1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,160 Speaker 1: Welcome to you Stuff you should Know from house Stuff 2 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:12,720 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: Josh Clark, and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Jerry's right 4 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 1: there to my immediate right, and that makes this stuff 5 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: you should know the podcast the podcast. That's right. I'm 6 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:29,480 Speaker 1: excited about this particular podcast Chuff put together this episode. 7 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:31,880 Speaker 1: I should say, well, do you want to go ahead 8 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 1: and announced the title for the people that maybe didn't 9 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:38,640 Speaker 1: need it, it is, uh, well, you you're going to 10 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: selected title. It's the title. Oh geez, I don't know. Um, 11 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:46,480 Speaker 1: everything you ever wanted to know about actually, some stuff 12 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:51,479 Speaker 1: about action figures that you may already know, and some 13 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: stuff that made the light you Well, that's a working title. 14 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: Huh yeah. Yeah, but we're talking about action figures. That's 15 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 1: the point of what I think that X size just was. Yeah. 16 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: I was gonna say everything you wanted to know, but this, 17 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:05,960 Speaker 1: I mean, we could do there. I'm sure there are 18 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:10,399 Speaker 1: entire podcasts on action figures for sure. Yeah. And if 19 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: you do, if you have a podcast on action figures 20 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:15,040 Speaker 1: right in, let us know. We'll we'll tweet it out. 21 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 1: For the people whose boat this floated and this this 22 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: one definitely follows in the vein of UM the Barbie episode, 23 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 1: which I have to say is one of my perennial favorites. 24 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: I love the Barbie episode. Yeah yeah, and Barbie actually 25 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: makes an appearance in this one. You'd like to play 26 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 1: with dolls? Uh? I like to play with action figures. 27 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: I play with Barbies. I had older sisters, so like 28 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: I was, I played with Barbie's whether I wanted to 29 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:43,400 Speaker 1: or not. So I made the most of it. But 30 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 1: I don't remember my sister having Barbies. But surely she did, right, Yeah, 31 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: she was a girl in America from the sixties on. Yes, 32 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: she had a Barbie. Oh no, my sister grew up 33 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,280 Speaker 1: in the Soviet Union. Oh well, there you go. She 34 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: had um a Martina. There probably wasn't Martina. But I 35 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: mean that was a pretty good episode. And this one's 36 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 1: kind of similar. It's it's got it all And like 37 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 1: I said, Barbie kind of pops up in the beginning. 38 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: She actually inspired action figures, UM, like basically directly when 39 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: when Mattel I think it was Ruth Handler who invented 40 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: the Barbie doll, right, and when she when she and 41 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:27,639 Speaker 1: Mattel released it, it was just a huge, enormous hit. 42 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: And one of the big reasons Barbie was number one 43 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:33,959 Speaker 1: such a hit and number two so appealing to toy 44 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,079 Speaker 1: companies was that when you bought a Barbie, your buying 45 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: experience wasn't over. There were always like more clothes and shoes, 46 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: and like my sister had the pool that you could 47 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:45,600 Speaker 1: hang out with and it had like a shower that 48 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: actually worked. There's just a ton of extra stuff to buy. 49 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: And so when you bought a Barbie, you wanted all 50 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: the other stuff too, And toy companies wanted to figure 51 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: out how to do that with boys toys, but they 52 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: just couldn't quite figure it out because one had ever 53 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,799 Speaker 1: come up with a doll for boys. And that's kind 54 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: of what it required, is coming up with a doll 55 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,799 Speaker 1: for boys, and no one had cracked that nut. But 56 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: Barbie made the whole thing all the more appealing. I guess. Yeah, finally, 57 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: this dude name Stan Weston who actually knew Miss Handler 58 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 1: and uh, he was in the toy racket, and um, 59 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: I guess I shouldn't call it a racket. It's a 60 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 1: bit of a racket. It's a bit of a racket. 61 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 1: So he said like you were talking about, like, you know, 62 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 1: there's tons of money to be made here. Uh. He 63 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: was a military history buff and so he had this 64 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: you know, the light bulb went off over his head 65 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 1: and he says, what if we could come up with 66 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: a soldier doll, or perhaps even a series of soldier dolls? Uh, 67 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: and maybe not call them dolls. Actually he didn't, he 68 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 1: didn't come up with the name. To be fair, His 69 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: boss at has Bro VP, Don Levine or Levine uh 70 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: in nine he was pitched this idea and he went 71 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 1: nuts over it. And he's the one that said, maybe 72 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: we should call them action figures, right, yeah, Stan Weston 73 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: approached um uh uh yeah, Don Levine at like that 74 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: toy fairents I got a great idea, And apparently he 75 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 1: gave him a hundred thousand dollars just for the idea, 76 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:21,400 Speaker 1: and then he he since he worked with HASPO, he's like, guys, 77 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 1: I've I've got a good idea here. So that roughly 78 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: translates into about seven hundred and eighty two thousand dollars 79 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: in today money, which is good though for an idea. 80 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: But of course, anytime you're the schmuck that comes up 81 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:40,000 Speaker 1: with the idea that you sell for even seven hundred 82 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: and eighty two grand and it goes on to be 83 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: like hundreds of millions of dollar business. You probably always 84 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: kind of feel like I got taken for a ride 85 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:51,240 Speaker 1: a little bit. I'm sure Stan Weston was like, I'll 86 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: have millions of good ideas like these that I can 87 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:56,600 Speaker 1: sell for seven hundred and eighty thousand dollars a piece. 88 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 1: I'm sure he may have. Yeah, I don't know. It's 89 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,480 Speaker 1: certainly not one like G I Joe. Right, Well, that's 90 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: what we've been talking about. We talked about g I 91 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: Joe a lot on this show, so uh, it feels 92 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:11,040 Speaker 1: appropriate that we sort of go down that rabbit hole. 93 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:14,160 Speaker 1: We're gonna be talking about action figures. Well, so, well, yeah, 94 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:17,039 Speaker 1: because G I Joe was the one that started, literally 95 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: started the action figure craze. Every action figure that's out there, 96 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 1: from like UM Action Jesus to UM to the Marvel 97 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:30,719 Speaker 1: Superhero Action figures to every action figure came from G 98 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: I Joe. And if you want to get feminist about it, 99 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:38,240 Speaker 1: every action figure, including G I Joe, ultimately came from Barbie. Yeah, 100 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:40,880 Speaker 1: it's a good way to look at it. So, uh, 101 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:44,479 Speaker 1: all right, here's the deal that I never knew G I. 102 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:49,120 Speaker 1: Joe uh debuted in before Christmas. It's almost as if 103 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:52,320 Speaker 1: they had planned that UH the original. I knew all 104 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: this stuff. The original was twelve inches and had twenty 105 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: one moving parts. And the thing I did not know 106 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,640 Speaker 1: was that G I. Joe was the collective name of 107 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:07,680 Speaker 1: all four of these Armed Forces dolls. You didn't know that. 108 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: I thought the guy was Joe. No, that the for 109 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 1: my era, the guy, the main guy was Duke, And 110 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:17,280 Speaker 1: for your era, the main guy was Rocky. Well, it 111 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:20,159 Speaker 1: depends on which one you had, Okay, So that was 112 00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: there was Rocky was the Army and the Marines Skip 113 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:30,520 Speaker 1: Skip was the Navy guy, and Ace was the Air 114 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 1: Force guy, the fighter pilot. Right, So they ran out 115 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 1: of names after name three, circle back to Rocky. They 116 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 1: ran out of names. And they all were identical except 117 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: for their clothing. Yea, as far as I know, right, didn't. 118 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,920 Speaker 1: Wasn't their head different? And was it the same? Was 119 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:51,359 Speaker 1: it the same face for each one? It was literally 120 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 1: just their clothes were different. You know, I don't know. 121 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 1: I'm going from my own memory, which is that they 122 00:06:56,120 --> 00:07:00,720 Speaker 1: were all the same, dude, and they were all Franco Harris. Well, well, no, 123 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:03,120 Speaker 1: well they came up with an African American one at 124 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: one point in like sixties, I think, yeah, yeah, they 125 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: changed with the times. But to my recollection, those original dudes, 126 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 1: and maybe I got in on the second wave. Maybe 127 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 1: the original sixties ones were different, but I only knew 128 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: Franco Harris, I got you. So maybe I just had 129 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: Rocky maybe so Rocky or Rocky which one? Yeah, I 130 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: had Rocky, not Rocky. So um, they come out with 131 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,040 Speaker 1: this this toy and it's the first one of the 132 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: big differences with G I. Joe, because there were toy 133 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: soldiers before. But did you ever have those like little 134 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: plastic ones, a little plastic green men. You dump them 135 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 1: out of the bucket and one had a bazooka and 136 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: he was always the best one. And but that they 137 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 1: were on like little molded plastic stands and you couldn't 138 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:53,000 Speaker 1: do anything with him except slide them around or whatever 139 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 1: does have been around forever? Well, you could do a 140 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: lot more with them if you had imagination and a 141 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: lighter and a can of hairs. Right, Actually, I was delighted. 142 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: It was toy story right where they had those those 143 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: guys come to life. Uh. That was like really really 144 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 1: cool to me when I saw that on screen. Uh, 145 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:13,960 Speaker 1: these because you know, like you said, you can never 146 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 1: move them, so you see those little dudes actually come 147 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 1: to life. Was pretty pretty awesome. You were like, Yeah, 148 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: I've been dreaming of this day. I kind of was 149 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 1: thank you. DreamWorks. Oh that's where they got the name? 150 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: Was the dream Works or was that Pixar? Is Pixar right? 151 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: Probably got it wrong. That's right, it's a Pixar. We're 152 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:37,439 Speaker 1: still going to get emails anyway, even though we just corrected. 153 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:42,080 Speaker 1: They're they're all working dreams. So, um, I read this 154 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: great article called geez what was it called? Uh, now 155 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:49,080 Speaker 1: now you know the history of g I Joe and 156 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:52,680 Speaker 1: knowing it as half the battle from Smithsonian dot com 157 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: written by Jimmy Stamp. Was that his name the Stamper 158 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:01,720 Speaker 1: the stamps there, So, um, I didn't realize this. But 159 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:07,400 Speaker 1: you can't you can't copyright a a figure, like a 160 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 1: human figure. So that was sort of an issue when 161 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: people started to do knockoffs of g I Joe. But 162 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,640 Speaker 1: apparently early on in the process, G I Joe was 163 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: well known for that scar on his face, and I 164 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: didn't even know this. He had an inverted thumbnail. And 165 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:26,080 Speaker 1: both of these were because of errors in production, but 166 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,640 Speaker 1: those flaws were what allowed them to go after people 167 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,960 Speaker 1: for copyright infringement. That's right, that's crazy, Yeah, it is, 168 00:09:34,559 --> 00:09:37,600 Speaker 1: um And yeah, I guess they were they were natural, 169 00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:39,760 Speaker 1: like they didn't plan them or anything like that, but 170 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:44,439 Speaker 1: they just were happy accidents, I guess. Um. And actually 171 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 1: over it also elsewhere, chuck that um G I. Joe 172 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:51,280 Speaker 1: was so successful as we'll see that by the seventies, Um, 173 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:54,439 Speaker 1: there were so many knockoffs that has Bro released its 174 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:57,360 Speaker 1: own line of knockoffs and cheaply made G I. Jos 175 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:00,160 Speaker 1: to compete with the knockoffs and and de Luke their 176 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:02,679 Speaker 1: market shure. Yeah, it was called Defenders, and they were 177 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:07,600 Speaker 1: just these really cheaply made versions of the big G. I. Joe's. Well, 178 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 1: it was a huge hit though. Um it says here 179 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:14,840 Speaker 1: that they accounted for almost sixty six of Hasbro's profits 180 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 1: in that's insane. That is nuts. And that was the 181 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:21,079 Speaker 1: year it came out right yeah, like right out of 182 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:23,679 Speaker 1: the gate. It was a really big deal. And again 183 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:25,719 Speaker 1: one of the reasons why it was because you had 184 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:28,920 Speaker 1: toy soldiers before. But this guy could move. Yeah, I 185 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:34,040 Speaker 1: think like or twenty nine moving parts. Um are different parts. 186 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:37,040 Speaker 1: And he was articulated so he could lift up his 187 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:39,439 Speaker 1: hand in karate chop you, although he didn't get the 188 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:42,760 Speaker 1: kung fu grip until the mid seventies. Yeah, that's where 189 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:45,680 Speaker 1: I came in. Okay, so he had kung fu grip. 190 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 1: When you knew G I Joe, Uh, yeah, very much. 191 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: It was so kung fu right, but he still looked 192 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:55,320 Speaker 1: like Frank o' harris. But he still looked like Banks. Yes. 193 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:58,160 Speaker 1: And then the other big innovation was the was not 194 00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: an innovation at all. It was following the Rby model, 195 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 1: but for boys it was it was that this this doll, 196 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:07,000 Speaker 1: which no one called the doll. In fact, um, I 197 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:10,440 Speaker 1: believe Hasbro wouldn't do business with you if you were 198 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:13,240 Speaker 1: going to call it a doll as a retailer, they 199 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:14,800 Speaker 1: would just be like, well, you don't get any g 200 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: I Joes. This is an action figures but on the 201 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:20,360 Speaker 1: package itself. And I don't know if you remember this 202 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:23,240 Speaker 1: or not. Um, I don't because I wasn't born yet. 203 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:27,840 Speaker 1: But there were pictures of the other dudes and the 204 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:30,199 Speaker 1: other outfits you could get, so when you bought one 205 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 1: g I Joe. You, as a kid, were made immediately aware, whoa, whoa, whoa, 206 00:11:34,679 --> 00:11:36,960 Speaker 1: there's other g I Joes out there, and I want 207 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: to collect them all. Some little kid came up with 208 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:44,079 Speaker 1: that collect them all phrase just in his little brain. Yeah, 209 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:47,880 Speaker 1: some little kid named middle age marketing executive Don Levine. 210 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:50,960 Speaker 1: So not only that, but they had, you know, like Barbie, 211 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,160 Speaker 1: they had all manner of um other things that you 212 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:57,000 Speaker 1: could collect them by. Um. I had the had the 213 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:00,959 Speaker 1: jet pack, which um you would attach to string to 214 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:06,520 Speaker 1: simulate jet packing and send flying like between two trees. Uh. 215 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:11,199 Speaker 1: And then I had the uh the submarine. It was 216 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:13,680 Speaker 1: like a sea wolf. It was really cool. How big 217 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:16,040 Speaker 1: was the submarine? If you're playing with twelve inch g 218 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:18,959 Speaker 1: I Joe's, it was um to take up the size 219 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:21,720 Speaker 1: of like the family room. Well this is not gonna 220 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:23,559 Speaker 1: mean anything to anyone at home, but it's about the 221 00:12:23,559 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 1: size of this lamp on our desk. Oh. So it 222 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:29,160 Speaker 1: was like a one man sub Yeah, I feel like 223 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,840 Speaker 1: it was. I can't remember exactly I feel I feel 224 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:34,760 Speaker 1: like it was about the size of us um, a 225 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:38,120 Speaker 1: little smaller than a bowling ball. How's that like a 226 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:40,720 Speaker 1: child's bowling ball? Yeah, because he had to sit in it, 227 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:42,240 Speaker 1: you're right. And he was a big dude, even though 228 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:43,880 Speaker 1: you would you know, in a set of position, he 229 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:47,040 Speaker 1: was smaller. Uh. And then I had the uh six 230 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:51,160 Speaker 1: wheel or eight wheel, I can't remember all terrain vehicle. 231 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:55,199 Speaker 1: Well that's nice, and that's about all that we were. Uh, 232 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:57,720 Speaker 1: that's about all we could afford. That's but that was 233 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 1: probably quite an outlay from your parents. It was great. 234 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:03,680 Speaker 1: And that was over time, you know, right, several Christmas 235 00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:06,080 Speaker 1: is right. Yeah, and this was, like I said, I 236 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,280 Speaker 1: came in on the seventies, but um, in the sixties, 237 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:12,480 Speaker 1: they actually uh g I Joe did not do very 238 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 1: well because of the Vietnam War. Um, and it was 239 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:18,560 Speaker 1: actually kind of I think it was actually went away 240 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:21,440 Speaker 1: from production for a while. Yeah, it did. They just 241 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:26,200 Speaker 1: they basically retired him. I think the Vietnam War hurt sales, 242 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 1: so they took him out a little bit, and then 243 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:32,640 Speaker 1: they re released him again, um and kind of rebranded 244 00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:35,680 Speaker 1: him I think too as rather rather than a soldier, 245 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: they rebranded him as an adventurer. Right, so this machete 246 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:43,559 Speaker 1: is not for cutting off the hands of uh Sherpa 247 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:46,959 Speaker 1: who leads us into danger. It's for um, you know, 248 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:51,160 Speaker 1: cutting through vegetation and on a jungle adventure to save 249 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:53,960 Speaker 1: sherpas who were for some reason live in the jungle. 250 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 1: Now yeah, and they, like you said, they called him 251 00:13:56,640 --> 00:14:01,240 Speaker 1: adventurer or the naval officer was called an aqua nat 252 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:05,200 Speaker 1: And then I very much remember that being the deal. Like, 253 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 1: I didn't think of him as a soldier. I thought 254 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:10,360 Speaker 1: of him as you know. Well, I thought his name 255 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:12,280 Speaker 1: was Joe because I guess it was a dumble little kid. 256 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:16,040 Speaker 1: But I guess Rocky the G I Joe adventure guy 257 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: slash Frinco Harris, right, and G I Joe. Actually I 258 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:24,520 Speaker 1: was taken from a movie called the Story of G 259 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:28,240 Speaker 1: I Joe. That's where that came from. Did you ever 260 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:34,120 Speaker 1: see that? No? No, have you? No? Okay, I'm just curious. 261 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: So Chuck, G I Joe is, uh, he starts to 262 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:40,600 Speaker 1: do kind of poorly because of Vietnam. They take him out, 263 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:44,440 Speaker 1: they re release him, um, and he doesn't do very 264 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:46,280 Speaker 1: well when they bring him back out, even though he's 265 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:50,400 Speaker 1: an adventure right. Um, So G I Joe left. They 266 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 1: stopped making G I Joe's for a while, and it 267 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,160 Speaker 1: created it left this big vacuum that was just waiting 268 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:58,640 Speaker 1: to be filled, and it was filled by a little 269 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 1: company named Migo. And we'll talk about me go after 270 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:11,640 Speaker 1: this break. How about that sounds good? My? You should 271 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:27,240 Speaker 1: all right? Is it mego or mego? I've been saying 272 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: mego in my head just because I'm a dumb American. No, well, 273 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 1: I think mego is probably how they say it in 274 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,200 Speaker 1: the UK. Oh was that where it came from? No, 275 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:39,960 Speaker 1: they're American. I say mego to be honest, I have 276 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: no idea. I'm sure there is a right way that 277 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:46,200 Speaker 1: Tommy Migo would love to tell you about. But or 278 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:50,200 Speaker 1: Tommy mego. But yeah, I've seen I've said mego in 279 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: my head, but I don't know which one is correct 280 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:54,320 Speaker 1: to tell you the truth. All right, well, we'll just 281 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: proceed fussly. I'll say mego, you say mego. Let's just 282 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 1: call the whole thing off. So go ahead with me go. 283 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:08,600 Speaker 1: So so um g I Joe is gone. But again, 284 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:12,320 Speaker 1: this was you said? It accounted for like six it 285 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,400 Speaker 1: hasbro sales just in the first year. And he was 286 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:19,560 Speaker 1: a hit year after year after year for many years. Right, um, 287 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 1: And even when they brought him back, sales were terrible. 288 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:23,960 Speaker 1: Compared to the initial stuff, but they were still making 289 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:27,680 Speaker 1: money off of them, right. Um, So this first the 290 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:31,040 Speaker 1: world's first action figure made a huge impact. And when 291 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 1: the world's first action figure wasn't around anymore, well, there 292 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 1: was a void that was to be filled. And this 293 00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:41,040 Speaker 1: company called me Go decided and I think one or 294 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:44,040 Speaker 1: nineteen two, that a pretty good place to start would 295 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:47,280 Speaker 1: be releasing a line of action figures that were based 296 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:52,040 Speaker 1: on superheroes. And they released, um, a line of superheroes 297 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:57,360 Speaker 1: called the World's Greatest Superheroes Action Figures, and I think 298 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:00,240 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two, and it was a pretty big hit, 299 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 1: like right off the bat. Yeah. And what they did 300 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,800 Speaker 1: was they were super smart and kind of had a 301 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 1: lot of vision and said, I think where it's at 302 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:13,120 Speaker 1: is not necessarily creating characters from whole cloth that kids 303 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:17,840 Speaker 1: don't know of, but licensing very famous characters and selling them. 304 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:21,200 Speaker 1: So they got a hold of licenses for uh, Spider 305 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:23,919 Speaker 1: Man and the Hulk and Batman and Wonder Woman and 306 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: Iron Man and Captain America. Yeah, and not just yeah, 307 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 1: if you'll notice that's DC and Marvel characters in the 308 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:32,560 Speaker 1: same line, Like that's unheard of today. They did not 309 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 1: discriminate back, you know they did. It was a wonderful time. Uh. 310 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: And not only that, but they said, you know, we're 311 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:43,280 Speaker 1: making money hand over fist selling these action figures. Um, 312 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:46,640 Speaker 1: what if do you think kids would actually buy villains 313 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:50,000 Speaker 1: like the Joker? And do you think they would buy 314 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: side characters like Robin and Bat Girl and other villains 315 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:56,919 Speaker 1: like the Riddler and things like the Batmobile and the 316 00:17:56,960 --> 00:17:59,800 Speaker 1: Batcave place that, And before you knew it, they were 317 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:05,679 Speaker 1: pumping out things like, uh, Bruce Wayne's Foundation building, I 318 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:08,080 Speaker 1: know that was the real thing. Or what was the 319 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: other weird one? The store? Oh, they had they had 320 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:15,920 Speaker 1: an exclusive with the Montgomery Ward store. So it wasn't 321 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 1: like it wasn't a store, but at the at Montgomery 322 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:23,440 Speaker 1: Ward only, Oh, you could buy the non superhero versions 323 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:28,120 Speaker 1: of superheroes like Peter Parker and Bruce Wayne, which is like, 324 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:31,679 Speaker 1: all right, you you sit there in your cubicle and 325 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:33,600 Speaker 1: that's what you do. Well, the rest of us are 326 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:36,359 Speaker 1: saving the world. That's what you do with that action figure? 327 00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:38,119 Speaker 1: All right, that makes much more sense. I thought they 328 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 1: had a Montgomery Ward play set. That's what I thought 329 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:43,280 Speaker 1: at first. Two like Bruce Wayne worked there or something 330 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:45,399 Speaker 1: which of course he didn't even work. I don't know 331 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:48,760 Speaker 1: what I'm thinking. So this gave orders. They were making 332 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:52,200 Speaker 1: tons and tons of money. Um. In nineteen seventy three 333 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:55,960 Speaker 1: they moved into movies with their Planet of the Apes line, 334 00:18:56,040 --> 00:19:01,040 Speaker 1: which was some plastic primates, and then the Astronaut that 335 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,199 Speaker 1: was taller, and that was a huge hit. Yeah. And 336 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:07,360 Speaker 1: the other thing about me go to Um was that 337 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: all action figures have been like twelve inch twelve inches 338 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:14,359 Speaker 1: tall up to that point, and Migo's line was eight inches, 339 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:16,880 Speaker 1: So action figures are starting to shrink a little bit now, 340 00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:20,400 Speaker 1: that's right. Uh. And the one, uh, the one actually 341 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:24,120 Speaker 1: had even though I have no idea why I had 342 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:30,800 Speaker 1: the Star trek Um Enterprise Bridge and then I guess, man, 343 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:32,440 Speaker 1: I know I had Spock and Kirk and a couple 344 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 1: of others, but you know, I'm well known to not 345 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: have ever seen any Star trek at all except for 346 00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:43,200 Speaker 1: maybe one movie or something, So I have no idea 347 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:46,960 Speaker 1: why I got that. I mean, if it was a 348 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,320 Speaker 1: cool action figure, like I had some weird I had 349 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,280 Speaker 1: a weird Wizard action figure when I was a kid. 350 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,920 Speaker 1: But you're in the Weird Wizards, you still are, well, 351 00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,199 Speaker 1: I am now as a grown up. I wasn't as 352 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:01,479 Speaker 1: a kid. I was like, what is this thing? Gotcha 353 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 1: some weird wizard. Well, I don't know why I had it. 354 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:06,960 Speaker 1: But the Star Trek uh that their collection was that 355 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:09,800 Speaker 1: was another big hit. So they were just they literally 356 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,200 Speaker 1: kind of uh I mean g I Joe and Barbie 357 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 1: of course kind of spawned this thing, but it seems 358 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:19,639 Speaker 1: like Mego really took it to another level. Yeah yeah, 359 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 1: um they kind of they kind of. Yeah, Action figures 360 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 1: were cool and g I Joe had really started something, 361 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:34,359 Speaker 1: but Migo, um yeah, they just they established it forever, permanently, 362 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 1: and they also showed other companies to like, hey, man, 363 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,479 Speaker 1: go get yourself a license and stick to it, like 364 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 1: get creative, like with the Star Trek license that they had. 365 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:49,040 Speaker 1: Clearly the toy designers had actually watched Star Trek episodes 366 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:52,640 Speaker 1: because one of the place sets was from um, one 367 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:55,560 Speaker 1: of the sets from an episode of Star Trek, the 368 00:20:55,600 --> 00:21:00,119 Speaker 1: Apple episode. Um, like you don't necessarily see that. You 369 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:03,800 Speaker 1: didn't see that before. With Action figures, it was more like, hey, 370 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:06,680 Speaker 1: you you you know this guy, just buy them. This 371 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:09,159 Speaker 1: is like you're into Star Trek and so are we, 372 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,960 Speaker 1: and here is some awesome place that's based on your 373 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:16,200 Speaker 1: love of Star Trek. So Migo definitely broke the mold 374 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:19,520 Speaker 1: in that in that sense as well. Um, but they 375 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:23,000 Speaker 1: also like they were it for action figures, like nobody 376 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,840 Speaker 1: could compete with me Go. Um, they would buy stuff 377 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,399 Speaker 1: from Japan and then turn them into new stuff here. Um, 378 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:31,840 Speaker 1: there was just no competing with me Go in the US, 379 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:35,400 Speaker 1: even though a lot of people were. But they they 380 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,720 Speaker 1: also dropped the ball in the most spectacular fashion anyone 381 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:41,320 Speaker 1: could ever drop the ball in the action figure world 382 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:47,240 Speaker 1: like they It's almost it's almost an elegant end of 383 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:49,679 Speaker 1: the story because it literally makes you cringe when you 384 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:51,680 Speaker 1: read it. And there's two different versions, but both of 385 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:54,160 Speaker 1: them are like, um man, yeah, I think there's really 386 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 1: only one version. I literally could not find a single 387 00:21:56,880 --> 00:22:00,200 Speaker 1: source other than this one guy's blog who claimed the 388 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:03,240 Speaker 1: other version. But um, what we're talking about, and if 389 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:06,120 Speaker 1: you know action figures, you probably see this coming. Uh. 390 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:10,520 Speaker 1: They declined the Star Wars brand and allowed Kenner to 391 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:14,640 Speaker 1: pick it up. Yes, So how though, which story is true? Well, 392 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:18,480 Speaker 1: the story that I think is true is that they 393 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:21,119 Speaker 1: didn't want to invest and they said that you know, 394 00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:22,880 Speaker 1: we're not gonna throw our money at every little thing 395 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:26,119 Speaker 1: that comes along, going to be a little more discerning. Yeah, 396 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:28,480 Speaker 1: that one hurts. That hurts more than the other story. 397 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,399 Speaker 1: The other version was that, like, um, the people who 398 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:34,679 Speaker 1: could sign the contracts were out of town when George 399 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,400 Speaker 1: Lucas came by to offer him the franchise. And now 400 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 1: that I'm saying it out loud, like yes, that's a 401 00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:44,000 Speaker 1: ridiculously dumb story. Them actually turning down the Star Wars 402 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:46,800 Speaker 1: line is it's even better, It's even sweeter, like, man, 403 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 1: what were you guys thinking? But I mean there's lots 404 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 1: of stories like that because somebody lacking foresight. Yeah, them. 405 00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 1: The other story is completed by the supposedly they weren't there, 406 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:02,040 Speaker 1: So Lucas went to another Uh, went to Kinner who 407 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 1: was in the same building in New York. And I 408 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 1: guess the people that could sign their name were there. 409 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:10,399 Speaker 1: But I can't find that anywhere else except for this 410 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 1: one blog where this guy says it's true. But I 411 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:15,679 Speaker 1: would love to hear from someone if they if they 412 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 1: have inside, like verifiable knowledge of that for sure, George Lucas, 413 00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: just let us know, and I mean verifiable, not that's 414 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:27,480 Speaker 1: what I heard I read the same blog exactly. I 415 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: knew your nerd voice is gonna come up in this episode, 416 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,480 Speaker 1: sure of course. Um So if you if you have 417 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:35,159 Speaker 1: a love of mego or you just want to know 418 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,720 Speaker 1: what we're talking about, also go check out um the 419 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:42,160 Speaker 1: meg Museum online m E g O Museum And it's 420 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:46,840 Speaker 1: just basically like this wonderful online museum dedicated to everything 421 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:49,359 Speaker 1: that Migo ever put out. It's pretty cool. I wasn't 422 00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:51,280 Speaker 1: even around when these things came out, and they still 423 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:55,560 Speaker 1: somehow make me nostalgic, you know, exactly. All right, So, uh, 424 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,919 Speaker 1: let's jump back a little bit to ninety six, and um, 425 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,480 Speaker 1: we're gonna explain how they went from eight inches even 426 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,200 Speaker 1: though they were still making the eight inchers after sixty six, 427 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 1: how they eventually got down to the three and three 428 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:12,160 Speaker 1: quarters inch. Uh. G I Joe was licensing their stuff 429 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:14,960 Speaker 1: out to other countries all over the place. There was 430 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,919 Speaker 1: a UK company who released it under the name Action 431 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,480 Speaker 1: man Uh and eventually they licensed it to Japan to 432 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:25,600 Speaker 1: a company called Takara. They went on to create some 433 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:29,000 Speaker 1: action figures based on Gi Joe, and then, due to 434 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:33,040 Speaker 1: the oil crisis in the early seventies, they started developing 435 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:36,320 Speaker 1: smaller versions. Uh so at three and three quarters inches 436 00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:41,520 Speaker 1: they developed. Microman released him in the nineteen seventy four, 437 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,440 Speaker 1: and that kind of led to this new thing, which 438 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:50,800 Speaker 1: was smaller dudes three and kids didn't care. No, no, 439 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:53,200 Speaker 1: not only did we not care. So now we're starting 440 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:55,800 Speaker 1: to enter my wheelhouse. Not only did we not care, 441 00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 1: These smaller ones are vastly superior to the older ones. 442 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:05,159 Speaker 1: Oh you think, yeah, so a lot of stuff. But 443 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:07,840 Speaker 1: I would say this is the one thing that divides 444 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:10,720 Speaker 1: this more frequently than anything else, is whether the original 445 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:13,800 Speaker 1: big g I Joes or the second wave small g 446 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:15,880 Speaker 1: I Joes are better. All right, let me ask you, sir, 447 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:18,840 Speaker 1: have you ever held in your hands and played with 448 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:21,040 Speaker 1: a twelve inch g I Joe with a kung fu grip? 449 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,800 Speaker 1: I would uh would not touch one, So you can't 450 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:29,280 Speaker 1: even say then? Have you played with the small one? Yeah? Man, 451 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 1: I had tons of small action figures? Okay, all right? 452 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,800 Speaker 1: Oh did you have the Star Wars stuff? So you 453 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:38,200 Speaker 1: think the big ones superior? Yeah, it's twelve inches, it's 454 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:43,520 Speaker 1: articulates nineteen different ways. I like the small ones. I 455 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:46,040 Speaker 1: always will, even after playing with the big one, which 456 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:48,600 Speaker 1: I have not never will. I just know that the 457 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:51,520 Speaker 1: small one is vastly superior. I don't know if it's 458 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:55,119 Speaker 1: because I am nostalgic for the small ones and the 459 00:25:55,200 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 1: old ones seem weird and dusty and moldy or something 460 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:03,639 Speaker 1: like that, but the small one seemed better than me. 461 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 1: All Right, At the very least, you have to you 462 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:09,639 Speaker 1: have to admit the wave of G. I. Joe's that 463 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 1: were released when I started playing with them, just the 464 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:17,359 Speaker 1: line itself was better, regardless of the size of them. Right, Well, 465 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:19,439 Speaker 1: let's go ahead and talk about that thought, because G I. 466 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:23,200 Speaker 1: Joe changed a lot um once it became a cartoon 467 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,200 Speaker 1: and we're going to talk about some really cool political 468 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,320 Speaker 1: stuff that had no idea went into this. But um, 469 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,080 Speaker 1: G I. Joe became a cartoon series. This was in 470 00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:35,480 Speaker 1: the early eighties, So this is when I had kind 471 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:39,040 Speaker 1: of quit playing with action figures for the most part. Okay, 472 00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:42,720 Speaker 1: because eighty four, I was like thirteen, and you know, 473 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,280 Speaker 1: I was moving on to you know, check out this mustache. 474 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:48,520 Speaker 1: Yeah I was. I was skateboarding by that point, and 475 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:52,120 Speaker 1: I thought it was like super cool skateboarder. Uh, maybe 476 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:56,280 Speaker 1: I still played a little bit. So your only your 477 00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:58,720 Speaker 1: neighborhood best friend knew about it. Your school friends didn't 478 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:01,640 Speaker 1: exactly so did Yeah, Joe was a cartoon. H Then 479 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:06,520 Speaker 1: they for the first time basically it became a commando team, 480 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:10,760 Speaker 1: an anti terrorist commando team that had all kinds of characters, 481 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:13,240 Speaker 1: and they had finally had a common enemy, which was 482 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:17,720 Speaker 1: of course Cobra. Yes, led by Cobra Commander. And this 483 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: was your right in your wheelhouse, correct, Yes, So in 484 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:25,479 Speaker 1: nine three I was like seven, So yeah, this was 485 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:28,879 Speaker 1: I was really just primed and ready. I would just 486 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:33,680 Speaker 1: let's go Joe. And plus also the other thing too 487 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:37,200 Speaker 1: that I had that you didn't have was the cartoon 488 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:41,800 Speaker 1: that not only like blew up the back stories because 489 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:44,160 Speaker 1: each this new wave of g I. Joe when they 490 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:48,720 Speaker 1: released it, um, they each character now had its own 491 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:52,320 Speaker 1: name and it wasn't Rocky or Rocky. It was things 492 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:59,320 Speaker 1: like um Duke or Shipwreck or Blowtorch or Barbecq or 493 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,600 Speaker 1: dust Um. And then the bad guys had their own 494 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:05,919 Speaker 1: their own names to like Cobra command or spent or 495 00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: to Max or z mott Um or uh, the whole 496 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:13,800 Speaker 1: the whole gang right Toe Cheese who was that? Tomax 497 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:17,119 Speaker 1: and Zat They were evil Twins who were they were? 498 00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:21,760 Speaker 1: Basically they were like, um, if if Cobra Commander had 499 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:26,679 Speaker 1: hired Patrick Bateman and then cloned him a mirror version 500 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:28,960 Speaker 1: of him, it would be Tomax and z a mot 501 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:34,720 Speaker 1: interesting stuff, right right? Okay, so I do because I 502 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:37,159 Speaker 1: grew up with it. But but I also had it 503 00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:40,960 Speaker 1: pounded into my head every day after school watching the G. I. 504 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:44,040 Speaker 1: Joe cartoon. And that was the huge innovation that really 505 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: just created this uh, this other world for kids like 506 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,320 Speaker 1: me to just lose yourself in with the action figures 507 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:55,320 Speaker 1: because now you didn't even need to use your imagination. 508 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: You could just be like, oh, I saw this on 509 00:28:57,440 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 1: the G. I. Joe cartoon today, So let's act that 510 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:03,040 Speaker 1: out right. And none of this would have ever happened 511 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:08,719 Speaker 1: had it not been for Ronald Reagan. And that sounds weird, uh, 512 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:12,440 Speaker 1: but here's the story. So in the late seventies, there 513 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:16,600 Speaker 1: was a lot of concern about kids, uh and advertising 514 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:21,120 Speaker 1: about advertising two children. So the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, 515 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:24,240 Speaker 1: got a task force together and they said, should we 516 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:28,760 Speaker 1: ban or regulate this marketing to children? They put together 517 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:34,800 Speaker 1: six thousand pages of testimony from sixty oh the oral testimony, 518 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:39,160 Speaker 1: sixty thousand pages of expert testimony from all these experts 519 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:42,320 Speaker 1: on child psychology and health and nutrition, because I had 520 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:44,200 Speaker 1: to do with you know, food and sugary candies and 521 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,600 Speaker 1: stuff like that too. And the conclusion across the board 522 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:52,040 Speaker 1: was that young children cannot they are cognitively unable to 523 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:56,600 Speaker 1: understand the the intent of selling ads. They can't distinguish 524 00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:00,400 Speaker 1: that from reality. Like if you dress up a cartoon 525 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,320 Speaker 1: as an ad, the kid is he just thinks it's 526 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:06,720 Speaker 1: a cartoon, she does exactly. Or if the ad is 527 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:10,360 Speaker 1: a cartoon rather than the kid doesn't know. They just 528 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:14,360 Speaker 1: think I'm still watching cartoons on my TV. My brain 529 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:16,400 Speaker 1: hasn't made that switch. But man, could I go for 530 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:20,520 Speaker 1: some smurf cereal exactly. So it was a big deal 531 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:23,080 Speaker 1: at the time. So there were all these recommendations basically 532 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: and how to regulate and restrict advertising that were They 533 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:30,360 Speaker 1: basically said it was unfair and deceptive to kids. UH. 534 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:33,120 Speaker 1: For older kids, they said they can tell the difference, 535 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:36,680 Speaker 1: but maybe we should have uh warnings on the ads 536 00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:40,840 Speaker 1: and disclosures saying that this is a commercial message. And 537 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,400 Speaker 1: so what happens when you do this In America, the 538 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:47,200 Speaker 1: private sector said no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 539 00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:50,080 Speaker 1: I want to be able to sell as much sugary 540 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:54,280 Speaker 1: garbage to kids as I want. You can't restrict uh, 541 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:57,840 Speaker 1: free trade, free trade in business. And so we're gonna 542 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:02,240 Speaker 1: raise a record at the time sixteen million dollars to 543 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:06,320 Speaker 1: lobby against this. And well and they were helped out 544 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:08,680 Speaker 1: in no small part by getting the right guy into 545 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:12,440 Speaker 1: the White House. Right. So, one of the first things 546 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan did was he appointed a new chairman of 547 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:19,000 Speaker 1: the Federal Trade Commission. And this, uh, this was a 548 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:21,960 Speaker 1: move that basically said, you know what, there's gonna be 549 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:25,080 Speaker 1: no regulation whatsoever. You got to leave these markets free. 550 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,760 Speaker 1: You can do whatever you want. Uh. And that is 551 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:35,280 Speaker 1: basically how all of these cartoons were born. G I. Joe, Transformers, Smurfs, 552 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: care Bears, Rainbow Bright, Yeah, you name it. It basically 553 00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:44,080 Speaker 1: became marketing and selling things and cartoons became one and 554 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:46,400 Speaker 1: the same. Finally. Yeah, and one of the other things 555 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:49,320 Speaker 1: that definitely helped G. I. Joe two was the um 556 00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:51,720 Speaker 1: I don't know if it was formal or informal, but 557 00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:57,000 Speaker 1: there was basically a band on UM on warlike cartoons 558 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:00,560 Speaker 1: and warlike toys that was brought back Act under the 559 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:04,440 Speaker 1: same ease of restrictions by the ftc UM so that 560 00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:09,520 Speaker 1: I think the percentage of warlike toys that was sold 561 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:12,160 Speaker 1: in the early eighties went up like three hundred fifty 562 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:16,440 Speaker 1: from one year over the other from like eighty four 563 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 1: I think. Um, whereas before it was like no, we 564 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:22,320 Speaker 1: don't Joe was an adventure. Remember, It's like, no, g 565 00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:26,440 Speaker 1: I Joe was gonna cut Cobra's head right off. So 566 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:28,600 Speaker 1: that's a nineteen eighty That's one of the first, uh, 567 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:30,520 Speaker 1: one of the first big things Reagan did when he 568 00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:35,240 Speaker 1: got in office flashboard in November. One of the last 569 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:37,800 Speaker 1: things he did was he vetoed a new measure because 570 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:40,280 Speaker 1: basically they saw what was happening. All of a sudden, 571 00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:45,560 Speaker 1: kids were being bombarded with war cartoons and uh, just 572 00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:50,240 Speaker 1: terrible sugary packaged food all over the place. Like the 573 00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:54,320 Speaker 1: restrictions were nowhere to be found. So UH, Congress came 574 00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:56,320 Speaker 1: back and said, you know what, this is out of hand. 575 00:32:57,040 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: Here's a measure that will restrict once again and impost 576 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:06,280 Speaker 1: some some legislation on this programming aimed at children. Uh. 577 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:10,760 Speaker 1: It passed the House by eight passed unanimously in the 578 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:15,120 Speaker 1: Senate and Reagan vetoed it and said, uh, basically, what 579 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:16,400 Speaker 1: one of the things that were trying to do. They 580 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 1: were trying to limit programming to UH advertising to ten 581 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,640 Speaker 1: point five minutes an hour on the weekends and twelve 582 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:26,960 Speaker 1: minutes an hour in the week days and also provide, 583 00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:32,280 Speaker 1: uh require broadcasters to provide educational and informational programs as 584 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:35,840 Speaker 1: a condition of renewing their licenses. So Reagan vetoed that 585 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,600 Speaker 1: and said, no way, UH, we're not gonna do that. 586 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:41,120 Speaker 1: We're gonna keep it as ish people that were in 587 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:44,160 Speaker 1: favor of this went crazy. Basically they were saying, like, 588 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:47,080 Speaker 1: how can you guys say you're the the party of 589 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:50,880 Speaker 1: the Children and education and then veto is something that 590 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:55,320 Speaker 1: is clearly going to help protect our children. That was 591 00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:58,080 Speaker 1: messed up. Man, I had no idea about that one. Yeah, 592 00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:00,479 Speaker 1: and not only that, the what how up? And was 593 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:04,600 Speaker 1: along with this de regulation UM the toy companies and 594 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:08,920 Speaker 1: the cartoons. They actually they kind of got in bed 595 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:12,839 Speaker 1: together and they said, you know what, if you show, uh, 596 00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:17,040 Speaker 1: if you schedule as a broadcaster UM our cartoons that 597 00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:20,520 Speaker 1: sell toys will give you a profit on those toys. 598 00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:23,560 Speaker 1: If you run these g I. Joe cartoons, then we'll 599 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:25,600 Speaker 1: give you a little cut of what we're selling. Plus 600 00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:29,080 Speaker 1: also we'll buy ads on those cartoons are on your 601 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:31,839 Speaker 1: network to to sell those those toys when you show 602 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:36,040 Speaker 1: these cartoons. I imagine you know, because I remember watching 603 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:40,120 Speaker 1: G I Joe Real American Hero that cartoon, which I 604 00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:44,839 Speaker 1: have to say it was created in in large part 605 00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:48,440 Speaker 1: to sell G I. Joe's true, but it had it 606 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:51,759 Speaker 1: had great story arcs that had overarching story arcs that 607 00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:56,120 Speaker 1: went from episode to episode. Uh, the individual ones were good, 608 00:34:56,160 --> 00:34:59,120 Speaker 1: like the voice acting was good, the animation was pretty good. 609 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:01,920 Speaker 1: Same with its formers too, Like, it was pretty pretty 610 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:05,640 Speaker 1: good cartoon. So at least they were putting time and 611 00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:08,840 Speaker 1: effort and thought into this. But uh, yeah, it's pretty 612 00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:12,320 Speaker 1: despicable marketing to kids in general. Actually, I read a blog. 613 00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:16,880 Speaker 1: Um I'm certainly glad you were a satisfied viewer, but 614 00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:20,480 Speaker 1: I read this blog that basically said that, um man, 615 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:22,000 Speaker 1: I wish I could find it. Maybe I'll post this 616 00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:26,200 Speaker 1: when we release it, that that the de regulation killed 617 00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:30,520 Speaker 1: the creativity and killed in children's cartoons, and that they 618 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:33,399 Speaker 1: said that before you know it, they were just like 619 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:36,760 Speaker 1: things were knockoffs of one another they didn't care about 620 00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:38,799 Speaker 1: I guess. I mean, you were kids, so maybe you 621 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:40,920 Speaker 1: didn't realize it, but that was too stupid to know 622 00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:42,600 Speaker 1: it was going on. They said that, you know, you 623 00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:46,000 Speaker 1: can see a clear demarcation line between really good storytelling 624 00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:49,279 Speaker 1: and then storytelling that was clearly just geared to sell things. 625 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:53,600 Speaker 1: I guess I don't. I'm trying to compare like what 626 00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:56,560 Speaker 1: cartoons were in the seventies, and like they were great, 627 00:35:56,719 --> 00:35:59,279 Speaker 1: they weren't high art though again I'll go back to 628 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:03,280 Speaker 1: that hair Bear bunch. Well, they loved the hair Bears, 629 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:06,000 Speaker 1: but there yeah, yeah, that was a big one. But there, 630 00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:08,279 Speaker 1: I mean, their plots were pretty simple. It was the 631 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:10,239 Speaker 1: same plot that you would see on a Yogi Bear 632 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:14,439 Speaker 1: cartoon or like a Huckleberry Hound cartoon. Um, Scooby Doo 633 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:16,799 Speaker 1: was interesting and it was pretty cool, but it was 634 00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:21,080 Speaker 1: basically the same storyline every single time, like what what 635 00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:24,040 Speaker 1: Scooby Doo? And I'm not trying to argue in favor 636 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:28,600 Speaker 1: of Corporate America marketing to kids and ruining creativity, but like, 637 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:33,360 Speaker 1: you don't, there weren't any overarching storylines aside from Scooby 638 00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:35,719 Speaker 1: being crazy for Scooby Snacks and Scooby Doo, And there 639 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:38,759 Speaker 1: definitely was in G I. Joe, Like when they went 640 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:41,279 Speaker 1: around the world and took the DNA of all of 641 00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:45,560 Speaker 1: these great these great dictators and conquerors like Alexander the 642 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,680 Speaker 1: Great and Um Napoleon and put them all together and 643 00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:52,399 Speaker 1: created serpent or Um who was actually the new guy 644 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:55,560 Speaker 1: who was in charge of Cobra because Cobra commander was 645 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:59,000 Speaker 1: a bit of a coward? Did you not know any 646 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:00,640 Speaker 1: of this? How do you not know of this stuff? 647 00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:02,600 Speaker 1: But I was. I was trying to kiss girls in 648 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:04,920 Speaker 1: the roller skating rink at this and you thought girls 649 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:08,960 Speaker 1: were gross. Still, it's true, it's true, but I it 650 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:12,840 Speaker 1: definitely helps shape me, and I am nostalgic for it 651 00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:15,080 Speaker 1: in that sense, and I am appreciative. But Chuck, I 652 00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:19,400 Speaker 1: propose that sooner than later we do an episode on 653 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:24,200 Speaker 1: marketing to kids, because this whole deregulation story is just fascinating. Yeah, 654 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:26,120 Speaker 1: I mean, I hadn't. I didn't really know anything about 655 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:28,560 Speaker 1: it because I was still a dumb kid when this 656 00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:31,040 Speaker 1: is going on. Well let's do it though, Okay, agreed? 657 00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:36,840 Speaker 1: So that was G I Joe shaped my childhood the 658 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:41,279 Speaker 1: ted so uh. But prior to g I Joe. The 659 00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:45,759 Speaker 1: first three and three quarter inch action figure in the 660 00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:49,000 Speaker 1: US as far as I know, was the Star Wars line, 661 00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:52,440 Speaker 1: and the Star Wars line again when Migo passed it up, 662 00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:55,960 Speaker 1: they quickly realized that we really screwed up. They released 663 00:37:56,000 --> 00:38:00,520 Speaker 1: like a Buck Rogers line, um, and uh, a black 664 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:03,880 Speaker 1: Hole line. Remember that movie The black Hole from Disney. 665 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:08,080 Speaker 1: It's really creepy even still. Um. But so they tried 666 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:10,040 Speaker 1: to catch up, and they ended up going bankrupt in 667 00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:12,919 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three basically as a result of losing this 668 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:18,080 Speaker 1: Star Wars line, and so Kenner and so Kenner picked 669 00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:20,640 Speaker 1: it up, picked up the Star Wars line instead, and 670 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,560 Speaker 1: they released them and right out of the gate in 671 00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:26,680 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight, which I believe was the first year 672 00:38:26,719 --> 00:38:28,919 Speaker 1: that they released these things, is three and three quarter 673 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:33,000 Speaker 1: inch Star Wars line of action figures. UM. In n 674 00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:38,440 Speaker 1: seventy nine, they made a hundred million dollars each year 675 00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:43,000 Speaker 1: from selling those. They sold about forty million units a year, 676 00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:46,279 Speaker 1: and from ninety eight to ninety five, which I think 677 00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:48,719 Speaker 1: was the whole run of the Star Wars lines, the 678 00:38:48,719 --> 00:38:52,960 Speaker 1: original run with Kenner, Kenner sold three hundred million units. 679 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:56,560 Speaker 1: So if they're stelling forty million a year and making 680 00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:59,560 Speaker 1: a hundred million each year From that, they sold three 681 00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:03,560 Speaker 1: hundred million total, So Kenner made some serious bank office 682 00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:07,840 Speaker 1: star Wars off of me and my my lawnmowing fund. 683 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:12,160 Speaker 1: For sure, I had. I feel like I had at 684 00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:16,480 Speaker 1: least doubles of most of the major characters, many of 685 00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:20,600 Speaker 1: the minor characters, the Tie Fighter, the X Wing, the 686 00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:26,759 Speaker 1: Death Star, Oh you luck, the land Speeder. Um. I 687 00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:30,560 Speaker 1: also had the uh, the big dolls. Um. I don't 688 00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:32,680 Speaker 1: know if they were twelve inch, but what is it 689 00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:39,840 Speaker 1: with you? And maybe man they're huggable. Uh. Yeah, I 690 00:39:39,840 --> 00:39:43,640 Speaker 1: had the Big Luke and the Big I think, the 691 00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:46,520 Speaker 1: Big Luke and the Big Vader, and maybe like one 692 00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:50,840 Speaker 1: other maybe Chewbacca, but not all of them. And basically 693 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:53,640 Speaker 1: whatever I could either get from my birthday or Christmas 694 00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:56,680 Speaker 1: or save my allowance to buy, I would get. And 695 00:39:56,719 --> 00:39:59,640 Speaker 1: I was all in. I didn't know that these were 696 00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:03,400 Speaker 1: collect doable. Of course, ripped right into them to play, 697 00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:06,759 Speaker 1: to play with them like normal children do. Um. I 698 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:08,960 Speaker 1: didn't put it like in a box on a shelf 699 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:12,439 Speaker 1: to try and keep it in mint condition. But it's 700 00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:15,359 Speaker 1: weird to do though as a kid. Yeah, I don't know. 701 00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:18,160 Speaker 1: I mean maybe there were kids doing it. I didn't 702 00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:21,399 Speaker 1: know any We all played with them, but I mean 703 00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:23,840 Speaker 1: that was originally the point. I think it wasn't until 704 00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:26,960 Speaker 1: like much later that it it became evident that you 705 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:29,719 Speaker 1: could sell them to people who wish they had them 706 00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:32,880 Speaker 1: in the package still for a lot of money. Yeah, 707 00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:35,560 Speaker 1: and should we should we close later on with the 708 00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:39,319 Speaker 1: some of the more valuable ones, Yes, for sure. So 709 00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:45,160 Speaker 1: that's a tease everybody, you take a break. We should 710 00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:48,200 Speaker 1: Was that it about Star Wars? You think I don't 711 00:40:48,239 --> 00:40:50,799 Speaker 1: have anything else? Really? I mean there's a gazillion other 712 00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:53,640 Speaker 1: things we could talk about, I guess, but what more 713 00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:55,799 Speaker 1: do you need to know besides that they were huge hits. 714 00:40:56,800 --> 00:40:58,920 Speaker 1: That's it, all right, We're gonna take a break. We're 715 00:40:58,920 --> 00:41:01,120 Speaker 1: gonna come back and talk a little bit about the 716 00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:24,440 Speaker 1: how these things are actually made as my sk alright, 717 00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:26,720 Speaker 1: so just to put a little bow on the action 718 00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:30,280 Speaker 1: figure thing before we get into how they're made. Um, 719 00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:33,800 Speaker 1: you know, Transformers came along, was huge throughout the nineties. 720 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:37,200 Speaker 1: Then you saw uh, Marvel and d C really come 721 00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:39,879 Speaker 1: on the market. Every movie you could think of had 722 00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:44,600 Speaker 1: action figures. TV shows started having action figures. Older popular 723 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:48,640 Speaker 1: movies started having action figures, like for Nostalgias sake, like 724 00:41:48,719 --> 00:41:52,359 Speaker 1: I literally had a scarface doll. Oh yeah, I've seen 725 00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:54,480 Speaker 1: a scarface al Pacino that I used to have in 726 00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:58,160 Speaker 1: the office and come with a mount of cocaine, a 727 00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:01,920 Speaker 1: plastic mount of cocaine. It did. Uh. And now you 728 00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:04,720 Speaker 1: know you can find pretty much any kind of action 729 00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:09,720 Speaker 1: figure you want from politicians, older movies and TV shows 730 00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:12,480 Speaker 1: and like things you wouldn't even imagine people would, like 731 00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:15,719 Speaker 1: Welcome Back Carter action figures. Yeah, and I didn't realize this, 732 00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:20,200 Speaker 1: but apparently companies intentionally will release like a very limited 733 00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:23,759 Speaker 1: run of some where like they're missing their thumb or 734 00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:28,640 Speaker 1: like it's mislabeled on the package to make these things, um, 735 00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:32,360 Speaker 1: to make them valuable for the aftermarket, the collector's market, 736 00:42:32,719 --> 00:42:37,400 Speaker 1: which seems really untoward to me, like gaming the the 737 00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:43,200 Speaker 1: collector's market by manufacturers. That's just it seems that's just 738 00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:45,279 Speaker 1: the opposite of what you're supposed to do. So that 739 00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:49,160 Speaker 1: is that verified? That sounds urban legendy to me. Well, 740 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:50,920 Speaker 1: it was in one of the articles you sent, and 741 00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:53,280 Speaker 1: I took it. The person who wrote the article sounded 742 00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:55,200 Speaker 1: like they knew what they were talking about. But was 743 00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:58,160 Speaker 1: that the same article from the guy who said that 744 00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:01,319 Speaker 1: that Kennard couldn't sign the context because the right people 745 00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:03,600 Speaker 1: weren't there. I don't know, because the first thing I 746 00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:06,279 Speaker 1: think of this, If they're doing that, then what's to 747 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:10,120 Speaker 1: keep them from artificially manufacturing something that's going to be 748 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:15,640 Speaker 1: valuable and just keeping a bunch of them. Well, most 749 00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:19,919 Speaker 1: companies like money now rather than a little more money later, 750 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:24,520 Speaker 1: so that would probably do it. That's you know, So 751 00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:28,360 Speaker 1: you want to talk about how these suckers are made? Yeah, again, 752 00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:31,399 Speaker 1: you found some good stuff here when you put this together. Yeah, 753 00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:35,120 Speaker 1: I thought this is pretty interesting. So it starts with design, 754 00:43:35,239 --> 00:43:38,839 Speaker 1: right right, which I mean it's pretty sensible. You say, 755 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:43,560 Speaker 1: give us a Thor character, you sucker, and um, they're 756 00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:45,920 Speaker 1: talking to an artist, a sculptor when they say that. 757 00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:49,560 Speaker 1: So the sculpture gets to work like creating um, like 758 00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:53,359 Speaker 1: basically a skeleton it's called armature out of wire and 759 00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:56,520 Speaker 1: the wires and basically a position. Thor likes to run 760 00:43:56,880 --> 00:43:59,200 Speaker 1: holding his hammer, so he'll be kind of like in 761 00:43:59,239 --> 00:44:03,239 Speaker 1: a crouch running pose. Um, And then they slap some 762 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:05,560 Speaker 1: clay around it, maybe bake it a little bit to 763 00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:09,080 Speaker 1: make it stiff, and then they mold very very roughly 764 00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:14,680 Speaker 1: the general body shape and head shape of thor um 765 00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:16,359 Speaker 1: and then they kind of start to get to work 766 00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:19,799 Speaker 1: from there. Yeah, rough thorness is what they look for 767 00:44:19,840 --> 00:44:23,560 Speaker 1: early on. UM. And this you know, it depends on 768 00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:26,880 Speaker 1: the action figure. There are all different kinds that have 769 00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:32,600 Speaker 1: varying levels of uh of movement, and depending on what 770 00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:34,400 Speaker 1: you're gonna end up with is really going to inform 771 00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:37,560 Speaker 1: the process. But let's say you're thor and you want 772 00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:42,160 Speaker 1: to move your arms, move those big pipes a little bit. Uh, 773 00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:46,160 Speaker 1: they may choose to sculpt the arms separately, or maybe 774 00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:49,239 Speaker 1: the legs separately. Um. They almost always do the head 775 00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:52,120 Speaker 1: separately because it's got all these this fine detail and 776 00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:54,160 Speaker 1: you just want to work on that by itself. Right 777 00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:56,480 Speaker 1: when you're when you're messing with the heads, you're just 778 00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:59,160 Speaker 1: your wrist is like going into the chest that you 779 00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:01,799 Speaker 1: just finished. Why do I always do this? Not to 780 00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:06,520 Speaker 1: start over? Pretty much, so they're working with this torso 781 00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:10,160 Speaker 1: perhaps only put him aside. Work on the arms, work 782 00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:13,680 Speaker 1: on the hands, work on the head, and eventually, uh, 783 00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:17,160 Speaker 1: once you've got this head and face like you want it. Um, 784 00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:20,040 Speaker 1: you're gonna attach that back on, build a neck, and 785 00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:24,960 Speaker 1: build some hair. And if it's one that's completely plastic, 786 00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:27,840 Speaker 1: you're gonna do the clothes and everything in the suit. 787 00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:31,680 Speaker 1: Sometimes you have real cloth, though, like in a cape, 788 00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:36,279 Speaker 1: you're gonna you're not gonna carve that out obviously, No, No, 789 00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:38,960 Speaker 1: they'll add that. They'll add that later. And sometimes like 790 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:42,239 Speaker 1: an extra figure will come with like a breastplate or 791 00:45:42,360 --> 00:45:46,239 Speaker 1: boots or Thor's hammer. Maybe they'll they gave Thorer kung 792 00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:49,640 Speaker 1: fod grip, so they'll have to mold that also separately. 793 00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:52,600 Speaker 1: But then sometimes and you'll know this already, probably as 794 00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:54,719 Speaker 1: the designer, they're gonna be like, no, we don't want 795 00:45:54,719 --> 00:45:56,680 Speaker 1: any of that weird cloth. It's like a big g 796 00:45:56,800 --> 00:45:59,319 Speaker 1: I Joe and that's just weird people out. We want it. 797 00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:03,240 Speaker 1: We want to plastic and molded. So they'll fill basically 798 00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:07,600 Speaker 1: carve the clothing out of the original sculpture as well. Yeah, 799 00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:09,840 Speaker 1: and this all takes about two weeks on the h 800 00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:13,000 Speaker 1: of course it depends on who you're working with, but 801 00:46:13,040 --> 00:46:15,520 Speaker 1: two or three weeks to carve this this dude out 802 00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:19,640 Speaker 1: to its kind of raws form. Yeah, I'm always incredulous 803 00:46:19,680 --> 00:46:22,200 Speaker 1: and stuff like that. It's like, you know, who does 804 00:46:22,239 --> 00:46:24,200 Speaker 1: it take two weeks? Is that really an average? Like? 805 00:46:24,239 --> 00:46:27,279 Speaker 1: How many action figure sculptures did you pull to find 806 00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:30,200 Speaker 1: out that it was two weeks? They probably just talked 807 00:46:30,200 --> 00:46:31,680 Speaker 1: to someone at the company and they say how long's 808 00:46:31,719 --> 00:46:35,080 Speaker 1: it take and they say about two weeks. Yeah, that's 809 00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:37,000 Speaker 1: good enough for me. Then all right if they as 810 00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:39,359 Speaker 1: long as they spoke to somebody, all right. So now 811 00:46:39,400 --> 00:46:42,160 Speaker 1: you've got your little little dude, and uh, you're going 812 00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:44,800 Speaker 1: to use a plastic resin when it comes to the 813 00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:48,359 Speaker 1: actual materials of the thing itself. Uh, there's something called 814 00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:55,000 Speaker 1: a B S acra acrono. Wow, I thought, I want it. 815 00:46:55,040 --> 00:46:57,480 Speaker 1: You want me to try it? Sure? I think it's 816 00:46:57,480 --> 00:47:01,880 Speaker 1: a killa nit trial beauty die eyen styrene, A B 817 00:47:02,120 --> 00:47:05,359 Speaker 1: S nice work. Three types of plastic and one that's right, 818 00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:08,120 Speaker 1: So that's the harder plastic for the main body. Uh, 819 00:47:08,120 --> 00:47:11,560 Speaker 1: they may use something like polypropylene or poly ethylene for 820 00:47:11,680 --> 00:47:16,839 Speaker 1: the various parts or pieces. You got your fabrics. If 821 00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:22,080 Speaker 1: you have capes and things like that, so well no, 822 00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:26,480 Speaker 1: I mean even the little small figures had had like 823 00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:31,160 Speaker 1: the jawas had capes. Yeah, not capes, but cloaks. Now, 824 00:47:31,239 --> 00:47:33,279 Speaker 1: I know, I remember that weird to me out too, 825 00:47:33,320 --> 00:47:35,560 Speaker 1: And I think, finally I understand what it is that 826 00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:38,200 Speaker 1: I don't like about the large G I Jos. They 827 00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:42,640 Speaker 1: had fabric clothing and that it was ill fitting clothing 828 00:47:42,680 --> 00:47:44,440 Speaker 1: to like, did you see I don't know if you 829 00:47:44,520 --> 00:47:46,359 Speaker 1: had it or not, but the original G I Joe, 830 00:47:46,840 --> 00:47:49,600 Speaker 1: like some of them, came with a raincoat, but it 831 00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:51,160 Speaker 1: didn't look like a raincoat. It looked like he was 832 00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:53,640 Speaker 1: wearing a sleeping bag that had a draw string around 833 00:47:53,719 --> 00:47:55,600 Speaker 1: his face. Are you sure it wasn't a sleeping bag. 834 00:47:55,760 --> 00:47:57,800 Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be a raincoat, 835 00:47:58,360 --> 00:48:02,400 Speaker 1: but I think that's what it was. Just pep, you know, Yeah, 836 00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:05,280 Speaker 1: that was all I guess it's not. Actually the size 837 00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:09,839 Speaker 1: is the creepy factor brought on by this clothing that 838 00:48:09,880 --> 00:48:12,879 Speaker 1: didn't fit quite right. Like you know, it's the kind 839 00:48:12,880 --> 00:48:17,320 Speaker 1: of clothing that you would make for a son who 840 00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:20,120 Speaker 1: was was a serial killer, but you didn't want to 841 00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:21,840 Speaker 1: turn him in, so you just keep him locked in 842 00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:24,720 Speaker 1: the basement and you've got to make his own clothing. 843 00:48:24,800 --> 00:48:26,200 Speaker 1: You have to make clothing for him. This is the 844 00:48:26,239 --> 00:48:28,960 Speaker 1: kind of clothing you would make him that's I think 845 00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:31,759 Speaker 1: what creeps me out about it? Well, you're working through 846 00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:33,719 Speaker 1: some stuff, so I'll check in with you at the end, 847 00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:36,319 Speaker 1: but we'll see exactly what it is you hate about 848 00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:41,640 Speaker 1: the call. So, uh, the manufacturing process. You got to 849 00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:44,680 Speaker 1: create the mold. Next you want to master mold, or 850 00:48:44,719 --> 00:48:47,920 Speaker 1: maybe it might be more than one mold, and uh, 851 00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:50,359 Speaker 1: this requires the most time. They say in this article 852 00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:53,640 Speaker 1: about two thirds of the whole time spent making these molds, 853 00:48:54,160 --> 00:48:57,720 Speaker 1: which makes sense, and it takes a few months again 854 00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:02,040 Speaker 1: is that arbitrary? Who knows? Yeah, this guy's like probably 855 00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:05,520 Speaker 1: just takes a couple and then once you once you 856 00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:06,960 Speaker 1: have the molds, and you also have to make a 857 00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:08,920 Speaker 1: decision when you're making the molds. Do you want to 858 00:49:09,440 --> 00:49:12,400 Speaker 1: um make the torso and the legs together? Is he 859 00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:14,440 Speaker 1: gonna move his arms? If so, you probably want to 860 00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:17,359 Speaker 1: do two different molds for the arms. So there's a 861 00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:21,520 Speaker 1: pretty decent amount of decision making work that goes into 862 00:49:21,880 --> 00:49:24,239 Speaker 1: just coming up with what molds you're gonna make. And 863 00:49:24,280 --> 00:49:26,120 Speaker 1: then once you make the molds, and yes you have 864 00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:27,880 Speaker 1: to make the molds, you have to operate them, and 865 00:49:27,880 --> 00:49:31,040 Speaker 1: then you have to decide what kind of um uh 866 00:49:31,080 --> 00:49:33,640 Speaker 1: what kind of UM what's the word I'm looking for 867 00:49:33,640 --> 00:49:39,600 Speaker 1: where you actually make the plastic um figure molding, which 868 00:49:39,600 --> 00:49:41,800 Speaker 1: I should have been able to come up with because 869 00:49:41,800 --> 00:49:43,920 Speaker 1: we were talking about molds at the time, that's right. 870 00:49:44,320 --> 00:49:47,680 Speaker 1: So there's different kinds. I looked up one kind called 871 00:49:47,800 --> 00:49:51,239 Speaker 1: rotational molding. I guess that's what Star Wars was going 872 00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:54,440 Speaker 1: to try at first, but they lost too much detail 873 00:49:54,520 --> 00:49:57,640 Speaker 1: on the figure, so they went to UM I think, 874 00:49:57,640 --> 00:50:01,000 Speaker 1: an injection molding process. But with rotational molding, you've got 875 00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:04,440 Speaker 1: a mold and it's on this computerized arm, and this 876 00:50:04,680 --> 00:50:07,920 Speaker 1: arm just kind of spins around inside an oven, and 877 00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:12,000 Speaker 1: inside the arm is like powdered plastic resin, and I 878 00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:15,200 Speaker 1: guess it just melts it by kind of slowly spinning 879 00:50:15,239 --> 00:50:18,279 Speaker 1: it around. I don't understand what the problem is, but 880 00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:22,279 Speaker 1: I guess injection molding is far superior. Yeah, I guess. 881 00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:25,000 Speaker 1: So I mean to deal with injection molding, Uh, they 882 00:50:25,239 --> 00:50:28,280 Speaker 1: pump it into two pieces and then they apply pressure 883 00:50:28,320 --> 00:50:31,840 Speaker 1: to those two pieces to mold them together while it 884 00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:35,879 Speaker 1: cools and hardens. UM. But I think what you get 885 00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:39,200 Speaker 1: there is, which is why probably they wanted to use 886 00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:42,960 Speaker 1: the rotational molding, is if you have those little Star 887 00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:45,840 Speaker 1: Wars guys, or imagine g I Joe if their injection molds. 888 00:50:46,360 --> 00:50:49,400 Speaker 1: If you if you look at their body from the side, 889 00:50:49,520 --> 00:50:52,200 Speaker 1: it's in two pieces, and sometimes you can see a 890 00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:56,480 Speaker 1: little steam on their head or on their arm or something, 891 00:50:57,080 --> 00:50:59,719 Speaker 1: or probably on their arm because those are separate. But um, 892 00:51:00,160 --> 00:51:01,640 Speaker 1: sometimes you can see the seam or where the two 893 00:51:01,640 --> 00:51:04,879 Speaker 1: halves were pressed together. They wanted that smooth look for 894 00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:09,759 Speaker 1: the uh, for the rotational molding that that provides. But um, 895 00:51:09,920 --> 00:51:12,399 Speaker 1: always I guess the detail was the trade off. So 896 00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:15,240 Speaker 1: that's the that's the rotational moulling. You don't have seams, 897 00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:18,040 Speaker 1: but you lose fine detail. Within checks and mulling, you 898 00:51:18,080 --> 00:51:20,840 Speaker 1: can get the detail, but you can see the seams 899 00:51:20,840 --> 00:51:22,640 Speaker 1: of where the two sides of the mole came together, 900 00:51:22,840 --> 00:51:24,759 Speaker 1: I guess. But man, I mean, how bad could that 901 00:51:24,800 --> 00:51:26,560 Speaker 1: detail have been? Because when you look at those early 902 00:51:26,600 --> 00:51:29,080 Speaker 1: Star Wars figures, I mean the detail was not great. 903 00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:32,560 Speaker 1: You know, Like, had I've been Mark Hamill had been 904 00:51:32,600 --> 00:51:34,879 Speaker 1: like this, this is what you think my face looks like? Yeah? 905 00:51:35,080 --> 00:51:37,600 Speaker 1: Like they I mean, they've gotten way better. Like the 906 00:51:37,640 --> 00:51:41,239 Speaker 1: stuff they're making today is amazing, but it's almost too good, 907 00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:43,520 Speaker 1: you know, what I mean, like, yeah, there's some amazing 908 00:51:43,560 --> 00:51:45,719 Speaker 1: stuff out there, but it's that was one of the 909 00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:48,959 Speaker 1: great things about these especially the three and three quarter 910 00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:51,960 Speaker 1: inch guys. They just they just they were They were 911 00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:54,120 Speaker 1: meant to be played with. They were meant to have 912 00:51:54,480 --> 00:51:58,880 Speaker 1: imagination bestowed on them and little child's hands. Yeah, not 913 00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:01,720 Speaker 1: supposed to sit on your desk at work or something 914 00:52:01,800 --> 00:52:04,439 Speaker 1: like that, and just as adornment. Like they were meant 915 00:52:04,480 --> 00:52:07,800 Speaker 1: to be played with, and they were. They were subtly 916 00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:12,080 Speaker 1: downgraded from you know, the stuff that's out today, they 917 00:52:12,120 --> 00:52:16,640 Speaker 1: were downgraded to an upgrade. Yes, Like John Hodgman is 918 00:52:16,719 --> 00:52:20,920 Speaker 1: literally screaming right now into his earbuds because we're nostalgic 919 00:52:20,960 --> 00:52:25,840 Speaker 1: about something that was decidedly crappier. Sorry, but it's true 920 00:52:25,880 --> 00:52:28,680 Speaker 1: though from me, like I think that they were they 921 00:52:28,680 --> 00:52:31,040 Speaker 1: were great. Have I told you how I feel about 922 00:52:31,040 --> 00:52:32,920 Speaker 1: the three and three quarter ins g I, Joe, No, 923 00:52:33,280 --> 00:52:36,759 Speaker 1: we should talk about that some more, all right. So 924 00:52:36,840 --> 00:52:39,800 Speaker 1: you've got this mold now pressed together if it's injection, 925 00:52:40,320 --> 00:52:42,239 Speaker 1: and then you have to assemble it. If you have 926 00:52:42,560 --> 00:52:46,920 Speaker 1: the arms separately perhaps or um basically anything else that 927 00:52:47,040 --> 00:52:50,080 Speaker 1: doesn't come on that original mold, you're gonna have to 928 00:52:50,120 --> 00:52:54,480 Speaker 1: assemble it together. Uh, put all the little finishing details. 929 00:52:54,520 --> 00:52:58,200 Speaker 1: Maybe the clothing that you hate so much, Um, maybe 930 00:52:58,440 --> 00:53:01,719 Speaker 1: they're painted with little more detail that that detail that 931 00:53:01,760 --> 00:53:05,279 Speaker 1: you hate so much, and all the things that make 932 00:53:05,320 --> 00:53:08,040 Speaker 1: a better action figure that you hate so much. It's 933 00:53:08,080 --> 00:53:11,279 Speaker 1: not that I hate it, it's it's just I don't know, 934 00:53:11,760 --> 00:53:14,520 Speaker 1: I'm not quite sure how to put it. Yeah. Yeah, 935 00:53:15,080 --> 00:53:18,560 Speaker 1: so it's I don't hate it, really don't like it. 936 00:53:19,360 --> 00:53:22,200 Speaker 1: The final um, the final key to this whole thing 937 00:53:22,440 --> 00:53:26,920 Speaker 1: is packaging and shipping. So you think big deal was 938 00:53:26,960 --> 00:53:29,000 Speaker 1: a big deal with the package, but a lot of 939 00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:31,319 Speaker 1: thought goes into the packaging, Like you were talking about 940 00:53:31,320 --> 00:53:34,400 Speaker 1: earlier with the the g I Joe actually advertising the 941 00:53:34,440 --> 00:53:39,120 Speaker 1: other dudes on the package, but that classic cardboard backed 942 00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:44,759 Speaker 1: uh clear plastic um casing. Yeah, the shell that was 943 00:53:44,840 --> 00:53:47,880 Speaker 1: sort of became the standard and what everyone came to 944 00:53:47,920 --> 00:53:51,160 Speaker 1: think of as an action figure package. And and man, 945 00:53:51,239 --> 00:53:53,239 Speaker 1: that was another thing that with the wave of g 946 00:53:53,360 --> 00:53:55,680 Speaker 1: I Joes that I played with, that really put a 947 00:53:55,760 --> 00:54:00,000 Speaker 1: lot of time and effort and thought into the packaging. Um, 948 00:54:00,040 --> 00:54:01,680 Speaker 1: and that I mean that was definitely part of it 949 00:54:01,680 --> 00:54:05,480 Speaker 1: that really helps sell the action figures in a lot 950 00:54:05,560 --> 00:54:08,719 Speaker 1: a lot of ways. Yeah, you know, like right into it. 951 00:54:08,760 --> 00:54:11,640 Speaker 1: Like I said, I disregarded the package well with the 952 00:54:11,719 --> 00:54:13,680 Speaker 1: later g I jose there was a card on the 953 00:54:13,719 --> 00:54:17,120 Speaker 1: back that had like their code name, their specialty, their backstory, 954 00:54:17,160 --> 00:54:20,160 Speaker 1: and like you clip a mountain and collect those as well, 955 00:54:20,200 --> 00:54:22,160 Speaker 1: Like it was definitely part of it. I collected the 956 00:54:22,200 --> 00:54:25,319 Speaker 1: Star Wars trading cards too. It's funny. I went back 957 00:54:25,360 --> 00:54:27,879 Speaker 1: and got all my old cards not too long ago, 958 00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:31,279 Speaker 1: and I didn't collect a ton of cards. I thought like, oh, 959 00:54:31,360 --> 00:54:34,879 Speaker 1: maybe there'll be some you know, Ken Griffy Rookie card 960 00:54:34,920 --> 00:54:38,160 Speaker 1: in here with five grand. So foolishly I thought I 961 00:54:38,200 --> 00:54:41,480 Speaker 1: had something of value, which I did not. Um. But 962 00:54:41,520 --> 00:54:44,120 Speaker 1: I went through and I had some weird cards that 963 00:54:44,200 --> 00:54:47,799 Speaker 1: I don't even remember collecting. Like I had welcome Back 964 00:54:47,800 --> 00:54:52,040 Speaker 1: Carter cards. Oh yeah, that's twice that welcome Back cart 965 00:54:52,160 --> 00:54:54,440 Speaker 1: has made an appearance in this episode. I was not 966 00:54:54,560 --> 00:54:56,799 Speaker 1: expecting either one. I like, I like to show a lot, 967 00:54:56,880 --> 00:54:59,000 Speaker 1: but I don't remember buying these cards. I had Jaws 968 00:54:59,600 --> 00:55:06,320 Speaker 1: the movie cards. I had lots of Star Wars cards, um, 969 00:55:06,440 --> 00:55:09,239 Speaker 1: some weird like I mean, I had football cards. I 970 00:55:09,280 --> 00:55:12,319 Speaker 1: didn't even collect football cards. I didn't think I went through. 971 00:55:12,640 --> 00:55:14,600 Speaker 1: I did the same thing you did. I got all 972 00:55:14,680 --> 00:55:16,600 Speaker 1: the boxes of baseball cards from my dad's house, and 973 00:55:16,640 --> 00:55:19,120 Speaker 1: I was like, I didn't where did I get all 974 00:55:19,160 --> 00:55:23,359 Speaker 1: these football cards? Who even collects football cards? You know, 975 00:55:23,480 --> 00:55:26,600 Speaker 1: it's untoward, it's weird. But the cool thing about the 976 00:55:26,640 --> 00:55:29,879 Speaker 1: seventies cards is just the the look when you could 977 00:55:29,960 --> 00:55:32,680 Speaker 1: like you know, you had to back the camera off 978 00:55:32,719 --> 00:55:35,759 Speaker 1: so you could fit the afro into the card and 979 00:55:35,840 --> 00:55:38,279 Speaker 1: all these like great haircuts and hair dues that all 980 00:55:38,320 --> 00:55:40,400 Speaker 1: these guys had back then. It's pretty Why is he 981 00:55:40,480 --> 00:55:45,360 Speaker 1: holding that fistol off and then chuck? After the packaging, 982 00:55:45,560 --> 00:55:48,040 Speaker 1: it goes to the stores and little kids like us 983 00:55:48,400 --> 00:55:51,239 Speaker 1: buy it and love it. That's right. That's the end 984 00:55:51,280 --> 00:55:55,200 Speaker 1: of the manufacturing process. Wow, what a journey. Yeah, that 985 00:55:55,280 --> 00:55:57,359 Speaker 1: was something we went all the way to China and back. 986 00:55:57,640 --> 00:55:59,480 Speaker 1: We did. I don't think we pointed that out a 987 00:55:59,520 --> 00:56:05,040 Speaker 1: lot of time. The molding process is an Asia, so 988 00:56:05,120 --> 00:56:09,319 Speaker 1: that's one reason it takes so long because they put 989 00:56:09,360 --> 00:56:14,640 Speaker 1: them on slow boats. So you kind of tease us earlier. Um, 990 00:56:14,680 --> 00:56:20,160 Speaker 1: the you found a list of the rarest Star Wars figures. Yeah, 991 00:56:20,320 --> 00:56:22,799 Speaker 1: and you know I looked at other lists and they 992 00:56:22,880 --> 00:56:25,600 Speaker 1: listed different figures, So I don't know if that's something 993 00:56:25,600 --> 00:56:29,000 Speaker 1: that changes a lot as far as which ones are 994 00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:32,279 Speaker 1: the most valuable, because I literally saw at least two 995 00:56:32,320 --> 00:56:35,560 Speaker 1: different ones that were described as the Holy Grail Star 996 00:56:35,640 --> 00:56:39,080 Speaker 1: Wars figures, so you know there can't be more than 997 00:56:39,120 --> 00:56:43,120 Speaker 1: one Holy Grail. No, So I do look forward to 998 00:56:43,200 --> 00:56:46,479 Speaker 1: hearing from those in the No. But instead of saying 999 00:56:46,520 --> 00:56:49,359 Speaker 1: these are the most valuable, let's just say we'll talk 1000 00:56:49,400 --> 00:56:52,400 Speaker 1: about some that are pretty rare and fairly valuable. I 1001 00:56:52,520 --> 00:56:56,040 Speaker 1: think that was pretty smart. So no one holds us 1002 00:56:56,600 --> 00:57:01,560 Speaker 1: our feet to the flame. Yack Face. I had not 1003 00:57:01,640 --> 00:57:04,879 Speaker 1: heard of yeck face, had you know? So yeck Face 1004 00:57:05,000 --> 00:57:09,160 Speaker 1: is one of um Boba Fette's either guards or mercenaries. 1005 00:57:09,200 --> 00:57:11,640 Speaker 1: But he worked for Boba Fett. No not, I'm sorry. 1006 00:57:11,680 --> 00:57:16,280 Speaker 1: I'm sorry Star Wars people, stop stopping. He worked for 1007 00:57:16,400 --> 00:57:19,680 Speaker 1: Job of the Hut. He's not the same person you 1008 00:57:19,800 --> 00:57:25,560 Speaker 1: just cause three car accidents, three Toyota prius is just 1009 00:57:26,680 --> 00:57:28,840 Speaker 1: liberty Mutual is going to be like this, Josh Clark. 1010 00:57:29,080 --> 00:57:33,560 Speaker 1: We gotta work into our actual aerial tables. Uh. Yeah, 1011 00:57:33,640 --> 00:57:36,560 Speaker 1: So he was part of the power of the Force line. Uh. 1012 00:57:36,600 --> 00:57:39,560 Speaker 1: He was canceled and you'll find. Here's a common thread 1013 00:57:39,600 --> 00:57:44,240 Speaker 1: here is rarity is what makes something valuable, and something 1014 00:57:44,280 --> 00:57:48,040 Speaker 1: can be a garbage figure and they don't make many 1015 00:57:48,040 --> 00:57:50,919 Speaker 1: of them, and then it becomes valuable. And I think 1016 00:57:50,960 --> 00:57:53,760 Speaker 1: he wasn't necessarily a garbage figure. He was just released 1017 00:57:53,760 --> 00:57:56,680 Speaker 1: at a time when, like Star Wars figures, sales in 1018 00:57:56,760 --> 00:57:59,840 Speaker 1: general were waning. So they sent him over to Europe. 1019 00:58:00,320 --> 00:58:02,760 Speaker 1: And this thing says that he was never released in 1020 00:58:02,800 --> 00:58:04,880 Speaker 1: the States. I saw that he was, but it was 1021 00:58:04,920 --> 00:58:07,600 Speaker 1: in for a very brief time and a very limited run, 1022 00:58:07,600 --> 00:58:09,680 Speaker 1: and then they sent him to Europe. I think in 1023 00:58:10,680 --> 00:58:13,400 Speaker 1: ve where Return of the Jedi had just come out, 1024 00:58:13,720 --> 00:58:15,840 Speaker 1: so they were crazy for anything that had anything to 1025 00:58:15,840 --> 00:58:19,760 Speaker 1: do with Return to Jedi. America was already like, who 1026 00:58:19,760 --> 00:58:23,760 Speaker 1: cares about Return of the Jedi. We're we're into uh 1027 00:58:23,960 --> 00:58:28,560 Speaker 1: Temple of Doom, which I read an article about that recently. 1028 00:58:28,880 --> 00:58:32,720 Speaker 1: Supposedly Temple of Doom was so dark because both George 1029 00:58:32,800 --> 00:58:37,640 Speaker 1: Lucas and Steven Spielberg were going through breakups at the 1030 00:58:37,680 --> 00:58:40,400 Speaker 1: time that they were writing and making it. So we said, 1031 00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:41,880 Speaker 1: what can we do here? Why don't why don't you 1032 00:58:41,960 --> 00:58:44,640 Speaker 1: pull out his heart and eat it? Right? That's what 1033 00:58:44,680 --> 00:58:49,360 Speaker 1: I feel like because that's what it did all right 1034 00:58:49,480 --> 00:58:53,120 Speaker 1: week way, So this is another Jab of the huts guards. 1035 00:58:53,160 --> 00:58:55,920 Speaker 1: Are you sure you didn't get those confused? I specifically 1036 00:58:55,920 --> 00:58:59,000 Speaker 1: went and looked up Yeke face and he he works 1037 00:58:59,040 --> 00:59:00,680 Speaker 1: for a job of the Hut. They even gave Job 1038 00:59:00,680 --> 00:59:02,800 Speaker 1: of the Huts full name, and I just remember the 1039 00:59:02,880 --> 00:59:05,920 Speaker 1: job apart. Oh he had more than that. Yeah, the 1040 00:59:06,000 --> 00:59:08,840 Speaker 1: hut was he was a member of the huts, like 1041 00:59:08,880 --> 00:59:12,400 Speaker 1: the race of Huts or the tribe of Huts. So 1042 00:59:12,600 --> 00:59:16,680 Speaker 1: was Jab of the hut like you know, Chuck the 1043 00:59:16,760 --> 00:59:21,240 Speaker 1: American gotcha. Well, I think I'm on record as being 1044 00:59:22,320 --> 00:59:25,200 Speaker 1: like I'm a big star Wars fan, loved them, saw 1045 00:59:25,280 --> 00:59:29,760 Speaker 1: them many many times, collected the things, but then it ended. 1046 00:59:29,800 --> 00:59:33,440 Speaker 1: I'm not on of the other half that really went 1047 00:59:33,480 --> 00:59:37,640 Speaker 1: down the rabbit hole, like oh, who are still like 1048 00:59:37,720 --> 00:59:40,919 Speaker 1: into it as much as before? Yeah? And even back then, 1049 00:59:41,040 --> 00:59:44,000 Speaker 1: like new things like the Job of the Huts full name? 1050 00:59:44,240 --> 00:59:46,240 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, Like I didn't know that. I never 1051 00:59:46,280 --> 00:59:48,160 Speaker 1: knew that stuff and never read the books or anything 1052 00:59:48,200 --> 00:59:50,520 Speaker 1: like that. Um oh, I did have some of those 1053 00:59:50,560 --> 00:59:53,480 Speaker 1: comics though, I remember that now. I never had the comics. 1054 00:59:53,520 --> 00:59:55,200 Speaker 1: I was aware of the books and there was a 1055 00:59:55,240 --> 00:59:58,280 Speaker 1: lot of books when there. Yeah, they still write them too, 1056 00:59:58,280 --> 01:00:00,880 Speaker 1: I think, don't they. Sure, Hey, if it's a good thing, 1057 01:00:01,440 --> 01:00:07,280 Speaker 1: sure right, is that good? I think we have slashed 1058 01:00:07,320 --> 01:00:10,000 Speaker 1: the people who are into the books. Alright. So a 1059 01:00:10,040 --> 01:00:12,720 Speaker 1: week Way is another guard. Apparently it's not super rare, 1060 01:00:13,120 --> 01:00:19,240 Speaker 1: but there's a limitedive addition version that is worth more so. 1061 01:00:19,400 --> 01:00:22,880 Speaker 1: The car died mint condition, the power of the forest 1062 01:00:22,960 --> 01:00:26,720 Speaker 1: line in the nineties, um is worth a little bit 1063 01:00:26,720 --> 01:00:32,200 Speaker 1: more money. I says, thirty five dollars, that's what it's worth. No, no, no, 1064 01:00:32,280 --> 01:00:36,280 Speaker 1: that's what the normal one's worth. The one that has 1065 01:00:36,480 --> 01:00:39,320 Speaker 1: a special freeze frame slide, which I don't know what 1066 01:00:39,400 --> 01:00:42,400 Speaker 1: that is got you. That one's worth ten times that 1067 01:00:42,440 --> 01:00:46,280 Speaker 1: amount according to this guy. All Right. I remember the 1068 01:00:46,360 --> 01:00:48,840 Speaker 1: Vinyl cape Jahua was always worth a lot of money, 1069 01:00:49,280 --> 01:00:52,120 Speaker 1: m because they came out with a cloth cape. I 1070 01:00:52,160 --> 01:00:55,120 Speaker 1: know it's creepy. Uh So I'm gonna throw that in there, 1071 01:00:55,160 --> 01:00:57,960 Speaker 1: just off the top of my head. There's also a 1072 01:00:58,080 --> 01:01:00,920 Speaker 1: think of Vinyl caped in a cloth cape. Imperial Guard, 1073 01:01:01,240 --> 01:01:07,400 Speaker 1: remember the the Emperor's red cloaked guards, And I think 1074 01:01:07,440 --> 01:01:09,960 Speaker 1: Return of the Jedi, maybe Empire strikes back. I don't know. 1075 01:01:10,000 --> 01:01:13,880 Speaker 1: I'm afraid to say anything out loud. Now, let's just 1076 01:01:13,880 --> 01:01:17,760 Speaker 1: just stop. Uh, let's skip that next one and go 1077 01:01:17,880 --> 01:01:21,360 Speaker 1: straight to Bubba Fett. How does that sound? Okay? Bubba 1078 01:01:21,360 --> 01:01:27,160 Speaker 1: fet very famously um in nine there was a Bubba 1079 01:01:27,160 --> 01:01:31,200 Speaker 1: Fett that actually shot a missile, which is every parent 1080 01:01:31,320 --> 01:01:35,880 Speaker 1: knows is a chokable? Is the parents worst nightmare is that? 1081 01:01:36,040 --> 01:01:39,040 Speaker 1: Is that the term chable chokable something you can choke on? 1082 01:01:39,280 --> 01:01:42,160 Speaker 1: Is that a real like parents term? Yeah, that's awesome. 1083 01:01:42,200 --> 01:01:46,880 Speaker 1: I did not know. Yeah, supposedly anything smaller then a 1084 01:01:47,080 --> 01:01:52,600 Speaker 1: the size of a toilet paper roll tube. What is 1085 01:01:52,640 --> 01:01:55,920 Speaker 1: it chokable? Smaller than that? Yeah? So like, if you 1086 01:01:55,920 --> 01:01:58,520 Speaker 1: can fit something through a toilet paper tube, then your 1087 01:01:58,600 --> 01:02:01,120 Speaker 1: kid can choke on it. Got you? That's what they say. 1088 01:02:02,600 --> 01:02:05,280 Speaker 1: Who says that? I don't know that today show dumb 1089 01:02:05,320 --> 01:02:09,320 Speaker 1: dumb parenting blogs. That makes sense, though, Yeah, I can't 1090 01:02:09,320 --> 01:02:12,440 Speaker 1: fit a football through that can't choke on a football? 1091 01:02:12,920 --> 01:02:15,360 Speaker 1: That's correct. The system where he could choke on a 1092 01:02:15,360 --> 01:02:20,960 Speaker 1: tiny football though, I guess so the the chokable Boba 1093 01:02:21,000 --> 01:02:25,160 Speaker 1: fet um. Obviously, they said this is a choking hazard, 1094 01:02:25,440 --> 01:02:28,600 Speaker 1: so they scrapped the plans and redesigned it, and so 1095 01:02:29,120 --> 01:02:33,320 Speaker 1: they did eventually release uh, the figure, but it had 1096 01:02:33,320 --> 01:02:35,400 Speaker 1: that and I had this one, not the one that 1097 01:02:35,400 --> 01:02:37,840 Speaker 1: shot the rocket, because they never released that one, right, 1098 01:02:39,680 --> 01:02:45,080 Speaker 1: I specifically remember being in the same room with one 1099 01:02:45,120 --> 01:02:48,200 Speaker 1: that shot a rocket or it wasn't hacked. Here's the 1100 01:02:48,200 --> 01:02:53,080 Speaker 1: other possible UM explanation. Uh, I saw it on an 1101 01:02:53,120 --> 01:02:57,400 Speaker 1: ad and a confusing reality with television again, because it 1102 01:02:57,440 --> 01:02:59,800 Speaker 1: says here they never released them in stores. I saw 1103 01:02:59,840 --> 01:03:02,560 Speaker 1: that too. But I'm like, I swear I saw one 1104 01:03:02,600 --> 01:03:05,400 Speaker 1: of these things, or maybe we were just playing with 1105 01:03:05,440 --> 01:03:07,880 Speaker 1: and we're like, this thing sucks. If it actually shot 1106 01:03:07,920 --> 01:03:10,240 Speaker 1: the missile would be so much better, and I imagine 1107 01:03:10,240 --> 01:03:12,640 Speaker 1: what that would be like, and then accidentally formed of memory. 1108 01:03:12,880 --> 01:03:16,160 Speaker 1: Who knows. I'm forty years old now, I can't remember 1109 01:03:16,160 --> 01:03:19,440 Speaker 1: what was going on when I was seven or eight. Uh. 1110 01:03:19,480 --> 01:03:21,360 Speaker 1: As far as how valuable these things are if you 1111 01:03:21,400 --> 01:03:24,280 Speaker 1: can get your hands on one, I mean I've seen 1112 01:03:24,320 --> 01:03:26,760 Speaker 1: things all over the place. One was sold for eighteen 1113 01:03:26,800 --> 01:03:30,560 Speaker 1: thousand dollars last year. But then I also saw one 1114 01:03:30,600 --> 01:03:34,560 Speaker 1: where supposedly a hundred thousand dollar offer at a Southby's 1115 01:03:34,560 --> 01:03:38,640 Speaker 1: auction was turned down. What so I have no idea 1116 01:03:39,360 --> 01:03:41,959 Speaker 1: the value of these dudes, but it's a lot of dough. 1117 01:03:42,200 --> 01:03:44,280 Speaker 1: Is that the Holy Grail one? Well, this is one 1118 01:03:44,320 --> 01:03:47,080 Speaker 1: of the holy grails. Do you remember what another Holy 1119 01:03:47,120 --> 01:03:49,240 Speaker 1: Grail you saw was? Yeah? The other one is is 1120 01:03:49,640 --> 01:03:55,640 Speaker 1: supposedly the most valuable is the double telescoping lightsaber for 1121 01:03:56,440 --> 01:03:59,200 Speaker 1: uh for Obi Wan, Darth Vader, and Luke, and I 1122 01:03:59,240 --> 01:04:02,600 Speaker 1: think Luke's is the the most expensive. Um. If you 1123 01:04:02,680 --> 01:04:05,600 Speaker 1: remember the little did you have any of these? I 1124 01:04:05,640 --> 01:04:10,680 Speaker 1: had a couple. So the lightsaber guys had a thing 1125 01:04:10,720 --> 01:04:13,240 Speaker 1: on the bottom of their arm, a little groove cut 1126 01:04:13,240 --> 01:04:16,840 Speaker 1: out with a little uh, a little you know, plastic 1127 01:04:17,360 --> 01:04:21,880 Speaker 1: knob that you would uh shove up towards the wrist 1128 01:04:22,000 --> 01:04:24,680 Speaker 1: and the lightsaber would come out of the hand as 1129 01:04:24,720 --> 01:04:29,400 Speaker 1: if it were turning on. The double telescoping because that's 1130 01:04:29,400 --> 01:04:33,960 Speaker 1: a telescoping feature. Double telescoping means that you could extend 1131 01:04:33,960 --> 01:04:38,600 Speaker 1: it even further out from the original telescope, and those 1132 01:04:38,680 --> 01:04:43,040 Speaker 1: supposedly are super rare and uh worth a lot of dough. 1133 01:04:43,360 --> 01:04:48,360 Speaker 1: So that one I saw actually online, um oh man, 1134 01:04:48,440 --> 01:04:50,400 Speaker 1: I can't remember the site, but it was it's a 1135 01:04:50,520 --> 01:04:54,280 Speaker 1: it's great, it's a great Star Wars action figure site. Um, 1136 01:04:54,720 --> 01:04:58,480 Speaker 1: and they had a picture of it. Have you seen it? Yeah? 1137 01:04:58,640 --> 01:05:01,240 Speaker 1: I thought I had one, but I can't find it, 1138 01:05:01,360 --> 01:05:04,600 Speaker 1: So I don't think I do. Like the the regular 1139 01:05:04,760 --> 01:05:08,240 Speaker 1: lightsaber that they had was just fine, but then the 1140 01:05:08,360 --> 01:05:12,840 Speaker 1: double telescoping part was just like this extra thinner, pointy 1141 01:05:12,920 --> 01:05:16,360 Speaker 1: piece of plastic that hung down at like a weird angle. 1142 01:05:16,840 --> 01:05:19,520 Speaker 1: It didn't keep going straight. Yeah, they always kind of 1143 01:05:19,560 --> 01:05:24,720 Speaker 1: bent and it looked just it looked broken, you know. Yeah. 1144 01:05:24,760 --> 01:05:27,080 Speaker 1: But even if I did have one, it it's well worned. 1145 01:05:27,120 --> 01:05:29,160 Speaker 1: So it's not like I mean, I think all of 1146 01:05:29,200 --> 01:05:32,040 Speaker 1: these things, it's always like mint condition in the package. 1147 01:05:32,120 --> 01:05:34,280 Speaker 1: It's worth this. Don't even talk to me if it's 1148 01:05:34,320 --> 01:05:38,000 Speaker 1: not mint. Yeah, that's the that's the slogan. So I 1149 01:05:38,000 --> 01:05:41,600 Speaker 1: would love some of this cleared up by experts. Um. Oh, well, 1150 01:05:41,760 --> 01:05:43,960 Speaker 1: we'll hear from them. The Bubba fet matter. Yeah, I 1151 01:05:44,000 --> 01:05:46,480 Speaker 1: don't even know why I'm asking the Bubba fet matter, 1152 01:05:46,640 --> 01:05:50,080 Speaker 1: the like which one is truly the Holy Grail? Uh? 1153 01:05:50,120 --> 01:05:53,600 Speaker 1: What happened with the Kenner or not Kenner? The Mego 1154 01:05:53,800 --> 01:05:58,240 Speaker 1: Star Wars deal? And did did Lee Harvey Oswald act alone? Yes, 1155 01:05:58,720 --> 01:06:02,760 Speaker 1: we need answers, Pete Pull you got anything else? I 1156 01:06:02,800 --> 01:06:05,640 Speaker 1: got nothing else. This is a big overview. There's clearly 1157 01:06:05,760 --> 01:06:08,040 Speaker 1: many more stories to be told. I got a couple, 1158 01:06:08,240 --> 01:06:10,040 Speaker 1: a couple more. I just want to give shouts out 1159 01:06:10,800 --> 01:06:14,000 Speaker 1: Yo Joe dot com if you were into G I 1160 01:06:14,160 --> 01:06:18,240 Speaker 1: Joe's and you want to feel nostalgic, uh, go check 1161 01:06:18,280 --> 01:06:21,360 Speaker 1: that site out. It's amazing. Um. And then I created 1162 01:06:21,400 --> 01:06:25,200 Speaker 1: a gallery a few years ago called Hilarious Knockoffs and 1163 01:06:25,680 --> 01:06:29,560 Speaker 1: Legs of Beloved Toys, and it's just like the slide 1164 01:06:29,600 --> 01:06:33,040 Speaker 1: show of toys from around the world that are it's 1165 01:06:33,040 --> 01:06:35,480 Speaker 1: pretty obvious what they're supposed to be, but they're not, 1166 01:06:35,640 --> 01:06:38,680 Speaker 1: like the names just a little off or um. They 1167 01:06:39,320 --> 01:06:41,880 Speaker 1: they they've tried to come up with a new brand altogether, 1168 01:06:42,000 --> 01:06:45,120 Speaker 1: but it's just some cheap version of something great. So 1169 01:06:45,440 --> 01:06:47,760 Speaker 1: go check that out too. It's kind of cool. It 1170 01:06:47,840 --> 01:06:51,480 Speaker 1: was fun to put together. And that's that's it, man, 1171 01:06:51,600 --> 01:06:53,240 Speaker 1: It's all I got. Go watch the G I Joe 1172 01:06:53,280 --> 01:06:55,560 Speaker 1: p s A s by Eric Finzler again. They still 1173 01:06:55,600 --> 01:07:00,880 Speaker 1: hold up. Do you remember those where it was like 1174 01:07:00,880 --> 01:07:04,280 Speaker 1: like just weird dubs of those G I Joe p 1175 01:07:04,520 --> 01:07:06,400 Speaker 1: s as Like, now you know and knowing is half 1176 01:07:06,440 --> 01:07:10,680 Speaker 1: the battle. You haven't seen these I don't think so. Okay, 1177 01:07:10,760 --> 01:07:14,439 Speaker 1: I'll send them to you. You're gonna die laughing good. Yeah, 1178 01:07:14,520 --> 01:07:17,240 Speaker 1: you'll love him. You've been trying to kill me for years. 1179 01:07:17,400 --> 01:07:19,760 Speaker 1: It's lightful way to do it. But this time I 1180 01:07:19,800 --> 01:07:23,840 Speaker 1: won't be wearing gloves coming at your neck. Uh. That's 1181 01:07:23,840 --> 01:07:26,200 Speaker 1: it for me, man, that's it for me. Okay. Well, 1182 01:07:26,280 --> 01:07:29,080 Speaker 1: if you want to know more about action figures, you 1183 01:07:29,120 --> 01:07:31,440 Speaker 1: can take those words into the search bar of your 1184 01:07:31,480 --> 01:07:35,240 Speaker 1: favorite UM search engine. Since I said search engine and 1185 01:07:35,240 --> 01:07:37,520 Speaker 1: didn't do any buzz marketing, it's time for a listener mail. 1186 01:07:40,040 --> 01:07:42,280 Speaker 1: We're gonna plug Kiva, which we haven't done in a 1187 01:07:42,280 --> 01:07:45,200 Speaker 1: long time. It's a good idea. K I v A 1188 01:07:46,000 --> 01:07:49,960 Speaker 1: is a micro lending website that we have been We've 1189 01:07:50,000 --> 01:07:54,440 Speaker 1: had a team now stuff you should know team for geez, 1190 01:07:54,640 --> 01:07:57,560 Speaker 1: how many years? Six or seven? I think it was 1191 01:07:57,680 --> 01:08:00,360 Speaker 1: two thousand eight or two two thousand nine, eight years, 1192 01:08:00,480 --> 01:08:03,240 Speaker 1: seven or eight years? All right, So this is from Jordan, 1193 01:08:03,320 --> 01:08:04,720 Speaker 1: and then I'm gonna go over a little bit more 1194 01:08:04,760 --> 01:08:08,080 Speaker 1: about how our tina's looking. Hey, guys, once I listened 1195 01:08:08,080 --> 01:08:10,800 Speaker 1: to uh podcasts where you promote Kiva, I decided to 1196 01:08:10,840 --> 01:08:14,000 Speaker 1: google the Kiva donation thing and eventually found it correctly 1197 01:08:14,440 --> 01:08:17,160 Speaker 1: as k I v a dot com. I immediately love 1198 01:08:17,200 --> 01:08:19,519 Speaker 1: the site. It's the epitome of how to take the 1199 01:08:19,520 --> 01:08:22,559 Speaker 1: globalized world and use that for good. So often donations 1200 01:08:22,600 --> 01:08:25,240 Speaker 1: come in the form of awkward late night infomercials or 1201 01:08:25,320 --> 01:08:28,760 Speaker 1: five second quips at the grocery line where you begrudgingly 1202 01:08:28,800 --> 01:08:30,920 Speaker 1: make an enemy out of the seventeen year old clerk 1203 01:08:31,200 --> 01:08:32,719 Speaker 1: for saying, no, I don't want to give a dollar 1204 01:08:32,800 --> 01:08:35,919 Speaker 1: to need each children. Uh. While all types of donations 1205 01:08:35,920 --> 01:08:39,280 Speaker 1: are generally good, Kiva makes you feel even more personal 1206 01:08:39,760 --> 01:08:43,360 Speaker 1: and once one can certainly give their money to needs 1207 01:08:43,360 --> 01:08:46,120 Speaker 1: that are important to them, you probably get your money back, 1208 01:08:46,120 --> 01:08:48,240 Speaker 1: which is great. But no way did that motivate me 1209 01:08:48,320 --> 01:08:50,840 Speaker 1: to loan, and I suspect to most people to use 1210 01:08:50,920 --> 01:08:53,320 Speaker 1: Kiva would also be happy to have their money go 1211 01:08:53,400 --> 01:08:55,880 Speaker 1: to those in need without getting a return. However, if 1212 01:08:55,960 --> 01:08:58,280 Speaker 1: I do decide to receive my money back, I will 1213 01:08:58,320 --> 01:09:01,719 Speaker 1: certainly use those funds to circulate that Kiva site again. 1214 01:09:02,320 --> 01:09:05,120 Speaker 1: In other words, loan, that's one of the keys I 1215 01:09:05,120 --> 01:09:07,280 Speaker 1: think of feeling preachy now for writing you an email 1216 01:09:07,280 --> 01:09:09,040 Speaker 1: on the basis that I just loaned what amounts to 1217 01:09:09,120 --> 01:09:11,280 Speaker 1: a small amount of cash. But I just want to 1218 01:09:11,280 --> 01:09:13,920 Speaker 1: thank you guys for sharing that site and allowing people 1219 01:09:13,920 --> 01:09:16,960 Speaker 1: like myself to make their lives better. That's from Jordan's 1220 01:09:17,320 --> 01:09:24,160 Speaker 1: bachelor who claims to be a US defector. You can 1221 01:09:24,160 --> 01:09:25,920 Speaker 1: move from the US. I can't remember where he lives now, 1222 01:09:27,040 --> 01:09:30,320 Speaker 1: just be cheeky. So we started this Kiva team a 1223 01:09:30,360 --> 01:09:35,320 Speaker 1: long time ago and um, right now we have over 1224 01:09:35,400 --> 01:09:42,200 Speaker 1: nine thousand members and we are almost at four million bucks. Dude, 1225 01:09:42,360 --> 01:09:46,320 Speaker 1: three million, nine thousand, three hundred twenty five dollars loaned. 1226 01:09:46,680 --> 01:09:48,880 Speaker 1: That is a hundred and forty three thousand, one d 1227 01:09:49,040 --> 01:09:53,559 Speaker 1: fifty five loans average of sixteen loans per member. And 1228 01:09:53,640 --> 01:09:55,200 Speaker 1: just to give you an idea of how it works, 1229 01:09:55,240 --> 01:09:58,400 Speaker 1: you donate money, you will most likely get paid back, 1230 01:09:58,800 --> 01:10:01,080 Speaker 1: and then they say you can check out and take 1231 01:10:01,080 --> 01:10:04,760 Speaker 1: your money back, or you can roll that into another loan. Uh. 1232 01:10:04,920 --> 01:10:09,760 Speaker 1: I started off with a couple of hundred bucks way 1233 01:10:09,760 --> 01:10:12,800 Speaker 1: back when, and that now, just because I keep reinvesting, 1234 01:10:12,840 --> 01:10:16,960 Speaker 1: it has grown to one thousand, one twenty five dollars 1235 01:10:17,800 --> 01:10:22,880 Speaker 1: forty seven loans and my default rate is only four nice. Yeah, 1236 01:10:22,920 --> 01:10:25,920 Speaker 1: the default rate is not bad at all. It's not bad. 1237 01:10:25,960 --> 01:10:27,639 Speaker 1: So you can take a little bit. You can take 1238 01:10:27,680 --> 01:10:31,120 Speaker 1: twenty five dollars even and keep reloaning that and that 1239 01:10:31,680 --> 01:10:34,120 Speaker 1: in a few years, five or six years can be 1240 01:10:34,280 --> 01:10:37,080 Speaker 1: you know, hundreds and hundreds of dollars relan to people. 1241 01:10:37,880 --> 01:10:40,439 Speaker 1: Um really makes a big difference. We did our research 1242 01:10:40,479 --> 01:10:43,000 Speaker 1: on Kiva. They're not perfect, but we think they do 1243 01:10:43,040 --> 01:10:47,040 Speaker 1: a really good job. And um, you know, we have 1244 01:10:47,080 --> 01:10:48,680 Speaker 1: the stuff you should Know team, so we would love 1245 01:10:48,720 --> 01:10:50,920 Speaker 1: to see people sign up for it, push us over 1246 01:10:50,960 --> 01:10:54,840 Speaker 1: that four million dollar mark, which is crazy. And yeah, 1247 01:10:54,920 --> 01:10:57,919 Speaker 1: yeah we're not exclusive, We're not snobs, and neither anybody 1248 01:10:57,960 --> 01:11:00,439 Speaker 1: on our team. It's a very very welcoming the people 1249 01:11:00,439 --> 01:11:04,400 Speaker 1: who are really active on the board. UM there lad 1250 01:11:05,000 --> 01:11:08,960 Speaker 1: unofficially but de facto by Glenn and Sonya who have 1251 01:11:09,160 --> 01:11:12,120 Speaker 1: emerged to be these these great team leaders that like 1252 01:11:12,479 --> 01:11:15,800 Speaker 1: just keep everybody going and motivated and moderate and make 1253 01:11:15,840 --> 01:11:17,920 Speaker 1: sure everybody's on the up and up. And if they 1254 01:11:17,920 --> 01:11:21,000 Speaker 1: send us emails and reminders about how we're doing, hats 1255 01:11:21,000 --> 01:11:23,240 Speaker 1: off to those guys. Thank you guys for that. Yeah, 1256 01:11:23,280 --> 01:11:26,920 Speaker 1: so civa dot org I think I said dot com earlier, Um, 1257 01:11:26,960 --> 01:11:28,960 Speaker 1: and just go to the team section search stuff you 1258 01:11:28,960 --> 01:11:33,320 Speaker 1: should know, join the team for somebody's way. You can 1259 01:11:33,800 --> 01:11:36,479 Speaker 1: you can give to people that are doing things that 1260 01:11:36,520 --> 01:11:38,599 Speaker 1: are close to your heart, or maybe countries you've been 1261 01:11:38,640 --> 01:11:41,479 Speaker 1: to that you want to help support. Uh, you can 1262 01:11:41,479 --> 01:11:44,080 Speaker 1: give the women or men and it's just really you 1263 01:11:44,080 --> 01:11:47,680 Speaker 1: can really dial down and give very specifically how you 1264 01:11:47,760 --> 01:11:49,960 Speaker 1: want to give. Yeah, and uh, if you want to 1265 01:11:49,960 --> 01:11:51,840 Speaker 1: know even more about it, you can go listen to 1266 01:11:51,840 --> 01:11:56,240 Speaker 1: our episode micro Lending and you can. We've written a 1267 01:11:56,280 --> 01:11:57,920 Speaker 1: couple of blog posts on it, and I think there's 1268 01:11:57,920 --> 01:12:01,080 Speaker 1: someone Huff Poe even that they published a ours, but um, 1269 01:12:01,120 --> 01:12:03,840 Speaker 1: I think like why we land on Kiva, and it 1270 01:12:03,880 --> 01:12:06,559 Speaker 1: really addresses a lot of stuff that people have raised 1271 01:12:06,600 --> 01:12:10,320 Speaker 1: and we've said, hey man, it's still totally worth it. Yeah, 1272 01:12:10,439 --> 01:12:13,479 Speaker 1: good check it out, all right. Uh. If you want 1273 01:12:13,479 --> 01:12:15,519 Speaker 1: to get in touch with us, you can tweet to 1274 01:12:15,600 --> 01:12:17,720 Speaker 1: us at s Y s K podcast, or you can 1275 01:12:17,760 --> 01:12:20,200 Speaker 1: hang out with me at josh um Clark. You can 1276 01:12:20,240 --> 01:12:23,040 Speaker 1: hang out with Chuck on Facebook at Charles W. Chuck Bryant, 1277 01:12:23,280 --> 01:12:26,120 Speaker 1: or you can visit our official Facebook page at Facebook 1278 01:12:26,160 --> 01:12:28,200 Speaker 1: dot com slash Stuff you should know. You can send 1279 01:12:28,240 --> 01:12:30,519 Speaker 1: us an email to Stuff Podcast at how Stuff Works 1280 01:12:30,560 --> 01:12:32,559 Speaker 1: dot com. It has always joined us at our home 1281 01:12:32,560 --> 01:12:40,280 Speaker 1: on the Web Stuff you Should Know dot com. For 1282 01:12:40,360 --> 01:12:42,880 Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how 1283 01:12:42,920 --> 01:12:51,080 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com.