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Reselling Nostalgia: Toy Tales from Eject Toys

• Team T4 • Episode 34

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From toy meetups to fan conventions, the world of toy collecting and reselling is a treasure trove of fascinating stories and unique business insights. We're chatting with Michael and Jaden of Eject Toys, the dynamic duo who transformed their childhood passion into a thriving business. They're here to share their journey swapping, selling, and scoring incredible deals on everything, from vintage GI Joes to the latest and greatest Transformers.

This episode is not just about toys. It's about the psychology of retail, the impact of social media trends, and the rise of 3D printing technology. Hear how Michael and Jaden navigate the evolution of their industry, adapt their strategies in an internet-driven marketplace, and harness the power of hashtags to reach toy lovers worldwide. Plus, we'll get their take on how another wave of Transformers mania is shaping the current toy landscape.

Finally, we veer from the business side of things to discuss the sheer fun of it all - the comic-cons, the cosplay, the nostalgia-driven joy of unboxing a cherished childhood toy. It's a conversation that celebrates the importance of pursuing your passions, of turning what you love into what you do every day. Join us for an unforgettable trip down memory lane with Michael and Jaden, as they take us behind the scenes of Eject Toys, their nostalgic and exciting world of toy collecting and trading.
(All of our descriptions are done with AI, So enjoy them as much as we do)

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Heavy D:

On your break today. Michael and Jaden are in studio. They're toy collectors, toy resellers, Having a great time doing that. Rhino's off tonight, but still got a good show for you Time to clock out for lunch. Welcome in to our paid lunch. Thanks for spending your break with us. I'm Heavy D Rhino's off still, but in studio. I've got Michael and Jaden and they're there. What are you guys doing?

Mike:

So we run a small business called Eject Toys. We buy, sell, trade toys. We recently just started out. We're mainly dealing with transformers. Anybody out there messes around with those?

Heavy D:

Well, you love transformers. Oh yeah, I love the two of them. I've never seen them as a kid, yeah.

Mike:

I mean literally one of my first memories. Man is like messing around with transformers and there's a picture of me, man, when I was like one or two years old. We were at a dog show there at Riverside Park.

Heavy D:

That's a weird, that's a weird memory.

Mike:

Yeah, well, like there's a picture of me and I've got a transformer there, and the summer actually got to meet the voice actor for that specific transformer and I got to show him that picture and he thought it was really cool. So that's awesome yeah.

Heavy D:

I don't think I do anything cool like that. It's expensive, yeah, but well, you guys are, I mean you're doing really cool shit, though Like I like what you're doing.

Mike:

Yeah, we just started it out, man Me and my best friend here, jaden Toliver.

Heavy D:

Oh, we're doing last names. Now people are going to find you. What's your address?

Jayden:

I've been doxxed again.

Heavy D:

What it's your address. I'm going to change your last name to his last name. Yeah, see if people can figure that out.

Mike:

Michael Toliver, I'm coming. I am, I'm coming. But we kind of just started out collecting man and it just got out of hand and we just started getting so much extra stuff and buying lots out from people. That and access to it right so we've got a lot of access to it. Internet is a great tool, I mean, and just not even the internet a lot of local people understatement of the day. They the internet. When they find transformers, they message me on Facebook like how you want these? And.

Heavy D:

I'm there, well, and it works too, because I immediately think of you guys when I like, when I see any transformers, like anything, I'm like oh yeah, I mean some guys would like this.

Mike:

I'm for the transformers guys.

Heavy D:

Yeah, you 100% are the transformers guys.

Mike:

But we just started out and they started getting way too much stuff and it just turned out and then we're like, man, we get, we got to get rid of this. Like not so much about financial problem, just space.

Heavy D:

And yeah, well, it doesn't hurt that you can make money doing something. Yeah, exactly.

Jayden:

So, like the way that we were looking at it was like we'd find a lot that had like four things that we wanted in it and the lot would be worth less than what those four things were worth Like.

Heavy D:

We just get these for free, essentially, and just sell the rest of it, you know yeah, and that right, and you still feels like you're collecting and not like oh yeah.

Mike:

Yeah.

Heavy D:

And we're both like it's getting the stuff that you want to get and yeah, and the way where we do it.

Mike:

that way, man, we don't have to worry about necessarily making money. Right, like obviously we need to make money to keep it going, yeah.

Heavy D:

But like we don't have to rely on Well, you're just trying to fund you buying toys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're just trying to fund you guys buying toys. Yeah, exactly what we're doing, and you both know kind of like the line between scalping and and like selling shit to people who love toys.

Jayden:

We sell everything just about at a 10 or 15 percent below margin.

Heavy D:

Yeah, and it's I mean, and there's like a different that to me, that always, that's always like a mentality, more than you know what I mean. Yeah, so I'm obviously not scalping this shit.

Mike:

I'm just trying to sell you shit, you like calm down, yeah, and you know, if somebody comes to the table they're like I want these four things. I give them one hell of a discount, like.

Heavy D:

I've. I'm always like uh, so I love toys. Obviously I'm part of like that. The page, the whole reason. You know you guys has a lot to do with it Is there's a Facebook page that you know just what is the Appalachian toy group.

Mike:

It's Appalachian toy collectors.

Heavy D:

Yeah, dan here actually one of the big admins in the group, so you know, yeah, I know you all post all the time and like I'll post shit in there, which is funny because, like I don't have that many toys I just I love, like I love wrestling figures and hot wheels and I find them and I'm like, oh, I got to buy these.

Heavy D:

Yeah, it's just showing it off to people too, yeah, it is Well and it's like I guess it's like a like-minded thing, like finding a group of people who it's just like oh, actually everybody still loves toys. Yeah, and it's cool, and it's okay that we all buy toys.

Mike:

Yeah, like I may not collect this or that, but once some dude gets on there and like this figure is so cool because of this and I just got it here. It's like man fuck yeah.

Heavy D:

Well, it inspires me because, like I'll see people post, god man, you see me comment like every single day I comment on somebody's post. It's like, oh yeah, god, I want that. Like people post that that Mr Perfects may posted the other day. That was like the superstar, mr Perfect. I was like, oh man, that's my, he's my favorite. I was like I want so bad, it's cool too.

Jayden:

That like you get kind of like a small history lesson and then they're too, because you know, when somebody buys something, they're really passionate about it. They tell you like, like Michael was saying, it's like oh, this is why this is cool and this is why yeah, you know, this is where this come from.

Heavy D:

Well, and also like I don't know if I missed that, which is funny because like it's exactly my age, cause I was born in 86. So like Transformers should be my thing, but like I had an older brother who was six years older, so he was into shit and he was into video games is what he was into. So like we played a lot of Sega Genesis and we played a lot of fighters and like you know and by we I mean I watched him play them or he beat the shit out of me.

Mike:

Exactly.

Heavy D:

Right, but I enjoyed it, and those are, like some of my best childhood memories, right.

Mike:

Yeah.

Heavy D:

So I don't know if I just never got into Transformers really, or like, or he man, and I really didn't get into toys until like, like I loved Hot Wheels when I was a kid.

Mike:

Yeah.

Heavy D:

Cause my dad was like building motors all the time and stuff.

Mike:

Yeah, exactly.

Heavy D:

So Hot Wheels and then like it's funny cause that merged and I don't mean to get into a whole fucking thing here, but it's funny cause it merged into, like when I was in high school, like when I was in middle school and beginning in high school it was like Fast and Furious was out and it was like attitude area and so like it merged with my love of cars. To just like my love of cars is just almost strictly toners.

Heavy D:

So it's like so like I'll go in the dollar store and looking for Hot Wheels which I'm sure you guys know that but the dollar store has awesome.

Mike:

The dollar store is the place to go.

Heavy D:

That's where you find the place there's so many good Hot Wheels, nobody touches it. I know, man, it's crazy and I go in there and dig through them and there's like all kinds of like old, like just the shit that I love.

Jayden:

And.

Heavy D:

I'm like and I'm like I'm winning there for bread and I left with eight Hot Wheels. Yeah, I'm sure I didn't get any bread either. I think I got it.

Mike:

I'll go to the Hot Wheels. I had to go turn back around.

Heavy D:

Well, I get super pumped about finding 86 Corolla and I'm like I'm stuck 86 baby. Yeah, man, that's my favorite, I kept winning a card and I took the other one out. I've got the same one. Toyota MR2, too.

Mike:

Yeah, matchbox did one a couple years ago. Yeah, look at those.

Heavy D:

I like it. I think we'll get those. That was one of them's. Like the 40th anniversary dropped him. He's fucking bailed out.

Mike:

What I'm like hell, yeah, yeah, 60, some 180 a6. Yeah, that's killer, thank you?

Heavy D:

Yeah, I'm a sucker for Hot Wheels those are all Shit yeah, food city knows about my impulse. It's funny because, like my background's in retail, so I know about a ton of retail stuff but I still can't help impulse buzz Many. I'm still like you. Put that on the end cap.

Mike:

It's like a drug addiction man. What an asshole.

Jayden:

I'm gonna pull this out. Coming from retail too, it's like you know the psychology of why they place things. I'm gonna do it anyway. You know what it works.

Heavy D:

You got me. You got me. It's red and yellow, I can see it. I want it. I bought it. Yeah, you got me. So are you guys selling Strictly, like I mean I know you do the flea market thing, which is which is really cool, but that's the seasons. Get ready, we did right. Yeah, let's get ready to get cold.

Mike:

Yeah, so we haven't been really setting up at flea markets. So what we've been doing is we're mainly gonna be doing an online storefront killer through eBay and through Facebook, but what we really been doing is just going to these local toy shows. Yeah it's that up there, because with with the flea market, you may go one day and then not sell a dime.

Heavy D:

Yeah, stuff in there.

Mike:

It's really just depending on what kind of people come through who comes and there's no point in paying overhead on a place to set your stuff when you've got the room to put it somewhere.

Heavy D:

With the toy shows and these comic-cons and conventions, yeah that's your niche, that's that's where you got access to the shit you have access to do everything. So y'all got these cool Bubble millers that you got custom printed.

Mike:

Yeah, we just got those in, designed by mr Dan over here.

Heavy D:

You are a man of all trades, aren't?

Mike:

you, I do everything.

Heavy D:

I love it Michael's either brains behind the operation.

Mike:

Well, I actually did the concept art for that, all right. Yeah and I sent it to him and I was like fix this shit. So that's how it was what we're trying to do just Make everything fair, for that's for both of us and we both get what we want out of it. Yeah make a little money on the side and get to go places and well, you get to hang out with your buddy, exactly and by and like.

Heavy D:

That's so we go. When we go to like when we done the national trip that we were talking about earlier, we go to the flame.

Jayden:

We go to Like vendors, malls and yeah, all of them, that we can find so many out there and just random shit, like like there's so many places in there.

Heavy D:

No one shit. That's and I'm inspired to by the by the toy group Right. Yeah so like I'm always fucking looking for toys. But the problem is with the internet is everybody knows what they got. So like you know, you can't find. You can't find good deals on shit most of the time unless it's you know, and let's just in a bulk.

Mike:

Right, that's when you can find it. Yeah, that's exactly. You get bulk, or like you, just gotta look around.

Heavy D:

I found a super scope one time under a dress in the awesome vendors mall. In the box Under it was under a dress in like there was no other video game stuff there. It was just a super scope, I'm assuming bought it was $50.

Mike:

It was awesome, dude. It was in the box, it was in the box and the styrofoam?

Heavy D:

Yeah, it was you never seen like that? I know I was like I immediately insult it.

Jayden:

Yeah, like I didn't didn't have super scope with it was not a problem you know, something like that falls in your lap every now and then yeah so I was collecting the, the modern chug collection, and some dude, like six months ago, posted a huge lot of like almost everything that I needed for like 500 bucks, and then I had doubles at that point too.

Heavy D:

Yeah, he had a whole what was he? Like 60, 70 figures or something like this 60 and you get ghost bumps right when they Posted you like like you can't reply quick and I learned that I was like man.

Mike:

I have to, yeah, have this man, the way people were wanting to buy it. They're like they're just wanting a cherry. Pick at it. Yeah, and like the dude's, like no, I'm moving out of my apartment.

Heavy D:

I'm gonna work out best for you guys, oh yeah.

Mike:

Yeah, and so he bought them and Just started selling them and that's so fun.

Heavy D:

I'm honestly fucking jealous of it, like I'm like I bought a collection. There was me and it's funny cuz Mutual friend Russ yeah, me and him both commented on this lady was just selling like she had a just a tote of wrestling figures.

Heavy D:

Yeah that was like I guess that was her kids and had just grown out of me, didn't want him anymore, and it was like she was like 25 bucks takes the whole tote, and it was like it was like a hundred figures and they were all like attitude era or like, or like mid 2000s or even most recent stuff, but still it was like like that price for that many figures. I was like one of those figures is that much.

Heavy D:

Yeah, yeah if the deluxe ones was like one of those is $25. I'll take them all, but like there was like six people from that toy group that commented on it and she had already sold them, yeah, and that's really the best way to buy stuff.

Mike:

Yeah, any kind of hobby man, anytime you collect something, yeah, just buy lots and just sell the rest. Because what we do is we buy the collection. We get like the good stuff that we need out of it or like, yeah, sometimes there's some like holy grail stuff out of it. We should grab it. We just sell the rest and other stuff is like desirable, we just got it and we just don't need it.

Heavy D:

But yeah, and I think that, um so magic like is really the big thing. My whole life that I've collected and done and like and my favorite thing to do 100% no argument, my favorite thing to do in magic is is buy a box of cards that I have no idea what the fuck is in them.

Heavy D:

Exactly like I would rather I'm not be commons and lands, but if they are, I'm not like really even mad about it. Yeah, just cuz I want to open a box and I want to look through a bunch of cards that I don't know what's you know.

Mike:

Exactly. I'm so happy about it, man. And then seeing like a commas, like we're 20 bucks.

Heavy D:

Yeah, like I own calm any card, even if I don't get my money back. If there's just something in there, that was super cool.

Mike:

Yeah, and then, like you, just got a bunch of random cards, yeah, and I don't care.

Heavy D:

I'll.

Jayden:

I'll sell those for a thousand, for a dollar, whatever it appeases the human psyche to like we're very curious creatures, yeah, you know, like mystery boxes.

Heavy D:

So oh yeah, man, I'm a sucker for mystery boxes, yeah so.

Jayden:

I always wanted to do one, the draft packs and stuff like that. For magic I'm not a magic guy at all, yeah, but like opening cards, I'd buy some collector cards because you get it, you just open it, it's cool, it's two bucks. You know I'll pay for that, just to figure out the folks in it.

Heavy D:

I buy the most random packs of stuff, like if I go, if I go to a game store and you have like a pack of Indiana Jones cards, or if you have like a pack of old like Marvel or DC, like anything like that yeah dude, I will buy the pack. I will buy the shit out of packs of that stuff like a dollar.

Mike:

Yeah, anytime I go to like a card store man, They've got an old pack of cards.

Heavy D:

Yeah, I know what's in the set I'm gonna buy the pack anyways Fuck. Yeah, I want to open something for a dollar. I want to open something I've never opened before. Yeah, that's what I want to do.

Mike:

Yeah, and then talk about how bad it is. It's also yeah, and it is.

Heavy D:

It's also a lot like to open toys like I'm a big toy opener.

Jayden:

There's some things that I keep sealed just for, like Preservation yeah and then other things like the more common stuff.

Heavy D:

I'll open it up if I want to like, if, if I, if I can get two of them, I usually get to something. If I'm gonna buy it, yeah, like cuz I wish I would done. That was a kid. Do you know how many GI Joes like old, old GI Joes, like before you were born, gi Joes?

Mike:

I say was it that I have?

Heavy D:

lost in the creek. But like we used to like put them in the culvert at the top of the holler, because the holler was just like six houses long, you could walk from the top of the bottom of it and it was all downhill. And we used to put them like, put them in the culvert at the top and see if they come out. Well, why we did that? Because they never fucking did. They just never did and we'd send like his little brother up in the culvert to get like a you to take this flashlight and see if you can find a GI Joes man.

Mike:

My dad used to do that. We have a huge heel on our old property where he used to live and His big thing was Star Wars figures.

Jayden:

Yeah.

Mike:

I've been up there walking, just going up the hill. There's just random Star Wars figure. I pick it up, take it.

Heavy D:

Yeah like so cool, but there's that, um, you know, the GI Joes, like the, the astronaut one that's worth so much.

Mike:

Is that the one that come with the big ship?

Heavy D:

I don't know. It's just, he's literally just an astronaut. He's an astronaut. So yeah yeah, I specifically remember putting him in there because I remember thinking it was like it's pretty close to underwater.

Mike:

Yeah, exactly, it's pretty close.

Heavy D:

I'm pretty sure it's water type.

Mike:

Yeah, he's not gonna get any water in there. It's good Put him down.

Heavy D:

Put him It'd be fine. It come out the other end Sad. There's so much money in there.

Jayden:

Oh yeah, when I was a kid man I had pretty much the entirety of the GI Joe collection from 1984 to 1986 Bases and all I had to cober dome had the Joe bases, had all the vehicles set the flag, set for the flag didn't have a flag and, and you know, got to that point in time where mom was like, do you even want these? Yeah, I want them. And then I come home the next weekend and they're not there.

Heavy D:

Oh, it's like Andy and Andy's mom put them in the wrong garbage bag.

Jayden:

She was like I sold everything for 250 bucks. I was like are you your?

Heavy D:

fucking mom.

Jayden:

Mom what the fuck.

Heavy D:

No, my mom um my copy of Monty Python in the Holy Grail one time. Oh, she was like this is blasphemous and she got rid of it. I don't know if she burned it, but she got rid of it.

Jayden:

It's gonna know so mad.

Heavy D:

I forget that I've watched you grow up. Yeah.

Mike:

I've known you since I was fucking like yeah, which is funny.

Heavy D:

I like Watched you find yourself. I know that sounds dumb, but like yeah, you didn't know what you liked, like and you don't until you're like like you still don't. How do you? 24? That's what I was gonna say. 25, right, and that's like. You don't until you're like 25.

Heavy D:

You don't really know what you're into until you're like 25 Give me some slack on the headset, because it's like you don't know what you like and what you don't like and you know, you don't know kind of women you're into, or you know every end of women.

Mike:

You don't know what you're doing to your 25. Okay, oh.

Jayden:

Oh, I'm gonna be consistent pattern with the women that I'm into.

Heavy D:

Yeah, just insane ones, or yeah crazy.

Mike:

But I could never played the fifth. I can't shut the fuck.

Heavy D:

What's your therapy? It's like oh well, um, I hang out on a podcast and talk about a lot of problems with my friends. Yeah, that's what we do. That works out good. Um, hey, how you doing.

Mike:

I like this little 3d printing school thing here. Do this.

Heavy D:

Um, that's a half of one. Andrew has a 3d printer and, uh, it got halfway through and messed up and we've never got it working again. We've troubleshooted the shit out of it and there's like One thing will go wrong and the next thing will fix, and you've got to get one with a like, an automatic One that like labels the bed automatically.

Mike:

Yeah, or you're just gonna have so many problems yeah he's better to spend double the price and just get a good one, yeah.

Heavy D:

I've seen. I see I've seen the expensive ones do crazy shit too, though, like I've seen expensive ones do, there was a usually expensive ones. What happens is the software gets bugs in it. Yeah, and like and you got to figure out how to resolve those bugs, like even there's no debug for a program that has six buttons.

Mike:

We're looking into getting one of the resin.

Heavy D:

Oh yeah, that'd be sick.

Mike:

They're so cool, so good for making like toy accessories and shit.

Heavy D:

Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, because, well, you guys can get um. Have you seen the toy box like the 3d printer? That's like it's like Mattel or something? No, it's, it's called toy box and it's a 3d printer, but it's like the size of this Um and it's encased, the whole thing and it has like a set. I think it's like Disney or something, because it has a set amount of things that you can print.

Mike:

Yeah.

Heavy D:

Um, but you can put an sd card in with print files on them, whatever those, whatever that. I don't know what that file path, that file type is.

Jayden:

It's um stl, or yeah stl something.

Heavy D:

Yeah, you can put those in on an sd card and print whatever you want, as long as it's within measurements of the of the printer. But like it's got a bunch of preset like uh toys, like excess reason stuff, okay. And so, like that's already said on it and it's pretty cool because like it's it's supposed to be, like you know, easy bake oven, nothing can go wrong because it's nothing wrong, because there's just a bulb and nothing else going on. Yeah like it's kind of like that.

Jayden:

I think that it's like simple enough that there's nothing breaking on it like the like the.

Heavy D:

The material is like inside of it, you know, and like in a concealed compartment and like. So it's a easy bake it's, it's an easy bake, yeah, but it's, but it's, it's good, though Like and it takes like double the time to print because it's like doesn't have a quick processor, but like it's only like a hundred bucks or something and it's, and it does its job.

Heavy D:

And it's called the toy box toy box, and that's what it's called. Uh, I don't know if it's Mattel or I mean I assume it's one of those companies, but I know it was like in collab with disney, I think. Oh, probably don't tell yeah, I don't know, I've got a you the toy guys business account now, oh killer discounts on anything business related.

Jayden:

That's why I was gonna. I was gonna get a cr 10. The yeah the pla printers instead for sure. That'd be awesome, oh yeah that's killer.

Mike:

I'm not about everything you guys are there their own company. They're toy boxes. Yeah, they're okay cool, but they're. There's a collaboration with disney. I see, I see what you're talking about.

Heavy D:

Yeah, it's pretty cool, though. I mean because just get it's like real basic and it's like yeah, it's like the first consumer friend. Yeah, it's meant for all kids. You ought to be able to use it because it's like real simple process to print shit.

Mike:

They've got a bundle sale right now and you can get the printer with the spools of the stuff for like 349.

Heavy D:

That's not bad, I mean, of course. The problem with that is now 3d printers are going way down and they're not like they were, because they were like five grand.

Jayden:

Yeah they're, yeah it's, it's in like a consumer level now.

Heavy D:

It is you can.

Mike:

You can afford them now, which is funny because if they had a 3d printer on campus and you could go pay so much they would measure the amount of Stuff you were using. Yeah, that's another fee and you just pay. I never got to use it while I was there, but uh yeah, that'd be cool, yeah, yeah.

Heavy D:

I want um, um, free access, complete access to like A government level Like 3d printer, like I want like complete access to just go in and print shit. Like I want to print the hood of a car if I want to have you seen the fucking?

Mike:

It's like the 3d printer House building thing they build them out of like concrete and shit.

Jayden:

Yeah, oh, it's a big rig that prints a fucking house.

Heavy D:

I guess 3d printer right is a broad term right because like I've seen that that shit right and like I've also seen like the ones that lay like brick walkways yeah like if you've ever seen those? That's a 3d printer right? Essentially because you just put the bricks in it and it mixes the shit and like lays the walkways completely down, like the whole way that's that it's fucking. It's printing a road. Yeah that's definitely what it's doing, um, so I mean, I guess that's. I love that like level of it.

Mike:

It's the bigger shit. Yeah, it's cool man. The future.

Heavy D:

You think it's like and really like. If you get down to it, like aren't factories just 3d printers?

Mike:

like I don't know Essentially like if it's.

Heavy D:

If you're cutting Like a water cutters, that cut like a shit out of steel.

Mike:

I mean the CNC machines. Yeah, it's essentially a 3d printer.

Heavy D:

That's a 3d printer just doing it with metal and water different process.

Jayden:

Yeah, there's a consumer level 3d printer now that lets you print out of 6065 aluminum. Oh shit, oh yeah, it's true, it's like 15 $1600. Sure, but that's awesome, but like so much that you could do with that.

Heavy D:

Yeah, I can't, I can't even building a little machine. Bump stocks. You can make all kinds of bump stocks. Yeah, I Don't think we can talk about bump stocks. No, we can't, we'll get some sort of man.

Mike:

ATS, come fuck on below your door, down oh.

Jayden:

You know, Shut down no extended for 45 days.

Heavy D:

What the fuck I was hoping I need to shit or get off the pot. You know what's funny, I think when the government shuts down, there should be, just shouldn't be. We shouldn't have to pay taxes. Exactly Like, right, like do we do? Like, if they're shut down for 45 days, there should be no tax anywhere you buy anything. Who are?

Mike:

we paying to. It's different because the state government doesn't shut down, it's just a federal. But still, like on your paycheck, federal tax shouldn't be fucking taken right. There's no, they shouldn't get a fucking if I get paid in those 45 days.

Heavy D:

There's no way you should get your money yeah there's nobody there to take it. That's it's. It's exactly no taxation without representation.

Jayden:

It's exactly that.

Heavy D:

What do you mean? It's not you're gonna get me right in the middle of the day. I guess it's not the middle of the day, um, so you all got some shit coming up, right, yeah, so you're working on we're gonna be set up at the tri cities comic-con on December.

Mike:

The second it's gonna be at the Delta hotels conference center in Bristol, Virginia.

Heavy D:

I'm in Bristol.

Mike:

Yeah, so. You guys are gonna get me you guys are gonna get me get me hot bothered about it.

Heavy D:

Yeah, I have to leave all my money at home. I have too many hobbies and too much shit. I got a little cona kick. Yeah, and I was hunting down more cona like all over the fucking like. I went to my mom's and there was no. That was no little cona from here to North Carolina every six months, man, I go through a different hobby.

Mike:

Yeah, other hobbies.

Heavy D:

It's just so hard to so you guys gonna be set up there sailing right.

Mike:

Yeah, we're gonna be set up there sailing, I'm trying to bring some shit, yeah, whatever. It's gonna be a pretty big event. It's gonna be like a normal comic-con, so we're gonna see pretty people dressed up. There's gonna be a lot of Voice actors to artists, stuff like that.

Heavy D:

It's gonna be so fun.

Mike:

Yeah, it's gonna be a good time, I love big fucking like I love.

Heavy D:

Like you know, I've never been to a convention ever really. But like you know, I've been involved in like the biggest magic tournament ever like it's like 4,500 people or some shit, so it's like you know yeah, it's wild and I'd love it.

Jayden:

Yeah, I know, I know I need to come.

Heavy D:

Need to come to one. Brian Marcus invites me all the fucking time. Yeah which, by the way, we need to influence and get him on the podcast.

Mike:

Oh yeah, I'd love it. He'd be great rules. He'd be great we were up there the other day and he made me spend a lot of money.

Heavy D:

Oh yeah, he needed to. Well, he does this thing where he doesn't really. He doesn't really up sail like up sail it. He just talks to you about it. Yeah, Yep and you're like, fuck, I'll buy it.

Mike:

Yeah, yeah, and like he always has great prices.

Heavy D:

Yeah, he does good too, If you've known him for a while.

Jayden:

like I mean, that's what bulk stuff together for you.

Heavy D:

And we'll plug him shamelessly. Cavalier comics.

Mike:

Cavalier comics over wise Virginia, next to the Monterey's over there and, uh, he deals a lot.

Heavy D:

I mean, it's partly influenced by you guys, really. Yeah deal a lot more toys now.

Mike:

Brian. You know Brian's a lot of influence for us.

Heavy D:

You know stuff like that and he loves the shit too, though, like he knows. So he knows so much about everything, like yeah. All the toys, like he knows fucking where everything was from or when it was which you got to know stuff for life.

Mike:

You sell everything. You got to know everything.

Heavy D:

Yeah.

Mike:

Yeah, he's good at it. We um there's just some other toy people in the area and you know um we mainly, you know, specializing transformers. We sell some other stuff here in there that we're just trying to get rid of. It's mainly like personal stuff, but, um, it's. It's hard to when everybody sells everything. Yeah, you know, they can't know everything about it because there's just so much information.

Heavy D:

Well, and you like, who you're fighting with is just people went online and buy and shit.

Jayden:

Yeah, exactly Like all the time.

Heavy D:

Yeah, people just be able to start anything up on ebay.

Mike:

Yeah and uh, we post some stuff on our facebook. Um, we just started out. We're gonna start kicking it hard here soon.

Heavy D:

Um we're gonna put her well, you both work right. So yeah, yeah, I work two jobs, he works one yeah he works like 80 90 hours a week yeah and it's hard too, like if you're trying to, like, you know, boost something. I've been there, you know, and just trying to boost something and get something going and Fucking working your full-time job anyway, yeah man it's.

Jayden:

You know we're doing this here and I'm got like the little sticker business and t-shirts and stuff like that, and between everything and my full-time job, I'm fucking dead. Yeah, I don't, yeah, I don't have any energy whatsoever to do anything. I we went to this toy show last Saturday and it turned out to be a fucking awesome turnout. Yeah but when we got there I was like man, I don't even really want to do this Tired as fuck.

Mike:

You're tired man, but. But the cool thing about it is, you know, it is something we are passionate about and especially, you know, when we we did go to this toy show, one thing that made my- day is uh. We had a lot of kids coming up and buying stuff. Man.

Jayden:

And yeah, that's cool.

Mike:

I love. You know. Everybody knows that. You know it's very easy for kids to get consumed in a technology nowadays and it it really is a treat to watch kids run around and just buy toys cool and buy toys and play with each other. Man, it's, it's just, it's a treat.

Heavy D:

No, uh, I definitely think that's awesome that you can introduce like fucking everybody back to. Yeah like a bunch of kids into something that they have no idea about. I mean because like the way we all knew about it and like any toys we played with was just cartoons and shit, right.

Mike:

Yeah.

Heavy D:

I mean like, but that's just not a thing anymore. I guess like because the toys are getting completely different than bluey.

Jayden:

Yeah, yeah, whatever they watch now. Uh, my god, son is in the Transformers now. He got in there like six months ago and, uh, anytime that I get to go over there and fool with him like he's like man transform these for me, I don't understand them at all. Of course, you know his favorite bum will be oh well, yeah, well, you know, it's there's a reason it's bright yellow. Yeah, it's bright yellow, and he's the star of every show from now on.

Heavy D:

That's the way it is.

Jayden:

Yeah, it's like man You're just looking to shock away dude, he's mad ass.

Heavy D:

There's a lot cooler ones in this car. Dude's purple one, I he has a gun for an arm Right, that's killer. Yeah, you guys, just a car.

Mike:

Yeah, yeah, I guess, we're not gonna shame.

Heavy D:

Don't transform or shame. Yeah, we're gonna transform or shame.

Mike:

There's some cooler options out there though. That first movie was good though.

Heavy D:

That first movie was good though.

Jayden:

Oh man, it was fantastic.

Heavy D:

The first movie was so good, like the the shock of it right, that was kind of like what it was like and shy was good and, like you know, mega fox was great, yep, but like and a lot of people you know.

Mike:

Don't get me wrong. A lot of them are terrible movies.

Heavy D:

Yeah, but CGI quality they're still cool for what they are, though.

Mike:

Yeah, yeah and like, if you look at CGI nowadays Like it's, it's on par with those movies that were made.

Jayden:

They were different years ago, yeah, 2007.

Mike:

Yeah, yeah, exactly 15.

Heavy D:

It kind of resurgence for the Transformers world to those movies, I mean, like for the toys, it brought it back to life, oh yeah it was people digging shit out we were talking about it the other day.

Mike:

You know 2007 to like you know 2013, 2014. Yeah, it was really a golden era that we took for granted. There was so much good stuff that came out and, like me and him, now catch yourself like, oh man, I had that as a kid, I have to have that and you know which. That's what it's all about.

Heavy D:

Well, that's what. So it's funny because, like, um, the trend that I see, like in toys, well, and you guys Gifted me an awesome Beast Wars Figure. Oh yeah, buzz claw, buzz claw. Yeah, we're pumped about it. We have a whole table full of shit that people have brought and it's we're happy about that, but we're we'll post pictures out on Instagram. Y'all check that out. But anyway, the trend like in toys is like New toys that look old, yeah, right is the trend which is super confusing like, because the old toys, like, are out there, yeah, and they're not much more than like the and sometimes they're cheaper, right then even, even even, even like the Star Wars series.

Jayden:

That's like the old yeah, the retro collection, the retro collection right.

Heavy D:

Some of those figures are like they're just cheaper if you buy the original one.

Jayden:

He man's doing the same thing to. You know he meant toys are Pretty much one-to-one what they were in the 80s, yeah, and Transformers does G1 reissues. Now where Walmart gets a, you know they get the old modes from the 80s and just change the colors on them just a little bit. Yeah yeah, yeah, that's old stuff, man.

Heavy D:

Yeah, I know, and it's so weird that, like Toy companies just caught on to people people wanting old stuff and they just printed their old shit like. You don't have to come up with new ideas, you just run it through like the other. The wrestling figures are talking earlier, like the series, now that it's just like the old style figures that don't move at all.

Heavy D:

Yeah, like people, it's ridiculous to people want that and I bought one like so, like I mean, like it's ridiculous that people want those even though People want them. The first wrestling figures I ever owned were like the like Hogan and Hogan and flair, or Hogan and Piper.

Jayden:

They're just the rubber, the rubber arms.

Heavy D:

Yeah, like just link them together. I don't really know what you fucking did with them, because they they were just two dudes that were like what up squatting.

Mike:

Yeah, kind of.

Heavy D:

They did look like they were taking this shit and that's what I always thought like why are they wrestling like this? Yeah doesn't make any sense.

Mike:

Yeah, I.

Heavy D:

Used to do a Similar thing what you guys are doing but I did like retro video games.

Jayden:

Yeah, when that was, when that was.

Heavy D:

Yeah, yeah, not just my store, but like after my store closed, I did a lot of that just online and I like sold it, like I went to flea markets and shit and sold and like just would go Bye at other places and it's never too late, you know, or too early to start your own thing.

Mike:

Oh yeah you know, me and my business partner here were only in her twenties and and as long as you know enough about something, yeah, you can sell it. There's a market out there. It may be a really niche market, but there's a market.

Heavy D:

Well and be afraid and you're going about the right way around. It's not like your main goal and it's kind of like, like you guys said, you're supporting your hobby. Yeah, it's like the goal is just to be able to buy toys. Yeah for getting toys for free, and then yeah, essentially yeah, and you get to like, like you said, like the relationships you get to build.

Mike:

Yeah, right, I met a lot of killer people. Yeah, a lot of dudes. We set up at the Tri-Cities toy show a couple weeks ago. On when was that? That was at the. It was back in September, but we met a dude that had went to one of the conventions we had went to yeah. He knew one of our friends that we had made at the conventions and you know we've got him and a lot of other people and there's you know there's a lot of professional wrestling leagues over in the oh yeah, he's area over Virginia, tennessee, all that and Smokey Mountain and shit.

Mike:

Yeah, they're. They're wanting us to set up over there. So we're we're trying to line that out and Get that going, and that's cool. We're mainly just trying to do the local stuff and, you know, as long as we make our money back set up at the tables, it's in our gas. That's really all I care about and we just want to experience, you know, new people. You know. You know there's a lot of adults out there that Haven't had a toy since they were a kid, yeah, and we just hope they see something at the table that they yeah.

Heavy D:

It's okay to play with toys, yeah.

Mike:

Yeah, I mean if if COVID taught us anything, it's like Do whatever you want, so that's that's interesting too.

Heavy D:

Right Is because it's like yeah. Covid Is kind of the reason toys are like came back like a surgeon, exactly the reason because people were just fucking hanging out.

Mike:

They just had any like money, man, yeah, and there's nothing else to do.

Heavy D:

Yeah, I mean?

Mike:

So what? That had got a lot digging through their closets and shit and finding all their toys and yeah People find the stuff they forgot they had which now you know, a lot of people are coming off of that stuff. Yeah, so the stuff that was out.

Heavy D:

Sure people's lives are getting back in normal.

Mike:

Yeah, people that were Into it three or four years ago there in COVID they're like, uh, I can't do this anymore. So that you know, that's how we're able to get a lot of stuff. A lot of people just trying to make space.

Heavy D:

It's, it's your guys job to exactly make sure people don't Quit playing with toys. Yeah, don't go back to your everyday life and quit playing with toys, because you like to play with toys and it's what you should be doing.

Mike:

Yeah, quit your job and play with toys, fucking right.

Jayden:

Have fun, man. I'm supposed to be enjoying right, that's what.

Heavy D:

Like people get stuck in, like, you know, people get stuck in living their everyday life and forget, like I always say, I'm on a bit, like whenever, like in my everyday life, like I'm generally on a bit about something almost all the time, right, and that's just, that's just who I am, right, Don't you feel?

Heavy D:

Don't you feel that way, like yeah, yeah, I mean, that's just the way it is and I don't have any problem with it. That's fine, that's who I am. But like I have a good time because, you know, I get to do that, like I, you know, be full of shit and whatever, and do a podcast because we wanted to do a podcast, yeah, and you know, and now we're, you know, doing it for 35 weeks straight and having a great time, you know, and and we get to do things like Like we all like have mutual people and have hung out in different places, but like we wouldn't be like like this, we wouldn't be doing this. No, you know, and it's cool that you know what it's gonna go to, and we've done some trading and stuff on toys and pre-show, so it's cool that we're gonna get you know down those avenues and I'm always gonna thank you guys. Now when I see Transformers and be like hey, these motherfuckers need this big bag of toys.

Mike:

Yeah, robots, anything robot related, anything really. You know, transformers are the only thing we really deal in, but that's what we're trying to, because you really gonna find your niche anytime you want to do something and you want to stand out, you're just gonna find your niche.

Jayden:

And luckily we have the preset knowledge about this stuff because it's been our entire lives.

Heavy D:

Yeah yeah, like fucking transformers role man, I want to learn everything well, and it kind of like gets you through your day to to know that you're doing something, that you're gonna Be doing something cool. You know what I mean. Like you all got the show coming up, so like, yeah, kind of gets you through your day like, hey, I'm just getting through this week doing my day job. You know, yeah, and man, you never know like what's gonna happen, right, exactly shit. It pops off. If shit pops off, and you know, and you guys are like Making money you know what I mean and you guys can do that for a living. That's the dream, anyway right, yeah, exactly.

Heavy D:

You just buy and sell toys for a living, trade with people and meet people all over the country. I mean that'd be ideal, right, like doing trading like I'm sure it's mostly an east coast thing, but like trading on the west coast would be cool.

Mike:

Yeah, it would be really cool. Yeah you know, we've got the eBay account, which we sure, but it's different, right, that's different than more than east coast.

Heavy D:

It's different than like Going through some, going through some stuff and trading with somebody you meet from. You know from Oregon who also is into transformers, and you have completely different lives.

Heavy D:

Yeah you know that that whole thing's always intriguing to me. I think that's cool and podcasting like has a similar feel. That, like I meet a lot of people and talk a lot of people that are like we, our podcast, are nothing alike but we communicate because we have, you know, similar needs and, like you know, like Um James talking about working on a podcast, yeah right, and you get that up and go when you come back and talk about that shit. Oh yeah, absolutely That'd be hot.

Heavy D:

But it's just like you know, we were talking about the gear that we use here in studio and Remind the listeners that studio is the dining room, but the the gear we use in studios, like was talking about just the Just relatable shit that we've been never talking about before. Yeah, the mics that we use and the mic stands Just hang out with people. Man play with toys, yeah.

Mike:

Make conversations, yeah, get a hobby, man, really, you know you can have kids, you can have a wife, you can have a job, but have a hobby. Get out and do something every once in a while, something that makes you really happy and you know that's.

Heavy D:

That's kind of what we preach here right On this podcast is like I know, quit your job In its literal form is what you think right, but like Really it just do something you love, right, do do what you want to do. You know what I mean.

Mike:

Like if I could podcast for a living, I would just do that, yeah if it pays the bills, right, if it paid those fucking anyways, do it yeah and I'm gonna do it anyway, right?

Heavy D:

I mean, it's not paying any bills and I'm doing it anyway. We're having a great time. Yeah, exactly, but that's that's the goal. So that's kind of where we're going to be. So that's kind of where we're at, and that's where you guys are at, and that's why I wanted you guys to come on and why I've had such a great time tonight.

Mike:

Yeah, absolutely, we're gonna have a good time.

Heavy D:

It was fun. Yeah, man, we're gonna do some more toy training. You guys are gonna get me into some. You guys are gonna get me into toys. Now Be fucking on.

Mike:

Go check us out on Facebook Eject toys. We're on Instagram to all lowercase eject underscore toys. We'll be set up at the the tri-cities comma con December 2nd and Watch out for us at botcon this summer.

Heavy D:

You fucking love botcon. I've got the shirt on. Oh man, yeah, so much fun.

Mike:

Yeah, if you are a Transformers fan, you will walk in and have to walk out and the cosplays wild right.

Heavy D:

Yeah, like the cause planning attack and it's overwhelming yeah and seeing some of the people man.

Mike:

Yeah like voice your childhood hero.

Heavy D:

Yeah, that's fucking wild like. You're talk.

Mike:

Yeah, I met Gary chalk this year in Newark, new Jersey, and Me and him growing up, he was the voice of our Optimus Prime. Everybody knows who optimists? Yeah, and he had me stumbling on my words.

Heavy D:

I couldn't speak no, charisma at all.

Mike:

No, yeah, yeah and I got a picture with him. It was so cool super good dude. I got to meet a bunch of other voice actors. Yeah, that's fucking cool hang out with them and Go go to a convention sometime, man. Anybody out there?

Heavy D:

Yeah, especially if you have one in your town like people should just go to the yeah, it's like this, fucking people people watching is one of my favorite things to do in the world and there's nothing like people watching at a con. We like, we have a bingo. We put together every year.

Jayden:

And it's you know. You just about guaranteed to see something you know there's stereotypes for. Yeah, but it's funny as hell when you see it in person, you can check it off.

Mike:

Yeah, it's even funnier when you're like I just check this off.

Jayden:

Man walking around trying to find the other person be like have you got this? Yet it's like I just got this.

Heavy D:

I just got a bingo man, let me tell you this is all fucking this, the last thing I saw. I'll say the I was a magic, that big magic. Terminus was like 4,000 people and it was the same thing. Like I wish I would have had a bingo card to be like all the people that are dead. Like it was wild. The wildest man I was in. There was a concession, right, it was just like they basically like chicken strips, like hot dogs and shit, right, imagine, there's 4,000 people, right, and there's one concession.

Heavy D:

Yeah yeah, so we're fucking standing there like forever and you only got so much time before the rounds, I just happen to have like a buyer, some shit. But man, this dude in front of me, we're standing there forever and like, and she yelled something like they were out of fries or something. I don't remember what she yelled because the thing that happened next shocked me. Man, he turned around and started talking like Mickey Mouse, like and I don't even mean like like just for a split second, I mean like legitimately, like fool, like the fool, like fool on, like the whole time. And I was like Looking behind me because I was like you see, fucking talking to somebody else who's like just talking like Mickey Mouse.

Mike:

I don't mean to interrupt you. Do you remember the dude that was at the he would? He was going to? He went to the big. It was a big tournament a long time ago now. It was a dude who was taking pictures of the dude with her.

Heavy D:

Yeah, man, yeah, you know he's talking about. The guy was going around like he went to, like he went like a GP or something like 4,000 people or some shit and Was going around just taking pictures of people's ass cracks and like and him like, posing next to him or whatever, and they call it what?

Heavy D:

like a crack gate or whatever crack gate, yeah, and and like he got banned for life for magic and he was like he wasn't a pro but he was gonna be a pro, like he was really good and and it was fucking hilarious. I mean that's funny. It is funny because there's so many ass cracks at magic tournaments.

Jayden:

I.

Heavy D:

So many. I mean I've been the big, I've been that person yeah, I'm sure more than once, but like it's funny that he got banned for life for it, unless it was bullying and I'm bad.

Mike:

My boy, free my free my boy.

Heavy D:

We need to find his name and shit. Yeah, free my boy. I don't think we can just hashtag. Free my boy.

Jayden:

Crack gate was an inside job.

Heavy D:

All of that. Um, yeah, guys, you all check them out on their socials and Check them out December 2nd, yeah, and and.

Mike:

Christmas is coming up, you know if you want to get your kids into something that's productive. I mean, transformers are basically two toys in one Get your brain going.

Heavy D:

We'll be All right, y'all. That was an awesome show, that was fun. Remember to follow us on Instagram. When you check out, I'm gonna send, I'm gonna post some pictures of stuff that they brought. Falsing Instagram everything's an unpaid lunch tick tock. We had like three or four tick tocks go up today. So, uh, rhino's been out but he's been working on that, so he's doing that. In the meantime, check out patreon everything exclusive content on there. Yeah, guys, you all got anything else, anything that's pretty much.

Mike:

Thanks for having us, though man it was awesome.

Heavy D:

That was a great time and I'm hoping you know we can do it again in the future. Oh yeah, I remember y'all ain't nobody stopping you from quitting your job, but you.

Mike:

Exactly fun, though, fucking robots.

Heavy D:

You.