Matt Young Loves Toy Collecting!
Matt Young (Hello from the Magic Tavern) is here to prove that collecting toys and action figures is more interesting than the movie musical Grease. It seems like he’s not… playing around.
Find Us Online
- website: tmaipod.com
- patreon: patreon.com/TMAIpod
- twitter: twitter.com/tmaipod
- instagram: instagram.com/tmaipod
Cast & Crew
- Hosts: Adal Rifai & Eric Silver
- Producer: Eric Silver
- Editor: Brandon Grugle
- Created by: Eric Silver & Mischa Stanton
- Theme Song: Arne Parrott
- Artwork: Shae McMullin
- Multitude: multitude.productions
About Us
Tell Me About It is a madcap game show about proving that the things you like are actually interesting and cool. Adal Rifai is an eccentric billionaire who forces someone new every episode to share, argue, and defend the thing they love the most. He’s wrangled his audio butler Eric to lead the contestant through a series of absurd challenges and games, all to gain points and get on the Most Interesting Thing High Score Board. Tell Me About It: the most fun podcast run by a multibillionaire. New episodes every other Thursday.
Transcript
[theme]
ADAL: It's Tell Me About It! Welcome to Tell Me About It, a game show about proving the things you love are actually interesting and fun. I am Adal Rifai, local eccentric multi-billionaire, and firm believer that Grease is the best creative work in the history of mankind. My apologies Aristophanes, my back tattoo says ‘fuck you.’ Though I am not doing this by myself. It takes a village that I own. Please welcome my butler and local podcast enthusiast, Eric Silver.
ERIC: I'm here. I'm ready to do this. You don't need to have that gun trained on me the entire time. I'm able to just maintain this through my own professionalism. Please, sir, please put down–
ADAL: Well then I will have trained that gun for nothing. So I will continue to have it trained on you. Sit gun, rollover. Backflip, beg. Good boy, good gun.
ERIC: Okay, here have— here's the steaks you have specifically for your gun.
ADAL: Okay, let me shoot these steaks. That's how a gun eats, I assume.
ERIC: Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, I'm ready. This is our first entry officially. I'm glad that we threw out the first 20 takes that we did. I don't think I was able to do both sides of the conversation for you. So this is honestly, it's just gonna work out.
ADAL: Yeah. And honestly, our first guest was Bo Jackson and he knew about everything. So it was kind of exhausting. So I'm glad that we scrapped that, we're starting anew with people who only know about certain subjects. They have little niche personalities, little niche interests, and hobbies, versus knowing everything like Bo Jackson.
ERIC: Bo knows, more like ‘oh noes’ for the content.
ADAL: Yes. Yoko Ono's episode was also interesting. She knew nothing, but she did pretend to know a lot. It was very abstract, very abstract.
ERIC: Very on the nose, sir.
ADAL: It's kind of like interviewing a Rorschach test.
ERIC: She kept saying it was her parents having sex, and I just had to say yes.
ADAL: Yeah. And I kept saying ‘that's my parents having sex.’
ERIC: And I kept saying, ‘stop showing me your parents having sex.’
ADAL: Eric, my little boy, my little insect that I like to step on and crush, would you please introduce today's guest?
ERIC: Absolutely. We have—oh, I'm not saying all of this. He plays a character on- on a podcast. This is Matt Young. Welcome in, Matt Young.
MATT: Hi, I'm Matt Young.
ADAL: So we hear.
MATT: I play a wizard on Hello From The Magic Tavern, where one of my co-hosts is Mr. Rifai.
ADAL: Well, I'm—wait, I'm on this podcast? I must have pre-recorded this 15-20 years ago.
MATT: I'll take that again.
ADAL: No, no, please, please leave it.
MATT: Yeah, we were— you and I were compatriots on this podcast.
ADAL: Oh, not friends?
MATT: Friends, but you know, money does things to people.
ADAL: Benefits?
MATT: I—
ADAL: You said it all, your eyes just said it all.
MATT: Do we get benefits? No, no. Oh, friends with benefits, no, no, no. You see, you played a character and I played a character. It's not really worth getting into here, but you know, now we're just being ourselves and you are obviously a billionaire. And I'm—
ADAL: Yes.
MATT: — I'm not, and that's fine, and—
ADAL: Oh, Matt Young, you're the person who keeps emailing me about your bills and how you need help.
MATT: Yeah, and I was like—
ADAL: That's adorable.
MATT: —if you can help me get through the next couple of weeks, that would really help out a lot.
ADAL: No. I'd say just pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. Do you have bootstraps? I'll buy you a pair of bootstraps. They can't be what, more than $70-80?
MATT: Uhh—
ADAL: We'll get you some bootstraps. Eric, send him some bootstraps. Well, Matt, thank you for being here today. We are going to test your knowledge, we're going to learn about your hobby. What is it that you are here to talk about today?
MATT: I've been asked to come here. I had a gun trained on me, and then I was told that I needed to talk about my passion. Something that I like to do with my time and money. The reason I'm you know financially insolvent is toy collecting. I—I really love collecting toys of various kinds.
ADAL: Huh. Interesting. So toys is not just the 1992 vehicle for Robin Williams and Joan Cusack you're saying?
MATT: It is—it is that and I think that's what most people think of when they hear the word ‘toys.’ So that's a very—it's very normal thing for you to say.
ADAL: When I hear the word toys I think of LL Cool J in camouflage hiding up against the wall in a toy factory.
MATT: Uh-huh.
ADAL: In the middle of a prairie?
MATT: Right, right.
ERIC: That was a wonderful year here in the Rafai House, 1992. Where all we did was watch— was watch the movie Toys. Both before release, during release, and after release. It was wonderful.
ADAL: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
MATT: Wow. Wow. I think it's very normal to think of that movie before you even think of Toy Story or before you ever actually just think of the actual objects toys. Or Jack Nicholson saying ‘where did he get these wonderful toys?’
ADAL: Oh, that's a great call, Matt. Where did you get those wonderful toys? Is there some sort of Toys R U? Is there some sort of toy store KB- KC-? KB Toys?
MATT: KB Toys is out of business, sadly.
ADAL: Yes, I actually bought them and put them out of business.
MATT: And Toys R Us in North America is sadly out of business.
ADAL: Yes, I bought them and put them out of business.
ERIC: And you are the one who invented the technology to turn— to make Geoffrey the Giraffe as he was.
ADAL: That's right. And I'm also the person who bought Pixar so that we could cast Chris Evans and not have Tim Allen. I castrated Tim Allen.
ERIC: Good show. Good show, sir.
ADAL: Famously. I also bought a little backpack company called Marciasport and I changed it to Jansport.
ERIC: Much better name. Honestly, truly. You—you saw right to the soul of that backpack.
ADAL: Thank you.
ERIC: And you told it what its name was.
MATT: Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.
ADAL: So, Matt, you get your toys where?
MATT: Well, sometimes I buy them online, and sometimes I like to go to a retail store or even to toy shows. I haven't done since the pandemic, but you can go out to sometimes—
ADAL: The what?
MATT: —that fairgrounds. Famously, in Chicago, there's the Kane County Toy Show.
ADAL: Okay, Interesting. Interesting. Do you ever just meet a toy out and about, like you're at a bar and there's a toy looking at you across the bar?
MATT: Yeah, sometimes you're out at a bar, and you see like, you know, you're sipping on your whiskey and you look down the— you look down the bar and you see like a big Tonka truck. And it's kind of like blinking its headlights at you, and you're like, ‘whoa, hey.’
ADAL: ‘You Tonka to me?’
MATT: Exactly. So you just go over there and you’re like ‘you want to dump that truck on me?’
ERIC: ‘Hey, me and my husband were just here on this side of the barn. We—’
ADAL: ‘We love your vibes.’
ERIC: ‘We love the patina and the way you were painted, and your just whole vibe. We just really love them.’
MATT: Yeah, yeah.
ADAL: Well, like Shakespeare said, without further ado, Eric, why don't we get into the first round of our game show?
ERIC: Absolutely, sir. This is round one: Just Tell Me About It! I wrote it specifically the way that I said it - with the accents and everything. I have ten foundational points for you, Matt Young, about toy collecting.
MATT: Okay.
ERIC: Now please give us an overview of your topic here in five minutes. You're going to get points for each bullet that I have wri— uh, wr—
ADAL: Shhhh, easy boy, easy boy, easy boy. No, no, no, they're not talking about you.
ERIC: No, not your— not—
ADAL: Sit, sit, lay down, lay down.
ERIC: These are my bullets! These are mine! I have researched ten foundational points - bullet points - about what I think you're going to say. And if you hit them, you get points for each bullet, especially if you make them sound interesting and cool.
MATT: Okay.
ERIC: Alright. I have five minutes on the clock. Whenever you are ready you may begin and I will start the timer.
[Background music begins]
MATT: Like many toy collectors, I got into it for nostalgic reasons. And now nostalgia can not always be the best impulse. But it has led me to this passion of mine, that is manifested in a few different ways. The main things I collect are Legos, specifically the Star Wars sub-line, and Masterpiece Transformers. I have a particular affinity for the Star Wars characters and the Transformer characters from my childhood. But part of what—
ADAL: And—
MATT: Yep?
ADAL: Matt, can you tell us about ‘Master-peas Transformers?’ Is it just a lot of Transformers that are like ‘uh nananana’? Are they no-limit soldiers? Did I mishear you?
MATT: Yes.
ERIC: How much time did Bumblebee participate in the NBA and could he have made it to the NBA?
MATT: There is a LeBron James Masterpiece Optimus Prime. That is a real thing. I don't have it.
ADAL: Transformers can be from Cleveland?
MATT: Yeah. And I've only seen it in person once at a toy store, like a privately owned toy store. Anyway, what I've fallen in love with really is like I like action figure collecting too and some Funko Pops for characters I like. I like— I have some Masters of the Universe Stuff. I have some DC Comics stuff. But I really love the Lego stuff and the Transformer stuff because of the level of the engineering. I've also gotten a little bit into Gundam, because like there's a really cool engineering aspect and puzzle aspect of these things that I find really fun. I like to make displays out of them. But I also like to just take them off the shelf, and try to remember how these very elaborate, very complicated Transformers work. And what they've done in the last few years is they've really focused on creating a realistic alternate mode, like whether it's a car, or a jet, or whatever. But then it transforms and looks the way it actually looked in an animated form 35 years ago, where they were like ‘we don't give a shit how it actually works and transforms, this is impossible,’ could— you watch the cartoon, you're like, ‘that's not possible.’ But they have found a way, through their cleverness and engineering fortitude, to make these things even closer to that kind of vision of what we grew up with. More of a reality. And then with the Lego stuff like it's really become like an art medium like there are a lot of great art shows now where people create really incredible things out of Lego. I can't do that. I'm really jealous of that. Part of what I like to do is also watch a lot of YouTube videos of really talented people, creating really amazing things out of Lego, just because it inspires me. And you know, like, if I had all the time and money in the world, maybe I would do that. But you know, I could see myself like finding that as a— as an interest. And because I was getting some more into this like engineering aspect of it during the pandemic, I did also sort of start to get into model building. I haven't delved too deep into that.
ADAL: Ah. Weird Science.
MATT: Yeah. So I was like, I gotta get Kelly Lebrock here, or I'm going to be so lonely. But yeah, I like—I bought a few Gundam things, and I've been kind of playing around with that and figuring out some of the techniques. Again, like watching a lot of videos of like, really talented people making really cool and beautiful, amazing things. So I really appreciate the artistry of it. And the way people like find ways to express themselves in this thing that it doesn't seem like an artistic thing, right? And I don't know that I can claim that anything I've done with it is artistic, but I really appreciate sort of the culture around it. Like any kind of subculture, there's probably like some bad toxicity in it. So I don't like engage with it directly a lot. But I think there's also a lot of like, cool sort of things starting to happen, where people have really thoughtful and progressive things. Like I— you know, there's a lot of like charities related to like, you can donate whole LEGO sets to one particular charity that will like take them and like repurpose them and give them to kids. And you know, I think that that's a—that's a cool aspect of my particular hobby. Is that 17 minutes yet?
[Background music ends.]
ERIC: That was fi— yeah, that was 55 minutes. You nailed it. The podcast is over.
ADAL: We'll chop that down to a nice tight five.
MATT: Thanks.
ADAL: Wonderful, Matt. Thank you so much. I do have to ask, are you going to be purchasing or have you already purchased the Starry Night Lego set?
MATT: Oh, um, I have not yet. It is one that is sort of outside of my normal. Like I said, it's a lot of Star Wars stuff for me.
ADAL: Sure.
MATT: And I've tended to like gear towards even like the kind of higher-end Star Wars stuff.
ADAL: Well, I assumed higher end Star Wars stuff when you said you were very into ‘Gungan.’ Now I know Gungans are a race of sort of CGI rabbits who speak with a, uh, almost Jamaican accent? That I will not replicate here.
MATT: Thank you.
ERIC: Matt, I do have the dispensation to give you a point if you do a Gungan impression right now.
ADAL: It's truly not worth it.
MATT: Not worth it. Absolutely not worth it, in any way. Unless this counts. [imitates slobbering noises of Boss Nass]
ERIC: Unfortunately, that does not count—
MATT: Damn it.
ERIC: It’s in the bylaws. You have to do a full impression. It's written in here. I don't—
MATT: That’s a pretty good Boss Nass. It's a pretty good Boss Nass.
ADAL: I'm in the business of Boss Nass. Is what I always say, it's on my BossNass cards.
MATT: Taking care of Boss Nass?
ADAL: Yeah.
ERIC: Every day, every single day.
ADAL: Matt, I feel like in a previous life, I've been to your home. And I feel like a lot of stuff, correct me if I'm wrong, you do keep in the original packaging, is that correct?
MATT: Yes, and no. Some of the LEGO sets I have kept in the original packaging just because I don't have space to build them. I would love to build them all like the— the tactile practice and the kind of like zen-ness of like building is like what I really like about it. I have collected beyond the point of being able to have space and build all those things.
ADAL: Interesting.
MATT: So I do have quite a few LEGO sets still in packages. Most of my other things I do have loose. I'm sure there's some exceptions to that.
ADAL: Interesting. And so maybe almost like my famous toboggan that I had as a kid, named Tulip Bud. When you play with these toys, does it almost whisk you back to childhood?
MATT: I think there is an element of that. It's certainly somewhat driven by nostalgia. And I also have like a completest attitude, which is very dangerous, because there's—specifically with the Transformers thing. There are a lot of official products made by Hasbro and made by Takara in Japan. But there's also been a huge boom in what they call the third-party industry.
ADAL: Okay.
MATT: Where these other toy companies in China, Japan, Thailand are making very complicated, very beautiful versions of these characters that are not being officially made by the company, that kind of sell and fit in with this scale of figure. So, as a completest, it makes it really hard because there are literally like, hundreds of characters. And so you have to kind of like pick and choose. And also sometimes there are multiple versions of multiple characters made by different companies.
ADAL: Of course.
MATT: So—
ERIC: Ugh! Unfortunately Matt Young, we are at time. But I really enjoyed everything you were saying about artistic expression.
MATT: Oh, great. I—I figured we were well past that five minutes.
ERIC: Oh, we were. I was—we were just having a good time.
ADAL: To be fair, I asked follow-up questions. So Eric, actually deduct 10 points from yourself.
ERIC: No! You did tell me to be more enthusiastic about me telling you not to stop talking. But the last time you did that, you took off 100 points. So I— is this growth? Am I growing?
ADAL: Wow, he's talking back. For you for dinner, fruit by the foot instead of fruit roll-ups.
ERIC: We do have your points here. Wonderful. You have hit a few of the points that you're talking about. The nostalgia portion, the collector community, hitting the popular toy lines of Star Wars, Transformers, He-man and pointing out that toys are usually loose in the box and that's how you do it. And you did bring up the toxic elements of the community. So I did note that you did talk about eBay. I did give you partial credit on that.
MATT: Thank you.
ERIC: So I was waiting for you to say Beanie Babies. And for you to describe some of the more specific terms for the various things, such as mint on card, mint in package, mint in box— it’s just letter soup to me.
MATT: Yeah.
ERIC: So this does come out to 4 points.
MATT: Okay.
ERIC: Out of the possible 10 points.
ADAL: Letter Soup, my favorite E-entertainment TV show. RIP.
MATT: Great. I'll take the 4.
ERIC: It’s featuring L’ul Mick Jim Jibbercam.
ADAL: Exactly, exactly. Matt, if you could have one person trapped in carbonite in your room, who would it be?
MATT: I guess it would be Kelly LeBrock still.
ADAL: The perfect answer. Well, Eric, should we mosey along to round two?
ERIC: Absolutely. Uh, Ada—
ADAL: Oh, I'm sorry. Shut up for one second. I do apologize Matt, I do want to give you some bonus points.
MATT: Thank you.
ADAL: At some point during your speech - your impassioned speech about toys - you mentioned the phrase ‘engineering fortitude.’ And I think I just liked that phrase so much, and it sounded so nice coming from your sonorous voice.
MATT: Thank you.
ADAL: So because fortitude has the word ‘four’ in it, we're going to give you 4 bonus points.
MATT: Oh, great.
ERIC: Incredible - that brings you up to 8 points. You're doing great, Matt.
MATT: Thank you so much. Do I get to eat if I win?
ERIC: [whispers] I don't— I don't know.
MATT: [whispers] Okay, thank you.
ADAL: Alright, Eric, my trained gun is begging me to have you take us over to round two.
ERIC: Heel boy, sit, unload, please. Well, we're in round two. This is ‘the perfect thing.’ Matt, if someone asked you, ‘what is an example of the thing you love so much,’ what would you say? We are looking for a perfect encapsulation of toy collecting. What is one thing or moment that you think kind of brings it all together? If you are going to tell someone about this?
MATT: Oh, it's a sense of satisfaction from figuring something out. Because I am kind of drawn to the puzzle-y aspect of it. I really enjoy that moment of ‘AHA!’, of discovery. When you're like, ‘how the hell does this thing become this thing?’ Or ‘how does this come together to make the thing?’ and figuring that out, for me is that moment. The— the sense of discovery.
ADAL: How the sausage gets made?
MATT: Yeah, and that's— that's the fun of it is like— and I think that's why I gravitate towards these things that are a little more interactive, rather than like things that are a little more static. Like, I do have some action figures and things. Some Star Wars, some Masters of the Universe, but like they're pretty passive, like you can pose them if you want, and they look cool. And there's like, sort of collector-end series that come out in the last 10 years that are pretty fancy and look nice. But I really like that tactile experience.
ADAL: Interesting. You know, for my 14th birthday party, my dad did buy me, Dolph Lundgren. And I played with him for a few days and eventually I broke his thumb off, and we did have to return him. So I definitely—
MATT: Uh-huh.
ADAL: — I definitely connect with you over that in terms of it is very satisfying to have the thing you want. It is very satisfying to be able to interact with something, versus just sitting on your shelf or your mantel or fireplace.
MATT: And I assume you were talking about Rocky IV.
ADAL: Oh, absolutely.
ERIC: There was a- there was a tie-dye station, and that's where Dolph said ‘if it dyes, it dyes.’
ADAL: Well he said ‘if it tie-dyes, it tie-dyes.’
ERIC: I wasn't there. I only heard it from you, you—
ADAL: Well Matty we're going to give you— let's say, I think that's a full 10 out of 10 points.
MATT: Oh, great.
ERIC: It was beautiful. I cried you just—I hid it inside because I'm not supposed to show emotion here.
ADAL: Yeah, your response was like The English Patient, in a good way.
MATT: [whispering] Hey, Eric.
ERIC: [whispering] Yeah?
MATT: Hey, Eric.
ERIC: Yeah, Matt?
MATT: Don't— don't cry. And not— you know, crying is cool and everything, but I think right now, if we really want to get through this—
ERIC: Yeah?
MATT: —you shouldn't cry. Because that might bring danger onto you that you might not be ready for. Do you understand me?
ERIC: Matt, I don't know where else to go.
MATT: Okay, well don't— then don't cry.
ERIC: Okay.
MATT: Because we— I want you to live through this. [stops whispering] What's next, guys? This is so much fun.
ADAL: Sorry I blanked out for a minute. I was mowing the lawn of my mind palace. Were you guys talking?
MATT: No.
ADAL: No?
MATT: No, we would never do that Mr. Rifai.
ADAL: Okay, very good. Please, Dr. Rifai. Dr. Mr. Rifai. Let's move on to—
MATT: Can I ask you a question about uh—I never knew your middle na— one of your middle names was Vin Diesel. Did he have to pay you to use that name?
ADAL: Yes, he did. So his name was Robert Smith.
MATT: Got it.
ADAL: Which was in conflict, I believe with the lead singer of The Cure.
MATT: The Cure, yeah.
ADAL: So he approached me, and he said ‘may I— sir, may I please have—’
MATT: Another?
ADAL: ‘—one of your middle names? Another—another middle name, because at the time he was going by uh—what were the names? At the time he was going by Max Emilian. First name Max, last name Emilian, which exhausted everyone and Steven Spielberg was like, ‘absolutely not.’ So he asked if I had any other names for sale. And I sold him, Vin Diesel. And boy, oh boy did I time that right. Because I now own stock in the name Vin Diesel, and I am—
MATT: Ohh.
ADAL: —I mean, I'm getting richer by the second.
MATT: That's great. Good for you. Congratulations.
ADAL: Thank you so much.
MATT: I love The Iron Giant.
ADAL: Right? I will say I'm a little annoyed because a lot of times when Vin Diesel is cast in movies, they don't use his- what a perfect name in Fast and the Furious, to just call him Vin Diesel.
ERIC: That's true.
MATT: Yeah, he doesn't really need a character name.
ADAL: Yeah.
MATT: That seems like a waste of time. Everyone's time.
ADAL: Dominic Toretto is such a step back from his actual name. Well, not his actual name, but his bought name.
MATT: So your— your—what you're proposing is sort of a Being John Malkovich, but with Vin Diesel?
ADAL: Ooh, interesting. Could we all shrink ourselves down and go inside of Vin Diesel's head? I think it's big enough to fit us.
MATT: I think that’ll be fine.
ERIC: I'm still hung up on the fact that Mark Sinclair does seem like a middle name for a billionaire, which is Vin Diesel's real name.
ADAL: Well, his real name was Robert Smith. But he must have bought Mark Sinclair at a discount for some reason.
ERIC: That's true. I'm sorry. I'm following what you said, and it was definitely Robert Smith.
ADAL: Exactly. Thank you so much.
ERIC: That's right.
ADAL: So Eric, instead of correcting me, why don't you take us over to round three?
ERIC: That's fine. I can take my energy out on someone else, and we can correct Matt Young.
MATT: Great.
ERIC: Because round three is the question and answer period.
MATT: Oh, I'll be great at this.
ERIC: We have follow-up questions for you Matt Young, and they will be the gotcha questions that Sarah Palin has been warning us about.
MATT: Okay.
ERIC: Please answer as many of these as possible as Adal Rifai, Mark Sinclair, Vin Diesel nos. Dominic Toretto, Too Adal too Furious, gives you the questions.
ADAL: Question number one. US toy sales revenue was 32.61 billion - haha, what a small amount - in 2020, but according to MailChimp, around 70% of millennials alone bought themselves a toy to fill the downtime in 2020. Matt, why are we doing that instead of buying houses?
MATT: Well, the answer is it's something that feels more tangible and more attainable. And it is also scratching that nostalgia itch.
ADAL: Interesting. Okay.
MATT: Especially during the pandemic, there was a huge uptick in the price of toys like the collectible stuff I was in. Like, it's all like, doubled in price. And those prices don't seem to be coming back down at all. So there was a huge drive. A lot of people went to eBay, started looking for Pokemon cards, just things to help comfort them. It's all just comfort food.
ADAL: Gotcha. Yes, I have a lot of friends. I'm not familiar with the term, but a lot of friends receive some sort of stimulation check and use that to purchase toys because they were locked in a house and had nothing to do.
MATT: I received a simulation check and I rented Lawnmower Man.
ERIC: Joe Biden came to my house and stimulated me, but that was different.
MATT: Yikes.
ERIC: Topical.
ADAL: I'd rather be stimulated by the Lawnmower Man. Alright, Matt, question number two. I learned from the hit movie 40 Year Old Virgin, that I have to sell my collectible toys to have meaningful relationships and have sex for the first time. Discuss.
MATT: That is not true. I am currently in a committed relationship, and that has not been a hindrance. We actually enjoy a lot of the same things. She's very much into like fashion and clothes, and we both enjoy anime, [pronounces differently] anime. And you know, so there's things that like crossover that like— we actually watched Gundam Wing together, which she watched when she was younger and I hadn't been into and then I—that kind of got me into the model building stuffs too.
ADAL: Can I ask you, you, and your partner, which anime do you enjoy best? Sally Field or Mercer Tome?
MATT: I'm gonna go with the lady from Spider-Man Two.
ADAL: Perfect answer, no follow-ups. One final question Matt for round three. In late 2013, news broke within the Star Wars collecting community - you may have heard of this - that many of the mint carded action figures they had been trading, were not in fact mint items. And despite being sealed in packets, were not factory sealed back in the 1980s. But rather sealed a lot more recently with a mere clothing iron by some dude. The Toy Tony scandal makes folks in the Star Wars collectible area bristle. How hard is it to avoid scams and fakes?
MATT: It can be a challenge. But mostly if you're smart- if something's too good of a deal, you know, it probably is a lie. And that's something you have to really watch out for, like on sites like eBay. You know, if something's listed for $30 that usually sells for $100, you at least have to look at what the shipping is, because it's like, maybe the shipping is listed at $150, you know? And it's like, ‘oh, crap, I'm gonna buy this because it's $30,’ and then you pay for it anyway and they make more money. I've only had one instance, ever, where I bought something online - and it was—it was a Transformer - and it never showed up. It just didn't come, and I think it just—that money just went away. And that thing was never—
ADAL: Oh, no.
MATT: —really gonna come.
ADAL: This was from eBay?
MATT: Yes, it was. I— It wasn't too much money, though. It was relatively cheap for one of those things. And, yeah, you do have to watch out for scams. And I think people have gotten smarter about it. And there's also—you know, there's a big kind of split in these communities, about authentic versus reproduction. And then vintage versus modern. I'm much more to modern stuff, where it's like, here's a thing that we're making now, that's a representation of something maybe from the 80s, or the 90s, or whatever, just a show I like. And some people are very like, it has to be 1980s original Kenner Star Wars, like I don't want anything modern, all the modern stuff sucks. And I—you know, all of them are cool and valid in their own ways. And given that older stuff obviously gets more and more expensive as time goes by, and there's less and less of it, and it just becomes rarer and rarer. So you know people are doing these scams like this. So the reproduction community then—
ADAL: Oh, pause real quick.
MATT: Yeah?
ADAL: Eric, Matt did say reproduction, which we all know famously is the best song in Grease 2, the Michelle Pfeiffer sequel. So we are going to give him 10 points for saying the title of that best song, ‘Reproduction.’ Matt, please continue.
MATT: And reproduction and repair. Some of the videos that I like— really like to watch are people who restore old toys and old video game systems and things like that. I just find it fascinating, and something also I kind of am drawn to doing. I just don't have space and time and energy and the skills to do it. Oh, maybe when I'm 100 or something.
ADAL: Well, if you like, since it sounds like we work together to some degree, I can cryogenically—I can [in accent] cryogenically freeze your head. Sorry, I just watched [in accent] ‘Uncut Gems.’
MATT: Okay.
ADAL: And we can keep you alive until 100. I mean, unless you feel comfortable and confident on your own.
MATT: I think I'm— I think I'm alright right now.
ADAL: Okay. Well, for you being screwed over on eBay and losing some money, I do feel terrible. Eric, are we able to Venmo Matt 20 shares of Apple stock?
ERIC: I can look around in my Venmo and see if we can do that. But at the least we can send you 220 shares of an Apple company, an apple orchard. Any Apple thing we can probably just send over to you.
ADAL: The Apple Bottom gang.
ERIC: The boots with the fur. Any of that would work for you.
MATT: Yeah, I’d just take an apple at this point.
ERIC: Alright, you've answered three of our very important gotcha questions. Sir, how would you score these? How do you think Matt did?
ADAL: 50?
MATT: Great.
ERIC: Just— just 50 points?
ADAL: Yeah.
ERIC: Okay, wonderful. Okay, so that's one point for remembering the word ‘reproduction.’ And then 50 points for answering three questions.
ADAL: Can I just say if you would have sang the word reproduction, that would have been 1000 points.
MATT: Damn. I should have done that. I almost did. Look while we're paused before we get to round four, can I ask you - Beauty School Dropout?
ADAL: I'm listening.
MATT: Thumbs up, thumbs down?
ADAL: Big thumbs up. Big thumbs up. Any song that's a life lesson to Frenchie, the best character in the entire movie, is A+ in my book.
MATT: Okay. Okay.
ADAL: Plus I stand by— I've read every religious book you can get your hands on. I have talked to shamans. I have talked to Popes. I have met presidents. I have stared at the Dalai Lama. And no better depiction of heaven exists than during the song Beauty School Dropout in Grease the movie.
MATT: Wow, I didn't realize that that was um—
ADAL: Oh, they go to heaven. I believe Frankie Valli takes her to heaven.
MATT: No, no, I know, I know. I just didn't realize that people have conferred about that and agreed. So that's good to know that all the religions got together and did agree on at least that one thing.
ADAL: They all agree that Grease has the best glimpse into what heaven will be and look like.
MATT: Right, right. Fuck you, Thor Ragnarok.
ERIC: Yeah, the Pope needs to say the whole Christian thing.
ADAL: Yeah.
ERIC: The whole St. Peter thing. But really, it's—
ADAL and ERIC: Beauty School Dropout.
ERIC: The Pope knows. That's why the German Pope had to leave, right?
ADAL: Yeah. I also think he had a certain knife as a youngster. Anyway.
ERIC: No, it wasn't that, it definitely wasn't that. I don't know what you're talking about.
ADAL: A certain collectible knife as a youngster. Well, let's— speaking of collectibles, Matt, we're really enjoying having you on and talking about this. Can we make our way, finish our drinks? We don't have to go home, but we can't stay here. Can we move on to round four?
ERIC: Absolutely. This is round four, the wheel of extraordinary challenges.
ADAL: That's right. I've instructed my manservant to prepare a few wacky minigames here to test your intellectual and creative mettle. As I arranged for Bob Wheel-of-Fortune, cousin of Bob We-Had-a-Baby,-It's-a-Boy, the multi-billionaire magnates, who sold me the intellectual property for wheels in game shows, to build an opulent wheel for us to spin and choose your minigame. Not unlike Mario Party, trademark. Manservant, what do we have today?
ERIC: Okay, I'm just going to spin this block above my head and wait for it to spin.
ADAL: Thank you for not punching it. Otherwise, Nintendo would have a lawsuit.
ERIC: That's true. I'm going to touch it. I'm gonna touch it nicely. Boop.
ADAL: That's why Vanna White doesn't punch the blocks in Wheel of Fortune. Because then she'd be replicating Mario and there'd be a lawsuit.
ERIC: Exactly.
MATT: Do you think she ever gets mad at Mario? Because he kind of took her thing?
ADAL: 100%. 100%. Also, the original Weird Al song was ‘Trapped in a Closet with Mario.’
MATT: That makes a lot of sense.
ADAL: Thank you.
ERIC: [As Mario] Wahoo! Let's-a go to the minigame that I've chosen for us here: ‘Wow, things are expensive!’ Adal and Matt, you're going to play against each other. I'm going to tell you two different products. One is a toy based off of Matt's wonderful hobby of collecting toys, and a comparable item. And you're going to tell me which one is more expensive. And you can boldly go forward or double down by saying if you think the thing that is more expensive is slightly more expensive, moderately more expensive, or much, much more expensive.
ADAL: Oooh, yes, yes, yes. Matt, I wish you the best of luck. It's a honor to play against you. Let me put up my hand for you to shake it. You shake it and the hand comes off because it's a fake arm and I'm holding up the middle finger with my real arm that comes out of my sleeve. And let's go ahead and start.
MATT: Thank you for narrating.
ERIC: Alright, wonderful. This first one is from the Target website. We are comparing the LEGO Star Wars Darth Vader Helmet Building Set versus a Weber 18-inch Original Charcoal Grill. Now tell me which one is more expensive.
ADAL: Interesting. I'm unfamiliar with Target. I'm going to say the Darth Vader helmet.
ERIC: Wonderful. Matt, which is more expensive?
MATT: I'm going to say the Weber Grill but only slightly.
ERIC: Alright. Adal, would you like to double down, or do would you like to just stay?
ADAL: I will say I think the Darth Vader Helmet is slightly more than the Weber Grill.
ERIC: Okay.
ADAL: And I assume this is a Chris Weber Grill and it constantly calls for time-outs when there is none.
ERIC: It's because the Laker grill is right next to it and you just can't compare the two. The LEGO Star Wars Darth Vader Helmet is $69.99, while the Weber Grill is $119.99. The Weber Grill is more ex— is moderately more expensive than the Darth Vader helmet.
ADAL: Rats! Well played, well played.
ERIC: Alright. With this it’s 1-0 Matt, Adal. We're also staying on the Target website. This is the LEGO Star Wars AT-AT Collectible Building Set versus a bed frame. It is Empire linen upholstered bed frame, the size is Queen and the color is pumice, which is more expensive?
MATT: I have to actually ask a clarifying question here.
ERIC: Sure thing.
MATT: For the Lego set, can you give me the exact name of that set? Because there are multiple AT-AT’s out at any given time.
ADAL: And while you ask that clarifying question, I am going to clarify some butter to put over my Porterhouse.
MATT: Great.
ERIC: I—yes I can clarify. This is what it is—it is the LEGO Star Wars AT-AT 75313 Collectable Building Set. This has 6785 pieces. It has nine Legos minifigs on it as well. That is the information that is on the Target website.
MATT: Yeah, okay.
ERIC: Alright, which is more expensive? The AT-AT or the bedframe set from Target?
MATT: I think this is the UCS set, which is ultimate collector's series. And I think it is quite a bit more expensive than that bedframe. So I'm going to say the bedframes might not be that cheap. I don't know. I'm going to say it's moderately more expensive.
ERIC: Wonderful.
ADAL: Interesting. Well, for the sake of keeping things challenging. I'm going to go ahead and say the bed frame is more expensive because I know I just bought a frame for Whistler's mother, which is in my foyer. And that frame was—
MATT: It's not framed?
ADAL: 13.2 billion. No, no, I wanted Whistler's mom to not feel boxed in, I wanted her to have the run of the place, of the canvas as you will. So I unframed it and then reframed it.
MATT: Oh, okay. I was afraid it's just like leaning against the wall sitting on the floor.
ADAL: She is at times.
MATT: Great.
ADAL: So I'm gonna say the frame is— has to be more expensive. I'm gonna say exceedingly more expensive.
ERIC: Alright, the Empire linen upholstered bed frame is on sale right now for $692.99. Regularly $769.99. But that Lego Star Wars AT-AT set is $799.99. Matt gets the point and extra points because you were correct with the double-down.
ADAL: Well played. Can I ask a question? What is it with you people and charging 99 cents? Just round up to the nearest dollar, what are we doing?
MATT: It feels like they're trying to get away with something, right?
ADAL: Yeah. Do you people get tricked into saying I'm not paying $80, I'm paying $79.99?
MATT: Well, yeah, if it was $80 I wouldn't buy it. But if it's $79.99…
ADAL: Alright, it works.
MATT: …Seems like a deal.
ERIC: Okay, wonderful. We're gonna move on to a different one of Matt's favorite toys. We're going to talk about something from the Transformers Masterpiece collection. This Transformers Masterpiece Takara Tomy MP-57 Autobots Skyfire. This is kind of like a figurine.
MATT: Yeah.
ERIC: It's about 24 inches tall.
ADAL: You're saying this toy is 20 of my penis's tall?
MATT: Oh, no. I think you've revealed something you didn't mean to reveal. Do you want to–
ADAL: No, I'm comfortable with it. I'm a billionaire.
MATT: Oh, okay, great.
ERIC: Instead of cutting it, we're gonna double it and make it louder.
ADAL: Oh, don't cut it. No, no, then I’d be circumcised.
[silence]
MATT: Apropos of nothing. Have you thought about starting a space program?
ADAL: Oooh, now that you mention it, that would be fun.
MATT: Yeah, okay.
ERIC: We are comparing the—this Transformers Masterpiece MP 7 Autobots Skyfire versus buying both TSA PreCheck and Clear at the same time. Which is more expensive?
MATT: Okay, precheck?
ERIC: TSA PreCheck is the thing that makes you skip the real long line.
MATT: Yeah.
ERIC: But Clear is when someone literally comes out after they scan your eyeballs and say you definitely are the person that you are. And they escort you through security because they already know you're chill.
ADAL: Oh, no, no, Eric, I'm familiar with Scientology and going clear. I've experienced it many times. It's a wonderful experience if you have the money for it. I would say when I get onto my private jet, I guess there is usually one or two people in front of me that I'd love to skip around. They're typically security, so they're there for my benefit, but it would be nice to go around them. I'm gonna go ahead and say, TSA and going Clear is more expensive than the 24-inch tower.
MATT: I didn't realize I could get my eyeballs scanned. So I'm gonna have to look into that after this. I know that this is just a pre-order for this Skyfire that you are talking about. It just recently got announced.
ERIC: Correct.
MATT: I think it's retailing around $270-280. I know that TSA PreCheck is going to be like $80 to $100-ish. I have no idea how much this Clear thing is. It sounds nuts though. I'm going to say that TSA and Clear is slightly more expensive, but not by much.
ERIC: Matt, you know so many things, but the thing you don't know is how actually affordable getting your eyes scanned is. The Transformers Masterpiece is $274.99 You literally nailed it.
MATT: Yeah.
ERIC: But Clear and TSA PreCheck together is $264.
ADAL: Wow.
MATT: Oh, so close though, so close.
ERIC: Clear costs $179 per year, while TSA PreCheck costs $85 for five years. Everyone should just go get PreCheck.
MATT: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
ERIC: They need to go get PreCheck.
MATT: And it's fun to get a background check run on you.
ADAL: Come to think of it, I think my father may have purchased this right before he died. Because the last thing I remember as a little tyke when my father was in the hospital, was one of the doctors yelling, “Clear!”, so I’ll have to root around in his documents to see if he still has it.
ERIC: Yeah. And that's when someone came up from hell and escorted him down there without waiting for anybody else. It was a lovely day for all of us.
MATT: Would you say he was more - when he was with us - he was more of a Danny or a Kenickie?
ADAL: Oh, let's see. Well, he did give me Hallmark cards and famously a hickey from Kenickie is like a Hallmark card, so I'd have to say Kenickie.
MATT: Fair enough.
ADAL: And I will say when he was— Eric, thank you for letting everyone know that my father was dragged to hell. #SamRaimi. The most realistic portrayal of Heaven is during Beauty School Drop Out in Grease 1. And the most realistic portrayal of hell that's ever been captured on celluloid or talked about in religion, is the motorcycle chase scene in Grease 2.
ERIC: Your father was a lot like Kenickie, in that he said that he had to do all of the hickeys himself. He was very adamant about that.
ADAL: Eric, any more questions for this round?
ERIC: We do have more questions. We—this is 2-1 to Matt, let's go on to something a Master of the Universe Classic Mermista action figure that I got off of toywhiz.com. Just for some context, the Princess of Salineas.
ADAL: Ohh.
ERIC: Stand strong with a set of legs and also arise with interchangeable articulated tail and posing stand.
ADAL: The Princess of salty anus?
ERIC: That's what it says.
ADAL: Alright.
ERIC: Apparently. Matt, is that true?
MATT: I mean, it's a good show.
ERIC: It's a great, great show. So we're comparing this action figure of Mermista versus a one-way ticket on Amtrak from Chicago to New York, leaving at 9:30 pm on June 15th. And it's a coach flexible ticket. Which is more expensive?
ADAL: Interesting. I'll let Matt go first.
MATT: I have to ask a clarifying question again here.
ERIC: Sure.
MATT: Because this is something in the secondary market, like on eBay. Like Masters of the Universe Classics ended about 10 years ago. And those figures retailed for $25 to $40, apiece. On the secondary market, they can go from $100 up all the way to like $500. Some really rare ones are really hard to get now. Are—am I shopping on the secondary market or, or is this retail price?
ADAL: And Eric very quickly, speaking of second dairy markets, would you please purchase Dean's Milk for me? I already own Oberweis, and I'd love a second dairy market.
ERIC: Absolutely. We can fit that in right—
ADAL: Thank you. Thank you.
ERIC: —after we stop recording this podcast. This is the secondary market. Yes, you're correct, Matt.
MATT: Secondary market. Okay. Oh, gosh. Um, I'm gonna say- it's a good figure, I have it. She does turn into a mermaid, it's pretty cool.
ERIC: Mermista and her salty anus is looking at you right now.
MATT: This new She-ra show that they did on Netflix couple years ago, very good. Everyone should watch it. But I have no idea because I bought it a while ago when it was much cheaper. So I'm going to say that's probably going for like $80 to $100 now, and the- the ticket is probably— how much is Chicago to New York, they're going to be pretty close. I'm going to say that the train ticket is slightly more.
ERIC: Adal, what do you think?
ADAL: I recall a time to over 13 years ago when I was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where they were doing a segment where billionaires dressed up like poor people and walk around the street. But I remember specifically somebody complaining.
MATT: Classy.
ADAL: Ellen can do no wrong, I will hear nothing about her. I remember talking to another fellow poor and they were complaining about the price of train tickets. They said, the two things in life that you don't think would be expensive, but are—are train tickets and rugs. So I'm gonna say that this train ticket is probably way more than we think it is. So I'm gonna say it's exceedingly more expensive than the figure.
ERIC: Yeah, that point goes to Adal. The Amtrak ticket is more expensive. Especially because it's flexible because flexible means you can return it at any time.
MATT: Oh, sure, sure.
ERIC: So it is $216 for this Amtrak ticket versus $149.99 for the Mermista action figure.
MATT: Mermista is $149 now. I should sell all my He-Man action figures.
ERIC: Absolutely.
MATT: I bought him for like 40 bucks.
ERIC: That's incredible. Okay, we're going to next one. This is Mattel DC Universe Classic. This is a Plastic Man figure. It is sealed inside of the box. This was an exclusive from San Diego Comic-Con back in 2010. This is being sold on eBay right now. Unfortunately, the box is sealed, so we do not know the condition of the figure inside. He is trapped in a Cask of Amontillado, unfortunately.
ADAL: We don't know what condition his condition’s in.
ERIC: So this is currently being sold on eBay right now. Is this more expensive, The Plastic Man, or Air Pods Third generation?
MATT: Oh, I mean, San Diego Comic Con exclusives are always expensive. Especially when that probably came out. Probably came out 10 years ago at least.
ADAL: Yeah, Eric I think you said 2010 SDCC?
ERIC: I did. Correct.
MATT: 2010. Yeah, okay, so it's 12 years ago. I'm gonna say Plastic Man is more and moderately more.
ERIC: Adal, what do you think?
ADAL: Remind me what the second thing was.
ERIC: The second thing are Air Pods Third Generation. It's not the Pros, but it's not the Second Generation. It's the Third Generation.
ADAL: If my family is any indication of generational wealth, I know that each subsequent generation loses value. So let's see. I mean, I've employed my father's strategy which is buy high, sell low. So I typically taken edible. Buy whatever the fuck I want. And as it plummets, I'll sell it.
ERIC: That's there—he did have that four-point plan, buy high, sell low, question mark, question mark, profit. But we now know that third one was ‘get dragged to hell and deal with whatever's down there.’
ADAL: Exactly. So I'm gonna go ahead and say that the Plastic Man is more valuable than the Generational AirPods and I would say by quite a bit.
ERIC: That is no points, unfortunately. The AirPods are more expensive.
MATT: Wow.
ERIC: The Air Pods $179, Plastic Man because he has Cask-of-Amontillado’d himself, I think, is because it is only $165, so no points.
MATT: I think this is a figure I also own but I bought it after someone had opened it. I bought it off eBay or something. So I probably got it for a lot less than that. But I figured sealed, and I thought it was gonna go for like $400.
ERIC: I just love that they needed to say like, ‘it might be bad. I hope it's not bad. Is that okay?’ Before they bought it.
MATT: I mean, there's craziness about it, of like people who are like, I can't see the Pain apps, the Pain apps, the Pain apps. People freak out about the Pain apps. Sometimes people get like little like Lego figures, you know, like the little mini figures. And they will show them on their channels on like YouTube and they'll be like, look at how the like line is off on the— on the painting on this tiny figure. I'm like, I don't even see what they're talking about like it's fucking fine. We're also talking about like a, you know, a C3PO so who gives a shit? It's fine.
ERIC: That's fair. We're also conducting a definitely-real billionaire doing games on a podcast. We're 100%---
ADAL: Yes.
MATT: Yeah. Sure.
ADAL: Sometimes passion dips into insanity.
MATT: So you like Grease more than Star Wars?
ADAL: Absolutely.
MATT: You—you watch Grease and then you watch Star Wars, and you're like Grease is the word.
ADAL: Grease is the word. Let me clarify, yes. 100%. And the Grease-iverse I feel like is so much more of a rich tapestry than the Star Wars universe will ever be.
MATT: So you're hoping that Disney buys Grease?
ADAL: Yes.
MATT: And they start making a bunch of Grease shows?
ADAL: 100%. What is— what is Sandy up to now, huh?
MATT: When are they going to get around to those prequels?
ERIC: I do need the documentary of young Stockard Channing.
ADAL: Wow, we're going way back huh?
ERIC: Wonderful. Alright, these last two questions are our high-stakes round. These are each worth two points each because we're talking about some very, very expensive Funko Pops.
MATT: Okay.
ADAL: Oh, I just thought of what I wanted, the Grease Lightning Spin-off. What's that car up to? Is it still a real pussy wagon? How did they get away with saying that? Who knows?
ERIC: The trailer is with a children's choir singing ‘shooby do bop, do bop’ like really solemnly.
ADAL: ‘Excuse me, sir, is that your pussy wagon in the parking lot? Could you move it? I have children eating here.’
ERIC: Alright, we're talking about some very expensive Funko Pops here. We're talking about the Dumbo Clown Funko Pop. I will tell you this is one of the most expensive, one of the most rare Funko Pops especially in the resale market.
ADAL: Sans feather or with feather?
MATT: Can he fly or not?
ERIC: No feather, but it is part of—it's from the sad part.
MATT: Right.
ERIC: Where Dumbo is wearing clown makeup, and they're like bullying him really hard.
ADAL: Yes.
ERIC: So that— is that more expensive, or the American Express Platinum Card minimum spending requirement to get the 100,000 points bonus. Which is more expensive?
ADAL: So I have a black card. So I'm not sure what a spending limit is. I'm gonna go ahead and say errr— a lot of people like Dumbo. And he spends years off and on inside the vaults.
MATT: They do?
ADAL: I think so. I think the common person enjoys a Dumbo. Um, I'm gonna go ahead and say the Dumbo Funko is more expensive, by quite a bit.
ERIC: Joe Sixpack, going out to the grocery store, buying a Dumbo, going and hanging out with his friends, voting Republican. Perfect.
MATT: Boy, Funko Pops are—are wild, because they can vary wildly in price. Retail price is like 10 bucks pretty much across the board unless it's a bigger scale. But then once they get into the secondary market, they go nuts. I collect Funko Pops. I have a lot of Doctor Who Funko Pops and I have a lot of Parks and Recreation Funko Pops, because it's the only way to collect something at Parks and Recreation, that I’ve found. But I'm not familiar with the Dumbo Clown. And I'm gonna say—
ERIC: Matt. I just want to clarify, it's not which Funko Pop, it's when Funko Pop.
MATT: I apologize.
ADAL: And in certain parts, it's Funko soda, and in the south it's Funko coke.
MATT: [In southern accent] ‘Can I get a Dumbo coke?’ [In normal voice] I'm gonna say—I'm gonna say that the Funko Pop the Dumbo Clown Funko Pop is slightly less expensive than the minimum spending account. So the minimum spending is a little more expensive.
ERIC: Okay. Yeah, we're gonna give this one to Adal.
MATT: Damn.
ERIC: Here's the thing. The American Express Platinum Card, you only need to spend $6,000 to get those 100,000 points bonus. A lot of money, but not as much as you think it is, right?
MATT: Right.
ERIC: The Funko Pop, the Dumbo Clown Funko Pop recently sold for $7,400.
MATT: What? That is nuts.
ADAL: I told you people love Dumbo.
MATT: You did and you're right. You're adding Disney people, they’re Disney people, right?
ERIC: Absolutely. I—and also people just love seeing the sad elephant. They love eating the tragedy.
ADAL: That's why people went to circuses for all those years. We love seeing animals sad.
ERIC: It’s a great place to take your kids.
ADAL: Yeah, come on out, eat some peanuts, and see a lion get poked in the face by a chair.
MATT: You want to see sad lifeless animals, just go see the remake of Lion King.
ERIC: Aye, oh, aye. Oh, here we go, aye.
MATT: They're all like CGI, like dead in the eyes. Great cast, but stop remaking Disney movies.
ERIC: Alright, this 4-2, Adal to Matt.
ADAL: Sorry, I do have to give a shout-out, after Matt said that, to my high school– Shout out to Uncanny Valley High. Go Dead Eyes!
ERIC: Alright, this is 4-2, Adal to Matt. Adal is winning on—on Matt's home court. But this one is 3 points because it is so expensive, so it's still anybody's game. So we're talking about a pair of Gold Willy Wonka Funko Pops. This was recently in the news. This was sold in cash, like humans exchange this in cash for this price, versus the individual donation that someone from a national party committee can make to a political PAC - what is the maximum that you can do? Which is more expensive?
MATT: I'm gonna go first here. The Willy Wonka is significantly more expensive than that.
ADAL: Well, I remember, I gave $250,000 to John Travolta to try and make him run for Governor of California. He took the money but never ended up campaigning.
MATT: But he made primary colors instead, right?
ADAL: Yes, he took that money and he rolled it into a political movie.
ERIC: Jealous Sandy, don't make them laugh.
ADAL: I'm gonna say that the Golden Willy Wonka Funko is exponentially more expensive than the donation.
MATT: This is the first time we've agreed, I think.
ADAL: Mhmmm, mhmmm.
ERIC: The Willy Wonka Funko Pops were sold in cash on May 5th for $100,000.
MATT: What?!
ADAL: Wow.
ERIC: Someone gave another person a briefcase full of $100,000, in exchange for a sealed box of two Golden Willy Wonka Funko Pops.
ADAL: And they were 24 karat golden or they're— they're actually tickets for some sort of warehouse that you now own?
ERIC: Unfortunately, your delusions of grandeur have stumbled into something that's a little bit close to this, Adal. In 2016, only 10 of these boxes of figurines were given out, but only 4 were given out to people who had golden tickets that they got inside of candy bars that they got at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con. The rest were actually given out to Funko employees or to friends. So only four of them were like distributed.
ADAL: Did I ever tell you the story Eric where I bought Brax Candy Factory - shout out Space Ghost Coast to Coast - I held a competition, and there were some winners, some children who won and they showed up at the front of the gates and I came out of my factory and I pretended to have a little bit of a hitch in my giddy up. A little bit of a limp. And then I did a frontward roll to show them I have no limp, but I cracked my leg in three places when I did that frontward roll. And then I had to conduct the rest of the tour from sitting on a skateboard. Did I ever tell you that story?
ERIC: I do remember sir. You demanded to be turned into a blueberry every single day which was you given your pain medication.
ADAL: Yes. And I went by the moniker Dr. William Bonkers, as a little tip of the hat, raise of the cane, to Willy Wonka.
ERIC: Yeah, they all got that, they applauded.
MATT: The thing I never understood about that, because it was all over the news. Why were you on a skateboard—
ADAL: All over?
MATT: All over the news. Yeah, it was big news. I don't— I don't know why you were on a skateboard when you could have been in a wheelchair. Why didn't you just get a wheelchair?
ADAL: Oh, a wheelchair? Well, I started to ask for one and I said ‘one of those wheel things.’
ERIC: We just don't—we don't question what Mr. Rifai says. We got him the closest wheeled thing we had.
MATT: Fair.
ERIC: Okay. So this was sold- this was for $100,000, right?
MATT: Yeah.
ADAL: Yes.
ERIC: If this is an individual who is part of a national party committee, so someone who works for the DNC or RNC, giving it to a political PAC, right? The maximum you can give is $109,500 per account per year. The political PAC is more expensive. You can give more money as someone from the DNC or RNC individually to a political PAC, then the $100,000 in cash for these Funko Pops.
MATT: Damn it. Well, that's a real shame. I have to say, though, hearing these prices, sometimes I'm concerned that my predilection might not always be the wisest thing for me to be doing with my money and time. And now I feel incredibly reasonable after hearing these prices.
ERIC: It's wild how expensive things are.
MATT: It is wild.
ERIC: I can—I cannot believe it.
ADAL: Oh, my retirement fund? A little Plastic Man in a box. And not the aforementioned Plastic Man, a different Plastic Man.
ERIC: I have not checked on him. I don't know if he's okay or not.
MATT: I mean, is he alive or dead in there?
ADAL: Schrodinger’s Wonka.
MATT: Is he human or is he dancer?
ERIC: Alright, Matt, you got two out of seven questions correct. Which rounds out to about three points.
ADAL: Okay. Matt, thank you so much for being on. We are going to let you go. Oh, but there is one more thing.
MATT: Wha—?
ADAL: That's right. For a final bonus point, you will answer this random trivia question from the world's most perfect film, Grease. All of the actors in Grease were older than high schoolers. Comes at no surprise.
MATT: No shit.
ADAL: But some were much, much, much more. Who is the oldest actor playing a high schooler in the movie Grease?
MATT: Ah. Oh, boy. That's a good question. My gut instinct is to stay Stockard Channing. But I think that's probably going to be wrong. I'm probably not going to know this guy's name.
ERIC: You can say character name. You can just circle it.
MATT: I'm trying to remember. Is it the guy who plays Doody?
ADAL: Oohh, Matt. As Devo once sung, you should have gone with your gut feeling. When filming began in June 1977, Stockard Channing, aka Rizzo, was 33. Of course, if it was a real person who was graduating high school in 1958, the year the film is set, then Channing would have been four years younger than Rizzo in 1977. Here's some other factoids. Michael Tucci was 31, Jamie Donnelly was 30, Annette Charles was 29, Dame Olivia Newton-John was 28, Barry Pearl was 27, Jeff Conaway was 26, Didi Conn was 25, John Travolta was 23, surprising. Dinah Manoff was 21, Kelly Ward and Eddie Deezen were 20 and Lorenzo Lamas, yes that Lorenzo Lamas, was 19 years old. A huge thank you to Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey for creating that masterpiece and casting people who look like they were in—
MATT: Graduate school?
ADAL: Yes, thank you.
ERIC: It's extra funnier knowing that Kenickie needed to put hickeys on a 33-year-old woman the entire time.
MATT: I mean, they don't look like they're in high school. I think this is the one thing that undercuts your— your premise here. That it's the greatest film of all time. I mean, it's breaking realism. I mean, sure, the car that flies away at the end of the movie, that makes sense to me, but those kids are too old.
ADAL: Well, the car flies away at the end because they were dead the whole time.
MATT: What?
ADAL: You didn't pick up on that?
MATT: Wow. No, I didn't know that.
ADAL: And that's them flying to heaven. The Heaven that we once saw in Beauty School Dropout.
MATT: Wait, so they're in heaven the whole time. but then Didi Conn goes to heaven?
ADAL: Yeah, exactly. Don't think about it too hard.
MATT: I don't get—I don't get it.
ERIC: Yeah, bud, you got it. You picked it up, you got it.
ADAL: Well, that about wraps it up. Let's take a look at the high scoreboard.
[Arcade powering up noise]
ERIC: Alright, well, we kind of just got this set up. So it's kind of like an arcade machine at the moment. We have like 5 points for PEE, 10 points for POO. ASS has 15 and ASS has 20 points as well. So, Matt, you are rocketing to the top of the leaderboard with 72 points.
MATT: Wow.
ADAL: Wow.
MATT: Because that's what happens when you give someone 50 points, you get 72 points. Absolutely incredible.
ADAL: ‘72, the year Star Wars came out?
MATT: Oh ‘77, you cretin.
ERIC: Like- yes! 1972, when Star Wars came out. Definitely, you're absolutely right, Mr. Adal.
MATT: Mr. Rifai, I'm sorry, but I cannot stand for this. 1972?
ADAL: I—
MATT: How dare you. American Graffiti was coming out. You monster, how dare you. And American Graffiti paved the way for them to make Grease. How dare you speak to me in such a way and disrespect Star Wars in that way? And you Sir, Mr. Rifai, you—
ADAL: Dr. Mr. Rifai.
MATT: You uptight billionaire. How dare you speak to me this way? And I'm going to keep yelling at you. And I'm going to stand right here on this rug, that I'm sure there's not a trapdoor under, because there's nothing you can do and I'm gonna yell at you as long as I want!
ADAL: I cannot believe you—Eric, hit yourself in the face.
ERIC: Ow!
ADAL: Slap yourself in the face.
ERIC: Ah!
ADAL: Matt, I respect you dressing me down. I will now press this innocuous button on the side of my chair that has nothing to do with anything in the room. And I will see you in Hell. Buh bye.
MATT: Aaaaaaaah!
[echo]
ADAL: Say hello to my father, #SamRaimi.
ERIC: Well, luckily, we have this recorded message that Matt made previously in case of his death, to give his plugs. So we're going to play it right now.
MATT: [through recording] Uh, if I don't make it out, I just want everyone to know that they can listen to my podcast anywhere you can find podcasts. Hello From The Magic Tavern, where I play Usidore the Wizard. If you don't— if you don't hear this message, and you don't hear from me in 24 hours, there is a series of emails that will be sent out to all the people with my password. So thank you for listening.
ERIC: Sorry, I over-taped on this for my- I read my—
ADAL: Oh now I'm just hearing your gross personal notes? Eric, add to the list to make a email where people can contact us for the game show. TellMeAboutIt@@gmail.com or atat@gmail.com. Is that something we can do?
ERIC: Definitely. I think we'll— I'll sand it down a little bit better, make it tellmeaboutit@gmail.com. For sure.
ADAL: Perfect. Well, I'm to retire to my oxygen chambers. Wake me in a week. Say goodbye, Eric.
ERIC: Goodbye, Eric.
ADAL: Slap yourself in the face.
ERIC: [slaps in the face] Ah!
ADAL: Not the ass, the face.
[theme]
Transcriptionist: KA
Editor: KM
Proofreader: SR