hill or Phil? No Hill or Phil. I am Hill and Phyllis. I did that on accident. You're witnessing podcast gold, friends.
00:06:34
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean outside of the outside of those Those black series announcements. Um, there's a couple more that are coming to the vintage collection. There's there's a Like a dirty stormtrooper, I think they're calling them remnant stormtroopers. They will be from the Mandalorian Coming to the vintage collection along with the the titular character himself the Mandalorian and Cara dune have been announced for the vintage collection
00:07:02
Speaker
I was wondering when those were we're gonna be announced. Yeah, and the the release date on him is way out I mean, I know they've already greenlit season two of of the Mandalorian. So, you know, I better late than never I guess is the answer on that but it looks like those aren't gonna be available until the Spring of 2020. So I would love a Werner Herzog action figure. Who wouldn't? That would be fantastic
00:07:29
Speaker
a Werner Herzog figure. And a Carl Weathers. Yeah, and I was gonna say, and a, oh, and who's the other, a Bill Burr. I want a Bill Burr vintage collection figure.
00:07:40
Speaker
Well, yeah, any, really. I'd be all for any collection. Yeah. There are some really, really interesting characters that are in that show that will make for some really interesting first time figures.
00:08:00
Speaker
There was also some Marvel Legends news, not necessarily anything really earth-shattering coming off of the other, the announcements at New York Comic Con and San Diego Comic Con. The biggest one is that the build-a-figure for that Fantastic Four line is going to be Super Scroll.
00:08:21
Speaker
So a couple people commented on our Facebook post that they were hoping it was going to be Super Scroll, and they were right, they called it. So it's a cool figure. Makes sense. Yeah, it does. And it has some really cool pieces, like you can swap out the arms, and it's well done. And then for that upcoming Spider-Man wave, the build-a-figure is Demogoblin.
00:08:47
Speaker
Complete with the glider and like a flame effect so some good things to look forward to in the in the Marvel Legends line But I'm gonna throw the ball over here to Dave because it has been like wrestling Palooza
00:08:59
Speaker
Well, there's there's a lot of news in my general kind of ball yards. There's a lot of wrestling figure news. There's a lot of Funko Pop news. I'm actually going to start with something where
Walmart Exclusives and Batman Anniversary
00:09:13
Speaker
it's a toy line. We have not talked about much on here yet at all, but I am I am opening the door today as of like two day this was announced.
00:09:27
Speaker
And I believe it is a Black Friday release. I am just going to double check on that. But I do believe that there is a... Yes, okay. So, officially, available on November 29th, is going to be in honor of the 30th anniversary of the film. I believe it's at a hot $250, but seemingly well worth it from the looks of it.
00:09:55
Speaker
Lego is putting out the 1989 Batmobile, complete with Batman, Vicky Vale, and the Joker. Do you want to get nuts, Dave? It's like I saw it and was like, it might go right up there with my James Bond Aston Martin in my Cars of Film collection. Let's get nuts. Yeah. But I saw that and I was like, oh, good Lord, like that's a
00:10:24
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And that's like I know that ranks pretty highly for both of us on like all time favorite toys growing up like that. That Batmobile with like the the shitty plastic covering that made it look like it was it was it was covered in the armor. But the Lego looks unreal.
00:10:40
Speaker
That's another thing too where the 89 movie hasn't been touched in Lego form yet. You usually get a lot of like comic Batman or of course Lego Batman or even
00:10:55
Speaker
kind of, uh, animated, like the current animated Batman. Yeah. Um, but not really anything or cinematic Batman, of course, like the, uh, the Ben Affleck one, but you don't, you've not seen 89 yet, which is unreal. And it looks like a heck of a set. So.
00:11:16
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean it's kind of a double whammy of a year for Batman, right? Because you have the 30th anniversary of that film. Yeah. And then on top of that, it's the 80th anniversary of the Caped Crusader himself. So, I mean, it's, yeah, and it looks incredible. We'll post a picture of it on Instagram.
00:11:54
Speaker
I guess it's the door because that's how Batman gets in.
Toy Hunting Routines and Etiquette
00:12:00
Speaker
in the show notes of the post.
00:12:00
Speaker
It's 100% from the looks of it not scaled to minifigs, but the minifigs are what comes with it, so that's pretty neat.
00:12:10
Speaker
A couple pre-orders went up at their respective online stores. A couple figures that we had been talking about recently, or at least had posted about, Storm Collectibles has put up their Jushin Thunder Liger.
00:12:27
Speaker
figure for pre-order, which is really cool because Liger is retiring at Wrestle Kingdom in January. And he's never really had a figure that's been available in America. And it's gonna be to scale with the WWE elites. It has a really cool cape.
00:12:43
Speaker
Lots of cool features to it, but it's a really nice looking figure. And to kind of tie into New Japan even though, because Liger comes from a manga, he's got his own license because he's not Jushin Thunder Liger, he's the character. Interesting.
00:13:02
Speaker
So it'd be like if Naruto was a wrestler. Yes. Yeah. Because Tiger Mask and Liger are both manga first. Interesting. Speaking of New Japan, Super 7 has put up their unbelievable looking first series of New Japan pro wrestling figures. It's Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii,
00:13:25
Speaker
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Will Ospreay. They come with accessories, they all come with title belts, multiple heads and hands.
00:13:37
Speaker
Do they come with, no, it doesn't look like multiple hands, but it definitely looks like multiple heads. I have some serious questions about these figures still. Every time I, and Super 7 has been flaunting them, which absolutely please do that, they do look like amazing sculpts, I need to know whether those heads are real or renderings.
00:13:56
Speaker
Yeah, I can't tell either, but if they're even close to that, they're gonna be unreal. They look as good as some of the stuff that Hasbro and Mattel are doing. And they're gonna be also on scale with the WWE elites and basics. I love that that line has now
00:14:18
Speaker
like for wrestling figures, it's like all of the indie figures I see, even like the customizers out there, everybody is just like, well.
00:14:27
Speaker
Why fix what's not broken? Because people are going to want this scale. Why not do why do why do anything other than this scale? Yeah, it makes perfect sense. It makes it totally makes sense. And that way you can kind of have your if you're doing figure photography or however you're setting it up, you can set up where it looks like like, you know, a match that you never thought you'd see. You could have the crossover event of your dreams. Yes.
00:14:55
Speaker
So on top of that, more wrestling news. Ringside Collectibles, they are the preeminent wrestling figure online store. They had in New York City this past weekend, Ringside Fest, where it's a meet and greet with a bunch of wrestlers from WWE, but it is also a place where Mattel will
00:15:16
Speaker
show up and actually announce and display and show some new figures. So there were a bunch. There were a lot more than kind of expected. We got our first look at The Fiend, the new Bray Wyatt character. We saw a series 103, a basic series 103, which is another kind of crazy thing where
00:15:41
Speaker
over, like I think for LJNs and Hasbros, they were low double digits of series back in the day. We're in of the basic figures for Mattel, like over 100. We're looking at 103, 104 coming out and the elites nearing 80. And I'm at the point where I was
00:16:01
Speaker
You were sending me those photos to take a look at, and I was having a difficult time, aside from the hip articulation on them, determining which ones were elites and which ones were basics, because now they look like they all have kind of swivel shoulders, or ball shoulders, I should say. It's fewer points on the basics. The basics also tend to not have like any at crunch.
00:16:29
Speaker
articulation or multiple legs, like some of the legs will twist. You'll also see more ankle joint and the removable hands and heads. Yeah.
00:16:42
Speaker
It's it's it's clear in like once you really start looking at them But I mean just in terms of quality like if you're buying a figure to display Like I like I'm just thinking off the top of my head like a like a Jeff Hardy, right? You know you could very easily get away with a Jeff Hardy from that basic line. I
00:17:00
Speaker
as long as you can extend both of his arms out in that T pose. Until you see the most recent Elite that came out. Elite 71. Yes. Which has three separate heads of different paint or battle damage, and it has the gun hands. Give me screaming face with gun hands, please. Yeah, it's... I mean, they're just... The amount of detail, even over the past couple years that have been put into the Elite, is unreal.
00:17:28
Speaker
They also announced a couple store exclusives. Jim the Anvil Nighthart is going to be a Walmart exclusive for the elites. There's going to be whole lines of target elites, like there's a Royal Rumble one. There's another Network Spotlight series coming out, so that'll be neat.
00:17:48
Speaker
A lot of really cool stuff. The Woken Matt Hardy that was supposed to be in the Ultimate Deletion series, or box set, is coming out with the dilapidated boat Skarsgard and Vanguard One, his loyal drone. You can't hear me shaking my head, but I'm just shaking my head. There is so much that's coming out that's just unbelievable. I'd like to take a moment
Thrill and Strategy in Toy Hunting
00:18:24
Speaker
We were having this conversation the other day, and I, for the Marvel Legends, I pretty much exclusively buy the MCU ones. I have three exceptions. I have Gwenpool, which if you have listened to this podcast, you can understand why I have Gwenpool. I have Deadpool, and I have Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler is my favorite X-Men, and that figure was just gorgeous. I couldn't pass up on it.
00:18:44
Speaker
And I'd like to figuratively pour one out for my brother's wallet.
00:18:53
Speaker
But I typically stick to MCU. So with this next end game way of kind of coming to an end and the next like few waves they announced are either game reverse or comic related. I'm like in the clear. It's great. Like I don't have to worry about anything. I'm pretty much caught up on my Star Wars figures. I'm going to grab some of those vintage collection collection repacks they announced. But like otherwise, like I'm in the clear and then like this ringside ringside event happens and I'm just watching
00:19:22
Speaker
Because with wrestlers, it's like, there's always, just think of WWE owns WWE history, of course, WCW history, AWA, ECW, all these- NXT. Yeah, NXT, all these different, well, WWE is NXT, it's all under the same umbrella. But they have this entire long, grand history of
00:19:51
Speaker
wrestling luminaries that they can pull from to make these figures and You know, you don't sit there and go oh I need a 1990 or a 1985 Wendy Richter figure until you look at it and go oh
00:20:08
Speaker
that's incredible and I need that. Like, you know, or when somebody new comes out, like there's going to be basics of Keith Lee and Matt Riddle in these new basic series. And you look at that and go, well, all right, do I get the basic or do I wait for the elite to come out? And, you know, you're kind of doing this this dance, like there's going to be a new leader figure coming out and, you know, yep. And not not only that, too, they also have that ultimate series.
00:20:36
Speaker
Yeah, there's the Ultimate Series, which there's the newest Ultimates that were announced for Series 4 are going to be Brock Lesnar and Shawn Michaels. Yeah, I saw the Shawn Michaels. He's got like the red, white, and black. Yeah, he's definitely, I would say like mid to late 90s Shawn Michaels. Yeah.
00:20:59
Speaker
Well, I mean along with their and the Lesnar's current pleasure from the looks of it It's it's been it's been an absolutely crazy week. I mean, it's it's what it's November 7th. I'd say over the last
00:21:12
Speaker
Shit, like last week and a half at most, in between the recording of the last episode and this one, I mean the announcements have just been bananas. It's been across the board. We could sit here all day. We could spend an entire episode talking about the things that came out over the past week and a half.
00:21:31
Speaker
talk about the they announced Masters of the Universe WWE Series 2 then you know there's a whole bunch of pop announcements like Duran Duran which you know who would have thought like but it's a great announcement because they also announced Def Leppard
00:21:46
Speaker
Yeah, Def Leppard and Duran Duran are the next two rocks lines. Like, that's unreal. Yep. So let's go briefly into our halls. I was able to pick up some Marvel Legends that, well, actually, two that I had pre-ordered had come in. So I got my end game wave to Iron Patriot. I got Iron Man. And I think that's it from that wave so far.
00:22:16
Speaker
Yeah, that's it. I'm still waiting on Vision, Valkyrie, and I was able to pick up, as I think I mentioned the last episode, the America's ass Captain America. Nice. Other than that, I am just waiting. I have Vision pre-ordered, waiting for him to ship. I got a notification from Hasbro Pulse that they're delayed until the first week of December, which is kind of a bummer. But it's to be expected.
00:22:45
Speaker
Yeah, but I'm still waiting on getting Valkyrie. I passed on her initially during all the pre-order stages because I wasn't sure if I was going to do Brothor or not. But then when Iron Patriot came and I saw the heads,
00:23:01
Speaker
And I started to see people posting pictures of the complete build-a-figure and noticed the detail that he's wearing crocs that I didn't pick up on in the movie. Now I need him. What's really nice is that the Iron Patriot figure comes with two heads.
00:23:19
Speaker
comes with a glasses on and a glasses off head. I currently have the glasses off head on my Thor Darkworld figure. A little bit of a kit bash going on because that's my favorite MCU Thor armor. I really like the dark gray and the gold with the red cape. It's just kind of that classic Thor look. That head looks fantastic on that figure.
00:23:40
Speaker
Like it looks wonderful, so I have my display is kind of thinned out right now I I have some some figures away just to kind of focus more so on the the you know the original six and then you know the the kind of the future of of the the Avengers behind them, but um That's that's all I've got I got a couple things as always shocker um
00:24:04
Speaker
Lord help me. I got a couple things So I was able to pick up just from pop land To that I'm waiting for should have been delivered by now still waiting for the hot topic exclusive Halloween h20 Michael Myers and the good guys Chucky from I think that's technically a child's play to figure and
00:24:30
Speaker
I also picked up a New York Comic Con Amazon exclusive Dwight Schrute from The Office, who's holding a bobblehead Dwight. The bobblehead Dwight does not bobble, but it is hilarious if you watch The Office. How very meta of them.
00:24:47
Speaker
Yeah, picked up a couple wrestling figures. Shocker picked up the at five below. You can find figures at five below. I found the Mandy Rose basic. And then thanks to my co-host, I was able to find pretty much the entire
00:25:08
Speaker
Elite 70 series for the most part, got Vince McMahon, EC3, Johnny Gargano, and the Walmart exclusive Gerald Brisco, which is easily the funniest action figure I have purchased ever.
00:25:26
Speaker
And is even funnier when you put him next to which went online. Surprise, surprise, finally. First time I've seen it was when it was shipped to or when it was picked up from the store. It was the Pat Patterson to go with the Gerald Briscoe. I mean, one cannot have one without the other. Especially with Vince, like even though it's 80s commentator Vince, it's still funny.
00:25:49
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sure they'll make a more accurate Vince for that to stand with those two goons. They've done it, yeah, with the Stooges. Yeah, Stooges, that's right. And then I found that Elite 71 Jeff Hardy, which is just, I think, the best Jeff Hardy figure they've made. Yeah, it's bananas. It's so good. All three of the heads are great.
00:26:16
Speaker
I love the outfit I mean I have both my brother and I have an affinity for purple for different reasons But like I like the fact that they went with that purple and black look on him Yeah, cuz it can be kind of well with the face paint. It's a more modern Jeff Hardy Yeah, but it can really be he's worn the same stuff forever. So my man's still rocking UFO pants. Yeah Somebody's got to do it. Mm-hmm
00:26:42
Speaker
rocking UFO pants and listening to mindless self-indulgence. So on to our main topic. Part of the reason for collecting the thrill behind it is the thrill of the hunt, right? There's nothing better than, well, there's nothing more frustrating than being after a toy for so long and never being able to find it, right? And then there's nothing more
00:27:08
Speaker
exciting and and instantly gratifying than walking into a store and finding what you're looking for. Right. Mm hmm.
00:27:17
Speaker
So I would say that we have pretty good success in terms of finding the things that we're looking for. There are things that remain forever elusive, but I think in terms of toy hunting, I wouldn't say we have it down to a science, but I think we have pretty good luck, especially in an area
00:27:39
Speaker
you know, living in New Jersey, especially northern New Jersey, being so close to New York and and, you know, being kind of like in the heart of the tri state area. We have a lot of collectors. We have a lot of collectors. We have a lot of resellers. Yeah, I would say we're in a hotbed.
00:27:56
Speaker
Yeah, it's tough. I mean, I would say people who are in parts of Florida probably suffer from the same pains that we do. I know people in California and out on the west coast, they tend to have it a little bit easier because they're first on the distribution chain. So a lot of these things when they're going out to these stores, it seems like the targets out west and in the Pacific Northwest, they tend to get hit first with some of the product.
00:28:25
Speaker
Yeah, you'll definitely see like somebody tweet that they found something out west and then you kind of alright I gotta go really start looking in like four days. Yep. Yep I know it's a little bit different with the Hasbro products in Especially if you're ordering directly from Hasbro, we tend to get things first because Their distribution centers are based on the East Coast. So they're right here A lot of times if something is
Collecting Etiquette and Stories
00:28:50
Speaker
in stock on Hasbro pulse if I order it early enough in the day It'll be there the next day
00:28:54
Speaker
OK. So it's just interesting how that kind of stuff works. But I figured today would be a good opportunity, especially with the holidays right around the corner. I think this would be a good time to talk about toy hunting. So I know I have my little quirks and my little idiosyncrasies when it comes to toy hunting. But I'm going to say, Dave, age before beauty here.
00:29:22
Speaker
Oh, geez. All right, so here's my toy hunting routine. I wake up on a day off and I go, all right, let's go see what Target has. And then I go to Target.
00:29:38
Speaker
And then I go, all right, what's next from here? Okay, another target. And then I keep going until I'm basically at the point where it's like, all right, if anything I'm gonna find today, I will have found by this point. I'll sprinkle in the targets and Walmarts and hit a five below or two if it's on the way. But if I've done this for more than a couple hours, I'm like,
00:30:08
Speaker
start to get like, all right, it's time to go do something else. That is really the extent of kind of how it works for me. I wake up and I go, and the legitimate majority of my questions are, if I find somebody who's working there, I go,
00:30:32
Speaker
Have you put out any of the WWE figures for today? They'll either say yes or no, and I'll go, okay, thank you. And then I leave. Now, hi, I'm a normal person.
00:30:48
Speaker
Dave is setting me up to look like quite the son of a bitch shortly. No, not really. But it's just more like... It's really one question. It's gonna be the same. They either have it or they don't. And, you know, I'm not...
00:31:07
Speaker
I'm not here to kind of figure out if you're lying to me or not like it's now wait I am I am not let's let's not let's not assume that yeah it's it's like there's no assumption to it whatsoever like I have no reason to not take you at your word which is you either have something or you don't like so I have had very good luck on
00:31:34
Speaker
catching people that don't know what I'm talking about. And I say luck and not misfortune because people who know what you're talking about, I feel like as a 30 plus year old man walking down a toy aisle, when you ask them for a certain toy and they know what toy you're talking about, there are a couple of things that run through my mind. One, they are also a collector.
00:32:03
Speaker
Two, there was a guy here right before me. Which I've been on the wrong end of many times, and it's just like, oh, what can you do? They woke up earlier than you. That was asking the same question. Or three,
00:32:19
Speaker
I am like the fifth or sixth person that has asked them and they're at the end of their rope. And that's the other part where it's like, I have no reason to not take you at face value. It's because I'm probably not the first person who's asked about this today, but I'm probably going to be the most even keeled about it.
00:32:39
Speaker
and just kind of say like, hey, oh, you don't have it or I'll check back next time. Like, so cool. Like, thank you for acknowledging my question here. Here's the other side of that. You get somebody that you just kind of generally say, and I'm going to use a very specific example here because this is the most recent one where I have benefited from from being a little more
00:33:03
Speaker
Let's say persistent, being a little more persistent. Right after San Diego Comic Con, Target released the two-pack Iron Spider Iron Man Mark 50 from Infinity War.
00:33:19
Speaker
two incredibly
Reasons for Collecting and Organization Challenges
00:33:20
Speaker
awesome figures. The Iron Spider actually came with the the the spider like mandibles and the and the the Iron Man came with like the full array of like nanotech rockets and stuff and like the hand cannons and everything. Awesome two pack packed with accessories. Had a you know, it's the best looking Tom Holland head. The unmasked head.
00:33:48
Speaker
Great two pack. Every target, local target received a total of four, exactly four. I was able to go from target to target to target to target to target looking for this thing. And I finally found a person, you know, stocking the shelves.
00:34:07
Speaker
And I said, listen, you know, I'm looking for this two pack, you know, it'll I actually picked up the the Hella Scourge two pack. I was like, it'll look kind of like this, but it's got Spider-Man and Iron Man in it.
00:34:22
Speaker
And she was like, I have no idea what you're talking about. And I was like, honestly, today was like supposed to be the release day. You know, they're supposed to be out. I'm, you know, sorry for bothering you. I could see you're in the middle of doing something. Would you be able to look in the back for me? And she looks at me and she goes, do you have the what is it, the DPCI number?
00:34:41
Speaker
And I did. And I gave that to her. And she was like, OK, it says we have four. And she goes in the back, and she came out with all four of them. And she was like, oh, I didn't get a chance to unwrap these yet. They weren't out. Here you go. Here you go. And you might be asking, how did I know that every target got exactly four? So this is where the strategy behind my toy hunt is a little bit different than Dave's.
00:35:10
Speaker
There is a great website, Pop Finder, F-I-N-D-R dot com, that was designed to check store stock of Funko Pops. I think that's still the primary goal of that website. However, it's programmed to check target stock.
00:35:29
Speaker
for any product, if you have the ID number. And the ID number is something that is readily available on Target's website. If you pull up the product page and you scroll down to the bottom, it's sitting there. I always screw it up, whether it's the DCPI or DPCI, but it's there. So what I was able to do was grab that number, plug it into that website, search by zip code, and I saw the four nearby Target stores all had four. And I went, great, they have four, I'll go.
00:35:59
Speaker
I go to the closest target to me, I get there, the guy says, sorry, we're sold out. And I say, you know, I showed him the app and I said, hey, you know, it's just out of curiosity, you know, it says you have four, I'm just trying to figure out, you know, so that way I can save myself the time, you know, how do I crack this egg? You know, like if it says it has four, and I get here and you don't have it. And he said, what ends up happening is a product like that, if it goes on sale online at the same time, people can market for store pickup.
00:36:28
Speaker
So when it went on sale at midnight or one in the morning, whenever it was, people in our area selected that target as their pickup location. So when Target's website fed out the data that said that they have four left, it was before the pickups were processed. The moment the store opened and their in-store computers processed the pickups, it grabbed those four right from the stock. They never even saw the floor. They went right to the person or people that preordered them.
00:36:58
Speaker
So that being said, I'm, you know, as I stop to every target, I'm like wildly refreshing and finally found one that had three when I refreshed it. And that was the target that I was lucky at. What kind of bummed me out a little bit about that entire process was when I got to the target store that had it, the first thing that the target associate asked me was, how many do you want?
00:37:23
Speaker
And me being the, you know, let him breathe collector, I was just like just one. But like I'm sitting there looking, you know, like we're looking at each other. We're like, clearly she has experienced something similar to this in the past where the person's like, I'll take all four. Yeah. And that really gets to the kind of the heart of what we wanted to talk about today. And, you know, Dave and I are both
00:37:53
Speaker
very respectful collectors like there and believe that at the heart of all of this work all of this fun you know behind the hobby there is etiquette behind it so let's go into some of like like for me there's there's no point in doing that because if I'm traveling
00:38:12
Speaker
Like, I'm just gonna go anyway and I'm still gonna ask, like, hey, do you have this? And if you don't, I'm gonna go, okay. Well, I don't even mean that. I mean, the etiquette of, like, where do you draw the line? Like, I know you're kind of in a different world because, like, you never really need, unless you're one of the type of people that, like, have one in box, one to open. Or if you wanted to display, like, all three Jeff Hardy heads.
00:38:38
Speaker
Yeah, which. Oh, OK. But like, where where do you draw the line in terms of etiquette? You know, leaving leaving one behind? Yeah, like, for example, you know, there's an exclusive. There's a whole bunch. There's, you know, the target exclusives for WWE are going to be many at this point. Yeah. And there's.
00:39:05
Speaker
you know, multiple characters or if you find the chase of a figure because they're in different trunks or whatever the case may be. I mean, for me, like I, there's so I have the only role that I have with figure with my figures.
00:39:25
Speaker
And I haven't opened any of my elites yet because I just have nowhere to put them at this moment. Can confirm. Like I'm just trying to kind of figure out what that's gonna be for me. But my retros, like I have every retro. Those are men on card because part of the allure for me was the card. The fact that it looked like the Hasbros from when I was
00:39:49
Speaker
kid and played with those so I like the fact that it looked like that and so I kept them on card for that reason. The only elites I intend on keeping or any really of the basic or elites I intend on keeping on card are any that I have autographed because I mean I got it autographed for a reason like there's I'm gonna keep my Zack Ryder and my Curt Hawkins min on card because it signed. Yeah.
00:40:17
Speaker
So for that, like, yes, for those, I would need more than one. They're also common. So it's...
00:40:26
Speaker
You know, where do you draw the line at that? So for me, Max, I'd ever buy is two. I mean, my my rule for the for the Star Wars guys. It's it's tough with some of the Marvel Legends for the same reason that you mentioned with the Jeff Hardy heads. Like sometimes Hasbro kind of backs you into a corner like that. The Walgreens exclusive Danny Moon star figure is a perfect example because you get you get Danny, but then you get
00:40:56
Speaker
I can't think of other character names, but there's three other heads with that figure because the base body is the And all my calm all our comic book friends are gonna murder me Really just other Dave because he's the Danny Moon star fan. Yeah, he and he got them but you get you have to buy the figure essentially four times to be able to use the other heads and make the entire lineup of figures and then you know, you're left with kind of a
00:41:25
Speaker
a bunch of extra heads. But, you know, like that, like, all right, fine. You go into Walgreens, you want to build the whole thing. You see four of them there, by all means, by four of them. But. I always have this rule and I am not an army builder when it comes to stormtroopers or anything, but sometimes I do like pairs. So like I wanted, you know, two of the, you know, the Emperor's Royal Guard, you know, one for each side of them. And that's fine. But I have a rule where
00:41:53
Speaker
If I'm buying, if I am buying something more than two of, so like if I wanted three Stormtroopers or whatever. Were you not getting like three BB-8s? No, no, no, no. But if it is a character that is meant to be bought in multiples, like if that's kind of the expected thing, I will always leave one. One of the other things that I love about toy hunting is looking at the stuff that I don't buy. So like,
00:42:21
Speaker
I know pretty much instantly when I go to a store whether or not they have the thing that I'm looking for.
00:42:33
Speaker
I love looking at the Transformers. They've been doing some really cool stuff with the Transformers. Walmart has this end cap out that has, particularly, and I'm not super well versed on the Transformers, but I love the original movie and I love the Michael Bay ones for the most part, but they have this really cool Optimus Prime and Megatron out right now.
00:43:01
Speaker
They're sculpted to look like they have cell shading. That's cool. And they look like the Transformers, the movie versions. Yeah, and the packaging is neat too for those. It's similar to almost, it looks like a model build. Yeah.
00:43:15
Speaker
Yep. And similar to the Power Rangers packaging, actually. Yep. And that's another line. You know, we've we've talked about that line a couple of times. It's come up the the Power Rangers Lightning Force. I think it's called one. Those are they're incredible looking figures. It's just it's just kind of cool, you know, on the toy hunts to see what's out there. I'm not one who really kind of ventures out, you know, purchase wise from the lines that I collect. But there are times when I just kind of sit there and, you know,
00:43:43
Speaker
pick through them like another one. I love the look of that Galaxy of Adventures line. That five inch Star Wars line that have like, you know, they have some sort of like squeezable action to them. You know, they remind me of figures that I definitely would have played with
Pet Peeves and Episode Conclusion
00:43:58
Speaker
as a kid. Like the old superpowers or something along those lines. Yeah, and they look great. Like they're a nice scale. They have this kind of like chunky build to them.
00:44:08
Speaker
They look like they're meant to be played with. You know, it's just, it's a great line. And they're doing some pretty cool stuff with it. Like, they just put out, Walmart has an exclusive Luke Skywalker from Return of the Jedi, where he actually encompasses both looks from the film. So, like, you can take that, like, tunic off as, like, a vest, and he has the, like, the flap, like, he has the battle at the end.
00:44:35
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's just the other lines that are out there are cool. And that part of the toy hunting for me, like, I don't know about you, but I have better luck in the morning, you know, the early morning. So like, I try to hit if I'm going to hit a Walmart, I want to get there before eight. You know, it's funny, I've kind of been. I've not been able to. There's there's been times where I've shown up at a place at noon and found stuff like
00:45:03
Speaker
You know, when I found that Oscar, I found her in the middle of the day, like... Yeah, and that was a target find, right? Yeah. So I have found, personally, that...
00:45:14
Speaker
If you're gonna hit target, sometimes target doesn't process their shipments and get them out onto the floor until noon. I have run into a bunch of targets where that's the case where I've been there in the morning and unless it's some kind of special event that they're prepared for, like a Force Friday or something like that, a lot of times, at least in our area of New Jersey, they'll flat out tell me, they're like, we have a bunch of stuff that's still shrink-wrapped, we're not gonna have it out till noon. Whereas Walmart,
00:45:43
Speaker
They're either stocked or in the process of finishing by, you know, before 8 a.m. Every time. Like, the time I found that entire wave of WWE figures before 8 a.m. Or if you've got a 24-hour one, like, oh, good luck. I'm actually sorry for you if you do. Like, it seems like that would be like an awesome convenience, but those stores are, they never stop.
00:46:08
Speaker
But I would say in terms of toy runs. We talked about... We talked about a lot and I gotta be honest with you, I don't remember half of it.
00:46:18
Speaker
Well, we went through our routines. He's not kidding, folks. We went through our routines, right? You know, what we do. But let's not do lists, because lists are kind of predictable and boring, and we kind of always do a list. I'm curious, because I have no idea where you're going here. What's your biggest pet peeve? Oh, like? On a toy hunt. What's your biggest pet peeve? The person with the arm full of one thing.
00:46:48
Speaker
I think that's going to be everybody's unless you're that person. Unless you're buying, like, everybody you know, the page exclusive for Christmas, like, that's really just... Because I'm not... And someone will 100% pay for that. However, with, you know, let's take Ghostbusters comma WWE Elite.
00:47:14
Speaker
very much available online right now at retail. I was just gonna say people were going literally fucking bananas for that line. And staying on Walmart, that binary Captain Marvel, the one with like the flaming hands and the flaming eyes and the flaming hair and everything, it was a Walmart exclusive Captain Marvel. A pop or a figure? A figure. Marvel Legends.
00:47:40
Speaker
And people were going ape for it when it came out. And we're paying, like I saw people paying like 50, 55, $60 for it. It is on clearance with Next Day shipping for $10 right now at Walmart. And that's where I'm going with this. My biggest pet peeve are the people that fund those assholes. So like Hasbro and Mattel and these big companies
00:48:09
Speaker
that produce the figures, they want you to get the figure, ultimately. At the end of the day, they want you to get the figure. They would rather you buy the figure from them for what they're charging, rather than you go and pay double from somebody else. So my biggest pet peeve are the people that can't wait. Like, yes, it's killing me that I have five sixths.
00:48:32
Speaker
of bro Thor's body. I could go on Amazon right now and pay 40 bucks for Valkyrie and pay 40 bucks for Vision, have them in two days and finish the Thor build a figure. But why? Don't do that. Just wait. We get really excited about these toys and I know you want them. Once you see it, you want it.
00:48:59
Speaker
But please, for fuck's sake, just wait. And if you're going to go to like, you know, an online retailer who's going to get it sooner and charge you, you know, you're paying a little bit of a premium to get it sooner. Now, granted, you're not paying double.
00:49:16
Speaker
You're just paying like, let's say a figure would normally be like 15 bucks and you're paying 18. Yeah. We're not talking about that. No. Like if you're going if you're going to like ringside because you want it first and you're paying a little bit more to get it first.
00:49:31
Speaker
Cool, like I'm not gonna fault you for that, cause there have been times where I've done it. Well even GameStop, so like GameStop, there's a markup on the Marvel Legends, you know, like it is what it is. However much it costs them to get the figures and whatever they wanna sell them for, that's their business. But, you know, you're still paying a retail price for it. Yeah. You're not paying this like insane aftermarket markup from this jerk off. You're not paying double, cause some dude bought them all. Yeah, don't.
00:50:00
Speaker
The only way you're gonna stop people like that and I have met many a collector who have said the same pet peeve I don't you know that the scalper or the reseller you know like and you know the reason why that person can do what they do is because You know frankly you're dumb enough to buy it off of them So you want to stop that kind of behavior stop buying those figures like that just wait Just wait
00:50:28
Speaker
But, you know, I would say, you know, closing remarks, don't be that person. Think of other collectors and don't think about how you can be padding your wallet. I think that's that's a good thing to to remember. Got it. Got anything else, Dave? No, I thought you ended it pretty good right there.
00:50:49
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
00:51:06
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
00:51:29
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer Frank Kablaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial no derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.
00:51:59
Speaker
you