Ep. 140: Let's Chat New Funko CEO Josh Simon, Funko Anniversary Sale, 2025 Topps Chrome Star Wars, Magic: The Gathering Avatar & MORE!

We have a new Funko CEO, Josh Simon, and boy, do we have some thoughts! Funko is having its “annual” Anniversary sale, featuring a wide selection of overstocked collectibles at discounted prices. The trading card hobby is hotter than ever and 2025 Topps Chrome Star Wars and Magic: The Gathering Avatar sets are just adding to that hype! Collecting is the Way! Now, Let's Chat!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey everyone, welcome to Collective Chatter.
In today's episode, we're going to talk about how Funko has a
brand new CEO just in time to put everything on sale.
Collecting is the way. Now let's chat.

(00:25):
Hey everyone, welcome back to Collective Chatter.
This is episode 140. I am Megs here with Charlie.
What's up Charlie? What's going on?
We have a great episode today. We.
Decided a lot of Funko again. Yes, a lot of good, bad, worse
roots, man, Back to our roots, Yeah, back to our Funko roots.
They're like kind of actually inthe news again for a lot of

(00:46):
different things, which I am, I am excited to talk about,
especially being our main topic,just going to be about that,
their new CEO. Yeah, exactly.
So like you said, there's a lot of stuff we're going to cover
today. Obviously, we're going to talk
about the news with the CEO. It happened essentially right
when our last episode. Was right now with the Premier,
it's. Really talk about it.
You did put a little short up, kind of gave a little bit of

(01:08):
thoughts, but we're going to kind of go back and forth on
what we think of obviously this new hire.
What could it mean for Funko? Just to give our thoughts
because you know, we love doing that and it is a perfect thing
to talk about. And then we're going to get into
some other things as well with Funko with, you know, like I
said, it was perfect timing because now we're getting that

(01:29):
just massive dump of product because they're going to have
that huge sale. We'll get more details about
what that specifically means. It's funny because we've hinted
towards this in the last few episodes.
Like this is going to happen towards the end of the year
anyways. They always do it and it's
happening now, but there are some announcements, some
exclusive, some weird crazy stuff going on with that, and
then even some stuff that's not Funko related with some stuff

(01:52):
that's going to be dropping cards, collectibles and stuff
like that that we are excited for as well.
So this episode would kind of bejust packed with a lot of that
kind of stuff, but we will startit off with the CEO talk so we
can start it off there. So of course, if you guys don't
know, and I'm sure everyone who's into Funko or at this
point followed diss trackers even you know what's going on.
So Josh Simon is the latest person to be named actual CEO of

(02:17):
Funko. Of course we had the other Mike,
Michael Lunsford running the little interim for a little
while. It was very short lived.
I'm. Honestly, this is quick.
Yeah, I I do agree it happened very quick.
Yeah, which sounds like a good thing or bad thing, but I guess
we will see because the last CEOwas also short lived.

(02:39):
She barely made it over a year. So we'll kind of start there.
You can talk about what you think, you know, obviously this
means specifically for Funko andthen we'll get into kind of like
what you think about him and what maybe he's going to bring
to Funko. But he seems completely
different than Cynthia that we had before so.
Completely different and to go off kind of what you just said,

(03:01):
I do think that it was so quick.It is a good thing because I
think he was a candidate that was just almost too good to be
true for Funko and they could not pass it up.
I think this is a great thing for Funko.
And just to give a little bit about Josh, I mean, he comes
from a consumer products background for, you know, I

(03:23):
think 2 of the biggest companiesin the world.
He's coming from Netflix where he ran point on that.
Before that he worked for Disney, and then even before
that he worked for Nike. So I mean, I think just the
track record speaks for himself.He knows once again, consumer
products. He was the guy probably I

(03:46):
mentioned this in my short, he'sprobably was, you know, in
conversations with Funko, someone over at Funko when
they're licensing their products.
I mean, Netflix is one of their biggest.
I feel like at this point, partners.
I mean, basically every show that comes on Netflix that
anyone's talking about that's like a cultural, you know, water
cooler type show gets Funko Pops.

(04:07):
Now that they get Funko Pops. I mean, they get lounge fly
bags, they get, I mean, they're in Biddy.
They're they're in everything. So I think he already knows that
part of the business. He's like a young executive.
I mean, this is a huge perm. Obviously he was not ACEO at any
of those companies. So this is like, I'm sure he's
hungry. He wants to succeed.

(04:28):
I would think he likes the product and believes in it.
I'm actually pretty bullish about this and excited.
When I saw this, I was like, wow.
Like I could not believe Funko got a candidate like this.
Because sometimes I feel you either get someone who's up for
a challenge or someone doesn't want to touch the company with a

(04:51):
10 foot pole because they think it's just going to fail.
If that makes sense. Where?
Yeah, I mean, those are my quickthoughts.
I think it's great and I'm excited.
I think he's going to do well for Funko.
And if he doesn't, there's no one saving Funko in my opinion.
Yeah, it's, it's an interesting one because yeah, he seems like

(05:13):
he's a little bit younger, fresh.
He's got like a, he's probably got his ear a little bit more to
the ground when it comes to these kind of things.
Like you said, he's coming from obviously a massive company in
Netflix. He previously worked for another
massive company in Disney and hepreviously worked for another
massive company in Nike and Nike.
So like he has kind of been there for like the big, big

(05:35):
companies and his part obviouslyisn't what he's specifically
doing now. Obviously he was never ACEO.
It doesn't even seem like he wasreally that high up in that type
of position. It was more like the head of
like products, consumer products.
He was, I believe they said he ran some like special events and

(05:55):
things, which we all kind of know Netflix was big on doing,
especially here being local to the East Coast.
New York always had like pop ups, yeah.
Where like, you know, Stranger Things would have a pop up
somewhere and things like that. So.
And I could be wrong, don't callme on this.
I'm pretty sure he like reportedto the CEO.
So he was a hot, Yeah, I'm sure he.
Yeah, exactly. So it does seem like he kind of
knew what he was at least talking about or whatever.

(06:17):
And if you know, he was we don'tlike exactly what he did in
those like event things. But let's say he was a big part
of bringing those together, a big part of like the the brain
behind what was going to happen.If that's like at all up thing,
that's huge because we said likethe CEO needed to be like what
Mike was essentially like in a sense of like the events and the

(06:39):
excitement and just bringing things, the fun back right in
Funko. And that seems like something
that he potentially could be. Again, this guy could be a total
dud. You can get in there and it's
just a mess. Who knows.
But from what we have to go by, which is a little bit of his
history, what companies he's been with, what partnerships he
probably does have. So it obviously seems like he's

(07:01):
good with relationships because I'm assuming he's had a lot
because of his specific roles inhis other companies.
Like you said, maybe he's already kind of been tied into
Funko and away with like their products and us getting, you
know, the the licensings on thisend for Netflix products.
And obviously Funko is massive with the Netflix side of things,

(07:21):
you know, like they love their shows and you know, stranger
things, Squid game, like those are some of their massive lines
specifically because of those shows, right, or, you know, from
from them. So what is interesting is going
to be like, is he like, what is he like, like personally like,
is he a collector? Does he like, you know, enjoy

(07:41):
these things? And I feel like being in a
especially like Netflix, what hewas specifically doing, I feel
like kind of like have to be like that nerd, right?
Like you would think you kind oflike have that.
But again, we're just totally going off of text from things
and randomly knowing about this guy that we knew nothing about
before. But I think like, it's a change.

(08:02):
It seems like it's going to be avery big change compared to what
we did have because we were veryskeptical of when Cynthia kind
of came through. We met her, which is great.
She seemed like a super nice person and it was nothing
against her. But we kind of had our doubts on
like, is she really fit for thiscompany?
Will she bring it to where it needs to be?
And clearly, she did not do wellbecause she was gone right after

(08:25):
a year. That's like crazy fast, you
know, a massive company that wasCEO, right And like we saw
losses, we saw lots of money that they were losing, lots of
things that were happening that we just.
Don't think she brought anythingto the table and like, no shade
at her, but maybe she didn't have enough time to make Yeah, I
mean. To do it in a year, it probably
is hard, but I'm assuming you got to see growth in a way.

(08:48):
Yeah, it's not like zero to 100,but.
It's also interesting. It's just a.
If you remember, she came from Wizard of the Coast.
Yeah, which then started going crazy and.
Magic's hotter than ever, so she's been God.
That's a weird coincidence, but.Yeah.
So I mean, so specifically here just to kind of be more specific
to what this Variety actual postsaid, because obviously we're

(09:11):
just kind of speaking, but I'm going to read a little bit here.
So obviously he served as Netflix VP of Consumer Products.
He was leading its global merchandise business, which
that's a big thing. There's global live experiences.
Like I was saying, he launched more than 40 experiences across
300 cities. So he was part of exactly what I
was saying, like doing those bigthose things.

(09:34):
And then he oversaw products fortop franchises, including
Stranger Things, Richardson, Squid Game.
Like I just said, he also launched Netflix e-commerce
platform. So that was another thing I
wanted to bring up for consumer products and manage
relationships with Walmart, Target, Primark and other major
retailers. So he obviously has that

(09:54):
relationship. He's dealt with retailers, which
we know Funko and retailers right now are a little bit of a
mess, especially the big major ones, the e-commerce side of
things. Like he obviously knows what
he's doing on that aspect. So like, is that everything that
Funko needs? Like, yeah, 100% they need all
that. There's other things that we

(10:15):
have kind of said like Funko needs in a leader, not just like
only someone who does this, because we also don't want Funko
to become a Mattel or Hasbro or anything.
So that's where it's going to beinteresting what's going to
happen. It comes in and what's his
vision for the company? Is he looking to bring it back
to its old days? Does he have a completely
different vision that we're not even thinking about?

(10:36):
So that's what's going to be like, I don't know.
I can't really guess. But like, what do you think?
Like would be the smarter thing to do?
I think his first task is going to clean them up and try to make
them profitable. I think he the thing I really

(10:57):
like about him from what I've read and I know we always make
these comparisons between like Mike and Brian, he's having to
be more like a Brian. I'm like I can say that like I
don't think the way Brian is handling throw joy right now.
I think this is how Josh is going to be like.
I don't think he's going to be like the face of this company.

(11:17):
He's going to be like Aceo that you'll see when there's porn
important events or they're making announcements.
But like, I don't think we're going to see him on social
media, for example. Like I don't think we're going
to get a mic like that. Yeah.
And I think he's going to try todo the vision that I think kind

(11:40):
of was talked about a few years ago that just Cynthia didn't
really do. He's going to, you know, pull,
you know, be more tight and get rid of a lot of junk stuff we
don't need. I do think he'll probably listen
and get into a collector's mind.But he also knows big global
markets and he's going to want to make money.

(12:03):
And I think he's going to only want to make things that he
knows will probably make them money, which could be bad news
for certain people. Like I think the days of maybe
making lines that not many people are going to want, he'll
probably be like, yeah, no, we don't need.
And he probably knows how a lot of the Netflix and Disney stuff
does, which will be interesting to see if they he still

(12:26):
leveraged those relationship he has and they doubled down more
stuff like that. But not to be long winded.
Like I think he may want to go more into a Hasbro type area,
but he may do it in a smart way where maybe they will finally be
like this is our collector product.

(12:48):
This is our mass produced product.
We've always said like Funko's never been able to actually
figure that out. It's either been one, all or
nothing, or just a mess. I think, and especially if I
were him, that should be his goal, to figure out how to make
both people happy because they just haven't been able to do
that in a long time. Yeah, Yeah, that's something

(13:09):
that I think they need to figureout.
And it's I started thinking like, clearly he's you're going
to take a job like this because you're the CEO, right?
Like you're at the top of the chain.
And I like reporting to as many people besides like shareholders
and stuff. But it makes you like think like
what? Like what does he want to do
with this? Because he's leaving like a

(13:29):
massive company that is on the up.
Like Netflix is clearly just growing.
They're exactly, they're like doing a lot.
And that space that he was in, Imean, but then again, he left
the Nike, left the Disney. Like those are companies you
would also think like, yeah, whyyou gonna?
He's clearly a hot rising star. I mean he just keeps getting
climbing up the ladder. Exactly.

(13:50):
So he kind of knows his trajectory and what he wants to
do. But he did have a quote here,
which I think was kind of interesting and it kind of
touches base on a little bit of some stuff that you in a way
kind of mentioned. But he specifically says, I'm
honored to join the team at Funko and Iconic company with a
huge fan base that I admire and respect.
So he already kind of knows a little bit about what he's
getting into, right? Pop culture and people's desire

(14:12):
to connect with the lifestyle brands they love is stronger
today than ever. There are so many ways we can
build on Funko's fandom and expand our business for the
benefit of both customers and shareholders.
So he clearly, I mean, he's obviously saying all the right
things when it comes to companies and shareholders and

(14:32):
all that kind of stuff. But he's clearly saying like,
you know, one, which is probablythe number one thing, is you got
to make money. You got to be profitable, you
got to be making money. He understands that the company
was not making money. That's going to be the biggest
thing, right? Can you make us money?
But I like that he still put in there Funko's fandom.
He put in the customers. He put that in there because it

(14:53):
does does like lead us to believe at least that he
understands that. Not just going crazy thinking
he's going to make money and forgetting about who the people
are that are buying these things.
And then our collectors and our fans.
He has to worry about both. And it looks like Cynthia based
off of kind of what it seems like, probably thought it was

(15:15):
just like, oh, let's just do allthis stuff.
We could put a bunch of stuff out there.
We're going to make all this money.
And didn't realize what kind of company Funko really was in
terms of like their customers and the people who are hardcore
fans and loyal, loyal fans. So if he's going to do that, and
he already is starting to talk like that, like I don't think I
heard anything similar to that with Cynthia when she first came

(15:35):
through. It seems like we're on a better
trajectory at least. And who knows how long until we
really know. But hopefully he lasts longer
than a year I would hope. Yeah, I, I I think he's gonna
last longer than the year. I think he like officially takes
post September 1st. Yes, But yeah, like I love that

(15:56):
you just said that quote. And I also just think he knows
the power of fandoms because that is religionally what is
built Netflix, especially duringhis tenure there.
Like Netflix is a beast of its own.
Obviously Disney has its long legacy history where they're
obviously Disney. But Netflix, just like you said,
they continue to grow and grow and they, you know, when they

(16:21):
have a hit, it's unlike anythingelse.
Like everyone is talking about them.
And I actually think there isn'ta company out there that they
went from having like, no, it's funny because because I am a
merge whore, they went from likenever having anything for their
shows to realizing this is really important and we need to

(16:42):
tap in. And like how we said the pop
culture lifestyle. So once again, he I think he
just understands the market and what people want.
Yeah, yeah, he definitely, he, like I was saying, he has his
ear to the ground. He knows like he's not just up
there as a suit, like he knows exactly a lot more.
So it definitely seems good. I mean, the only I think like

(17:07):
negative things or things that we can maybe take back because
like he hasn't really been a CEO.
He hasn't run this type of company.
The company is very, and we saidthis back when Cynthia took
over. Like it's not like you're any
other company like Funko really is different in the terms of
like they're the people that arebuying it do matter and you
can't just think you're going tomake money if you're not being

(17:27):
smart. So.
Exciting, though, because it is a new challenge for him.
It won't be the status quo. He's going to want to be
successful. He's probably going to take
risks, and he's not just going to come in and be some guy who's
just, like, just cleans their books and calls it a day.
Like, yeah, it does feel like heis excited about this job.
He wasn't just like a safe hire.Yeah, I can also see him.

(17:51):
It just kind of seems like this like being the type of person
that also will understand that he's gonna need a perfect team
to help him 100% like you said, like he's not he'll be more the
Brian than he will the mic obviously like and it does seem
like he is like that, but he seems like the person that
understands he may need a mic orhe may need someone that you can

(18:12):
appoint to do you're only as good as the team.
You build around and you and. Things like that, which they
haven't had. Yeah.
Yeah. And that was even before
Cynthia. We saw that kind of slowly
starting to crumble with them. And we we pointed it out 100
episodes episodes ago, probably about where the social media
where like all that kind of stuff was going and like how it

(18:34):
wasn't helped. Which I hope he does fix that
part of the company too. Not to go off on a tangent, but
like they just haven't been doing much there either.
Yeah, obviously it's good because of this weird
transitional period, but I'm actually excited to before we
move on to another comment, he may just do like, he's probably

(18:55):
going to clean house too, which I think is good.
I'm, I feel bad for people who will lose their job.
I understand that. I've experienced that on my own
life. It's just business and he's
probably going to want a fresh set of eyes.
And I wouldn't even be surprisedif he get some people to come
over that he's worked with him in the past.

(19:16):
Yeah, imagine. Yeah.
I mean totally some but who knows it's it seems like that
works because we know other companies that kind of did that
and brought some people and right hand man exactly.
It's helped them out. So obviously I'm sure he will
have a lot of say in that. Again, we get his own team
going. But yeah, that's kind of where

(19:38):
we think, you know, things are going against early on.
He September will be when he's officially on board.
Hopefully we'll start seeing more things more, you know,
things that he comes out, whether he's saying or being
online or an appearance or something.
It would be nice to kind of see him speaking agreed in a way to
kind of see what's going on. It'll be right, you know, before

(19:58):
your Comic Con. So like, what is he going to do
there? I mean, you can, I'm sure you
can only do so much. Just really just jumping in.
But it will be interesting to see going into the holiday
season. Kind of like what direction we
think they're going to be going.So something that's kind of
going on, on the other end of things where we think it's just
a mess. And this has happened a lot with

(20:20):
this company. And of course we can't blame it
on him because he's not officialyet.
So it's not really his fault, right?
Is there mass site wide sales? And they do this a lot.
And, and it's funny because likeI don't hate when they have
sales. Obviously it's nice.
You get stuff for cheap, whatever.
Like of course you like things on sale, but it's just kind of,

(20:40):
I guess the way it happens, how big of 70% off, up to 70% off.
They've done this in the past. It's whole site type of thing.
And you could just kind of really tell that it's like
offloading. Like they just have too much
stuff. They're trying to get rid of
stuff. And it's, it's not just like
they want to be nice and be like, oh, we're going to do this
cool sale for you guys, take advantage.

(21:00):
Oh, we love you guys. Boom.
It's not that. It's clearly like we have a
bunch of shit we got to get rid of, So like, let's make it
cheaper. So that's obviously something we
have constantly said has been anissue for this company and it's
been an issue for their overproducing things.
And like that whole thing, right?

(21:20):
We've said this a lot, but yeah,70% off.
What's interesting is they're really riding this whole fan
rewards. So we've talked about this with
the exclusives. Now this sale is for fan
rewards. So you have to have a fan
rewards account and when you sign in, obviously you get it.
You can get these things on sale.

(21:43):
But I know you posted a short about this, like it's just tons
of exclusive stuff, which, yeah,it's kind of sad because.
It's. Exclusive the word kind of makes
seem like it's it's rare, it's special.
It's only that you know anymore and it's not.
This is clearly just mass produced random quote UN quote
exclusive comments. So let's just point it that way

(22:05):
because it's just like so much and there's 70% off.
It is funny. I want to get your take on what
you think about this for the company, but I didn't want to
mention this because I said it, I believe last week how they
posted this funny thing. I'm like, guys, you really want
to make sure you're a fan rewardmember.
Make sure you sign up and they're hinting towards

(22:25):
something special. And we kind of laughed about it,
but we didn't really say what wethought it would be.
We just kind of like a wonder, you know, And it was clearly
this as I could like become a rewards member because like,
wait. I guess to be proven wrong.
Percent off. Yeah, it's this.
Yeah, let's get something else special, but this just happens
to be too perfect of time and actually the text where it says
70% off statewide as site wide. Sorry, that actual font is the

(22:49):
same font as the font that said like become a rewards or
results. It's just, it's sad like we
always are. Debbie down and on Funko.
But it's crazy it's a fir and I'm happy at what I'm about to
say is like is this the first inEO Comic Con like exclusive?
I didn't buy anything I've nevernot bought in at least one

(23:10):
thing, and everything I would have wanted I can get now on
sale. It just shows.
It probably still has. Really sold out.
And it's just like, yeah, I missthe days where it's sold out.
You had to get it. And like, I even look at the One
Piece ones because I know, like,when I mean you and I got into

(23:32):
One Piece and then, you know, I started collecting it more than
you. But like, there were certain
pieces like I really wanted. And, you know, the ships were
always like, grails of the cons.Yeah, they sold out immediately.
And this doesn't even happen anymore because they're making
so many. It's just like it's bad business

(23:54):
one O 1. Like they saw this is what this
is fungus problem in general. They saw a good thing.
They're like OK, let's make tonsmore.
But like they like triple down and mean like way too many that
now they can't even sell out a product that was used to be so
hype. And I don't think it's because
one piece collectors or anime collectors yada yada.

(24:15):
Even so all myself don't want them anymore.
They just made more than anyone was ever buying them.
It's just because they're still cool pieces.
It's just, it's wild. Yeah, yeah.
It just, it just sucks because it's getting to a point that
like, and This is why the company has been so different
than what it used to be, becauseback in the day, an exclusive

(24:39):
would drop, you try to go after it, it would sell out.
You like, oh man, they didn't restock it.
It was gone. If you wanted to build your
collection and get some crappy Commons and no one's buying,
they would throw them on sale. You'd go on buy 10 pops, great
deal. Yep, everyone was happy.
But that's not what's happening now.

(25:00):
Like what's happening now is like they drop something that's
quote UN quote exclusive doesn'tsell.
Everything's, yeah. And then it sits around, sits
around. It either gets sent to these
like low stores, like these crazy budget stores, or they put
it on sale for a massive number.And then like it's no longer
like you're not like super excited, like, oh, I got I can

(25:22):
buy so much pops because they'reall on sale because it's it's
not exciting anymore and you're not like, and maybe some people
are. I mean, we're we're just two
people here. So you guys can we're just
really against us. Let us know.
But I don't know if like if clearly this was an exclusive
and it didn't sell out. It obviously was not that
exciting back when it dropped. Like what makes it nice now just

(25:45):
because it's a few dollars, fivedollars, $10.00 for a pop, which
is kind of closer to what it used to be back in the anyway.
It's like, you know, so it's like, I don't know, it's like a
double edged sword, I guess. But it's just I don't see this
as like a a positive thing now, obviously dumping things and
kind of starting over with this whole new CEO and stuff like

(26:06):
maybe the way to go. So if that's the what's going to
happen, then you know, so be it.But I think we're just speaking
more on like where this had likejust the image of Funko is now
where it's like it's no longer just super sought after things.
It's just a lot of stuff that kind of sits around and doesn't
get sold. And now they just got to kind of
to finally try to get rid of it.Yeah.

(26:29):
But yeah, I mean, I didn't, I haven't looked at the site and
didn't see what's on it. Like I haven't bought some Funko
in so long. But if you guys did, if you're
excited, if you, I think this isa great thing, like let us know.
Definitely comment down below. We'd love to hear your thoughts.
Maybe you don't buy as many things and this is a good

(26:49):
opportunity to like go ahead. Maybe I'll go on there and get
something that I was like on thefence on, which then again,
Funko Pop prices went up. So like them being discounted,
maybe you didn't want to get them when they're at that price
because you know, the economy now is crazy and all that stuff
and these are more expensive nowyou can get something for $5 or
$10, seven dollars, you know, whatever.

(27:09):
So if that's the case, you know,it's cool, but we're looking at
it more like where the company is, what this really means,
rather than just like, oh, they got a cool sale out, if that
makes sense. Exactly.
Like back in the day, we'd be like, oh, it's a cool sale.
Now it's just like, Oh yeah, they're just trying to get rid
of stuff. Yeah, yeah, it's messy.
It's not really where, you know,it's not exciting, but they're

(27:35):
just doing a lot of weird thingsand currently, which is strange
that this is all happening with this whole turnover at the same
time. But another thing is this kind
of ties to is the exclusive stuff, right?
So we have talked about these a lot.
Obviously, you know, the Star Wars 1 was a big deal Starkiller
last time and Charlie was very upset about that just because it

(27:56):
was near impossible that thing just disappeared.
But lately these like pops have been coming out as exclusives.
But most recently we started getting word that Funko's now
going to kind of, it seems like put these other random retailers
are going to have access to essentially having a special
like exclusive to their site or store if they happen to have

(28:19):
one, whatever. And now we're getting a lot more
pops kind of popping up here andthere that are exclusive to
these stores. Some of them are people that we
know, some are very random places that we've never heard
of. But I don't know.
I don't know. I hope this isn't like their

(28:39):
version of what you said, like this is for the collector and
the other ones are for the mask,because it's not really I think,
what they should be doing. But what do you think about
that? Like, first of all, what do you
think about like the whole random people doing it?
And then we'll talk about one specific pop that was kind of
the talk of the town. I think it's a weird spreading

(29:01):
the wealth to random people at this point in their life cycle.
Like maybe when there was super hyped it could have been more
fun. Now it just seems weird.
Like why are you giving one of these limited editions to like a
whatnot shop? And I just think another reason
I don't like this, and this is nothing for me to like hate on

(29:24):
flippers, but now I just think this is a flipper game because
what a lot of the flippers product they used to, you know,
buy and you know, quote UN quotemake a living off of doesn't
work anymore. So now they're dealing with
these limited pieces. Like I feel like it's more
resellers buying these that are actually fans who really want
them. Like I know we talked about it

(29:46):
last week, but like the whole Starkiller one, they were all up
on eBay before they were in anyone's hands basically only I
wish I went through the eBay listings and counted them all.
It probably would have been the piece count of the freaking pop
like, so that's like another thing that just sucks about this
whole strategy. I think it's cool that they're
limited. I like that they're hard to get
and they're selling out. But I think the jury's still out

(30:10):
of is this actual hype within the the real community or is it
the Flipper community, if that makes sense.
Yeah, yeah. And it's hard to ever.
Really kill the answer. For that.
So yeah, I mean obviously like we have one of the ones that's
an interesting one that's going to go on like that.
What not like you were saying isevent is going to be the

(30:35):
exclusive. So whoever that is is the one
that's going to have this Super Saiyan Goku 1200 pieces and they
basically are starting September1st on what not are going to be
dropping this. It looks like they're going to
spread spread it out. I don't know if they're getting.
All of the. Merger, like, I don't know, it's

(30:55):
it's strange. So like that's what they're
doing. And then another one, which this
was like very talked about recently is the like a Lilo and
Stitch pop, which obviously characters, not Lilo, but it's
Leroy, one of the characters. And that one is an exclusive to

(31:17):
Toy Temple, who we know Toy Temple.
We see them, they go to the conventions and stuff.
They've been around for a while.They're actually officially like
a Funko authorized retailers, what they they have on there.
So obviously they sell a lot of Funko products and whatever and
they're the ones that are going to be exclusive to this.
This pop is a 1200 piece exclusive and they sold it on

(31:41):
their website and for what everyone's saying it was gone in
seconds. They limited this is another
thing which is crazy. It was limit one per per
transaction sale. So like that was even more like
wow. Was it really that many people
like I? Don't know I.
Don't know about the hype of this pop is kind of strange, but

(32:02):
like it seems like there was allthose people and then the
obviously didn't only put it on the website because I believe
there was a picture I was postedthat looks like one of their
stores or storefront or something of a toy.
I believe a toy temple had like a ton of them behind the counter
and some people were saying thatthey were able to go to 1 and
get it with no issues. Some people said that there was

(32:23):
a line. So it's kind of interesting, but
they're just this is falls into that whole thing where it's just
another retailer that has their own exclusive.
And then there's even like a Stone Cold Steve Austin that is
like popped up somewhere where like wrestlingshop.com is going
to have this as an exclusive andis a 9500 piece.

(32:48):
The pop is like whatever it looks like a normal Stone Cold,
but it has like the what with the the quote bubble, which we
already kind of said we don't like those anyways, but it's
9500 pieces, which is like, yeah, it's like rare quote UN
quote because it has a piece count, but that's obviously a
very high number. But like, how many people are
going to go to wrestling shop? Dot.

(33:09):
Com I don't know and what's funny is that like we used to
talk about this like NFL and MLBand going to games like they
should have these things and this is kind of that because
it's like it's wrestling only wetalked about it with the bands
like musicians. They should be on their band
website. It's like that's not what I
think is is strange here. I just think it's like kind of

(33:30):
like out of nowhere and it's a lot of different ones that I
don't know if this is a smart thing or what.
I don't know. I'm just like, you know, I
don't, I don't know what the thing.
Here's the reason I think they're doing it, it's because
they're selling the inventory tothese third parties.
So it's already off their their books.

(33:51):
I'm going with that's why they're doing this.
So from that aspect, now that I'm thinking about it may not be
a bad business practice, but it's weird this the way it's
going, they're going about it, especially because, you know, we
in the community are used to like the Target exclusive, the
Walmart exclusives. They're essentially like
replacing these with these like small random ones who maybe they

(34:15):
think they're going to get traffic to their business.
And yeah, I don't. Know, I mean, it's interesting
you said that though, because I did want to mention that kind of
goes hand in hand with a little bit of what we hinted with the
CEO coming in and everything is that the relationship with
Target and Walmart in those places isn't in the best place.
It seems like lately it's like maybe that's why they pivoted

(34:37):
towards these. It could be other places like,
yeah, Targets still selling their stuff, Walmart still
selling their stuff, like all these big massive hot topics and
stuff like that, but you're not seeing as many exclusives to
those anymore. Lately there's not as many
Targets because there's not as many Walmart, you know, that
kind of stuff. Like, you know, we have the
thrill joy companies in the world who are dealing with hot

(34:58):
Topic now in box lunch and we'regetting a lot of exclusives
through them. But like we're not seeing as
much Funko. So clearly that relationship
kind of seems to be a little messy.
So maybe that's why they're like, all right, let's find
these other companies. Some are well known, like toy
temple, some known. We have no idea what are these
other ones? So it's like maybe that's just
kind of what they're doing. But it is, it is interesting

(35:20):
because it's kind of all happening all at once.
And I don't hate that they're like getting other people to be
exclusive. And we're getting like these
special things that are only going to be there because we've
seen it at their cons, like those random stores that are
only in the Midwest and stuff. And like, you know, they are the
only ones that get exclusives and we can't really see them.

(35:41):
Like it's happening. It is what it is.
It makes it a little more special, harder to get.
If you really want it, you go buy it off somebody.
That's the only way. But it's just, it's like strange
that we're seeing this all kind of like at once now and it's
popping up a lot of random, I really think.
Based off of us talking now likethat's probably what it is.
And it's, you know, they have a built in maybe fan base of

(36:02):
knowing like OK to a temple. We know people buy product from
there. They'll have a special one where
at this point, Target, it's become a Funko, has become a
joking Target, which is just crazy because like, Fast forward
like five years ago, I mean, I would go on hunts at Target and
couldn't get any of those their exclusives because they would be

(36:25):
sold out instantly. Like, it's crazy to think that
that was a thing. Like me and my wife would be
going nuts calling different ones going when they came out.
Now they're. Yeah, like we say, they're in
the clearance section. Yeah.
So. Yeah, it's just, and I'm seeing
like something that diss trackerposted a little bit more

(36:45):
specific, but so based off of what he's hearing essentially is
that Funko is, is requiring these small stores that are in
the US to make these LE exclusives a special drop.
So like they can't just like come out with stuff, whatever.
Like it has to be something kindof special, like a certain day.
OK, these are going to drop. Yeah.

(37:06):
He's thinking that the best way to do is like first come first
serve type of thing. Like, you know, we're going to
have thousands of these pops arebrand new, they're exclusive.
They're dropping at 10:00. Good luck.
Boom, 10:00 goes. And you know, you buy them, you
get them, you don't. But I guess like the the back
and forth is kind of like to should it be in person?
Should people be able to do it online?
But a lot of people are commenting, you know, regardless

(37:28):
of what it ends up being, someone's gonna think it's not
fair. Someone's gonna think it's not
the right way. Like it's just, that's the way
it is and what we're in that like, not everyone's gonna be
happy whether you do it online. Do it.
You know what they should be doing?
Funko should have their own whatnot channel and they should
be dropping off. These they should cuz that's cuz

(37:48):
that's the only thing I think that is a little it's the
whatnot one. Obviously that DVN thing,
whatever yeah like the whatnot part of it is what kind of
strains like and we we've been on what now we've sold on one
now we definitely bought a lot of stuff and whatnot from
multiple places, but we also know that there's some shady
practices when it comes to whatnot and a lot of sellers.

(38:09):
So it just doesn't seem like theright place for that kind of a
thing, but you know, it is what it is.
Other people are kind of saying that that one page or company or
whatever is a little shady already a little bit.
So supposedly they've have active lawsuits against them.
Some people are saying in the comments, so I guess we don't

(38:31):
know this is all allegedly, but it just kind of gives you like
an issue like then again what not this massive companies that
have won that pages too though, so like you know like child's
collectibles yeah so on whatnot I believe right and they're huge
companies like if you've seen itthrough there, that's fine that
makes sense. Obviously we followed the
companies like be friends and stuff like that too that do

(38:52):
that. But I guess when it's kind of
like that small company that you've never really heard about,
that's when it gets a little like shady.
But I don't know. We'll see.
Hopefully this works out for them and I guess we'll see what
happens going forward, but it's going to be messy regardless.
People are going to be not happyand other people's will be.
Happy, but no one's going to be happy.

(39:12):
With what it is. Just as what it is it's.
Just the way it is, yeah. But we'll pivot.
I think we have a couple news things that are non Funko
related that we wanted to cover.You can start off with one.
I know you got a few that we we want to kind of talk about there

(39:34):
in the collecting space, but notspecific Funko and stuff.
The one I want to talk about, which is kind of funny because
like they're doing in an amazingway that Funko just isn't
anymore, is Pop Mart. They're going to be coming out
with a new obviously blind box series of all the One Piece
ships. We only have a date so far for

(39:56):
Asia, but this is exactly how like the One Piece the monsters
clap down. Then they ultimately that
person. But.
These are so cool. They're like basically miniature
models of them. And I mean, I think we're, I
mean we're getting basically every, I'm pretty sure ship
that's like been in the, you know, anime or manga.

(40:19):
I'm like 12345678. Yeah, it's.
A secret, I think. And they are so detailed.
They're like such a perfect size.
I mean they look like. They're probably cool.
They're just, this is a sick drop.
This is super hype for me. Like once again we say all this
whole time now Funko should be doing stuff like this.

(40:41):
I think these are going to be popular when they come on Pop
Mart. I'm Demian.
I'm debating if I want them all.They're just they look so cool.
But these are like a perfect, I think if you're a fan display
piece. Because.
They're like, they're a great size.
Yeah, they look great. I mean, and it's interesting

(41:01):
because I I'm assuming they're going to be a little bigger than
they kind of seem because like in the pictures they look like,
it just feel like they're tiny, but I would guess they're like
similar size to the Libooboo onepiece set, yeah.
I'm sure a. Couple inches, yeah.
So it's like, but because with all the detail and colours and
everything on them, they look great.
But yeah, I totally agree. This is an amazing set.

(41:23):
Popmart continues to just crush it with a lot of different
vines. Obviously the One Piece
collections that they have, theyhave that Libooboo one, which
was massive. Same thing, like you said, it
was in Asia, people going crazy buying them for ridiculous
prices. Then they did start to go over
here and now they're a little bit easier to get.
At the time when they started dropping through Pop Mart to the
website, but now they're kind oflike gone, like you don't see

(41:47):
those often, which I like that they kind of do that.
I agree, but that's what's so interesting about Pop Mart,
which they they've never claimedthat any of their stuff is
limited and obviously sells out.They remake some, but like,
isn't it funny? No one complaints about that
because they're in demand and people want them.
Yeah. Like it's kind of that whole
it's just. Wild.
It's the same thing with like Boo boos.
It's like, no, that's the actualnumber to them.

(42:09):
All of them I like. Yeah, so I mean, it's crazy
though, but they can't keep those things on the shelf.
It's just it's it just makes me think we always complain about
peace count for fucko but sometimes if your products just
that fire doesn't matter. Yeah, I mean it also will come
back to this and we've said thismultiple times and I know you

(42:29):
both, we both agree on this is the whole blind backs like yeah,
thing is just the thing like that's the most exciting thing
right now. That's what's fun, that's what's
exciting, and it's just that's what we need more of from some
other companies. And it just makes collecting
like really a better experience.Exactly.

(42:52):
So like they're doing it and that's what we like that they're
doing. And I mean, it's gotten me into
other random things. I mean, between the mini souls
and the and the pop marts of theworld and with my daughter and
collecting different types of things, whether it's Disney
characters or movies or shows, Yeah, it's just fun.
And like obviously these are great, like such a perfect cool

(43:15):
set. And especially if there's like
some kind of display thing that you can get for these or the
ships. I think it would be so like
really, really cool to see as a set.
But I agree, that's one of the things that I was also very
hyped to see once we once we were both talking about that
coming out initially, I didn't realize it was strict, you know,
going to be in Asia first. But again, like you said, it's

(43:37):
the same thing kind of like withthe one piece collab with the
little Boo stuff. So it makes sense, but after I
saw it, I was like, damn, I was like, now we have to wait
probably even longer, but I knowI guess we'll see when they come
over. So yeah, we're the One piece
Grand Line series vehicles is what they're calling it.
So those are great. So another thing that will be,

(43:57):
you know, well, I think it's youcan order them now.
I think Right is Tops coming outwith their Star Wars Chrome set
for 2025. Amazon fanatics.
The Blasters look like they're available right now.
Yeah, blasters and then the hobby.

(44:17):
You know the date. Do they?
It's just like they always do. Like they sold out instantly
like a few weeks ago when they did a weird pre-order.
On a pre-order. Yeah, like I try to get them,
couldn't get them sold out in. Seconds and price it.
And yeah, they just recently I did pre-order something from
Amazon because I mean, these cards are sick.

(44:38):
Hobby Box or the blaster? Just a blaster.
So I feel like the I feel like the hobby boxes are going to be
like now impossible to get. It's just funny.
Like the more that I've gotten, both of us have gotten in the
car, just it is crazy how like you kind of get the if you can
get those when they drop, that'swhen you're going to get them.
If not you're you're paid. Yeah, and we're both in the same

(44:59):
boat that we're not. Yeah, I'm not.
Like we're that is it's not worth it.
There's people that do that, butwe we're not in that boat.
Yeah, these do look cool. So I and I like like they kind
of this is a set they come out with every year.
It seems like. I I mean I've done my research
now because I got some of them last year, but I was too late to

(45:19):
the game. And then they'll come out with
special Star Wars things out here or there.
I think that's like it for the year, which that's another thing
I like that I've now with my like newer collectibles.
It's like they're here or there.You don't need to be like like
Funko. Every week they're like talking
about something new. I think that also makes

(45:41):
collecting a little more manageable now and fun because
like, you don't feel like you need to be like getting all of
this stuff. Yeah, it does.
And and I mean SAR specifically,they it's very similar to
actually, it's funny that we both have totally different
sides of fandoms. But like UFCI mean you're, you
know, obviously a fan of UFC andthey do a very similar type of

(46:03):
thing where they'll come out with like a tops Chrome, like
kind of more of a general release.
The hobby stuff will be, you know, more sought after.
Then they'll have like differentvariations of top stuff that'll
come out and then they'll have like the high end, like sapphire
type things and those, which a box of those is always
ridiculously price at retail, let alone what it resells for.

(46:25):
I know. And it's kind of crazy because
you're guaranteed some pretty sick hits, but it's just like,
oh man, like you got to shell out money and do it.
It's just wild because I I watch, I'm sure you also do, but
like I watch a lot of YouTube, like breaker channels basically,
and people that and they're not even like selling stuff
necessarily. Like they, they have websites a
lot of the times and they'll post things, but they're helping

(46:45):
things just find cases and stuffand ripping it open and see what
they got right. And I'm looking at these things
and I'm like, and I'm talking about cases.
So they're getting like 1416 boxes and these are like $300 a
box. And I'm just like, how the like,
what do these people do it? But then again, it's like
basically their job at that point.
Their job, they're big enough that that's literally what they

(47:06):
do. But.
I mean, it's just a defensive fire.
They go from for seven to $10,000.
That's a whole nother. Like world that we, I mean we
even said that with the other yeah, even just the control, the
boxes lately from Chrome which were hundreds when they came out
they were not even $100.00 so. Yeah, yeah, the that's a word of

(47:30):
just real. It's insane.
The card world is insane and kind of Speaking of, I don't
know if you saw this, but I didn't want to talk about
there's a couple card things I'll let you mention one that I
know you a little more excited about, but one that I saw, I
don't know if you saw it. Let me pull it up real quick
because I know. OK, so this was this was a few

(47:52):
days ago and it was on Fanatics and it looked like they did like
an EQL type of thing like a raffle they had to win 300.
Yeah, it was EQL on the 13th. So this already happened, but I
still want to talk about it. But tops website had an EQL for
Marvel Mint. Did you see that?

(48:13):
I saw those. I looked at it for a second.
For bro $300 EQL Yeah, it's. 11 card card when I saw that.
But it could I think technicallyyou could get a couple random
base cards because it's one in case card guaranteed per box.

(48:34):
Yeah, so you do get a couple other probably just throw away
random base or maybe I think it actually was like a pack of base
or something. And but one card is in like a
nice case like the encased ones,which you know, that's obviously
like the hits a big card. Maybe you're getting your money
back, I'm assuming, but like bro, like that chance on that

(48:56):
like yeah, these crazy and thesethings still sell like they're
gone, dude. So it's not like you could it's.
Insane because. They get one pack and one like
encased card. That's like the one thing that
more I've like gotten really into deep into like the hobby of
trading cards. It's like sometimes I'm like,

(49:18):
does anyone actually just collect because it's fun?
Or is it truly just to make money?
Because like that box is a perfect example.
It's just like the dopamine hit of like the gambling addict itch
in trading cards is unlike anything else.
It's there's nothing in terms of, in my opinion, like the

(49:42):
hobby world. Yeah.
And I could just tell not to stereotype people, but like,
like you said, watching a bunch of these YouTube videos being a
whatnots like the a lot of thesepeople are just, you know, they
can't stop. And like this is what I look at
this for example, like who the hell is going to buy that in my

(50:04):
opinion? And then just like want to just
like feel like you can't keep inyour collection if you pull
something huge, like the whole point is like you're gambling.
Are you going to make money? Are you not?
Are you getting over or under? And it just that's like the one
thing I have found like weird about the hobby, like I never

(50:24):
felt that way and like figure collecting or the vinyl
collecting, like we're trading cards.
I like want to collect my like aset of stuff, but it's it's
just, it's weird. No, I know, and you know what's
funny is like, maybe it's just me, but I also find like if you
do pull because for the most part we get like sports cards,

(50:45):
right? Like and I've pulled some like
nice cards. I've actually pulled the
one-on-one card randomly. I'm some random guy, but and I
put some nice autograph cards and like I'll check and you
know, sometimes it's like a decent price, like OK, this is
raw at a good price. If I get it graded, it's even at
a better price. But then I find myself like

(51:07):
thinking two things. It's like 1.
I have never created a card in my life.
So like then I was looking like I should get some of these
graded. When how do I get them graded?
What's the process? Where should I go to have money
for this? I don't know.
And then they end up not gettinggraded essentially is what my
point is, right? And then the second thing is,
even if I graded graded or not graded right, it's like, oh,

(51:29):
it's worth 100 bucks. Oh, it's worth 300 bucks.
How do I, what do I even sell these stock on eBay?
Whatever. Who do I go to?
Like I'm in that predicament. So like what ends up happening,
and this is literally for the last couple years, I mean, you
got really hardcore into card specific collecting is I just
have stacks of cards and I don'tand it could be a car box.

(51:52):
I'd rather yeah, yeah, and I'd rather sell it because it's like
I'm not a super hardcore fan of it or whatever.
And it's like, oh, it was a nicepool.
I could sell it, but I don't endup doing it.
So I'm just sitting with it. So that just makes me think like
I every time I open something, I'm always like, if I get that
one card, that one card that like I could I'm calling up
golden. I'm trying to get see if you can

(52:13):
election it right. That's what I think.
But then when it's not that you're like, of course, card
puts inside. I put it in a sleeve, put it on
a hard sack, whatever, that's it.
It's just like it's it's funny. But I did see on this, I believe
it was this card set that someone pulled like a Doom
comic, like like a cut out. Of a comic.

(52:34):
There's some cars that are crazy.
And Speaking of Golden, actually, did you see he was
ripping open some of these boxes?
Yes, I did. Had like a convention or some
kind of thing, those guys. Yeah.
Because, yeah. That said, it's nuts, Yeah.
Or they come out a lesser set too, I think.
Right. That sold out pretty crazy.
I think Marvel, I think they've had a few.
Yeah, they came out fire one andthen they came out the normal

(52:54):
Chrome one. Yeah, so.
But this was yeah, because our our boy that we met at New New
York Comic Con, he was making videos, opening them from gold.
Yeah, that guy, that's what I was like, yeah.
Yeah, because I mean though the one thing at least the one car
it's in like a super nice like. And even if it's like, not a
crazy character, I'm assuming it's their cars that are worth
money. You're gonna.

(53:15):
Yeah. I feel like you're.
Most part get your. Values, Yeah, yeah, I agree.
But but the whole concept of it is just like, because that's
even like I think with V friends, like I love V friends,
me and my it's one thing my wifelikes has gone into collecting
with me and we like it. But like they as we, you know,
megs and we talked about on the podcast, it's weird.
We haven't talked about V friends in a while because it's

(53:36):
just like we can't get anything for V friends.
So we're not talking about it, but like, it's just such the
like the flipper hustle culture.It's just crazy because even
though a lot of that community does want to keep us set for
themselves, but then they're also hoping to pull that
one-on-one that they can flip and they think, you know,

(53:57):
they're going to ride off into the sunset.
Liver you know I do want to to aquick, easy way exactly make a
book. But that's obviously that way
with all sports cards. It's just that, yeah, it's just
such an interesting and then getting the autographs, and I'm
really going off on a tangent, but it's just so funny because

(54:18):
there's always a group of peoplewho ruin the hobby.
And I saw today the Met, this isreally off top, but I want to
bring it up because I find it funny.
The Mets were at the Little League World Series, basically
the whole team went and they were meeting a bunch of people
signing autographs. And there's like a barrier and
like when doors walking by and then there's hundreds of people

(54:39):
and you know, there's a bunch ofkids throwing out balls.
And like, then there's these like two adults, probably like 1
our age and one who's like couldbe like in his 50s jumping over
the kids throwing out. Like they want him to sign his
cards. I knew they were going to be
Lindor in the most professional way.
Just just act like they don't exist.
It's like that was his own FU tothem.

(55:00):
But it's just funny because those guys just want.
There's no way it is funny in the comments.
Everyone's like, you know, eBay,going to eBay, eBay, eBay.
Like they don't even want them for themselves.
Yeah, like, that's another thing.
If I was there, I would actuallywant that because he's my
favorite player. But he doesn't know that.
He just thinks I'm probably somedude.
He wants to make money. Yeah, no, but honestly, the the

(55:24):
I will say the athletes have gotten pretty smart and pretty
good when it comes to that, where usually they'll call out
the bullshit, you know, you out of the football or baseball or
something, you want them to signit quick.
You got a kid with a poster or whatever, like, you know,
they're going to do their things.
You got a hat, whatever. But then it's like you see the

(55:44):
guy with a cardboard cut out with like 5 cars and whatever.
It's like, sign here, sign it's here.
It's like, you know what the fuck it is.
And Aaron Rodgers, Speaking of, called out some bullshit on Guy
and I, I thought it was hilarious because he straight up
was calling out the guy like he had tickets.
I think is what it was like original tickets to like this

(56:05):
game or whatever was a championship game or something.
And he was basically saying like, oh, I had an amazing time
with this game, Baba, can you sign these?
And Rogers clearly was calling his bullshit that like he didn't
even go to the game. He knows specific things about
the game. He was asking questions that
kind of just, he knew he was just like a flip guy and he
wouldn't sign it. And like, I think that's great.

(56:27):
It's like whatever. So do.
I but it does suck. Like if it's like, you know,
you're truly a fan, you got something and you know, but I
wouldn't be like I wouldn't takeit personally.
I wouldn't be butt hurt because I had to understand that like,
like somebody like us going there and like a kid, you know,
it's gonna look different and usually you're gonna totally in
the culture and and that's just the way it is now.

(56:48):
Back in the day, not at all. People probably sign everything.
They wouldn't care, but yeah, that's the.
Now that's just like a whole different, like the stigma, it's
just crazy. So I understand that makes
sense. But yeah, but there is.
Another. There's another.
Hard set that. I know you're a little more
excited by shit about this, but.Yeah.
So we're now it. Seems pretty big too.

(57:10):
Yeah, it's pretty sick. I mean, we're getting Magic the
Gathering, Avatar the Last Airbender set, and between this,
the new one we have coming out soon is a Spider Man 1, before
that Final Fantasy. I mean, right now Magic the
Gathering is kind of crushing itwith these collabs, which I just

(57:30):
like I said, I kind of teased this earlier.
I kind of just find this funny because a lot of people gave
Cynthia crap for kind of delvinginto this world.
I mean, Magic strictly used to be like off in its own island.
It is like the OGTCG, but like it was pretty, I guess I can't

(57:54):
say niche, but like you like Magic.
Most of those people probably play the card game.
It's now completely changed to. It's hit the mainstream,
especially with these IP collabs.
Some of these cards are being pulled like the Final Fantasy
when they're going for thousandsof dollars.
You know, the moment you couldn't get those when they

(58:17):
came out, Yeah, MSRP is out of control.
Yeah. You feel like that's.
Kind of these things are sellingquick.
The actual retail boxes are they're.
Selling quick the marvel ones like you they go up on Amazon.
They kind of have sold out immediately the pre-orders.
I'm assuming this is going to happen in the Avatar ones.
But I think that people are saying in the comments that

(58:38):
we're gone in seconds, so. But the thing that's even
crazier about there's just it can get a little overwhelming.
Even I don't know much about it,even though I do want some of
these just because I'm in to thetrading cards now.
But like there's what they're calling the play boosters and
the collector boosters. And I think your chances of
getting stuff in the collector boosters are just like so much

(58:59):
higher than in the play boosters.
But like to retail, they're like400 bucks like it's insane.
One pack is like 40. It's, you know, what are some of
the comments if you're into Magic, because it's like, it's

(59:20):
something I'm trying. I mean, I don't ever foresee
myself playing the game, but when they come out with an IP
that I love, like I want to get them because they're cool.
It's just, it's fascinating to me where this is at right now
because it's kind of blown. Up.
I mean, it's definitely smart though, because like, you know,
it's called a spade a spade, bro.

(59:41):
Like if you collected magic, like most people are probably
like you're a nerd, you know, you're so magic or whatever, you
know, it is what it is. And like that, like you said,
yes, niche in the sense of like it was a very specific person
mostly like not that you couldn't do multiple things, but
like if you did just magic, thatwas probably the only thing you
really did more like just getting everything right.
So like that was your thing and it was at the game.

(01:00:03):
It was playing the game, gettingcards to like hardcore play the
game. And it wasn't necessarily just
like collecting, like to like sell things, whatever.
I think the first real thing that really blew that up was
that ring or the. Ring, yeah.
And that's when it was like, oh,this is one O 1.
This has value sold for ridiculous number.
And then then people were like, oh, wow, we can.

(01:00:26):
This could be like a thing to the collector's side of things,
exclusivity side of things, the flipping side of things,
whatever it was. And I'm sure there's still
people that are just hardcore Magic players.
Yeah, but I think as a company, you know, Magic like was very
smart and really jumping into the IPS and the collapse like

(01:00:47):
this is like a super smart way to get people who probably a
don't know anything about Magic or if they heard about it and
they had this certain like way of thinking of what it was.
It can get them into maybe buying something.
But because we're in the world that we're in and like I was
talking about the autographs andeverything like that is that now

(01:01:10):
everything is just so much aboutlike I got to get the hottest
thing that sells out. And once it sells out, that
means everyone wants it. I'm going to be able to sell it
for this X style or whatever. And that's just a world we're
in. And it has nothing to do with
just cards. That's the world we're in with
sneakers. That's the world we're in with
the cars, with toys, with the collector, whatever it is.

(01:01:30):
That's just the bags, clothes, like that's just a world where
it and it's like it's always going to be something.
And unfortunately for us who like like these things, it's
just it's harder to get. And then when you see an
opportunity to get it, it's going to be resold.
It's at numbers that just don't make sense to us.

(01:01:51):
Like we don't want it that bad. Definitely not.
I'm too principled of a person. Like I'm not going to buy this
booster box for $1000 and I knowI could have got it for 200.
I mean, you, you said it before,like we love V friends.
Yeah, we love them. Where they're at right now is
kind of wild and we just won't touch it.
But it doesn't mean we don't like it any less.

(01:02:13):
Like we still love the characters.
We still truly love the cards. If we can get something, we're
gonna get it. But when, when a box, for
instance, like a booster box that they had at GameStop or
whatever that was like 20 tail, like $20 selling for like $300
and $4.00, like we're just not going to do it.
Someone's going to do it. Congrats Gary and everyone.

(01:02:35):
You're going to make money. And it's still, it's still a
thing, but we still love you, support you and all that.
But like, we're not going to buythe box.
Like that's just not what we're going to do.
No, and that's kind of what's happening with some of these
other things. And like even this that's pretty
sick. And like, you know, I'm like a
huge avatar, like Airbender, youknow, fan, but like, I know it
and it's cool. I love the artwork, but the
artwork on this is like amazing.And these boxes are crazy.

(01:02:58):
Like there's a commander bundle,there's a collector.
Bundle so much. Booster, the jumpstart booster,
like they have so many differentthings that are all coming out
at once. At the closest thing I can kind
of compare this to that I was once collecting was like
Lurkana, like when I was first coming out, there was like
different packs, different versions, and it was a game that
you could play, but there was a collector side of things.

(01:03:18):
So some exclusive cars and stuffthat was a little hard to get.
And that's kind of what we really started collecting it as.
But then it just like they gave my way too many sets.
This seems to be this seems to be a lot more spread out and
they're they're very exclusive and they're hard to get.
And if you can get one, it's cool.
If not got away for the next setessentially.

(01:03:40):
But yeah, it's it's an interesting one.
Now are you? Did you try to get any I?
I I did, I was able to get like a one of the pre-ordered one of
them and I, and once again for me, they're just cool because I
want to have my, I like looking at the artwork and the cards.
But the thing that I also find interesting about this hype
right now is, you know, out of all these collectible trading

(01:04:03):
card games, like I feel like this is like once again, the one
that's most played. And I have read like this is
kind of hurting the hobby for those type of people because it
can't play your hand on the yeah, the players because they
can't get their hand on the product.
Yeah, it makes sense. It's just, it's just such an
interesting thing. But but I am curious, like

(01:04:24):
anyone who does listen to our podcast, if you know about
magic, you collect magic, you play it.
Like let us drop it in the because like definitely I want
to know what your opinion is on these drops because I do know at
one point people were really against the IPS, But I don't
know if that's just because, youknow, they're such purists.

(01:04:46):
They're like, we don't want people to ruin our hobby, which
kind of weirdly is maybe happening.
But nonetheless, I still think it's super cool and like they've
gotten someone like myself, who I collected a few Magic cards
back in the day because people, it was like a thing at one point

(01:05:06):
where my summer camp, I never really understood how to play
the game and just was like, yeah, no, I'm sick of a Pokémon.
Like, I barely, yeah, I barely even knew what a card looked
like, what the rule was at all. Like I never was into it at all
to even know anything about it. But yeah, this, this, it does
bring more people into it. And obviously maybe that's a bad

(01:05:28):
thing for those, you know, purists of the actual original
magic stuff in the game. But for everyone else, it kind
of gets you in on a new collectible, something new.
Especially was an IP that you are a huge fan of.
Exactly. But yeah, that's interesting
either way. But I think that was it.

(01:05:50):
I really don't want anything else to you.
No. I think of.
Only if you wanted to talk aboutthat one Funko Pop.
The hold on those two that we were kind.
Of the art, the artist. Yeah, Oh yeah.
There is an artist, a pop comingout, reggaeton artist Fade,

(01:06:14):
which is a little random. Some people probably have no
idea who he is or whatever it is, but in Hispanic reggaeton
community, he's Colombian. He's massive, He's huge.
So people will know about him. It's just it's kind of an
interesting pop because, well, his like nickname and we call
himself whatever is, is Fercho, which is why it's FERXXO.

(01:06:36):
It's pronounced Fercho. It does like look like, but
what's funny is that it almost looks like a custom pop rather
than like an actual one that wasmade by Funko.
But I think it's kind of odd. I don't know if it's I, I
started thinking about it more. I think it's because of the
mouth, OK, because there are some pops that have mouths, but

(01:06:59):
it's very, very few. And I feel like when you get one
like custom, it almost always has a mouth.
And I think that's what's kind of like making it look a little
odd. But it is one that I think is,
is cool to see because he is popular in that world.
It's interesting that it's a glow in the dark, but shows that

(01:07:20):
like in the comments, at least you know, your average person
has no idea who he is. So like tons of people are in
the comments, like who what is this is a waste.
His wife fuck goes losing money,all this stuff.
And it's like they don't understand.
Well, like this guy's big, like he's he's massive.
So yeah, there's going to be people out there that will get

(01:07:40):
this Funko, I will head to them has stepped outside of like your
generic just regular pop star. Which is good.
Music and they have gone to Latin artists and they have gone
to other other people that, you know, are popular, some not as
big and popular, surprisingly, and they still would have pop.
So I'm not like super shocked when I see like he's one of the

(01:08:01):
ones that they actually make. But yeah, I did.
I do want to point that out. Just, you know, shout out to to
him and the the Latin people because it's pretty awesome.
I love it, but I think that's it, Yeah, I think because.
I find it interesting because I think they Cynthia, before she

(01:08:22):
left, she said that was a big thing she wanted to get into.
And I just found it interesting,especially you brought that up
and Funko, you should be getting, you should be paid
Taylor Swift, whatever the heck she wants if you want to break
records. So.
Because Thrill Joy is going to get that first, but whoever gets
that license, they're going to be making a lot of money because

(01:08:43):
people will just buy that no matter what.
But yeah, I. Think.
I think that is our episode. So let us know, let us know what
you guys think about all the stuff we talked about all the
way from the beginning with the CEO talk, Funko's crazy sales,
what's going on and any of the stuff that we talked about

(01:09:03):
coming out or that we, you know,we spoke at all about.
Definitely make sure you guys are doing those comments down
below. And as always, you can find us
at Collector Chatter and then atCollector under score makes at
Collector Score. Charlie, if you're listening on
podcast platforms, thank you forlistening over there.
Please make sure you follow us, leave us a review.
If you're on Spotify, answer thequestion per episode, and then

(01:09:26):
come over to the YouTube channel.
If you haven't already. If you could please subscribe to
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Hit that notification bell so you know when new videos and
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make sure you like this video. But once again, please answer in
the comment section all the things you talk about.
Are you collecting magic? Did you get anything from the
sale? What do you think about the CEO?

(01:09:46):
All those great things and more.And as always, until the next
episode, collecting is the way later.
Peace out, everybody.