My Damn Creators Podcast
The Ultimate Wrestling action figure podcast where the hosts My Damn Toys (MDT) & Stage Creator (WSC) talk all things wrestling action figures!
My Damn Creators Podcast
The Creator Behind Wrestling's Most Viral Videos
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In this lively episode of My Damn Creators, hosts MDT and WSC welcome special guest KWE HQ, known for his viral wrestling skits with Elmo and childhood nostalgia content. The trio dives into KWE’s unique journey—from early days wrestling pillows and collecting wrestling figures, to becoming a leading short-form creator on platforms like TikTok and YouTube. KWE shares behind-the-scenes stories about his creative process, the evolution of his content, and the risks (and bumps!) he’s taken in pursuit of viral moments.
The conversation also explores the broader world of wrestling figure collecting, discussing the nostalgia of legendary JAKKS Pacific figures versus the quality of modern Mattel Elites, favorite playsets, and the challenges of managing a figure fed and content audience. The hosts engage in a spirited "Agree/Disagree" segment, debating the merits of different figure lines and the impact of social media on the hobby.
Whether you’re a life-long figure collector, a fan of creative wrestling content, or simply love stories about creative passion and community, this episode offers fun anecdotes, thoughtful insights, and plenty of laughs.
Instagram: @mydamncreators
YouTube: My Damn Creators
Hosts IG:
@mydamntoys
@wscstagecreator
What is good, everybody? Welcome into my damn creators episode number 12. Man, very, very exciting episode today. As always, I'm MDT. We have our co-host as always, WSC Nate over here, stage creator. And today, joining us for the first time, probably come on later on, I'm sure, in the many episodes to come. But we do have my man KWE KWE HQ on Instagram. If you guys have not seen this, you probably have the guy that gets beat up by Elmo on a daily basis. What's going on, man?
SPEAKER_00Not too much, man. How are you doing?
SPEAKER_01Hey, we're blessed. We're we're happy to have you. Thank you for coming on. We, you know, we we want to have you on here, and you are you're here. We're live. We're we're we're not live. I always say, I always say we're live, but we're recording, and here you are. And I'm did you lock up Teddy or Elmo for this segment that so that you could film this podcast?
SPEAKER_00I did. I gave them the old KO punch, big show style. But I do want to say it's an honor for me to be here, seriously, with two of the arguably two of the greatest content figure creators right now in the game. So I mean, I appreciate being here, guys. Um honestly, I'm very thankful, and it's cool to be here. And if you want me to tell me about myself, I'm here to do that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's great. It's great to have you on here. We appreciate you coming on. And yeah, tell us a little bit about your content journey and you know what inspired you to make the content you do. You're really big into the shorts for a day. That's an insane grind. Tell us a little bit about you know what inspired your content and why you decided to start posting to the internet.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man. So, like ever since I was a kid, I grew up being a wrestling fan. My dad and my brother were real into it. So, like, I've always had that kind of inspiration in the back of my mind of just you know, wrestling a pillow, wrestling a stuffy, and playing with the figures. And like a few years, I kind of got out of the game, and then in 2011, I started collecting again. So every time I'd go to Walmart or Target, I'd be searching the toy aisle for you know whatever figures I could find. And at this time, that's when Grimm's toy show was in its peak. So, shout out to him. So he was like kind of inspiration too. On my old channel, I would kind of do funny videos like Rim and make fun of the figures and do whatever. And then in 2012, I started pick fetting. So, like back whenever it was just music, you know, you'd put a song on it, you'd get copyrighted for it, but you'd upload it anyway. And you did you did that, and it was it was a lot easier. And then, too, you know, we I was a kid, so like you I didn't care about the posing, it could look god-awful, but it's still you we had fun doing it. Uh, and then I kind of got out of the pick fetting around like 2015 to 16. But I've always kept up with KWE, my company, like behind me being KWE, getting beat up by Elmo and all these crazy moves. I've done this company since I was 11 years old, and I've kept up with each pay-per-view, each storyline, and so backtrack or actually fast forward to where I am now. 2019, I started like getting into TikTok kind of when COVID was hitting, and I kind of got in the routine of just uploading these TikToks and then upload them on YouTube, upload them on Instagram, upload them on Facebook, and just did that routine, and then eventually kind of popped off. Like the YouTube started picking up, and that's when I started doing these. I don't mean to be rambling, you know. Sorry if I am, but um, it all kind of started. No, we want to hear your story. Oh, sweet, I appreciate that. Um, yeah, it started when I saw a video of a dude on TikTok with a ladder in his room. I'm like, okay, so that's that's something I could do. I think like the first one I did was a mini ladder, and I did Elmo give me uh like a her corona onto the bed, and that one did okay, and that's I think I did the head first into the ladder, and that one went viral. And I mean, I think it was almost a million in two days, and that to me that was wow, just crazy, and I gained a lot of followers, so then I'm like, okay, so now we're kind of picking up something here, and I I think I did a ladder, I brought in like a bicycle, and then each time I saw comments, oh, each item is just getting bigger and bigger. The stakes kept going up, the stakes kept going up, they kept getting higher. I kept climbing. I I did a microwave, I did a mini free, I did a huge recycling bin. Um, I'm trying to think. There's just so many different objects, and each week it was getting bigger and bigger, and then uh I've hurt myself a few times doing it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I want that's what I wanted to hear from you. Like, what is the worst bump that you've taken? Because I've seen you take some insane bumps on some some hard surfaces, and like you just named a ton of them. Like, tell me, like, have you really hurt yourself doing this?
SPEAKER_00Okay, so you might not believe me, but of every stunt you've seen, I've legitimately hurt myself twice, twice, okay. And I'll break them down real quick. The one and the brick video. Sorry to break it to you guys. I mean, not just you guys, but everyone who else is watching and thinks I mean, my head didn't really hit the bricks. I mean, it came close. I mean, come on, not gonna come on man, what a rip.
SPEAKER_01I mean the scenes, it was a stunt brick, it was a stunt.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, stop everyone say those are foam bricks. I had to restack them seven times until the video looked legitimate. Wow. But the so the palette video, I was outside and I went to the neighbor's yard, and I freaking grab this palette, and I'm yanking it in the yard. There's ants all over it and stuff, and I'm like, Oh, because I wanted to bring it on the bed, you know, because it was each item was getting crazier on the bed, but I'm like, I can't do this. So I'm like, all right, I'll just set it on the ground. And I went on like the third step, and we're just gonna get DDT'd by Elmo onto it. Man, I'll tell you, I felt that on my teeth, my head, dude. It like you can see in the video, I'm just like, oh, I tense up, man. Like fall, and all the time where I was down for like a good five minutes at least, not too long, you know.
SPEAKER_01Five minutes. You think you can cut yourself like you gave yourself a concussion?
SPEAKER_00Um, no, there was something I did though where I thought I got a concussion. I forgot about that. Yeah, I was dizzy for like a week straight. My equilibrium was knocked off.
SPEAKER_03I had the do you have a trampoline? You haven't thought to do it on the trampoline?
SPEAKER_01That's a good investment for you, right there, man. I would absolutely go down to the local Walmart or Amazon and I'd get me a trampoline immediately because that opens up a whole door of content right there, probably.
SPEAKER_00I could do flips and dips, and yeah, seriously.
SPEAKER_01You do like me and my friends, we used to bail off my house. My grandma would come out and she'd be like, What are y'all doing on the house? And like, I'm defending my intercontinental championship, leave me alone.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, find your own beeswax.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. When I was a kid, I used to wrestle on the trampoline too. I had three older brothers, so I was like the test dummy of like all the moves, they wouldn't let me do anything to them, you know. But you know, I relate heavily to the teddy because you know, when my brothers got a little older and I was still on the trampoline playing, I got a teddy, and then I could do all the moves to the teddy, and I had a blast wrestling the teddy. So, is that kind of the inspiration for your videos? Did you wrestle the teddy when you were younger?
SPEAKER_00Oh, a hundred percent. That elmo is the one I would use, like wrestling same Elmo, it's a bit beat up, obviously, a bit torn up. Um, like at the era of when I started the pillow videos, there was people doing it too. And there's this other guy, he was really big on the pillow, but I was doing Elmo, and uh one of my buddies said, Well, maybe you should start doing pillow for some videos because people can relate to wrestling their pillow too, you know, alternate. And so I messaged him and asked him, like, hey, is it cool if I use pillow? Because, like, out of respect, if it I could kind of upset if I make an original idea, and I know TikTok is all about taking content, stealing people's content. But if I come up with something original and you done did went and took it and it went more viral than mine, I'm gonna be a little bit upset. And so I just kind of asked him, like, hey, is it cool if I use the pillow and stuff? Because I don't want him to feel the same way if I would do that. So I just wanted to, and yeah, I just kind of started doing the pillow and the teddy, and then I picked up that Mr. Potato Head from a thrift store for six bucks, all the pieces detach, and that's kind of like Elmo's buddy, and then kind of like behind the storyline, I have that big Sully, and like that's like my tag team partner, but definitely oh my gosh, wrestling my pillow or teddy as a kid is just all this inspiration, and a lot of people like you relate to it as well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, the videos are insanely well done, the editing on them is incredible. Tell us a little bit about like how long does it take to make a video like that?
SPEAKER_00So, for the shorts and like the ones you're talking about, the Teddy ones, honestly, not too long. You believe it or not. If at least if it's the clean environment, like if it's the room is clean, you know, it my headspace is good in the sense of you know, there's no clutter, I can just whip the tripod around, get the angles down. It's a blast. Um, the editing, I appreciate you saying that it looks good because yeah, I just kind of edit it myself. I try my best to you know, tweak to make it look as realistic as possible when the camera cuts and how because you know, you gotta make sure if I'm like this, and then the next camera angle is over here. I kind of gotta do the same thing and make it look good. And I'm sure you guys are the same way, you're perfectionists about yourself, I'm sure. So you're always like yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, 100%. Well, they're they're not only they're they're well shot, they're well edited, and like I don't know, they're just easily digestible for the viewer, and so that's why they do well, man. It's not just you know, like I think they they're really well made, and that's shown, and I think people appreciate that.
SPEAKER_00So thank you. That that's a huge compliment to me, seriously, especially coming from you guys, and they're fun to do too, you know. So that makes it even more enjoyable, and yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_03For sure. Do you have any ideas to like you know, expand upon that in like the next evolution of it?
SPEAKER_00So KWE versus Teddy Part Three, buried alive match, coming soon.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god, okay.
SPEAKER_00The reason it's hasn't came out yet is what it's been it's raining on and off, and like I still need to find a place I can dig up a hole and and do this thing, yeah. So I have envisions for this um match, and I I want it to be almost near perfect, and I want it to almost kind of be like a movie in a sense, like I want to use the cinematic mode on the iPhone and just just do something different. I don't know if I could just yeah, like similar, I probably won't do this because I don't know if I'll be able to, but kind of similar to like how the WrestleMania was during COVID, like with like that cinematic match, a match kind of like yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01That'd be cool. Yeah, you're not gonna do it, you're not gonna do it like short form, it'll be in long form. Are you gonna try to do like a shorts version?
SPEAKER_00I will do long form and then for that day, since I always stress so much about the shorts, I'll just kind of cut parts from that video and just upload that as shorts, you know, preview for KW versus Teddy. I mean, hey, yeah, you're you're getting they're getting what they're begging for. Sorry if I can't upload the amount of shorts, you know. Because I told them if I could just take five days, I could probably get the whole match done, you know. I mean, just whip it out in one go, type of thing. Um, but your to answer your question, I kind of wanted to after that, I would love to expand it. And I know it's kind of corny, you could say, or whatever, and even yet I got to do it, but like just wrestling, doing a match with pillow, doing a match with Mr. Potato Head, doing a match with like I could get a big sponge bob or something, you know. Like that, I think that would be fun. It's just the fact getting other scenes, and yeah. But I think that would be cool.
SPEAKER_01It would be cool. That'd be and I think like we were talking about with the trampoline. I think if you introduce that, obviously you couldn't film every day, probably with the rain and whatever, like you said, but you'd still it'd open up like a new avenue, too, maybe.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I could do so much more like moves on the trampoline too, compared to the bed.
SPEAKER_01I mean, yeah, probably a lot better landing, too.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, probably about some of them yeah, you're selling your selling is insane, and a lot of people have taken notice of that. Have you ever thought of actually becoming a professional wrestler?
SPEAKER_00I would love that, and I and like it's crazy because sometimes I'll get the goosebumps watching them wrestlers and just thinking about like their family watching them celebrate and win the title and just do all these moves and stuff. I do have asthma, okay, and I know that's manageable, but that gets in the way, and probably weird to talk about on the podcast. But I lived in a house with mold, I got these like chronic sinus issues, so like until I get surgery on this, it's hard for me to breathe through my nose a lot, and that really gets in the way. So that's why I haven't even been like working out as much because like my nose will just close up, man. So if I could get that figured out, I feel like I could do something, put on a little bit of muscle mass and be like a lightweight dude or something.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, dude, you're selling like I yeah, like we discussed before we started recording. I think the selling is my favorite part. Selling is one of my favorite parts of wrestling. Like, even if I did something figure related in the shows, Nate, you might be able to relate to this too. But you like sell the even with the figures, you want it to look devastating as possible, and you you know, you overdo it to a certain degree, but it's just perfect. It looks so good, man. You look like Ziggler out there.
SPEAKER_00A lot of people say that uh we're related.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh, that's hilarious. Yeah, that's good. I'm a big I'm a big Ziggler guy, so big K E guy.
SPEAKER_00Hell yeah, man. I appreciate it. Um, yeah, I love Ziggler. Oh my god. One of the those are my favorite types of wrestlers Ziggler, Brian, you know, yeah, underdogs, the the sellers, the sellers, man, the ones who make the sport look good.
SPEAKER_01There you go.
SPEAKER_00Devastating.
SPEAKER_01You gotta put over Lord Tinside, man. You gotta put over those 6A guys.
SPEAKER_00You got to make them look good, right? Yeah. Um, one tip I was gonna say while we were on the subject of like making moves look impactful. When I I mean this is works better with like um actual like taking pictures of the figure fed, but if you do like a move, slam onto the apron, sometimes I'll shake the ropes and you get that uh ring shape. I don't know, so like, yeah, like we discussed, like definitely making the moves look impactful. It just adds so much more elevation to the viewership, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 1000%.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you have some experience in pick feding. Tell us a little bit about you know what made you want to start pick feding and why you eventually stopped, but you're you're keeping the Fed going, but are you not doing you know the actual like filming of the Fed?
SPEAKER_00So yeah, I uh started KWE in 2011 and I was pick fed and and I think the inspiration just there's just all these dudes who was just doing it, just whatever, like figure feds, pick feds, and I just oh my gosh, I'll have to send it to you guys one day, but my first few pick feds god awful. Oh my god, I'm sure you you can relate to like it's yeah, so it might have been good for the time, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, sometimes I look back and it's like oh that was so terrible, but it's like it was great for the time, you know. So things just evolve and get better.
SPEAKER_00The videos did well, so but yeah, and I just kind of did that for a while, and then 2014. I think it just that's whenever just I got especially now. Oh my gosh, and you guys can relate, you just get so critique critique. Well, I don't even know how you say it, but you just critique your posing so much, and you just spend so much time on making it look realistic, and I think eventually that came exhausting for me, and I just like focused more on like some of the music I used to make, and then like I said, during COVID is when I picked up back on the videos and YouTube and stuff, but yeah, I'm not actively doing like results of the KWE. I did actually start posting results though for like two weeks. Uh I did this raw and smackdown results and just kind of did like photos of the match and the winners. Um, and then I did the pay-per-view SummerSlam, and that was a lot of fun. But I don't know, I'm so inconsistent. I end up just like focusing, like I said, on the shorts and just trying to get that out compared to and that's what I was talking to him about a little bit too, like trying to expand KWE more for the viewers, show them my champions, like how you guys do for your company, obviously. Like, yeah, they keep up with the storylines, and that's one thing that KWE isn't is lacking right now is showing the true company, you know.
SPEAKER_01I mean, so something I would like I I think that it's always tough too because you're dealing with like we talk about this too. There's a niche within a niche, so then you have okay, then your audience kind of gets separated into two or three subcategories of one giant category. So they may like one portion of your content, but they don't really watch or listen to maybe the other parts, like the figure parts or something like that. And then you but I think people would find it interesting. I know that people find figure federations interesting, especially if it was cohesive and it was, you know, at least decently edited, and maybe it doesn't have to be this whole big thing. But if even if you did, you could probably even do it in short form, I'm sure, where you know, you said this is what you know, if you if you were consistent, you were like, This is raw for KWE, and then you had like the results, and you had like some image or maybe a short little video of like the hand fed style or whatever. I don't I don't know what that looks like entirely, but I'm just trying to think out loud, I guess. But I I think that would give you more that would give you more things you could post about, maybe. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I agree because thinking back, I actually did use to do results where I would like pick fed the ending of the match, you know, do the hand fed of the ending and then who won. Because, like at the end of the day, yes, you know, you want to see the whole match, but especially if you don't have time, and like you said, a short form video, you kind of see oh, the ending of this match. Okay, cool. You know, so that's I'll have to start doing stuff like that, you know. And I I am one to where people give me advice, I take it, you know what I mean? So I try to execute on what I can because I'm always looking to grow and expand the audience, and you know, it's not only about that, it's about the love of the community and the action figures as well in wrestling. You know, we're we're bringing I don't know what we bring together, but we bring something for the community, you know what I mean? There's something in the air, brother.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure. Nate, what's your thoughts on that? How would you navigate that?
SPEAKER_03You think about like trying to do you know, two kind of different content things on the channel. Uh, I mean, I would go with you know what the audience wants and what works, but like if you're really passionate about you know doing feds, I'd experiment with that too, and you know, see how you know people respond to that. But it is it is a lot of work, so I can understand if you want to focus more on you know doing the shorts and stuff as opposed to you know the Fed because it is a lot of like a lot of hours just filming and editing and things like that, even just thinking of the ideas, too.
SPEAKER_00I give you two so much credit. Like, I don't know if I said this shit on here, but seriously, like you guys are doing amazing with the videos, first of all. So seriously, pat yourself on the back. I appreciate it, man. Thank you. I give you so much kudos for the time you put into it because, like, it's different when you're an outside viewer and you're watching it, but someone, at least like me, who's been there and knows how much work and time it can take, and effort and frustration, I give I give you so much kudos, you know what I mean. So I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01Kudos, yeah, kudos to you. Four four shorts in a day every day is insane. And then you're on a ground too. Yeah, it's like physical, like you're doing fit. Like, obviously, we all do some sort of physical labor, whether it's like you know, you're holding figures or you know, you're doing these things, you're setting these things up, right? I mean, you're active, you took a bump on a damn two by four and a ladder and a fridge and a microwave, like all these things. So that's a whole nother like I don't know. Like, let's say you film four different weapon spots in one day, and you're like, I mean, you basically went through a hardcore match at that point.
SPEAKER_00True. I did do a pile of tools one time. Ooh, pile of tools.
SPEAKER_01How have you done have you done thumb tacks?
SPEAKER_00I want to do them. I want to do them.
SPEAKER_01I told you that's a viral clip right there, man. I think you do thumbtacks, and then you have your maybe I don't know how you do it. You could do like yeah, hey, you do it shirtless, you have yourself land on the tacks, and you lift up and you actually take the bump. I think that's a viral clip right there.
SPEAKER_00I was thinking of wearing two shirts and a hoodie when I did with no, I know seriously. I I've been wanting to do with some tax that and a cactus.
SPEAKER_01That would be oh man.
SPEAKER_00With a shirt on now.
SPEAKER_01I'm thinking, like, how funny would it be if you're yeah, you know, one of your creative captions that you do with the POV, whatever, and you have that Elmo, whatever, and I don't know if you do a pub. It I don't know what how you do it, but you have him like go under the bed and he gets the bag and he's dumping out the thumbtacks on the floor. That would be so funny. I think I'm already envisioning it. Like you gotta make it happen now.
SPEAKER_00What's crazy is uh I've actually done that, but with Legos in our match.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I remember that one. I remember that one. Now maybe that's where my brain's connecting the dots. That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But thumbtacks would be so much better. I mean, the Legos are just as close.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I mean, it may be worse. It may be worse.
SPEAKER_00You guys watch Jackass before? Oh, yeah, for sure. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's kind of like it's kind of like that kind of pain. It's like, oh, it's worth it because like it's for the video, so it's fine. But the the Legos do sting. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. Have you thought about like making it like a full Fed in and of itself and having like other characters, other like plushies and things that you can wrestle, and they maybe Elmo fights them, or it's like a triple threat, fatal four-way sort of thing.
SPEAKER_00If I did that, you think it would be corny? Like, I just I don't like I would actually.
SPEAKER_03I mean one of one of the biggest channels out there. I don't know if you know them, but SML. They have like this puppet show, and it's insane. So and people love it. So I think that could work really well.
SPEAKER_01I think like the thing, like at this point, like all three of us are already in these niche audiences where you know people people at the onset are already gonna judge you for the kind of like arena that we're in, kind of. So I mean, like you might as well like just lean fully into it, and I wouldn't like I think I think the wackier and funnier and whatever and more obscene it is, is the more entertaining, the better video, the better, you know what I mean? Like that goofy stuff is what really is just so entertaining. That's why people watch for that for that kind of I mean, what's the what's the guy that's like bailed? He's bailed off of like the thing from superhuman, yeah. Yeah, he's like yeah, like he's been doing spots like that for what like five or six years now, and he's still he's just still doing the spots.
SPEAKER_00Like, I mean, yeah, people used to comment and say, Oh my god, the next superhuman. Y'all should collab if someone collab, yeah. Yeah, I like ICP. I'm an insane clown posse fan, so hey, we'll threw it. Yeah, I'm down. I think uh I don't know if I could do his bum stuff. I like dude, yeah, it's insane. Takes off the show, too. Yeah, man, he goes full at it. Like, I mean, I don't mind harming myself, but I'm really not trying to go to the hospital at the end of the day.
SPEAKER_01I'm not no, he doesn't he Teddy may send you there, though. You may not have a choice, dude.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I gotta have my medical bills paid in advance, you know. I mean it's not good. I know, I agree. He's got potato man as backup. Yeah, messed up. I gotta think of something to do for this buried alive match. Not good.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, the return of Teddy, I guess. I mean, if you get buried alive, then you can't lose that match.
SPEAKER_00I guess we'll see.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Talk about like like the pick feds they used to watch that that inspired you all the way back then. Like, well, and even content content creators, like, who are you watching, you know, back then that might have inspired you or just like you know, captured your imagination.
SPEAKER_00You've had him on the pod, I'm pretty sure. GCW, yeah, right? GCW High Flyer 329. Have you heard of him?
SPEAKER_03I've heard of it because GCW's talked about him, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god, high flyer, dude. He is one of my biggest inspirations, like for the stage. Um, and I want to say this right off the back. Compare my stages to your guys' stages, if this is like garbage.
SPEAKER_01So nah, dude, that's the OG right there. Like, our stages don't exist without those right there.
SPEAKER_00All right, all right. Okay, yeah. So like he inspires like High Flyer would always inspire my stages growing up and my pick feds because he would use a lot of jacks, and he would also, which I'm not too big on nowadays. He would he would do Mattel and Jax would face each other, which I mean back then that's cool, that's unique, you know, and you kind of would make it work. And plus, that was at the time where Mattel was coming over anyway, so that we were transitioning, you know. There were some dudes we had in Jax, but didn't have a Mattel, and you know, vice versa. Um, him Cena 0224. I don't know if you know him.
SPEAKER_03Uh it goes all the way back. I wasn't watching PicFed like that's Harrison, isn't it? Isn't that Harrison?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, Harrison, yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh. I'll message him every once in a while and catch up with him. He's awesome. Yeah, he's cool. And then I met a guy, his name's you won't know him, but he's because he's more uh underground. WWE R R Edge. I met him in the PicFed world in 2013. We still text every day. He's he's uh from Albuquerque, and so I met him. Um yeah, I think those were my main like inspirations for the uh pick fedders back in the day. I mean, there was a few other oddball dudes I'd watch, but those were like the biggest, and like you know, kind of like what you guys are to the wrestling media now. That's what you know, Cena and um you know, all those guys were Cena's more.
SPEAKER_01It's kind of crazy, like the rich history of such a it's so niche, you know. Like you have to have kind of like deep ball knowledge, but it's still I don't know, it's just crazy. Like the war and like the history of it is really fascinating, you know, especially to see the progression of everything and see how it's all like unfolded is super cool.
SPEAKER_00Oh, nowadays, like I said, like the videos you I mean, I saw your slime match, your pool matches. I mean, and I love your horror battle royals that you like used to do back in I used to watch them, dude. Oh my gosh, you do them, right? Trey, me or Trey.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I yeah, I've I've done some horror stuff, did horror battle royals and stuff. Nate Nate's done better matches, though, like especially consistently over the years. And then I did like some horror matches, but I think that Nate's are Nate's are much better than mine.
SPEAKER_03Appreciate that man, yeah. Oh yeah, you and yeah, you've done a lot of awesome stuff with the horror figures for sure. The setups, too. I mean, like you went all out, like putting like drilling holes through the figures and stuff, like doing some insane stuff, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the setups, yeah. I mean, I'm I'm like sitting there thinking like, bro, this is I could rebuy this $20 figure, it's not that big of a deal. So let's just yeah, let's gore it up. But yeah, I definitely yeah, the horror setups are fun, but that comes from my brother. My brother has always been like like I've loved horror films, but he's like the he kind of got me into that genre, and then you know, you just kind of and they're like you know, you know as well as I do with the horror figures, you can kind of get wacky because I mean these guys are kind of immortal in a way, so you can get super crazy, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'm a big horror fan, and I collect not as much anymore because I have most of them, but the NECAs I have like all the ones I seen in your video, like yeah, man.
SPEAKER_01There's they do some great stuff, and they're they're I feel like you know it used to just be a few characters, now they have like everybody, it seems there's so many people that they make now. So cartoons now and yeah, they they they do all kinds of stuff. So the multiverse is alive and well, Nate.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, lots to choose from. But yeah, KWE, tell us about like you know, your figures and stuff in the journey. You collected all the Jax figures, you played with them when you were younger.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so like a lot of some like majority of the Jax figures I had from when I was younger, and then in 2011, I started collecting the Mattel's, and like I still I'll get some ultimate editions nowadays. Like, I got uh Triple H and Cody Rhodes and Batista and stuff like that, and like Eddie Guerrero. That I so I love the posing of the Mattel figures, I really do, especially for uh playing and doing pick feds and all that, they're great for the nostalgic feel. Which is I'm like a big chaser of nostalgia for some reason. I don't know why, I just am. I do go towards like the jacks, but the Mattel figures that were made in like 2010 to 2013 are kind of nostalgic for me too. Yeah, like majority of like my KW roster is 2010 to 20 like um 13, like right now. That's like the era of what we got going for KW right now. Um, so yeah, I mean, just out here, I had to move my arena here. I'm just like looking at all these bins of wrestlers. I mean, you guys know how it is. So, like I do have a lot, and and and that's a cool thing, obviously, not as many as as you guys, especially you, Trey.
SPEAKER_01You don't need you don't need this many, man. You don't need this many, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, it's insane. That's awesome. But yes, like I've always just loved playing with the figures if I can. Nowadays, obviously, we don't do it as much, but it's still fun, you know.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say, like, I feel like um you said the nostalgia thing with the jacks, almost it's crazy now, but we've kind of lived through this point. We're to the point now where people look back on early Mattel as like peak nostalgia now, because it's been so long since they obtained the license. So now a lot of TikTok trends and nostalgia stuff that you find in videos is 2010, 2011, 2012 elites and basics and arenas and those playsets that we talked about, Nate, that we, you know, did the bracket for. A lot of people are heavy into those now because it's been so long since they started.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah, there's did you like continue collecting, you know, throughout the years, or do you just kind of have like the older figures that you used to have, or you get the odd new figure every now and then?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's pretty much like odd and new figure if we're talking about like ordering off ringside, like full sets or stuff like that. Sadly, it's kind of like I only pick up a figure I I want or like need for the pick fed, or just in general. And I was talking to Trey a little bit about it. Like, eventually, I think it would be cool to um like spend some money and get like the full sets and then just do YouTube videos reviewing them, you know, kind of like he's been doing that for you. I think you know, yeah, like I would like to get them all, especially for my audience, and yeah, it's just the fact I guess of spending all the money is is like the issue.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's not it's nothing to be ashamed about, not to be like a consumer of everything, you know, like you don't need to consume everything they put out.
SPEAKER_01I tell everybody this, and it's it I guess people look at it like oh, like hypocritical or whatever, but is it I don't know if it's necessarily hypocritical for because I'm like there's a specific need for it, it's for the audience to look at and say, okay, do I need this or not? It's not oh, I'm just you know grabbing every single thing that comes out, and I steal most of the stuff like legends, figures, Monday night wars, and stuff. I'm usually behind 95% of the time on a lot of those things. Like I don't have like I'll walk into Target or Walmart and I'll leave a full set laying there because I'm waiting on clearance, or you know, I they don't really speak to me, or whatever the case is, but you don't need everything because I think and it goes into our agreed-disagree later a little bit, but you know, I think I always establish you should have rules for your collection because if you don't, then you end up then your collection just becomes kind of like a mess, and you don't want that. You need to have like a nice curated thing that makes sense if that you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, my brother at one time, he was buying every AEW figure, he was buying all these different wrestlers and all this stuff, and he wanted me to use them for my company, and it would kind of like you know, bond, bring our relationship together and whatnot. Um, but having that many figures and that much of a roster, that's a bit overwhelming. And then, like you said, it's hard to keep control and organize it. So, like all the time for KWE, like I've always every like half a year or something, I've always like did like a brand split or a reset and like slim down the roster. I try to keep it short and simple. That way it's just it's easier to book, it's easier to plan out, and you don't have all these other guys that you're like, oh wait, I can't fit him in the card tonight. Uh you know, but he needs to be on the card, but I don't want him to lose.
SPEAKER_03That's WW It's hard to book. Yeah, it's hard to book when you have so many you know characters to choose from, you know. People get you know lost in the shuffle, just like in real life. Yes, but but yeah, what are you what are you some uh some of your favorite pieces or figures that you had in your childhood that you're like most nostalgic about, or even play sets?
SPEAKER_00So this ring that I bought, and if you can see, I'm probably not lighting the attitude error ring. I always had that one as a kid for some reason. I mean, we I'm sure we all had the raw spring ring, but yeah, those are those are not very good. Those are the hardcore actually the Mattel one, yeah. The Mattel, the Spring Ring, I always felt like was your figure slid too much on them, like a lot, yeah. It's pretty bad. Um, so like that ring. Um, and then down here I have a bunch of like backstage pieces. So like the SmackDown soda machine was like big, the dumpster, the toilet. Oh my gosh, I would play with that jack's toilet with that green slime and the sink with the figures for hours, man. Um, but Mattel ones all CM Punk Elites, like Elite 16 punk, that was a big one that I yeah, I found it in the store back in the day, and that was like so cool. Found it like a Macy's man. Like it was I had the whole set, whole set, Diesel, Kevin Nash, Punk dude.
SPEAKER_01For a while, that was like one of the rarest set. I mean, I'm sure it's still rare, like, especially if it's men on card, but for a while there, man, especially in even 2017, 2018, these years like that, those figures were going for crazy amounts. Men on card. That set used to be looked upon as like the the set.
SPEAKER_03Wow, wasn't that Red Nash like like a rare one? Like there wasn't like a limited.
SPEAKER_01But see, what's funny is in that set there's two Elite 16 Kevin Nashes, and one of them's yeah, yeah. So people, yeah, people loved that set. People were losing it, had Heath Slater with the ladder. I have yeah, I got that as a kid, yeah. And the Connect Ezekiel Jackson was in that wave with the oval IC belt.
SPEAKER_00That's who else I was gonna say is nostalgic for me. I don't know why, but this was at the time when when Ryback was uh really big. Yeah, so I was using Ezekiel Jackson kind of like as the Ryback gimmick, and he would just like close people and slam them.
SPEAKER_03So for me, I used a curt angle for Ryback back in the day. No way, yeah, the straps on the bold head, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. That's so cool. So, like, yeah, and then like that's a nostalgic piece, just because like that that's a video idea right there for me, like using a different wrestler as a you know, actual wrestling gimmick.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's a great video. People 100%, yeah. That's sweet.
SPEAKER_00Um, but um, yeah, you know, the earlier elite series, definitely. I think my first ever Elite could be wrong. Don't judge me. Elite 12, Randy Orton.
SPEAKER_03I don't know if he that was your first elite because I guess 2011, 2012, yeah.
SPEAKER_00That was my first elite man. Um, and then I remember was it green, green tights? I think so. The green on uh yeah, yeah, yeah, on the logo or whatever. I think it came with a shirt, if I'm not mistaken.
SPEAKER_03I think it was like the rubber shirt. Yes, we hate to see it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I know those were they eventually finally it got better with the rubber um buttons eventually, but at first, oh my gosh, you could not for the life of the broccoli.
SPEAKER_01They didn't age well either, they like fall apart now.
SPEAKER_00Oh, they've update. I mean, obviously, this is we all we've all talked about this, but their shirts now are great, at least I think like they are, yeah.
SPEAKER_03The cloth ones, yeah. We haven't seen those rubber ones in ages. Thank goodness.
SPEAKER_01Thank god, because that'd be I'd be the first one to bury it. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00They were never really good. Those are all nostalgic for me, all them early Mattel elite lines, and like you said, that's what kids are people are finding nostalgic now is the early Mattel lines.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's because those guys like yourself are you know, they're coming into maybe more adult money, they're more established, they're more stable with their income, and so they're thinking, you know, that nostalgic bone is you know itching, and they're like, ah, what can I do? And so they're looking for these figures like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, and then real quick, too, I do have a video idea planned where it's I was telling him a little bit about it. Um building my dream WWF roster, okay, from 1999, 2001. I am currently buying all not all, but like a lot of mock mint on card titan jacks figures right now. And I'm gonna do a full video showing them all off. But I'm I have like all the big names, like Big Show, Stone Cold, Raw, Kane. So I'm trying to, I've still got to gather like mankind, and there's this China that comes with a wood, wooden plank with a rat coming out of it in the box for 15 bucks. You think that's a good deal? What do you think, boys?
SPEAKER_0315 bucks, yeah. That's not bad. I feel like that's not that bad.
SPEAKER_00I think it's a WrestleMania one.
SPEAKER_03That'd be a pretty cool video idea to do like a little like a limited series fed or something of like those Titan Tron live figures. I think like um the major pod, they did like a series where they're booking those figures for a while, but they didn't actually do like a like film it or anything.
SPEAKER_01So it's just pictures, that's what I was talking about. It's like kind of like a slideshow, and you kind of just tell what happened, like show interrupted in mankind, and you put them through the announce table, and it's just like this it's like a slideshow with commentary. You know, it doesn't have to be overly crazy, but again, it's all about what the audience wants and you know what they want to see, etc.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they've been begging for more like figure content, so I gotta give them what they want.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, okay. What kind of figure content do you like the most? You know, as you know, someone who makes it and also someone who you know watches it these days, what do you enjoy the most?
SPEAKER_00I do like watching like the figure reviews, um, and like especially like toy hunts or like thrift store hunts where they're showing off all these figures they got. Um, I but I do like like the pig feds like that we you guys do nowadays, you know what I mean? As long as you got the time to like sit there and watch the full show, man, it's a blast. Um I do enjoy that content, and it makes me wish that I was able. I mean, I can, but it just you know, I was doing stuff like that. I think that would be cool, just because from a outer ship, you know, viewer perspective, it it's you kind of just look watch it, and you're like, oh my gosh, like I want to do that because that's how much it kind of lures you in, you know, with the the appeal to it, you know. I mean, and I do like the nostalgic content as well, obviously.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, that's really cool. What do you what about you, Trey? What do you like the most, you know, in terms of content these days? What do you enjoy like making the most?
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's a good one. Um, I always enjoy like getting a new figure and breaking it down, like he said, like with the reviews. I like to see I don't like to watch somebody's review if I haven't gotten it, depending like sometimes I do, sometimes I do, but I usually like to go back and see if this person maybe enjoyed it or see what their opinion may be on a certain figure, if it you know matches mine, or if they called something out, or they didn't call something out, or if they found that annoying, or whatever the case was. But I feel like I'm just kind of a consumer of the whole community. So if somebody's consistently putting something out, I probably will you'll probably come across my desk because I'm just you know, my algorithm is full of that stuff. So I see a lot. And I just like to see well-made stuff, you know, at the end of the day. But as far as a specific thing, I like to see people that do new creative things that they're you know, you can tell they put their best foot forward. They weren't just copying somebody, they're, you know, well-made, original, well shot, you know, things like that. I think that's what I enjoy. I like to just see people creating things. I like to see how creative somebody can be or what they can come up with. I call it Frankenstein efforting, but it, you know, it goes back to that. You know, what can people what what are people coming up with?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love the creativity, you know, online that you know people share with us. And yeah, the high effort kind of content or like unique ideas, I love that. Or even just like, you know, following a creator like you and just seeing what you're up to and stuff, like I'm invested in that. So yeah, I like all that. But in terms of like action figure content, like what do you want to do? You want to do more like short stuff? Because I've seen your short stuff with the action figures, and it's really relatable and nostalgic and stuff. Like, what do you think of you know, the action figure content you want to do? You do you have any ideas for like long form stuff?
SPEAKER_00Uh I do I do want to apologize, my cat. Got the zoomies right now, so he's running around if you hear any.
SPEAKER_03That's right. We love you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I'm trying to focus. He's going nuts right on the camera. Oh god, love him. Um, yeah, so like kind of what uh Trey was saying, I do kind of want to do KWE results, and I I tested the waters a little bit with um my WrestleMania this year. I kind of just like set the camera up. This is when I didn't have good lighting, and I, you know, obviously I'm pretty sure with like you do a video and the lighting's not great. Most of the, I mean, especially with a long form video, it's not gonna reach that much. I could be wrong, or you know what I mean? Um, but the lighting wasn't that great, so I feel like that kind of damaged it. But I just sat behind the camera and set it up and had like the the uh the matches, like the money in the bank, and then I just cut the camera and set it up and did like okay, so this is what happened at the end, you know, Damian Sandai won the money in the bank. This is how, and like next match. But I don't know if that's boring, too. You know, I don't I feel like they they want matches, you know.
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah. It's kind of tough too, because I mean you said you have like this decade-long illustrious career, maybe you could or like of this Fed or whatever. So I don't know if maybe you could I don't know if you could do a recap video, but you could maybe touch on the historic moments to get you to a point to where people can be like, okay, if you want the lore, you can watch this, but then start fresh. I don't know how that would work. That's kind of difficult there.
SPEAKER_00There's so many facts for KWE that they don't know, and just what you said, I think that would help.
SPEAKER_01Like, yeah, I had I mean, like you you have like decade-long rivalries and things that a new viewer wouldn't be able to really, you know, relate to. But I mean, in Nate's case, or you know, I guess on like my next episode, if nobody's watched the previous, you can kind of get caught up to speed if you watch that new episode, but you're also you know, it's not just talking about it, you're kind of showing you're you're doing these matches, and so it's a little bit more engaging, hold focus, people can follow along rather than if they were just told it. So that's kind of what makes that difficult. So I can see where the challenges would come in with something like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's challenging, but I guess it's all about how we make it work, you know, just what we can do and execute it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's hard to like, you know, because this stuff takes time, you know, feds and stuff. It's hard to, you know, try to build stories and keep people invested. You gotta be consistent with it. You know, I just it's just it's kind of like a TV show. Like, if you haven't seen it, a new season's about to come out. It's been two, three years. I just watched like the newest episode, season three of House of the Dragon. Awesome episode, but like I really needed that recap right at the start of the video because I like pretty much forgot a lot of the stuff that happened and what's up with the characters and things. So, yeah, you gotta keep people in the loop of like the story and remind them of you know all that. But yeah, if you have something like if you have a cool video, like people will get invested and they'll learn along the way and and stuff like that. Oh do you guys want to get into the agree disagree now? Yeah, 100%. I'm ready.
SPEAKER_01Are you have your you have your uh agree disagree prompt?
SPEAKER_00I got my prompts.
SPEAKER_01Hey, look at that.
SPEAKER_00We gotta agree, we got this disagree.
SPEAKER_01Hey, all right, all right, okay. Alrighty, you guys ready? Agree disagree, we're diving in with the first prompt, and it's gonna be WWE elites are superior compared to Jax deluxe aggression figures. So deluxe aggression figures, kind of the elite equivalent, I guess, for the time period. Is everybody ready? I'm ready.
SPEAKER_00All right, hold up, hold up. All right, let's do it.
SPEAKER_01Okay, okay. Elites are better than deluxe aggression from Jax. Three, two, one, go. Agree. Triple agree. Look at that. Yeah, man. I don't I love deluxe aggression, but I think I don't know. For me personally, once you know, series one started off with a bang, and then I felt like it didn't immediately fall off, but I felt like after series one, it was a steady, steady, like slow but steady, even if it was incrementally 0.1%, I felt like from series one it slowly went down. But I could be wrong, somebody could let me know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think that you know, I don't know the lore of all the other action figures that were around during their time, but I feel like you know the jack's deluxe aggression, you know, paved the way for the elite line in that articulation. But yeah, Mattel's quality is just insane. Uh, the accessories, the scaling, it's just incredible stuff. So I think they definitely are better than the jack's deluxe aggression. What do you think, KWE?
SPEAKER_00So I think the jack deluxe aggressions are great and all, but at the end of the day, you know, their build, they're just too bulky and like they're just out of proportion, like life-wise. Like, I have that um Halloween Have a Green Mysterio, and it's taller than you know, and stuff. Um, yeah, yeah. And I agree with Trey because, in a way, their line started good, but then progressed downwards, as vice versa. Mattel started off good and just kind of climbed the mountain and just over here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point. It was like kind of the opposite trend. So, yeah, yeah, but yeah, that's I think the biggest thing people have an issue with, like, of course, they're amazing in certain ways, especially for the time period, but the scaling was just always an issue with Jax. And I mean, maybe it was just because of the time period we were in, like, they weren't gonna create a whole new mold for Rey Mysterio, but man, that would have been something, wouldn't it?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, all right.
SPEAKER_01Let's uh let's move on to the second one, everybody. Ready? Yep. Mattel has surpassed Jax in every category. In every category. So this is this is the figures, this is the accessories, this is the play sets, this is the well, how does that work?
SPEAKER_03Because what if they have surpassed them in every category but one?
SPEAKER_04Does that still is that every category, Brad?
SPEAKER_03Well, uh, like what do you call it? Like, if there's more of like it, it's like a rounds up, right? You mean or does it have to be every single one?
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, the the prompt just says Mattel has surpassed Jax in every category, so they're better head sculpts, better figures, better play sets, better, etc. Okay. All right, I'm ready. Three, two, one, go. Oh, triple disagree. Look at that. I thought I was gonna be pointing here. KWE, you start this one off.
SPEAKER_00Uh, so I feel like you know, I think we might have been thinking the same thing, Nate. The weapons, Mattel definitely is not now the weapons. I know that's gonna be different than we're talking like figures, but they have it now the weapons. Uh I did watch your guys' um playset bracket, and that Ambrose Asylum one is actually pretty freaking sweet. Yeah, but I feel like still, you know, Jack's playsets. I mean, down there I do have the Mattel backstage one and stuff, and they've done like the interview backstage piece. I still feel like Jax Weapons and Playset are better. Um other than that, though, I feel like Mattel nails the head scans, the articulation, the attires, the paints. Yeah, I honestly the only thing I disagree on is that, and I feel like we might feel the same way, but go ahead.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I feel like Mattel, I think it kind of goes without saying they've surpassed Jax in every category, but the you know, the playability, like the accessories, the well, the accessories are good for Mattel, but they don't provide like weapons a lot of the time with the figures. Like, when's the last time we got one of those really big ladders? You know, a lot of kids these days probably don't have that accessory, and that's something that you kind of need, like that really tall ladder. It's always these little short ones.
SPEAKER_01But I never even thought about that, but that's so true. Like, when's the last time we got a long ladder? Like Epic Moments Hardy's? When's the last time we actually got a true traditional long ladder?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, I remember getting that Elite 16 Heath Slater with the ladder as a kid and being so stoked to get that because yeah, it's so hard to come by. And uh, Seth Rollins back in the day, I think it was like Elite 25 came with a ladder and a uh table as well. That was really cool. So I wish I know they're catering a lot more to the adult collectors, but I wish they put more weapons and stuff, kendo sticks, lattice chairs, tables, you know, for the you know, the the kids who need those accessories to, you know, have a fun time playing. But uh also the the play sets as well. Now they've done a lot of cool slambulances and vehicles and things like that, but I think you know, Jax really took the cake with the accessory with the play sets and accessories. What do you think, Trey?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think I'm in agreement with both of you. I just just something about those goofy accessories and weapons and just the I and again, it spoke to the time, right? It was a it was a product of its time, the tire with the Degum skunk attached to it, or the mattress, or like these really unique things. It's just a product of the time. It was an edgier product, it's an edgier, you know, you had Toys of Rust where you could plug these things, these things didn't have to go to Walmart or Target, even though they would. I'm just saying there was just a I don't know, it's just a different time. And I think the Mattel has pretty much surpassed them in every way. I just think the playability and the just kind of chaos of it, I would like to see more of that. And I think that's where Jax kind of has the edge still, is in that in that form factor. But yeah, I think I think those are all valid points. You guys ready for the next one? Yep. All right, collectors, collectors are blinded by mistak nostalgia when they praise Jax. So collectors are just overlooking all their flaws and they're just praising the they're only looking at nostalgia or if they take their nostalgia glasses off, they would think that Jax isn't very good.
SPEAKER_03So the official there's a lot of nuance to it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so here we go. Okay. All right, here's the here's the prompt. Collectors are blinded by nostalgia when they praise Jax. Okay. Alright. Everybody ready? Ready? Three, two, one. Disagree. Disagree. All right, triple disagree on that one for the for the audio listeners. Yeah, I just, yeah, I think if anybody had that take, like, oh, you're blinded by nostalgia, they just weren't there. You weren't there, you didn't get to see it, feel it, live it. It was a different time, and I think, like we just stated, Jax just did a lot of really good things. They did some things well, they innovated a lot of ways, you know, like the I don't know, there was just such a not only with weapons and stuff, but you talk about Jax classic superstars, and you talk about Deluxe Aggression, and you talk about just these epic playsets. They had their they had their moment in time where they were just incredible. Their peak was the peak of peaks. And we're in the era we are now, but that era was still peak, and I don't think anything can take that away.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think you have to judge it about like how good was it for the time period that it was, and I think for the time period that that it was, I think they were doing fantastic, a fantastic job, and I don't think that's nostalgia blinding my opinion. I think they did great for the time. So, what do you think, AWE?
SPEAKER_00No, I agree, and yeah, I'm sure there's some nostalgia to it when you're looking at the figures, but how I feel too is like the the Jax uh Ruthless Aggression line, they're the same articulation as basic Mattel figures, you know what I mean? They're all the same joints. So sometimes, you know, I I enjoy playing with the basic Jax figures because it's just like playing with basics from Mattel. Um the deluxe aggressions are a little bit bulky, or you know, like we discussed, but like Trace said, it's a different time period, you know. You had to have been there, and still when these were a thing, Mattel wasn't even thought of, so we just appreciated what we had. You know, we didn't care what the articulation was, what you know what I mean. So, yeah, definitely for sure.
SPEAKER_01100%, man.
SPEAKER_00Also, I gotta plug in my computer, so it's gonna let you guys know that what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_01No, you're good, man. Whatever you gotta do.
SPEAKER_00Thanks. I don't have to move this light too, but no, you're good, man.
SPEAKER_01Do whatever you gotta do. I'll move on to the next prompt if you can hear me.
SPEAKER_00I can hear you, brother. Loud and clear.
SPEAKER_01So this one is Mattel WWE Ultimate Editions are the greatest WWE action figure line ever. WWE Ultimate Editions are the greatest WWE figure. Okay, is that two different things? Mattel WWE Ultimates are the greatest WWE figures ever made. So I feel like that's that's the line, right? Wouldn't that wouldn't you be saying the line? Yeah, okay. I didn't I didn't know if I'd be stuck like this. Oh my god. Am I in terms of what they've produced so far? Yeah, let's ooh, I don't know. I'm hold up now, hold up, hold up. I'm trying to think this one through. Mattel WWE Ultimates are the greatest WWE figures ever made. You know what? Golly, I really are you torn on this at all, Nate? Have you are you not really?
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_01Really? I mean, it's tricky, but not really. All right, okay, all right. Here we go. You ready? All of us ready.
SPEAKER_00All right, let's do it.
SPEAKER_01All right, three, two, one. Disagree. Wow. I almost went disagree. I went agree. KWE goes agree.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm gonna go with three. If I could go in the middle, I would, but I'll go with agree.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was so close to going disagree because the elite line is so transformative in a lot of ways. Like it it started it all without the elites, the ultimates probably wouldn't even be a thing or even thought of. And I think what did it for me is I think just the the the presentation of it, like this is the ultimate, and I know not all the ultimates are ultimate, right? We've we've seen this play out, but this is the ultimate of a superstar, and you're you know, you get this this packaging, it's all there. They get the entrance here most of the time, it's got all the bells and whistles, the championship, for the most part, not every time, but I think that I think I think it's the best, but it could change. I was very close to going disagree. Nate, what do you think?
SPEAKER_03I think the elite line is just it's been around longer, they've produced a lot more iconic figures. I think that in theory, the ultimate line should be better and should be the best line. I just think there are certain issues with some of them, like there are in in the elites as well, but there are certain issues with some of them. I I could definitely say that there are some characters who have had their best figures as ultimates, but uh as so far in the history of everything, I can't really say that the ultimates are the best line when we've seen so much great stuff from the elites. What do you think, KWE?
SPEAKER_00So the reason I'm torn and in the middle kind of is because I feel like there's been a couple flaws with some of the ultimate editions, like before, like some of the torsos were a little bit bulky or stuff like that. And I did notice like with that new Goldberg Ultimate Edition, they got the neck, like the neck can go like a lot further and stuff, so they're expanding the articulation even further, which is wild to even think about. Um, like ball joints and all that. I know they've been doing some of that. Um, but as far as playing wise, um oh, my thing I was gonna say too is price-wise, not the greatest, you know, if you don't got that great of a budget, so that's kind of a downfall with the ultimate editions. You do get what you pay for, you know.
SPEAKER_01You think like elites you're gonna say, like elites give you that, it's like the perfect bang for your buck, you think? I think so.
SPEAKER_00I think so. I wish they weren't like $25 now. It'd be nice if they're like $19.20, but hey, what are you gonna do, right?
SPEAKER_01I think two is just the amount of accessories, like even if not every single time. I know there's some women's ultimates and there's some different figures that may not come with everything, but I don't know, they give you a lot. It's kind of you know, you buy an elite, sometimes they only come with hands, like not a jacket, not a shirt, not a like you get like the Elite 125 Cody. I mean, they didn't even give him the title, they didn't even give him the jacket, it's just interchangeable hands. I don't even think they gave him an interchangeable head with that figure. So it's just that's crazy for you know an elite to not come with something like that. But like Nate said, the elite line has just such an illustrious history, and it has so many bangers, and it like I think a lot of people, there are a lot of people that would pick, and I still I may even be more team elite over ultimate. It's just I think with the I think how they package it, and again, like you said, I wish it would hold up to the name more than it off more often than it does. And I think that's kind of a running thing with the community, you know. They they say, Oh, ultimates used to be so special and then they fell off. I know you've heard this before. They say, Oh, they used to, I thought it was just gonna be certain characters, and then you know, now everybody gets an ultimate, it's not special anymore, or whatever they say.
SPEAKER_00Defining moments elite, people are salty because Ricky Saints is there, and people be dumping on the defining moments, me myself included.
SPEAKER_01That kind of degrades the line, too. The defining moments to just throw anybody in there. We we talked about this on the ringside lost ringside exclusives lost their aura episode. We discussed this a little bit.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, no, that's definitely I agree. I agree.
SPEAKER_03Trey, you might know a little bit about this, but I've from what I've seen, it looks like it only goes up and up and down. Does it go side to side? Like uh neck to neck, does it go side to side?
SPEAKER_01I haven't really I think Bray's the only one I have that has it. You mean like a like a kind of like a I don't really because that could be a problem. Like you mean like a head tilt? Yeah, they can kind of tilt. I mean it's kind I don't know, I just noticed his whole arm fell off, but they look all the way down to the head.
SPEAKER_03But then eliminate side to side.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you mean like well the thing the thing with it is you know you get that diaphragm on the torso, so they're probably thinking, oh, because I can shift this, it's the same, maybe. It's not, but it's no, it's definitely not because you can't do like you can't do like the Michael Myers, but I mean you can kind of do the Michael Myers. I mean, he has long hair, so it's kind of more difficult.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, but yeah, that that could be an issue.
SPEAKER_01It could be. I haven't really gotten to play with it a whole lot, but if nobody knows what we're talking about, we're talking about the disc hinge here or the ball hinge.
SPEAKER_03I know I take I take issue with that. I don't know why I think I think that was a priority. I think you could uh I mean for Bray, I understand because you need to tilt the head back a little bit, but I think they got that head with the hair already back, so I mean correct.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think if that becomes standard, that could be an issue.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think I think it's gonna be one of those things that I wait and see on. I haven't had enough. Did you have a comment about someone like that? Saying something about yeah, somebody said, Why did you tell them to integrate this or something? But at the end of the day, like that's like a really old school thing, and I think that lines that do have the ball hinge in it, they are still able to get a head pivot, you know. Like you don't you don't just need this, you need to be able to tilt somebody's head that's on that ball.
SPEAKER_03Yes, if they can't, that's that's well.
SPEAKER_01I don't you know again, we don't have any real exact I'm trying to think who else comes with this so far. Is he the only one? Goldberg, I think so. Yeah, so the Goldberg's gonna be a really make or break kind of reviewer. Seamus, Brock Lesnar, these people are they gonna be. Brock's gonna have it too. Well, I'm saying is he gonna have the
SPEAKER_03I wonder if they have like I don't know like a test market where they like bring in a few collectors and go like Keigo, like what do you think of this before they you know put it out?
SPEAKER_01What's funny is over WrestleMania weekend, I signed up on the Mattel for a Mattel uh what do you call this focus group? I signed up for a Mattel focus group, but we were in Las Vegas and I could not finish my submission process. So maybe I could have been selected. Maybe that was one of the things they would have given me to test to give my feedback. What if I effed up? What if our Vegas trip effed up the how our Vegas trip ruined the ultimate line? I don't know, but all right. Let's uh let's move on to the next one unless anybody has anything else. No, let's move on. All right. Jax made for a better toy aisle experience. Yeah, okay, let's go. You ready? Everybody got it? Yep. Jax made for a better toy aisle experience. Three, two, one. Agree. Triple agree. Yeah, the fact of the matter is there was just a lot more shish there. There was so much. I feel like there was you had accessory packs, you had crazy play sets, you had all these different series, you had I mean, it was just ridiculous. What do you think?
SPEAKER_03For me, I think today you can say, oh well, it's not really Mattel's fault because he toys are us and everything, but at the start of Mattel, it still wasn't as good as Jax, you know, the the play sets and everything as well, and the variety of stuff and the crazy things Jax were doing. So yeah, I think Jax definitely had a better experience.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I agree with you too. And um, I think too, not only that, but the colors, you know, the packaging, the bright green or the yellow and the red, just looking back at it now, it brings so much more nostalgia to us. But even back then, it's just like it's still cool to see, you know, because now what the bot the elite boxes just what black and red and white kind of.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you know what I miss? I miss when I guess because they didn't have like social media back then, but I miss when they had on the back of the box photos of the upcoming figures or like what's out, so you could see like what they look like and like what to look for and stuff. And they even had playsets on the back of the box. That was so cool.
SPEAKER_01100% like they used it as an extra, they used it as an ad space. That's literally what it was there for. It was an advertising space for their own product. Like that's so genius. And they would plug, you know, WWE Shop or whatever to go buy more figures or to go, you know, KBtoys.com, whatever it was, and that's where you would go to buy more figures. But I just adding on to what you guys said, I agree 100%. And the the just the box sets that were just you get like eight figures in one box set with a title and just these crazy over-the-top things that you just don't get anymore, and that's because of the death of Toys of Rust. It's because of the rise of electronics over toys, like there's so many things that contributed to it, but yeah, it was a time to be alive for sure. Are we ready for the next one? Yep, let's do it. Alrighty. This one's kind of an overarching just for collecting in general, but it says less figures equals better collection. Less figures that you buy, less money or less figures produced. Less figures just in your collection. So, like a figure with less a a collection with less figures more often than not equals better collection.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01All right, less figures equals better collection. Here we go. Three, two, one. Disagree. Wow, I say agree. It says the guy with all the figures.
SPEAKER_03I can tell I can just speak from experience. Y'all go ahead. Uh, for me, I feel like it's really up to the individual. I think if you like, let's say you're doing creative stuff and you need a bunch of figures for your roster or whatever, like who's to say you don't want more figures to have more variety, more choice of what you're doing, or you want to create some crazy display with the figures. Like, I think whether you have a lot of figures in your collection or a small amount in your collection, it's all up to the individual and you know what they what they prioritize. What do you think, KWE?
SPEAKER_00Uh no, I agree. Um and that's what I'm thinking too. Like, at least for me, I actually do feel like less figures um is a better collection. But the reason I put disagree is kind of like looking at it as an outsider's perspective. I feel like most people are like, oh, you know, the bigger the collection, the better. You know, the more figures you have, the better the collection. Um, but it depends on the individual, like you said. And if you could get all your collection and your figures on display and make it look awesome, I do feel like that's kind of better than having a bunch, you know what I mean? Just not knowing what to do with. So I'm kind of torn on both, but yeah. It's kind of like an agree and a disagree, to be honest. It's just depends.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, 100%. And I agree with what y'all said about the you know, it's obviously up to the individual what their preferences are, what their collection looks like, etc. But I just think I think that a more this is more of what it comes down to. I think a more curated collection is better than just, oh, look at all these damn figures I have. You know what I mean? And so I think I think so too. It needs yeah, it needs to be it needs to be curated. I I love when somebody has, you know, their collection and it's focused and it it everything has a place and it's well organized and it's you know, everything's dynamic and it just looks really uniform. Nothing beats that for me. I think that that is like peak figure display. It doesn't even have to be wrestling, it could be anything. I think that when you have everything curated and nice and uniform, it just it's just so good to me. I think that's amazing. So that's what I would say on that one. But I think we're down to the last one here for agree-disagree. And it is social media has improved collecting. So social media has improved collecting. All right, okay. Three, two, one. Agree. Agree, agree. Triple agreements across the board. I guess I'll go first this time. Um, yeah, man, I think that with social media, it just puts all the ideas out there, you know. It's it's improved. It maybe I think of something that you didn't think of. You thought of something I didn't think of, and with the power of social media, with the power of content and all these different platforms and things, you're discovering new things that help you with your collection. You know where to find figures for cheaper, you know how to display them better. You know these little fig hacks that help. Oh, my I have a paint rub, now I can fix that. Oh, I have a loose joint, now I can fix that. My display, display cases, display stands, figure matches, like all these different things that revolve around collecting are just the the health of it. But you do have a flip side of that, which you may touch on. I'm not entirely sure, or we can come around the horn. But what do you guys think? KWE, you want to touch on this?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. Um, so if I'm gonna be honest, all right, hold up. Repeat the question. I don't know how I forgot it, dude. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01No, you're fine. It's social media has improved collecting.
SPEAKER_00Yes, so I feel like I agree with you because you can kind of get tips and ideas a lot better there nowadays, like with like your collection. If you don't know how to, like you said, I don't know, rub some paint off or switch a dude's head. You go on, you look it up, boom, it's right there. And then you also get the videos where you're seeing people get all these, you know, not nostalgic figures, but jacks and Mattel's, even from just like thrift stores and garage sales and and goodwills and stuff. And it it's kind of very inspiring, and it kind of brings a community together of like people who want to go out and like figure hunt and you know build their own collection and stuff like that. So I do agree. I think, especially nowadays with whole AI stuff, you know, like yeah, social media is definitely helping with figure figure content creating.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I feel like, like you guys said, like finding out stuff that will help you with the figures, like customizing and fixing up things like that, and also you know, being inspired by content and being entertained by figure content is great, you know, to help inspire people and just bring community together, bring guys like us all together who love the same thing and we can all connect and you know appreciate the hobby like this. So yeah, I think social media has definitely been beneficial.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think there's a you know, there's a flip side to that where it could absolutely be worse because you have FOMO and oh, look at you know, keeping up with the Joneses, as they say, right? You see what somebody else has makes you jealous, or you don't feel good enough, or you don't feel like your collection is that good because somebody else has more, or somebody has better, or somebody has this, which is just terrible. I you shouldn't ever feel that way. I tell people, you know, they should never I tell people they should not have a collection like mine, you know, not to the extent. If it weren't for, you know, making content on a daily basis, my collection would look completely different. So I think that, you know, it just you just need to have it needs to be healthy, just like anything. I think you need to have like a healthy relationship with these things. And I think, yeah, but I think all in all, social media has improved collecting. It also, you know, if somebody finds a figure, they you know, you know now that it's hitting Walmart. I don't have to hit up my like now. I have a reason to maybe go try and find that figure now. So yeah, 100%, man. But I think that is all of our agree-disagree segments there. Pretty good uh session of agree-disagree.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we had a lot of uh we agreed on a lot of stuff and like kind of you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I think we had some good points there. But I want to I want to wrap up the show here with our last segment, which is just going to be Mattel mishap. And we you this is requested by KWE here, or this is not necessarily requested, but this is what he brought up. We asked him, you know, what's a Mattel mishap from the past that you've thought of? And the first one that comes to his mind, and I think it it may be is you think this is the most well-known Mattel mishap, maybe the most popular, maybe one that pops in people's brains immediately, is gonna be good old Boulder Shoulder Elite 50 Rhino.
SPEAKER_00Well, Boulder Shoulder, that's right.
SPEAKER_03I think it's the most infamous Mattel mishap. It's that boulder shoulder rhino. I don't know how, what reference picture. I think Bill worked on this. I don't know what reference picture Bill was looking at, but man, that is one of the biggest mishaps in Mattel history. I mean, it's it's a walking meme.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it is. Unfortunately, I don't have that figure.
SPEAKER_03Unfortunately, I still do because it's the only Rhino Elite that we have ever gotten. So not only did they do a huge Mattel mishap, but they never rec they never rectified it. Never rectified it, never fixed it, and we're just stuck with this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we got that one basic that was actually pretty good where they gave him appropriate shoulder size, and it's a good, it's a really good Rhino basic, but yeah, never made another elite. I would love for them to go back in the well and put him in one of these other lines. I don't remember. I I don't know if he would fit into the Monday Night Wars. He might would fit into the Monday Night Wars line. He would. Yeah, like that would be that would be peak if they would give us are they doing ECW? That's what I'm saying. I don't know if it's not Monday Night Wars, right? Yeah, yeah, they may they may blend in, you know, they may would blend in a rhino or something. I would love to see Rhino revisited at some point and give us that class, like give us the hardcore title with maybe a weapon or something. You could do some really fun stuff there. But and I loved Rhino as a kid, man. I I was such a big Rhino mark as a kid, and I love to play with him on just bring it, you know, just spearing people all over the place. Yeah, what a time to be live. But our one, I had that figure, and I tried to fix his boulder shoulders, and I did, and it looked better. I even fed it with him. He was in MDT for a minute, and then um he was even extreme champion at one point. So that uh, and then I I can't remember, I think the figure like exploded. I don't know what happened with that figure. What? I I need to I need to I need to track that figure back down, but I don't even know what it goes for nowadays.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I yeah, I wonder if it's like rare or does everyone just like get this away from me? I don't want this. Yeah. It's the only Rhino Elite though, hold on to it, I'd say.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think people want it for the uh nostalgic feel now, maybe.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, maybe boulder shoulder rhino. I wonder if there was any kids that you know they just walk down the the aisle, they see rhino, and they're like, what the hell? Like internally, were they like just shocked by that figure? Because you know, on social media when they announced it, everybody was like, What the hell? And that was like not you know, it wasn't that early in the Instagram days, but it was still yeah, it's not like it is now, but people certainly reacted to it and were like, What the hell is going on with the rhino? So yeah, it'd be interesting. Elite 50 was a terrible series, by the way, horrific series overall. Really?
SPEAKER_03I like I guess I kind of have nostalgia for it. Had that Cena, had the first Shane McMahon, right? And who else was in that wave?
SPEAKER_00The announced table, trash the announce table, yeah.
SPEAKER_03That was a good trash Colbin.
SPEAKER_01That was his first elite, too. It was it's actually arguably, arguably his best elite.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think I have that one. I could be wrong.
SPEAKER_01The Cena, the Cena I was peeped with because it had the new elbows, yeah, and it had the small shirt, and it was a it was an attire he never wore. He never wore that combo, and he had kind of a cartoony face. That was when they were doing the stands with the backdrop, that was terrible.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I was just cluttered with those things, just taking up space. Like, I don't know. I still have what am I gonna do with this? Hold up, hold up, hold up. Look at this. Hold on. I threw them out.
SPEAKER_01Look at this. I have a whole I have a whole drawer here, like legitimately full of them. Like, like, what a waste of plastic. Yeah, I can't even get them all out. I can't even get the drawer open, but look at this. Yep, there they are.
SPEAKER_03Just like comment down below. Did you did you enjoy those things? Like, what was the point? No, they were terrible. Yeah, I mean they probably ate into the budget too, which is silly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like who wants a paper background of a boiler room?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's like they don't go together seamlessly, so it just looks terrible.
SPEAKER_00Like, what yeah, the time they did like they had like Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, and like all these different superstars on the backgrounds, too, and you connected them, like yeah, and what were they expecting people to do with it?
SPEAKER_03Like, I'm gonna make a whole shelf display of Elite 50, like what? That's that's what I'm I don't know.
SPEAKER_01That's like who displays their collection like that? Like, what are we doing? I'm thinking that maybe higher ups were like, we gotta capitalize on this. I don't I don't know. I need to ask, I need to ask them about this. That was a random question to just ask. Yeah, like what was going on back then? Why did we get there? And it absolutely I'd like to compare the accessories to then, but and then again, champion man came with a whole damn announce table, so yeah, yeah, that was fine. What a time, but I think that is everything that I got for today. Does anybody else have anything else they want to talk about or discuss before we get out of here?
SPEAKER_03I think I think that about yeah, wraps it up. It was great having uh a conversation learn a little bit more about you KWE. It's great having you on. Thanks for coming. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for having me. Seriously, it is a complete honor. So I appreciate you boys, and the questions are awesome. Um, it's very I did not expect to be on the podcast. It's fast. I thought it would maybe take a month or so, but man, this is awesome.
SPEAKER_01Get you in here, get you in here. We we love we love having guests because, of course, me and Nate, we love going back and forth and I always enjoy our conversations. But it's cool to have another third person come in because there's not always a third person, so we always like to get a guest in to and we try to break it up, you know, try to have a guest on, and then maybe just us two and everything. But we yeah, back-to-back guest weeks has been awesome.
SPEAKER_00For sure, man. Yeah, I saw the Grim episode, that was a lot of fun. So continue podcasts, and yeah, like you said, you kind of have a guest, and then just you two, and then you know, have a guest to keep that up, and uh maybe in the future I could be a guest again sometime. That'd be an honor.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, sure. For sure. I'll be back on. Absolutely. But we're gonna put links to his all of his pages down in the description, man. But we appreciate him coming on. If you guys haven't seen it or you haven't even figured it out by now, you've probably seen his clips. You've had to have seen his clips. It's where he's wrestling Elmo in his room, he's doing these crazy spots, getting tornado DDT, he's getting Hurricane Ronad. Very entertaining stuff. Some of the funnier, I think, videos around just the wrestling space. And so he does also really cool, nostalgic WWE figure content about you know, kind of playing into childhood, collecting, and playing with your figures and stuff. So it's really, really uh entertaining stuff. So definitely go give him a follow. But we appreciate you coming on, brother. Hope to have you on once again. But that's that's it for me, guys. Thank you guys so very much for watching. We're out. My name creators episode 12 is concluded. Have a blessing, and we'll see you guys next time.