Sometimes I Get Drunk And Talk About Toys. For YouTube.

[MikeandRaph87]

Drunk? More like unsure of yourself. You are so sure of yourself in the forums and in the ring. Youtube is not much different!

Justice League figures? My brother has a near complete set out of the package. Myself? I stuck to just Bat villains and Spider Villians in heroclix outside TMNT figures, I am a selective and vile kind.

[Leo656]

Well it ain't like sh*t's free (or even cheap!), brother. I totally understand how most people have to be quite selective with their purchases.

With most lines I only try to get one of every "major" character in their most basic or traditional look, and even that can be a huge undertaking.

That's why I have a ton of DC Direct but only a handful of Mattel DC figures, or how I have a million Jakks WWF/WWE but only about a dozen Mattel WWE ones. If I'm heavily invested in one line, it's VERY tough for me to shift gears into another, similar line, even if it's got some improvements.

Can't have everything. That's the toughest thing for anyone to deal with.

[snake]

These remind me of, like, 2009 YouTube and I love it.

I'd love to see you review some of the more f*cky DC figures, like those Legends of the Dark Knight ones. Those would be hilarious. I'd recommend the Joker with another Joker inside him, or Annihilus Robin.

Spoiler:

[Leo656]

Hahaha, I skipped all that sh*t on purpose. Maybe if I find something outrageous for cheap.

As a rule I always skipped those kinds of things because they're essentially clutter. Even as a kid I hated that goofy sh*t.

Yeah, we're not very tech-savvy people so it's a low-fi, no-frills project. I'm hoping to skate by on personality.

[Wildcat]

Second review was good.

I only have a few Batman things. A figure from the 89 movie and some different Batmobiles. I have this really tiny one that must have come from Micro Machines. It’s really cute.

Only Catwoman I’d consider getting is the Neca Batman Returns figure or if an even better one gets made. I’ve always liked Michelle Pfeiffer.

[Leo656]

Eh. She's alright. It was an interesting performance but it's nothing at all like Catwoman, aside from the whip. The review figure is pretty much my favorite look for Catwoman, I think, aside from the '66 TV show.

DC Direct did some awesome Catwoman figures, including one with pretty much that same outfit (but a more comic-accurate color scheme), so hopefully I'll get to talk about those at some point. I'm definitely going to be doing some DC Direct sooner rather than later. I could get a lot out of just my Superman and Batman stuff. But I also want to do some stuff that's a little more obscure.

I have a lot of stuff from storage to go through and re-pack, so that will have a lot to do with what I end up covering and when. The next one is gonna be totally different and hopefully really, really cool. I just need to find a couple of things for it first.

[Leo656]

I shot a bunch of stuff for the next two videos today, so those might be coming out some time in the next few days. One is really long and one is more standard-length, but they share a theme. Lots of fun, hopefully done soon.

[Leo656]

So hey, I know it's not important but I felt like mentioning it anyway. We actually have a bunch of stuff shot for at least three more videos, but the laptop we use for putting them together died a few days ago. I think we have the footage saved to a memory card but it's going to be tough to finish them anytime soon, I think.

The good news is, we had managed to get YouTube working for us again recently, so If/When we manage to finish them, we'll have at least three new videos up at some point. And even though I'm unemployed and thus won't be buying toys again until God knows when, I still have tons of stuff in storage, so if I want I can keep this going forever.

So yeah, we'll see what happens. Just didn't want anyone who did care to think I abandoned the project. Not yet.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Leo656

So hey, I know it's not important but I felt like mentioning it anyway. We actually have a bunch of stuff shot for at least three more videos, but the laptop we use for putting them together died a few days ago. I think we have the footage saved to a memory card but it's going to be tough to finish them anytime soon, I think.

The good news is, we had managed to get YouTube working for us again recently, so If/When we manage to finish them, we'll have at least three new videos up at some point. And even though I'm unemployed and thus won't be buying toys again until God knows when, I still have tons of stuff in storage, so if I want I can keep this going forever.

So yeah, we'll see what happens. Just didn't want anyone who did care to think I abandoned the project. Not yet.

Now is going to be the best time to buy stuff as businesses want the income and might mark down. Or, now is going to be the worst time to buy stuff because businesses might price gouge.

I seriously have no clue how that might work out at the moment.

[Leo656]

The places I buy most of my comics and toys from are, for now, staying open through mail-order, but given that I'm out of work indefinitely (yet still expected to pay rent with $0 income ), I can't see how I'll have money to spend on "nonsense" anytime soon. But man, I'd love to.

I'm a materialist; "things" make me happy and fulfilled more than people do, and buying stuff often gets me through the tough times. So this really, really sucks for me. "Stay inside, and don't spend a penny on anything but food." That's not "living", to me. I've been there before and it was not a fun time. I was hoping that was all behind me. Being forced back into that situation through circumstances far beyond my control is incredibly hard to cope with.

Guess we'll see what happens.

[snake]

Can you let us know what the 3 figures are, Leo? I enjoyed these videos a lot when they came out,so it's good to know that there might be more coming.

[AquaParade]

Leo, I sometimes hate when people offer me advice but it seems to me like this is a good time to put up more of your videos. People are looking for content now and maybe you could eventually get some ads attached or something.

I say this because I think it's pretty smart to dump your hobbies into a YouTube channel, and actually starting it up seems to be the biggest hurdle, which you've already cleared. If I were in your position, I would potentially focus on that.
Of course, I'm not you, which is why I offer my opinion with hesitation.

[Leo656]

Ahh, thanks dudes. I wholeheartedly agree, but unfortunately we had some broken laptop problems come about at the worst possible time. That might be resolved in the near future however, hopefully. Lord knows it'd be a good way to pass some time and have a little fun.

I also have a boxed of on-card figures that I specifically bought to open on-camera so yeah, the sooner we get a working laptop the better because I ain't got room for all that sh*t.

And without saying too much about future plans, brother, at least one of 'em will definitely make it perfectly clear that "THIS is where the power lies!", brother dude jack. Unfortunately I don't believe in giving obvious hints so it'll just have to wait for now.

I also did a fun one that is toy-related but not an action figure. So yeah, lots of fun stuff! I seriously do appreciate the vote of confidence, and I will be sure to keep everyone updated. Hopefully soon!

[Leo656]

So hey, yeah, this is still a thing. We've been shooting stuff and have like 4 or 5 videos' worth of footage, at least, and it just needs to be edited and uploaded.

We were HOPING to fix the old laptop but it ain't happening, unfortunately. However, we found a decent used one for cheap so we should have that in a few days or so. I don't wanna shotgun all of them out at once but I don't wanna drag it out too far either, so by the end of September they should all be up, finally.

There's also gonna be a few "format" changes because I don't want things to get too stale. For one thing the basic idea is still going to be "retro" toys, but I've already broken that a little bit so some of them are going to be also more "retro-inspired", like reissues of old toys, or newer things based on an old character or line or whatever. It'll still mostly be action figures, but also rings and playsets and stuff when I can manage to do that.

There will also occasionally be things like "Custom Corner" where I showcase some of the stuff I've been working on, and "Rescue Mission" where I've been able to fix up old figures that were otherwise headed for the trash. We have an episode coming up about the LJN/Jakks ring I fixed up, just for example. Lotta fun stuff.

I might also start doing ones about vintage trading cards of the 80s and 90s, since I recently got back into that again and have several awesome sets that I just feel like talking about.

It's all still gonna look and sound like sh*t because we're not tech-savvy and I refuse to learn. It also kinda goes with the gimmick, seeing as I'm dubbed "The Retro Rocker" and therefore I prefer to keep it having more of a "Wayne's World"/DIY kinda punk rock feel to it. I actually don't want the presentation to be "too good", take that for whatever it's worth.

But yeah, lotta fun stuff coming up. Oh, and in case anyone missed it, we had a blast not long ago talking toys and collectibles with Coola, ssjup and Jack Knives on the Jack Rants Podcast. So if you missed it this should keep you busy in the meantime until I get the new stuff up.

[Leo656]

ALRIGHT, so FINALLY we have something new to talk about! We finally got a new laptop to cut stuff on, so we'll be putting up several new videos in the near future.

First up, one we shot a few weeks ago, as we go over the restoration of the LJN/Jakks WWF ring I picked up used and in rough shape a short while back. Dig it!


As mentioned, we'll be doing lots of different stuff going forward, including stuff like this from time to time. This was a lot of fun to work on, so hopefully you'll like it.

We'll be posting stuff all out of order, as the next few will be stuff that we shot many months ago before the computer problems. I just wanted to lead in with something more current. The next few are gonna carry a bit of a theme, BROTHER, so be ready!

I appreciate your patience, hopefully things will go a lot more smoothly going forward.

[Leo656]

Only FIVE MONTHS overdue, but better late than never, as they say... "From The Vault" is back with a guided tour of the "DC PRIMAL AGE" BATCAVE by FUNKO!



Recorded in September, and uploaded now because "F*ck you, deal with it, that's why." Better snuggle up, it's kind of a long one. But well worth the wait!

Thank you for your patience. We have about four more episodes in the can waiting to be cut together, so hopefully we'll be more on track soon.

[Leo656]

Here's one we just finally got cut together and uploaded. Originally recorded late 2019, then we lost the footage when a laptop died, etc. etc., and finally it's done.

Episode 6 (originally Episode 3) of "From the Vault", I review not one, not two, but FOUR Hulk Hogan action figures by Mattel! Just in time for the Hulkster's Birthday, brother!


This is Part 1 of a multi-part series where I reviewed various Hulk Hogan stuff. A fun weekend as I recall. More to come soon.

[Leo656]

We actually got the next one cut already. Since the footage is like a year and a half old already I'm not terribly inclined to space out these uploads. The sooner we get 'em up, the sooner we can move on to some newer stuff.

In this one we take a look at a Limited Edition Hogan figure from the Jakks "Classic Superstars" line:



And here's something of a little different spin, where I take old beat-to-sh*t figures and fix 'em up. For this first "Rescue Mission" segment, I take a near-worthless LJN Hogan that looked like it was destined for the trash pile and turned it into something awesome.

To really put over how completely trashed this figure originally was, we started filming AFTER I gave it a hot bath and scrubbed all the black marks off with nail polish remover. This thing legit looked like it came out of the trash, so to say I'm really happy with how it turned out in the end would be something of an understatement.

[Leo656]

Better late than never, here's one we filmed a while ago where I look at a couple figures from the Mattel "Superman Returns" line!

[Leo656]

Super busy this past weekend, as we did multiple videos in one shot!

First, we did a review of the Mattel Elite Series 96 "War Bonnet" Hulk Hogan, commemorating his short-lived and very ridiculous September 1988 house show look:


Second, there's this awesome Mattel Elite "nWo Wolfpac" Hollywood Hogan, which faithfully commemorates his early-1999 look and is a Ringside Collectibles Exclusive:


And third, there's this incredible Mattel "Ultimates" WrestleMania 1 Hulk Hogan, which honestly might just be the single greatest Hogan figure ever made, at least until they do an "Ultimates" version of his 1989/1990 look:


And finally, not a full "episode" but I wanted to give a quick shout-out in video form to Ralph's Figure Clothing (www.ralphsfigureclothing.com) for hooking me up with some awesome stuff over the years. If you collect wrestling figures, specifically Mattel, Jakks and Hasbro/Galoob-scale wrestling figures, and are missing some iconic gear to really complete the look, definitely check them out! Some stuff rotates in and out of stock though so it pays to check back often and/or make special requests via email. Anyways, I've gotten some awesome stuff from them and I show some of it off here:

(Video works, not sure why the thumbnail is being weird)

There's a bunch more stuff in the editing workshop, enough for another 5 or 6 videos at least, including some stuff that's a few years old already that we lost and then found but never edited. It's a f*cking zoo over here. But anyways we got a lot more stuff on the way, is the point.