How '80s Magazines Fueled Our Obsessions Before YouTube - Toy Federation Podcast

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: we're back welcome to toy federation the toy federation federation the podcast we don't ship [00:00:14] Speaker 2: the broadcast also known as the broadcast we don't ship welcome we're in group south carolina ryan [00:00:20] Speaker 1: andy travis travis andy ryan sir yes so i was watching um an old movie the other day uh i think everyone here has seen it gleaming the cube yep i can't tell you much about it except that it's okay it's stupid i said it's fine he skates he skates boards for justice he skates boards more than one for justice he has his buddy build him a special justice board near the end of the movie that's like oh man these are got like the super wheels on it and like the prism hologram stuff on the bottom so i can skate faster while the bad guys are chasing me he took out his brother he's a vigilante on a board he's a vigilante he's avenging his adopted brother it's pre-monde gecko right so i'm watching the movie and the the two brothers live they have the same room and the good brother his bed's made nice and neat you know he's got like a framed picture on the wall and you go over to christian slater's side and these like sideways posters taped all over the wall and if if if we know but if you are younger and you don't where do they get all these like small posters and you've got them magazine magazines magazines like a fold out a pin up or whatever they call it up yeah what were you doing when you're a kid yeah i didn't have any pin-ups of marvel legends [00:01:44] Speaker 2: before marvel they did a swimsuit i did yeah that's right yeah that you kind of do you own it no i haven't i think he has it there i don't think it's in my collection i just think it's here somewhere as long as someone has it we're okay so i was big into magazines and i know we've mentioned you know we talk a lot so i'm sure parts of this may have been said but i was like i had star wars fan club not a magazine but there was a magazine in it so i was a member of that so i got that and then that was cool because you got a folder and a patch and eight by ten photos and the bantha tracks and all this cool stuff right and then vanter tracks right it was cool and then then i had anything to do with you know film tv sci-fi horror uh so you had starlog and then you had fangoria subscriptions to both and then famous monsters of film land subscription and i only knew about that because my dad had footlocker in the garage and that man there there were some famous monsters in there so then i was like man this is so cool you were hooked i think my first issue had i don't know if it was like 79 when did alien come out was that 79. there's like an alien on the cover and that might have been the first one that i remember getting and i don't know if it was monthly or it was bi-monthly or [00:03:20] Speaker 1: and then yeah so when you got it was it black still like black and white [00:03:25] Speaker 2: i almost think it might have always been black and white with some color segments right um i only [00:03:33] Speaker 1: know about it because my and there's that back had it and the paper was yeah it was like newsprint i [00:03:38] Speaker 2: want to say baxter paper but that's more glossy that that word comes to mind but i don't think it was [00:03:43] Speaker 1: that it's was like the same kind of material was like newspapers yeah it was a thinner then yeah [00:03:49] Speaker 2: but inside those would be uh like i remember specifically on famous monsters there was ton of star wars ads yeah uh i don't know about if i saw toy ads in fangoria or starlog if i did i'm not remembering they're not standing out i saw toy ads in eerie oh yes then i had cracked not mad i had mad mad was like your dad's book cracked was like my book yeah that's why i read mad my dad had all right i didn't so i just like crack but then so did you have any subscriptions [00:04:30] Speaker 3: any i don't know if i had subscriptions but i or got magazines yeah uh like kitty stupid but i remember ranger rick yeah ranger rick yeah i don't know if that was like the the character or but i'm just remember it was like unless it was like a raccoon or something [00:04:47] Speaker 1: i just know the name right i've heard the name but i have what about highlights i think that's maybe that's it oh no remember that i i do not like highlights i remember that he's at the dentist [00:04:59] Speaker 2: office yeah i remember it at the doctors yeah yeah when i went to the doctors they had the highlights [00:05:03] Speaker 3: magazine like uh sports illustrated kids i think that predate i'm older probably older but i remember getting cards and they had like a page of cards yeah and that's another one i had a sports illustrated [00:05:16] Speaker 2: that was when i go that's when i was into like you know i cared about sports and then i know for a [00:05:21] Speaker 3: while like every month my dad would pick up the uh like the beckett trading card book for baseball yeah i would look at those occasionally like i still have one and it's the bo jackson the pads and the bat across the shoulder that's like the best cover ever yeah that's like if you get a bo jackson [00:05:38] Speaker 2: autograph it's on that phone exactly that's true that's that's the one that's the one that's the one white that's the one yeah so yeah so i had yeah i had i even had national geographic okay i don't know why i mean it was you know it was there sometimes i mean i've [00:05:59] Speaker 1: interesting things they were cool i always liked the archaeology right yeah that's the best stuff there was a lot of that in that magazine yeah and then you know it's way better than highlights [00:06:10] Speaker 2: yeah no highlights was dennis office right and then i think they had readers digest or something in the [00:06:16] Speaker 1: day i could deal with readers digest i read readers digest regularly when i got to like my teens or whatever because because they had good stories no my my dad had a subscription like here you go yeah well yeah i like the stories but uh the highlights was like you go to the dentist office like i'm so bored i'm gonna look at this magazine and you're more bored yeah it is nothing going the worst is when [00:06:36] Speaker 3: you had to go to like a doctor's appointment with a grandparent or parent and then there's like nothing for kids in the lobby and you're sitting there looking at like good housekeeping or [00:06:45] Speaker 2: well see i think i don't know exactly but now there's stuff for kids to do in a doctor's office yeah there's like the little thing where you take the square move it along the middle and you move it along the track maybe some building took the place of the ashtray and then every every sick kid is played with that earlier yeah yeah yeah so that's a breeding ground so when you go in [00:07:06] Speaker 1: you can get sick yeah yeah in a very graphical manner i seem to think [00:07:14] Speaker 2: i don't am i misremembering there's like if you're sick you're on this side and then there's this other [00:07:19] Speaker 1: side uh i don't think i remember i think they do that now i think they do that yeah i don't know then it was like well yeah they didn't care cover your cover your mouth yeah doctor's like you got a cigarette [00:07:32] Speaker 3: yeah being so doctor's office you sit there the health care pamphlets get that lighter that that [00:07:40] Speaker 2: big lighter on the table it's like it's like it's like a huge me read this uh pamphlet about why secondhand smoke's bad yeah i think the doctors back then were all paid off so they tell you it was [00:07:51] Speaker 1: good for you honestly that was the first time i ever prank called was in a doctor's office just bored you were in the doctor's office and prank called i was in the lobby i think my mom was there and i had to be there right so i'm just i'm just bored it's like felt like hours felt like days so they just like started prank calling where'd you get the phone there was one in the lobby it was like like a the big long cord the rotary thing you know so you're just right you're just like uh dialing [00:08:21] Speaker 2: numbers just right yeah is your refrigerator running sitting there it was something like that [00:08:28] Speaker 1: there with a phone book or you're doing the circle thing all right i used to yeah yeah this one thing i like whisper and they go what was that and i just like make a big fart noise and i just thought [00:08:42] Speaker 2: that was so hilarious yeah because when you do the circle number yeah and then and then it's got just gotta go all the way back and then [00:08:55] Speaker 1: kind of made dialing the number fun a little bit like a big deal i don't think anybody under a [00:09:01] Speaker 2: certain age knows what we're talking about kids would be like what is that how do i how do we use [00:09:04] Speaker 1: they put the numbers in a circle i don't know why it's before we know the numbers are called though [00:09:10] Speaker 2: i don't know because you just go i had i had a little i don't know you know this like he's you had this little uh pocket phone book thing oh yeah yeah keep all the all your buddies yeah you know you might have three numbers in it but it's like in the tv in the movies or something the guys that got a book of numbers you gotta knows all the girls the little black book i gotta call it so i i got i had got one i don't know if it was like a i don't know electronics boutique or it was just like this little heart book and had like this good-looking girl on the cover it's just like her face and that's where you put all your like the babes numbers i remember they came over like and i [00:09:51] Speaker 3: know i know nobody yeah yeah like a little electronic phone book remember that had like the slide up cover with the buttons oh yeah it was like a little pocket one like radio shack or something i think that [00:10:01] Speaker 2: was yeah i was already yeah i already moved on you're right yeah no i just i guarantee you i can still find that book maybe and it's probably my buddy jimmy's in there you put you start out putting fake numbers and you fake it till you make it i remember there's this thing where i don't know it was like this thing where how do you like impress girls or whatever no man and you know i'm like you know i'm like super nerd so you know all you do is watch these movies and you just think like you know could i do that you know so and there's this one thing where you go by the you hang out you hang out by the atm this is what this article said you have money right you just go to the atm you know and you're like a kid so it's not like anybody's gonna buy the story but you know some people don't get the receipt you know the receipt would print out i don't think that even happens now i don't even know [00:11:02] Speaker 3: i don't go to you can press the button for a receipt yeah and a lot of times they just throw it like in [00:11:08] Speaker 2: the thing right there so they go you go through all the receipts and you find one that is it would show [00:11:11] Speaker 3: the balance then i don't even know if they do that now it does now if you print one up really i think [00:11:17] Speaker 1: you have to request you have to request it yeah see i don't go to an atm uh and then you find one [00:11:23] Speaker 2: that has a high balance you keep that in your wallet and then when you go on your date you accidentally leave it out just leave it out so then they see like twelve thousand dollars oh this guy's got money but then meanwhile you're driving you know like a beat up ford probe or something like it i don't need anything you know need anything more yeah all my money's tied up in real estate yeah stocks bonds [00:11:47] Speaker 1: gold coins i'm gonna order the lobster and you're like okay that could very well backfire yeah [00:11:57] Speaker 2: yeah no i i yeah i was so broke even when yeah you go on a date you might have like thirty dollars on your card and you're like gotta see what they order first to know how much money's left to see what you can do to cover the tax and the tip this getting the salad to see if it's like ah i'm not really [00:12:16] Speaker 1: kind of had a big lunch yeah yeah yeah i don't know about you guys but i was rolling in that blockbuster money all 525 an hour that had to be fun though it was no i liked the job a lot it was a lot because [00:12:31] Speaker 2: that's like part of americana it seems like yeah to say you didn't know it at the time but yeah yeah when you look back like everybody uh because that's a whole nother thing that was like a ritual for us as a family because i mean we saw a ton of movies and we we rented two or three movies a week [00:12:48] Speaker 1: i ended up making like a group of friends i met him my i don't know 11th or 12th grade year and half of them worked at other blockbusters so we would type notes to each other in the system so you were like also pre-texting yeah well we could like make up fake accounts and because yes some some days you would just do nothing you have to just stand up there and you're like you cleaned everything and you're eating all the candy weren't you what was the no you have to pay for that what was like the penalty if they didn't rewind i think it was like a dollar but like they didn't [00:13:23] Speaker 2: you usually didn't do it yeah it was kind of like unless they were just not they were mean you were [00:13:29] Speaker 1: like p defenders yeah they'd have to do it like 20 30 times at least where i worked it was like the manager never wanted to do it and it's like fine you know because people would get really angry about that dollar like because they get it on their next charge like that's it what do you mean it's like six bucks it's five bucks to rent a new movie you're like yeah you have a late fee like what you ever read something and forget to return it are you i think imagine how many when blockbuster [00:13:57] Speaker 2: went out how many videos were still people's houses i don't know yeah yeah i mean this is like the [00:14:03] Speaker 3: early 90s but we had rented i don't know it was like mortal kombat or street fighter it fell behind the tv and we didn't know oh man so by the time we found it like the late fee was like [00:14:14] Speaker 1: 70 bucks that was probably that was the cost of the tape yeah because like the way it was explained to me was in order for them to purchase the tape which i guess included license and all the other stuff it was a hundred dollars a tape brand new and you got your money back by renting it right and then after [00:14:34] Speaker 2: that it was all just i thought that i read or heard that the reason blockbuster put out all the mom and pop shops was they did something nobody did you had to do what you were saying and maybe early on they did that but then i thought it turned to revenue share yeah so then they got hundreds of copies of the hits and then no one else did the studio got yeah a cut right so then we didn't necessarily buy them you know and i might not be explaining it right but they somehow changed the way things worked and that's how they could have so many copies because now the the studio will send you however many because it really probably didn't cost much to make yeah but now we're going to get a kickback on every rental [00:15:25] Speaker 1: uh and then like mom and pop shops i mean they were everywhere maybe one copy of anything oh right new movie then they might have to right and there was probably a time where there were two hundred dollars a piece for them to buy oh yeah yeah yeah and then so then like yeah it's like what you said they they they made it efficient and effective and affordable for for i guess everybody [00:15:46] Speaker 2: just by having volume but i mean but i think the mom and pops couldn't do that so they all went out yeah yeah like i when i was in college and i came back for one break and i may have told this story but it was a friend of mine and when we were at his house i stayed at his house that weekend and we rented a movie near him and he was i lived nowhere near him and then i probably went home that sunday and he was only in town i don't know oh in the summers like you know to visit his dad otherwise then he lived with his mom and i remember he was supposed to return it and then i ended up getting like a two or three hundred dollar bill on that credit card oh man because he never returned it geez uh and so then i had it you know somehow it got returned and i guess because that was to buy the tape now it was just whatever the late fees were because they got the movie back but i mean it was like a big you know a big deal uh but i mean i you know it's like some it was like an event when a new movie oh yeah they'd have the big posters that would be and they were movie poster size but they're the video store version uh and they may just say now on video cassette or coming to cassette and so there would be teaser posters for video stores and then movie posters for video stores which is a whole nother collectible market yeah well on the cardboard stand [00:17:26] Speaker 3: ups there was stuff that would hang from the ceilings yeah yeah giant vhs boxes boxes yeah one side's one [00:17:32] Speaker 1: movie the other side's yeah yeah like yeah the cardboard standees and and they would be little [00:17:38] Speaker 2: they would be like the most video stores to my memory were like the size of my old store which was [00:17:43] Speaker 1: like 1200 square feet yeah yeah usually just it was just a long long long wall a couple of short shelves [00:17:50] Speaker 3: in the back room with the beads oh there used to be a massive one like over here in greer not like like kind of near the where the blockbuster was oh but on the other side yep like it was it was [00:17:59] Speaker 2: huge but it was like a mom and pups thing and then the funny thing is so the shelves that all these transformers are on and that's a good that's a good shelf those are all blockbuster yeah i forgot i forgot about that yeah so they were not because i think they had wooden things built into the wall [00:18:22] Speaker 1: and then the pr yeah the perimeter the aisle things but this was this was like where the snacks and yeah [00:18:28] Speaker 2: things near the front were yeah yeah it was a different uh travis nose i do i remember i remember yeah on this particular blockbuster this was when you went in and it was the front left corner uh where these were but and i don't know if they were their clearance or the cheap movies yeah uh but it was like on your way out before you got in the checkout line there was it and i might have paid 100 bucks for all of it it's a good deal and i i don't know how i fit it all in the minivan and i didn't have to like you when you showed up it's like you got to break it down it was like i didn't have tools i'm just trying to get these nuts off and i had to it's like and then they didn't get they didn't they didn't even get used till here see i was big into the war movies and horror and it got to the point but i don't know if i i'm trying to remember we didn't really buy movies yeah you got to remember then these they were expensive they would have been over a hundred dollars right yeah in the beginning uh lucky to have a vcr yeah because we got a vcr one christmas yeah and then um but i mean i ultimately i got star wars uh but i'm not remembering owning a lot of vhs at all i just remember two or three a week what did you rent like what was like something you rented multiple multiple times all right let me yeah but uh empire yeah i'm trying to think though some reason i thought i did halloween a lot i'm even thinking i did the thing a lot yeah but then but then there was i think i did kelly's heroes a lot good the bad and the ugly more than multiple times uh but and then at some point we ended up getting it was like a version of hbo but it was on tv is what it was called and then they would you know imagine how much smaller the film catalog is 40 years ago right so when a movie went to one of these platforms you know it was like it would be on three times a day or it would be on it like every day at that box office right so i i mean i but it would get to the point to where you saw everything in the horror section because the horror section would be maybe just just one yeah that's it four by eight foot section one yeah one rack and they could all be face out they weren't sideways yeah they weren't packed yeah and then that was the entire the entirety of the section and most of it was going to suck yeah that's where i like went for the war it was like then you start going to anything like it'd be the longest day and that's like with john wayne it's black and white and then or then it's das boot you know it was a 2v it was two vhs yeah and then it's all subtitles uh and then i remember there's this movie it was on all the time had mel gibson in it who else lethal weapon attack force z [00:21:52] Speaker 4: mel gibson leaves a handful of heroes against the might of the japanese army on a mission that can only succeed with men prepared to die the spectacular guts and glory saga of a suicide squad blasting their way to hell and back with mel gibson [00:22:13] Speaker 2: in attack force z huh yeah yeah lost me wow it's attack attack force z was that before matt max i don't know wow i've never heard of that one it had to be after attack force i don't know if they're like yeah it's a war movie and i don't know if they're on an island or they're they're raiding it or was it good yeah no i liked it wasn't he and i can't tell you anything about it but i remember it was that memorable i watched it i'm sold all the time yeah sign me up well it's good it was it's uh i remember there's this eye of the needle i remember that i guess i have the name oh uh bill murray right no no no they said uh donald sutherland uh and it's like a uh german i think uh oh uh world war ii yeah yeah yeah anything world war ii like you know you know there's uh there could be more but there's for sure two harrison ford world war ii movies all right force 10 from navarone i'll allow it not guns in that room force 10 from never first time at force nine and hanover street hanover street war two baby two war twos could be more i don't think more but if it was a [00:23:28] Speaker 3: war war ii movie i saw it we interrupt our program to bring you this ask devin's segment if you had to [00:23:34] Speaker 2: pick a favorite year from gi joe your favorite line what what year would it be 84 because that when duke [00:23:44] Speaker 5: roblox zartan came out and had all cool stuff in it so 84 is your favorite yes sir [00:23:59] Speaker 3: so would you rent multiple times dawn of the dead oh right i forgot about that so like i saw it i [00:24:04] Speaker 1: rented it a lot i i vividly specifically remember one night working at blockbuster and we had inventory which usually meant after closing we'd go and check everything make sure things you know do all the counts and yada yada yada we had to do it uh i don't know i think you just count all the videos you had to check it like you basically had to check everything and you'd be there till like two three yep still there yeah that one's there that one's there well they'd have to run a systems report and then you'd have to check just snack and then it's going stuff would come up the thing [00:24:39] Speaker 2: printing the old dot matrix or whatever yeah so so like i got home one night and it was like man i'm just [00:24:48] Speaker 1: wired i can't can't sleep you know it's two in the morning i'll stay up all night whatever i got nothing to do tomorrow and i'm flipping through the channels and this dawn of dead and i've never seen it and it's near the beginning and it's just like all this bad makeup to me well no it yeah it was it's bad by that standard but by but then it was green just yeah yeah just awkward but it was like strange acting and just you know i couldn't stop watching it loving the idea of being like hole up in a mall yeah right where you need it everything needs there right it's a perfect concept right so i i love that movie and then i was of course i have the perfect resource i can just go rent it so you know every now and again i would just rent like i think you got like five movies free a month you couldn't rent new releases you had to pay for those but um i would you know get five and then that would usually be one of them did it come up missing on the next inventory it did not because i wanted to continue [00:25:45] Speaker 2: watching it and not i thought yeah i i i thought that was like one of the best uh [00:25:53] Speaker 1: zombie movies i love the soundtrack well yeah it's just yeah yeah it's uh goblin yeah goblin yeah [00:26:02] Speaker 2: but it was okay you didn't you didn't need the the effects really yeah i mean there was some effects but i mean the zombies were just face paint like like it wasn't like walking dead what what what blew my [00:26:14] Speaker 1: mind was like the general makeup was was just it was okay yeah but then you got to the parts where they like tore up people and it was like it was kind of disgusting well it looked until you get to day of the dead then it's really just oh yeah yeah that's really gross but like there's like one part where they're tearing up a biker and it look i think they might have actually used like oh yeah real animal parts or yeah something and it just that was like i just know yeah you're like [00:26:40] Speaker 2: you know then you contemplate well yeah if there is this uh zombie apocalypse you know how what would i do or you know it's like well you know you get this room i hold up here and you get you know you know you go the back ways you get the food court and you get the sporting goods and you get this and you got everything's there as long as it just the power is maintained because that a lot they don't always acknowledge that part you know the escalators are still working and romero would have the escalator zombie and all he would do is go up there and then then he would go down and then there's a nurse [00:27:13] Speaker 1: zombie i just loved acting in it because there was no way to tell somebody how to behave like a zombie so [00:27:20] Speaker 2: romero just let him just kind of do what do you think and then those the nurse and the elevator zombie they married in real life oh really yeah because i met him at a show and i was like are they gonna do another one and then he's like yeah uh but they're filming it in canada because he he was like he would be he was like the i forget what he what he called it like the he worked with romero to i don't know locations or like i guess something to do with the people or bringing the people or i i don't know what the term is recruiter no or maybe i don't he had some role well he did some organized but then he said that he filmed in canada because then it was non-union or away from oh right but you know he's always the guy sticking up for the you know and then he went and i can only afford what he could afford and then he went and and did it in canada so he didn't have to pay uh and then so then he he was he was telling me yeah they're doing one but he's not involved because it was like a set coordinator or something like that okay all right he was doing for him uh but uh yeah what were we talking about though oh um [00:28:36] Speaker 1: magazines magazines yeah that's it blockbuster had magazines they did all right did they have a [00:28:45] Speaker 2: magazine a blockbuster magazine they might have had a pamphlet i think that they would mail it yeah [00:28:50] Speaker 1: was it i think they occasionally have toys too they would i got my first one at blockbuster there you go really yeah they had they had the first wave there this is where the that's where it started this [00:29:02] Speaker 2: began the problems so you're just staring at them all day and you're like i gotta have that i was [00:29:08] Speaker 1: like man i don't really want hulk but that's pretty cool i can rent a movie or i can get a legend all right don't i don't want anybody to know i'm buying it well see yeah that that was the problem then you got frowned upon well i did buy cap in front of an employee and he's like you mind toys i'm like it's captain america shut up yeah did you say it's uh this is a my nephew's birthday is coming up no no i made out like like he was not patriotic [00:29:43] Speaker 2: a loser i went to another store where i didn't work to get hulk well another thing uh was and i don't know so any so do you remember the magazines that were tied into the big blockbuster type films i do not uh like batman's out there was a batman movie special magazine or this yeah like um or the official right or indiana jones there'd be marvel would have the magazine format comic adaptation of the movie there'd be one for last starfighter like but see they'd be magazine size yeah i mean if i saw one [00:30:25] Speaker 3: it might spark a memory it'd be like marvel super special yeah it would basically be like an extended [00:30:33] Speaker 1: set of articles where they talk about like set locations getting the right oh no but i'm talking [00:30:37] Speaker 2: about just the marvel comic magazine format size but then they had but then they had the magazine yeah yeah [00:30:44] Speaker 1: uh yeah so not movies you're saying just the comics format well but i'm saying everything all right [00:30:50] Speaker 2: because there'd be the comic magazine yeah for a given movie if it was a big enough like any site like uh i even think there's a total recall one unless i'm misremembering i don't know now but there's definitely a magazine for it with all real photos and articles behind the scenes stuff uh but then [00:31:10] Speaker 1: there would be like a comic version too right because i had the robocop one right and i i had that at the theater when i saw it nice it was not the same it was not of course yeah it always confused me and then [00:31:26] Speaker 2: some of them had what was called official poster monthly star wars all the star wars had it indie had it uh and it was magazine format but it was really a monster size poster in the end so wow so if it's magazine size and you open it and then you would open it again and then open it again and open it and then you had a giant poster of indie so like fourfold yeah i've i've seen one of those laid out there and it would be official poster monthly yeah and then star wars might have had it had a lot i don't know what the final number is but there could be like 30 different ones and then they would give you all this backstory and one might be dedicated to like stormtroopers and then it was just a breakdown uh and then it'd be for empire then it'd be for jedi and then indiana jones had them uh and those were really cool but then i yeah i didn't subscribe to those and you just found one every now and then it might have been at a gas station uh and that's i'm trying to think where i got a lot of i don't know it seems like we went to the gas station a lot or that's where you would go to get milk or like it wasn't yeah it was well convenient store more right right than anything yeah because it was near the house yeah we would just go there and then you know like you you would run in and maybe grab yeah i would i remember getting comics [00:32:55] Speaker 1: there spinner racks yeah sometimes you'd go to the really nice ones and they have the big long rows of the plank vermiculite wood with the magazines ever so slightly tilted back that particle board yeah [00:33:08] Speaker 2: and and i don't think any kid who looked at the comic in the spinner rack was worried that they're all bent [00:33:15] Speaker 1: over no it's called a comic you're like well the the the transition this one's got a crease right you didn't nobody the trick the transition of of of reading and then collecting and it being something started right around like when i was i don't know 12 13 whatever so then you would that was like [00:33:39] Speaker 2: oh yeah no you just it was like oh geez they're they're all ruined like they'd be halfway oh yeah [00:33:44] Speaker 1: dang like a like a wilted flower but they used to make them in better material too so they would last a little longer then by the time they got to the 90s like you could open a door and the wind would just blow a crease into it it was terrible i i don't know if i so that i'm sure i still think [00:34:00] Speaker 2: they're there and i probably haven't been there in 20 years there was a comic shop and i probably talked about this it was a and m comics and it was tiny tiny maybe 800 square feet max max like that's probably exaggerating and then in the 80s they all all the books had bags none of them had boards and every book was like in half in the box like like they were just almost like mush and that's the one where i was going through and then i found like a sandwich like a dried up sandwich that was in nice but that's also the place where i may have said this we're in the back does this place is probably there since the 50s it seemed like that i that's where but i don't know there was like you could tell there was space behind something and i moved something and there was like these a box of trailers film reels right right and they had a star wars trailer there 10 bucks yeah we know where that is in the basement i need yeah but now i gotta need a 16 7 whatever i don't know how many millimeters it is like 10 millimeter did did you go to comic [00:35:28] Speaker 3: stores growing up at all or not comic stores but like there was like a newsstand oh yeah very [00:35:35] Speaker 1: limited run of comics so that so that you probably i know i ran into this several times growing up where you know we we moved around a good bit but maybe we'd find the comic store that was in town or maybe 20 minutes over whatever and maybe about half of them were dirt floors i never like yeah i no i didn't there was no dirt floor shops in miami one one was like a converted like you know those like garage things where produce was kept they converted that into a comics and they just laid like carpets down and there was dirt underneath and and like that's got to be great for the paper oh yeah humidity dirt well the people working there kind of matched the decor so well you got him dirt dirt comics can't say i've never been in any barefoot dirt floor comics there were not there were nice ones i'm just saying like this is a nice dirt floor comic shop they would this floor is packed nicely but they were like they were next to a flea market or you know something but like there was a lot of those yeah the only time [00:36:43] Speaker 3: like i kind of went on a run with comics is when it's like gi joe around like 108 109 when they introduced the the pit viper and he like killed off the joes yeah right before it went into like the see i was reading [00:36:58] Speaker 2: force but like that was like the only run that i was reading like one to like 30s and 40s and then i stopped right like that's the only run that i was like but i would get one every week i was or every month couldn't wait for the next issue like i dream about like what's the next cover gonna be based off the way the panel ended like i i was that what's hammer gonna write this time i didn't [00:37:24] Speaker 3: even know who him was yeah so strangely enough i am reading absolute batman yeah and it's pretty good it's pretty good is it absolutely good it's pretty good i even got craig picking me up a uh number one of uh they're gonna start absolute green arrow okay that's the title that never sells i've always [00:37:45] Speaker 1: liked greener yeah well in the when it was greenland or green arrow in the 70s neil adams drew it [00:37:52] Speaker 2: and then in the 90s he had a resurgence but since what was yeah who who did that one then grail grail mike grell uh he wrote it or illustrated illustrated that name neil adams no but there's a grell there [00:38:05] Speaker 1: is a there is a girl what is he then i think he's an illustrator but i thought that i thought that was [00:38:12] Speaker 2: an era yeah that was not neil adams there obviously you're right but that was like a popular run i've heard of grell and then kevin smith touched it for a while because i bought those well when i was [00:38:24] Speaker 1: collecting comics i man i i bought several times when kevin smith wrote stuff and and they were there's never all that great but they were hot at the time i knew oh yeah they were always hot and i think the covers were good the director of clerks you know and and i loved that [00:38:39] Speaker 2: movie oh yeah no it's great yeah he sold all his comics to make a and maxed out his credit card to [00:38:45] Speaker 1: make that movie yep sold all his comics yeah he had some good ones probably bought them all back most well probably yeah and i couldn't afford color film yeah that's why i went black and white and they were like oh so are artistic yeah and it's like okay gotcha yeah but i saw that when i was working [00:39:05] Speaker 2: at vlog western of course see i i didn't so when i was in college and i don't remember the year that came out do you know when clerks came out 94. okay so uh so then it might have been right when i got out because i remember when or or i was almost out because i might have stayed an extra semester because i was i decided i'm gonna do a master's and i was like this is stupid uh i'm just gonna owe even more money right uh and then my buddy jim he's like man there's this movie you gotta watch because you know we we both worked in a gas station and it's not like that's a gas station right we it's kind of was almost like yes the checkout counter and you had like limited it's very relatable right and uh and he's like you've got to watch this movie and see my buddy jim was more like randall yeah where i would i would have been more i forget the other guy's name now dante dante right uh yeah because jim would say stuff like that you know uh [00:40:16] Speaker 1: i i think we all wanted to be randall but the but the boss who was like he's the one that told me to watch me that's one of the first movies i watched that he told me to watch and he's like now this is a great movie don't ever come in here acting like randall i'll fire you so any have you seen clerks [00:40:36] Speaker 2: or you don't know man i might have seen bits and pieces it's it's it's a classic yeah it is if you've ever had a retail job like a convenience store gas station blockbuster no yeah you know retail job now people come here to be happy or get something from you know there you're going for necessity like uh like toilet paper i don't know yeah yeah yeah you're just pissed off or you got to pick this up on the way home it's like a trip to walmart yeah right man i don't know what it is i went to this walmart this morning this afternoon actually and i it's like yeah i don't know it's like no stand in line for 20 minutes it's like i had to check yourself i don't even know how to how to describe it it's just like bizarro land yeah it's like are we in the apocalypse the way some people look and dress [00:41:38] Speaker 3: oh man you can you can people watch all day in walmart well there's that's the whole website people [00:41:43] Speaker 1: walmart walmart is just pictures of how people just go out in public specifically there i mean you [00:41:48] Speaker 2: you should be ashamed you have zero care for i mean there'd be it like hygiene is important yeah there's no hot yeah and then it's but they're just they're slumbering in and or they're slumbering i love that that's good they're they're like half like there was this i don't even know this lady and she was like half it looked like you were watching a movie and she had this shirt on and i wish i could tell you what it said but it so didn't make sense for this person to be wearing that shirt uh was it like the mom from hoobie halloween a shirt it was strong shirt game and just just just and i'm so i parked they're halfway into the entrance and i get out and i've i had to throw something in the trash i walked to the trash i throw something in the trash and i've already passed them they're still not into the store yeah because they're they're just yeah and then you're inside yeah and they're just everybody's yeah it was just like and then there was this old couple and they were just going down the aisle and they were that was like dress nice yeah yeah you know collared shirt and exactly they probably felt like it was the apocalypse it looked like we're in idiocracy yeah that you know and i go there almost every other day to get something but today was just exceptionally i was like i've said it before [00:43:23] Speaker 3: but it blows my mind when people are at shopping in pajamas people come in here in pajamas or unmatched socks that is my number one pet peeve flip-flops i told you that's like a weird style if your socks are unmatched yeah do not like they shouldn't be seen i'm not a flip-flop guy nah [00:43:44] Speaker 2: feet are meant to be hidden i don't care if you have immaculate model feet i don't like you shouldn't be wearing flip-flops yeah unless you're going to the beach yeah yeah i want to hear no toenails clacking on the floor arc or or at least trim your toenails that too oh well because we get like werewolf feet from something that's a werewolf rough yeah i was like man so so nails are curling into [00:44:10] Speaker 3: you ever see an eagle catch a trout [00:44:16] Speaker 1: you ever see a velociraptor what are you saying uh so we we've we were talking about like clerks and like like re like retail stories and and and and we've told a lot of like just oh my god so i i did want to tell this one that i had happen when i worked at blockbuster so there was a guy that it's like a busy saturday and then you've been to blockbuster on saturday the line would be all the way to the back of the store and this guy he's been waiting he's got nothing in his hands he comes up and he's like like he's already just defeated or whatever and he's like please tell me that you have titanic eddie and the cruisers too and i already know we don't have it because i've you know i work in the store i generally know most things i i remember the first movies it's a weird movie but you know so i'm i humor him i type it in i'm like i'm sorry we don't we don't have it and i said i can check to see if anybody in the other stores have and before i finish she's like oh my god and like storms out yelling i don't even know what he's saying he's probably come every day asking freddy and the cruisers i mean did you even have it or was it checked out no we didn't have it [00:45:39] Speaker 2: because nobody cares i don't think that one that's a low rental man i don't think that one [00:45:45] Speaker 1: lived up to the expectation yeah i mean the first one had moderate success the second one most people don't it's like a lot of sequels they just disappear yeah so like i've i tell this story to some of my other buddies and they're laughing and some of them work at blockbuster and i had one friend that worked at um best buy and i'm telling him the story and yeah i'm trying to elaborate on it and i tell him i get to the point 80 and the cruisers 2 and he's like no way i'm like what he's like this dude came into our store and he was looking for the soundtrack and we didn't have it and he flipped out like stormed it i was like what is what is this guy's maybe this is the guy's stick yeah he's just it's his most favorite i i mean it sounds like a joke but like the i mean the guy was in agony i've never [00:46:35] Speaker 2: wanted this so bad i've never heard anybody ask for eddie and the cruisers no two i've never even heard reference of that until you just brought i wouldn't even remember that movie if it wasn't for that i knew it existed right i know but i haven't heard its name mentioned you do not speak out loud [00:46:56] Speaker 6: on a cold new jersey night a young rock star named eddie wilson went off the raritan bridge his body was never found the question was asked did eddie wilson [00:47:09] Speaker 3: die [00:47:23] Speaker 6: in their time there was no one to equal eddie and the cruisers and eddie wilson became a legend this summer the legend continues with eddie and the cruisers too because eddie lives [00:47:57] Speaker 1: it came on tv years later and i i gave it about 10 minutes i'm like i can't do this it's not good it's not good eddie and the cruisers yeah two yeah if if you don't know what the movie is generally it's a fictitious band and it tells all these stories like a lot of bands how they get famous and then get into drugs and how they they follow fall apart and yeah yeah and i i think the singer i don't remember who was the main guy you'd know him if you saw him but yeah been in a ton of stuff yeah yeah um but i i want to say he died at the end of the first movie and the second movie was like he faked his death or something silly like it was so i think that's right but i don't know for sure anyway anyway any of the cruisers too this is like my god it's so good it was so good i just remember [00:48:50] Speaker 2: people there was that drop off uh the thing yep oh you would get trash in there oh yeah but then i remember i don't know if it was visible or the way they laid or or you could go inside and peek and then you were oh your movie might be there so now you're waiting uh to get it you know fishing can i can i yeah yeah yeah no i remember doing that because you're like yeah it's there we're putting [00:49:20] Speaker 3: figures out and people are looking over our shoulders like that's good though i'm gonna get that okay [00:49:27] Speaker 2: yeah we got a cool marvel legends post that's gonna happen tomorrow but by the time you hear this it'll have happened and it'll all be sold it'll be gone it was it was a a day it's a day day of legend it's an entire day of posing posing and then i was trying to get the picture while everything was still in it but it yeah the cable win who knows what else yeah a couple of them sold already they won't make the [00:49:51] Speaker 1: final shot did not every time we do a display of stuff it it always happens one or two things sells while we're doing it which is that was saber tooth yeah that's right yep he didn't make it into the [00:50:03] Speaker 2: case i feel bad because there's times where we we take a group shot of something and then either you know a bunch of people come in or out of town people or phone calls and and then an hour or two hours could go by and you're like crap i haven't done the post yeah and then you but half of it's gone and i haven't posted it but you still want to post it yeah so that they saw you had it yeah get pulled in 12 different it was like the the inhumanoids were all gone yeah before the photo but at least they saw that we had two tendrils and short test long toasted yeah that big little comparison [00:50:41] Speaker 1: robotech lot was like that too man we got calls on that for probably a month after it was gone people [00:50:47] Speaker 2: come in yeah we had people come in and i was like you're late buddy yeah what do you mean it's sold i was like let's we're a store yeah yeah i just thought it would be here you guys do a [00:50:59] Speaker 1: pretty good hey your loss that's what the guy your loss the one guy said how unfortunate yeah yeah somebody wanted some go bots that we had did we talk about this or no no no it's just very recent and we had posted a picture and guys like uh how much for this this guy and and and then shipping it's like sorry we don't ship and he's like you're lost and i was like actually we just sold four [00:51:24] Speaker 2: yeah and then like eight more how did i get to where i am and without how did i survive without [00:51:31] Speaker 1: you carbon scoring bought four oh yeah yeah that was good i gotta get the picture like this oh i saw [00:51:38] Speaker 2: that on the phone yeah carbon scoring if you give him a follow if you don't uh already yeah he's local and he is a youtube yeah but i mean but i mean it's like he got he got mad that we don't ship we don't [00:51:54] Speaker 1: we don't sell parts it took me it took me a year to put all those go bots together yeah i mean you spent two days repairing them i did i did it's really impressive yeah it's i mean but that's what that's what we want here yeah yeah i mean legends took two days yeah he man and turtles took an entire day [00:52:15] Speaker 2: and we had them already ready to go yeah well that that's the thing this will be a good thing if anybody is planning to visit the store from uh anywhere and you're coming a great distance and you're hunting x y and z give us some notice yeah we'll do our best we'll have and yeah we'll do our best to piece together as much as we can on your list but sometimes if you were to just show up and you came a long way uh and some of it requires us the store to not be busy yeah to then put something together for you you know it's more difficult yeah so just give us a heads up because i mean we do our best to accommodate and i think that brings up somebody had a question about if something was 95 complete oh yeah would you sell it and i guess i mean it just depends on what's missing probably but if if i knew it's an item that we frequently get kind of thing yeah but i mean if it's i mean if [00:53:20] Speaker 3: it's a rare guy and it's one weapon away or but i mean let's just for math's sake let's just say [00:53:27] Speaker 2: the item gets 100 and it and in the shape it's in it's 80 it's going to cost me 20 to buy the part then what's the difference yeah uh you know because in a lot of instances we have far more here than we can put out like we don't have a flag out a gi joe flag but we have one already ready yeah we don't have a boulder hill out because there's no room got one but one's ready so there are things that are ready that you may not see so don't you know hesitate to ask uh but i mean if it's a given vehicle that might i don't know rummage through five or six bins if we're not busy and then cobble together and then and then you may say well it's dirty and i was like well it wasn't how we got to clean it now like if you want it now this is how yeah everything goes through a process yep uh but you know we would do our best to work on your list and and and so then when you came you know you could knock you know check it off yeah so just just a little heads up uh but i think that winds it up for today's episode the broadcaster the broadcast so we will see you on the next one don't forget uh write in the comments what you want us to talk about and uh tell us tell the man man don't [00:54:47] Speaker 1: we don't sell parts we don't sell parts we didn't mention we don't sell parts yeah he came in he came [00:54:53] Speaker 2: in he knew i was joking when i brought it up yeah but yeah he's like oh you brought yeah you were talking about me i was like yeah all right see you guys see you [00:55:13] Speaker 3: finish baby