0:00 thorns everywhere in Virginia. Yeah. So, we're cutting thorns and made like a whole wall of thorns and like that and like we thought you're never getting through there. But then they would just go through the same door we went through. I just realized that I'm flying out of Burbank and I'm like hyped about it. Oh yeah, dude. How come you finally changed your flight? Well, it just depends. I always do what's cheaper and like Burbank happened to be cheaper this time. So, you going to LAX? I almost always do that. I think if you even if it's not cheaper, I think Burbank might be because of the Uber. Well, the thing about it, right, is the times. So, like because we always leave here and sometimes we're done at 7:00. I'm like, I got to make sure I'm like it's like 8:30, right? Like or else I'm screwed. I'm going to miss a flight. So, yeah. Anyway, Burbank worked out the same. Okay, here
0:50 we go. Three, two, two, one. Action. Do you boys remember when you stopped like thinking you're going to play with action figures anymore? Oh, bro. You know what? It was a bittersweet time. You know the actual time? No, I don't. But I I I do remember playing with a with G.I. Joe's a ton. Me, too, dude. I think I was in sixth grade and I was embarrassed that I was playing with them cuz I would choreograph these scenes and these fights with uh all my guys and I was like, "Nick, you're too old to be playing with this. You're about to be in middle school next year. You better cut this. Big boys aren't doing this. So, you had to actually wean off of it. Like, you had to have that talk. I had to tell myself like you're being a little dude. You better Sixth grade. That's 11. You were 11. Yeah. That's too old. I should have been playing. That's about where I was. I remember my younger brothers were playing with action figures and then I went home and I was
1:40 all excited to play with them. And while I was playing, I was like, I don't think I can do this. This doesn't hit the sand. Yeah. I was like, I can't even ride a bike and I'm spending my time. You were around 11 as well. I was like, "Yeah, I was Indian style." I was like, like, "What are we doing here?" I don't remember how old I was, but I know it was too old. Like junior high. I don't think it was junior high. It sucked because like the new Star Wars movies had just gotten re-released and like they had like the like the Millennium Falcon and we had just gotten that for Christmas. And like I barely even got to play with it before I was over it. Did it Did it transition into something else? Yeah. Are are you are you lumping in toys in general with action figures? cuz I feel like I I smoothly transitioned into like cars and like model stuff and so I I went right into like Hot Wheels and like toy trucks that I built ramps for. And we're going
2:30 to edit that out cuz there's nothing that's not relevant. It's different if you think they're if you think if you're giving them like dialogue and stuff that's playing with them like a action figure. You know what I mean? Like giving it life. Like giving it life. Giving it life. That's a thing. Yeah. Cuz I would When did you stop giving things life? Yeah, I that's when I started playing video games, I think. Like what like sixth to seven? I think the video games was my it was my substitution for that. But dude, I was so embarrassed with how I'd choreograph things. I wouldn't be like, "Yeah, dude. It it'd be really bad." Well, before you reached embarrassment, were you like so proud of the giant fight scenes you choreographed? Yeah, for sure. I was like, "This is going to be sick. This guy these two guys are going to come at him. He's going to take them out real quick and then kind of plan it all out and then be like, "Yeah, that was that was tight. Let's run it again." And then we do it. Yeah. I think playing pretend and that era of
3:23 giving life to figurines all ended in the same for me. But I don't I can't pinpoint when when you got jumped in. Yeah, dude. The show was like six. It was It was in elementary school. The gang life chose me, baby. It was in elementary school. It was probably like fourth grade. What were the toys that you were playing with? I had G.I. Ninja Turtles. I had spray cans, Legos, I had the little army figurines, and then like I would put, you know, like you when you're a kid, you give life and then they'll talk and whatever, right? But where that transitioned into was World War II um models, like going to the hobby store and then you buy turn 70 real quick. Yeah. You guys ever did that? No. He went to World War II models, but only the Japanese ones.
4:16 Oh, those models. Okay. The Pearl Harbor set. You guys never got into like making the car. I did. Yeah, I did. I did model cars. That's what I'm saying. But Steve just said to edit that part out. Yeah, we No, we did. We edited it out. So, don't don't have to repeat attributing. Yeah, I transitioned into models and then I got into art like hella into like drawing and ████ But that I do remember though looking at my toys and then like not being able to like sit there and make them fight. The magic wears off. It's Yeah. But I do remember that moment going is now these are my display. Like you have them like chilling on your shelf but it's like Toy Story to me. It was like when you're holding an Exactly. when you're holding an action figure. It was like looking at exactly what was in
5:06 the show, right? So you're like exa It's exactly that, right? Cuz you're a kid and then it just the magic wears off one day. You're like, "This is a piece of plastic and it looks Yeah. But when and why? Like cuz I do remember feeling like I can't do it anymore cuz it doesn't feel right." Right. But I don't know like that moment of like not being excited. Like I'll never forget Batman 1989. My dad and my mom take me to the movies and then afterwards my dad did the Pimpus thing. We went to like uh there was a a costume store attached to the movie theater or like in the in the mall or whatever, right? And and and we went there and like I tried on this it's just a like a little s█████ kids cape with a Batman ears and I had mask styrofoam styrofoam and and I put that on and I was like looking at Michael Keaton's Batman in the movie. Like to me
5:56 in the mirror I'm literally Batman. It's a ████ one to one match and I wore it to sleep, dude. Legit. But then like, you know, like I don't know, 10 years goes by and you're like, that's not Batman. Were you ████ kidding me, bro? That's true. It's like crazy. I have a whole suit. That's so far off. I think there was a in that transition though, there was like a You could have gave me almost any toy. You could have gave me a a rag doll and I would have figured it out. Would like put string around his neck and hung him or whatever, you know? Wow. I would have done some or you know when you tie like grocery bags to it and you're like shooting parachutes off. I would have done anything. But then there came a time also when I started getting a little bit more like I guess uh intellectual with like what toys I wanted but like they weren't available at the store. So instead of getting Wolverine, which I wanted, I got Omega Red. Nice. That's a good one. That's not
6:48 what you wanted at the time. It's just the one that was still on the shelf. You're going to you're going to keep saying to your friends like, "Yeah, everyone has Wolverine. I got Omega Red." Nobody has Omega Red. But like you you can't you don't have the same ponytail. Look, you don't have the same story lines in your head and what you could do with Omega Red. So it's well he has less range as a person. Yeah. So I think I transition. I was like oh maybe I should play with something else cuz I don't have like the toys I really wanted. Whereas before you could have got me anything and I was just imagining. Yeah. I imagined it. Dude, I went to the I went to the Pentagon one time. Weird story, but my buddy's dad was like worked at the Pentagon cuz we lived in Fairfax, Virginia, so we were right by it. So, he took us to the Pentagon one time at like a bring your kids to work day and I was like, "You got to take me to the Pentagon. That sounds sick." And then we went to the Pentagon with like our Power Rangers toys, but we didn't have the Power Rangers play set yet cuz nobody could get that ████ right? So then I remember being at the Pentagon and we're like
7:39 raiding fax machines for paper and tape and staples and ████ We're made like a little like Power Rangers center like out of paper. That's the best though. Yeah. Like you look it just looks exactly like it to you in your brain. But and then we're all we're like driving back and I'm looking at this thing. I'm like I brought like the Power Rangers set home from the Pentagon. I think I got lucky that classified command center. Dude, my parents had the dry cleaner, so we're stuck at the dry cleaners all the time. But here's the thing. The one perk about it is that you always have to get boxes of hangers. And every single time the hanger box would get empty cuz you use all the hangers, you just have cardboard boxes. So I would just have this unlimited supply of You were kid rich. That's kid rich. Yo, I dude I was doing the most insane stuff. The only thing I got in trouble for is maybe using the entire roll of tape and stuff. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, that's
8:30 right. To rig. I remember being hella jealous when I went to my friend's house because he had a whole castle of cardboard boxes and I'm like it was probably looking like ████ but I remember thinking, dude, this is ████ next level. Peak of luxury. Yeah. So, like on just taking a box and turning into like some sort of building for my action figures plan, that's one thing. And then on the crazy days when you're really stuck there and you make a maze with like your sister, when you're taping boxes together and like doing tunnels and stuff, that was insane. You know what I think this is? The It's like when you're younger and your imagination is like way wilder. It's like you you need less of the drug. So, you need less of like whatever this thing is, you just can use the imagination. The older you get, the more it needs to be real. So like you could get a stick and that's your gun and for some reason it turns into a AK-47. It's ready to go. It looks
9:21 like it. But then the older you become, it's just a ████ L-shaped stick. Give me something like a squirt gun. And I just And I don't want to look silly in front of my friends holding this L-shaped stick. Then eventually it has to be a airsoft gun cuz it's like if it's not a it's not an airsoft gun, it's not cool enough, you know? And I think that's that's the game is like the older you become, it has to be more and more real or else it doesn't feel good, dude. Like I remember shooting the Nerf Nerf um bow and arrow at my sister and it was like I just killed her in the wood. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like it but then eventually you're just like, "Wait, Nerf? Nah, that ████ like I'd rather have nothing. It doesn't even hurt her." The uh Do you know what the hack was? There's a strange hack I I just realized I went through. So like I play G.I. all the time. That was my main thing is I made stories and stuff. And then um and
10:11 then I realized that those misto model cars that were like 118 uh scale to the real car were the exact size that a GI Joe could look like it was proportionately his car. So then I was like great. I got a bunch of those. now I'm going to make car movies and I started doing all this stuff and before I knew it I had a bunch of like younger like much younger cousins that would have to come over and our family have to take care of them for the day or whatever. So then I started to administer games for them and I'd be like okay here I'm going to do this for you guys and I would make like Dn D style games of like pick your character and they pick whatever GE they make the story and they would go through the story. I'd make like the town and they walk around. I want to talk to this guy. I'm like okay how are you? Welcome to town. I'd be each person and then I'd be the game master facilitator of fun. I did it for so long for them growing up that like I was still technically
11:02 playing but I was already too old but it was for them but also I I didn't have to let go the same way. I remember sitting with my brothers and they had the Millennium Falcon thing and they're they're playing Star Wars and I remember like sitting in style with them and like they're in the magic and the magic wore off of me. I'll never forget that. Oh, that feeling of like I'm pretending that that I see see the magic still, but I don't anymore. Really? Your younger brothers or Yeah, both younger brothers. Yeah, dude. That's that's just how age gets you though. But like that's the whole point, right? Cuz I had a I had a rubber band gun and I love this thing. Like you just be able to set up stuff, shoot it, you know, crank it, long rubber bands, shoot the stuff. And I go over to like um one of my parents' friends house and they had like older kids, these older Vietnamese boys. And that's when they introduced me to like
11:52 the slingshots that with the with the nuts and bolts they were killing birds on. Damn. You're like that is way better. So like I brought my like rubber band gun. They were like and they'll go grab their slingshots and they like see a bird job and I'll be I don't think I ever picked up that rubber band gun again. Dang. That ████ the trash, huh? That's like when I took Nikki to my house for the first time and and she saw my rear projection TV and she's like, "What the f███?" And cuz everyone had flat screens by then. And I'm like, "You don't understand. This thing's the art 7 720p." And she's like, 720? Yeah. I mean, it was like a gigantic monstrosity, like ████ as weighed like as much as a piano. And I was so proud of it. And she was just like, "Okay." Yeah. I mean, yeah. And and it took me like a year to be like, "Yeah, I got to get rid of this." And those and those the screens on those
12:42 when the TV's off is still white. Yeah. Legit. It's still on looking. I was so proud of that thing cuz I got in like 2006. Yeah. That would have been I mean that those things were like you'd had the mortgage to buy those back in the day. Yeah. No, I saved up for it. It was like a big moment. I I actually slept outside at Black Friday to get my my TV. It was my TV and and I I was already telling my family like when I move out I'm taking it with me to LA, you know, and I did and then everyone and then I remember sending out Super Bowl invites and I'm like you're going to watch the Super Bowl on on state-of-the-art television and when people showed up I think they were too polite to tell me like this is state of the art. What the ████ are you talking about? Cuz it was 2 years ago. Did your parents ever actually make any comments about you're too old to be doing this for action figures? I'm sure, but I don't. Nah, I don't remember. My dad blatantly would say it all the time.
13:33 Really? All the time. How old were you? I don't know. I just don't remember a time where he wasn't saying that. Oh, damn. What a hater. Yeah. He was always like not letting me be a kid. He was like, "You're too old for that." Probably like, "Hey, can you take me to the bathroom? Hey, you're too old for that. Wipe your own ass." Yeah, because I would ask him to buy me the the toys when we go to the store. And he's like, "You want that? You're too old for that?" Like, that's probably why. I was like, "What?" Did you guys ever play like war with your classmates after school? So like we would be like I don't know if they do this now, but we would just after school cuz some kids would stay after. So it's like after school we're playing war pass it down, right? And then we would all meet and then we'll have one side versus the other side and then it's just kids on all sides going for like an hour straight. Yeah, that's fun, man. And I was like, "Dude, I miss that cuz I can just sit
14:23 here in one corner and then like I think I'm really just blasting fools all day." But you'll get mad if they didn't follow the rules. Like, I got you. I got Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Got to go down. We did capture the flag in my neighborhood. So, we I when we got home from school, it's like, "Hey, we're playing Capture the Flag today, this weekend." And it's like everyone's like, "Holy ████ that's going to be intense." You know, and we always built forts. So like cuz there's enough wooded areas where we always built forts around there and we would take like we thought it was like so sick cuz we would cut thorns and then we'd make like a like a thorn wall. Wo. Yeah. It was crazy. What the heck? That's real. Thorns everywhere in Virginia. Yeah. So we're cutting thorns and made like a whole wall of thorns and ████ like that. And like we thought you're never getting through there. But then they would just go through the same door we went through. Dude, no wonder Fortnite is so huge. Yeah. Yeah. No, building forts was like my those are my memories when I think about, you know,
15:14 after my action figure days was building forts and like that was the best. Building forts fun. You know what's fun too is like setting up games like that purely just to try to flirt with girls. Yeah. Like setting up guy girl games and then you just did it to have your sight set on interacting with. So you get little t those little tingles. Little tingles. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, hi. Oh, hey. What you doing? Little tingles. That was the best man in elementary school. Damn. You're advanced. Oh, I was getting the tingles in in kindergarten. I didn't know what to do with it. I had like cuz there's a lot of hot ass in Fairfax, bro. It's mostly in Indie it was different. But when we moved to Fairfax, I saw all the hot ass. God, dude. Also, you didn't care to close on the little tingles to get the little tingles was all you needed. Yeah. I wouldn't know what to do after that. All I wanted was just a little like weird attention. This is like a dog chasing the car. It's like after that, what are you going to do, buddy? Yeah. Yeah. If the car stops, the dog stops and goes,
16:04 "Yeah." Well, oops. What did you do with all your toys then? Oh, my mom still has them to this day. And she was like, "You're our grandkids are going to play with this s███." And I'm like, "Mom, they're going to be playing with the toys of the era or they're weird." They're going to play with vintage toys. And she just refuses to accept that. Mine are all in the Downey garage. Like, I can find every GI Joe today. Hey, Hot Wheels are still I hear that. They're collectible. Like almost the same. What? Go to your yard every way. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Hot Wheels were before. It's like the same today. Yeah, it makes sense. My nephew still loves playing with Hot Wheels. That's one of the timeless ones, though. Some people will buy loose Hot Wheels that are not even nice Hot Wheels, but just obscure cars that they wouldn't dare make today. Like a freaking I don't know, Chevy Cavalier or something that's like they would there's no interest to do that now. But then back then it was like a
16:55 throwaway car and they'll buy it loose for good. Yeah. Like a Saturn. Few bucks. Nothing crazy. Even our Ninja Turtles, think about that, right? They look different now. Yeah, they do. You can't just hand a kid the same Ninja Turtle and they No, he'll be like Exactly. Yeah. It looks like the bootleg version to them. But my mom doesn't understand that. She's like, "That's a Ninja Turtle." And so Barbies are different now. Exactly. Their boos are smaller. No, I'm just kidding. I wouldn't They're not as hot. My mom kept my sister's strawberry shortcake. That that might take some of you back. And she to this day is like, I know the girls are going to play with the strawberry shortcake. And my my sister's kids couldn't give up. A Yeah. Yeah, because you're doing it for you. It's like I want I want to know you're doing this. Some people say that hoarders do do it for them. Your toys are still at home in in a They dump all that ████ I think so. I
17:46 think everything got rid of Launch it off. I think we probably gave all ours to like other kids. Other church. You need to get to church. Yeah, I will say if I rubbaged through my parents' hoarded garage and I found my blue and yellow Tonka tow truck, I would trip out and I would, as a grown ass man, with no shame, I would play with it for like find some dirt. At least 5 minutes. Well played. What are you doing with it? Said well said. Show us. Make a vroom vroom. Honestly, you're going to go vroom vroom vroom. Best thing I did cuz for some reason it had like no mechanical like axle or motor or anything like that. So it just felt like it kept rolling. And if you like pushed it, it would just keep rolling. So I used to build the sickest ramps with the cardboard boxes. Oh, nice. Just open the flap, tape it to the ground, put some books up and stuff, and just shoot this ████ at my sister. Heck yeah, that's tight. That is really tight. I used to shoot a different thing at my sister. Hey, come
18:37 here. Give me that. I'll give it to you. Go, dog. Let's go, boys.
// end of tape