Episode 148: Talk w/ Ben Goretsky (Founder of Designer Con and Owner of 3DRetro)

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Yo, hello everyone. Welcome to Uncle Dad Talks. As always, I am Uncle Daddy.

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With me is the ever so handsome, the Tyco loving man himself,

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the one and only Just Mike. Mike, what's up?

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Ooh, hey, yeah. Nice little Tyco shout out there. Hey, you're welcome.

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I just did it because of your hat. That's the only reason why.

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That's right. I'm wearing that hat. Yes. And I was maybe listening to them today. I don't know.

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Okay. Well, use that energy you got right now, that Tyco energy,

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because we got a good one today.

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We are speaking you know what i probably should have asked to say his last name

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properly off before we aired we are with the man behind one of the best cons

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around period seriously i mean that it's one of my favorite ones to go through

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in this business uh let's give it up to boar uh ben,

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gore gorsky goretsky goretsky if you can't if you don't know how to pronounce

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it it's it's very much like the hockey player no relation it's so you know it's

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wayne gretzky but with me it's ben Goretzky.

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So very close. But if you say it fast enough, it's basically the same thing.

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Ah, so what we're saying is you are the goat of cons.

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I've never thought of it that way, but I'll take it. Sure. Why not?

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I love it. I love it. Yeah. So, you know, just to kind of start it off,

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just for people who don't know who you are, can you tell them who you are and what you founded?

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Yes. Hi, everyone. Thanks. First of all, thanks for having me, guys.

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Really appreciate, you know me being able to be on the show yeah

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my name is ben gretzky i am the founder and

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i guess ceo designer con

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which is an annual show that happens and

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it basically is a show that brings together the

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whole collectible toy community art

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you know artists manufacturers all

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the people that are involved in that kind of like designer

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toy and designer collectible scene that's what

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that's what we run we run designer con and on the flip side

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i also own a toy store and manufacturer of designer vinyl called 3d retro which

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is now we have a retail store in las vegas word uh mike go ahead well that's

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exciting because uh i know we are coming to decon so we will uh definitely have fun at the show.

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And I don't know, is 3D retro?

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What's it like for people to check that out?

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So it's funny because a lot of people that are coming to the show,

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they're like, oh, man, we're going to get to finally see your store while we're out there.

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And because our staff is going to be so busy with DesignerCon,

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the store is going to be closed.

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But if you are staying a few extra days while you come out to Vegas,

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I think we'll be opening back up the following Tuesday after DesignerCon and

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you can come visit the store.

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Or if you're here a little bit before the show

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uh the show starts on friday the 15th

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if you come like a day or two earlier you'll be

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able to come visit the store that way oh we

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might be able to do that mike there we go yeah and you

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don't want the the convention to have any competition with any stores

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in town anyway right so it only makes sense

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you close the store in addition to having exactly and by

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the way if you can't make it to the store or if we

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are closed then you're going to get your fill of all

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the stuff that we sell in the store multiplied by like a thousand at designer

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con anyway but that's what i do guys that's that's pretty much where where i

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come from and he's also incredibly charming and handsome so let's not forget

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that oh okay cameras are off right okay that's good.

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Uh you know so the thing about

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this con i've been able to do a lot of cons in our in our work of doing this

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and we every time we do this con mike is never able to go he's always having

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something come up and this is the first year that mike is going to be able to

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join us so i know mike is very excited about it so mike i kind of want you to

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kick it off with your your first hard-hitting question, if you will.

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Very hard hitting. I mean, nothing but the hardest. Well, you know,

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I'm a graphic designer by trade.

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And so I usually sell at events and there's always an event that I'm doing that

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always coincides this time. It didn't happen.

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And correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first time it's in Vegas, correct?

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Yes. The show has been growing organically size-wise. We started off in Pasadena back in 2005.

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We moved to Anaheim in 2018, and this is going to be our first year in Las Vegas. That is correct.

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Yeah. See that? I mean, that was a pretty hard question there.

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So, okay. So I looked a little bit at your bio that's online that everyone can

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see, and I saw you did some work in the music industry before you founded 3D

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Retro, So one of the big hip hop head here when I saw you work with black IPs

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among a couple other big names.

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So how'd you find your way into design and the field you're in now from the music industry?

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I don't think I was doing anything in the music industry. Are you looking up the right guy? Yeah.

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Haven't really done anything in the music industry. Sorry to burst your bubble.

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I was actually, my background, surprisingly, is in fintech.

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I'm a tech guy. You're a tech guy.

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Yeah, my background is kind of like, and I mean, maybe we did stuff with the

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music guys and things like that.

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But yeah, it's weird. Like my major in college was computer science.

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I was heavy into programming and I was just literally like a big computer guy.

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I still am. I still am a big computer guy.

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And my background being in fintech kind of helped launch 3D retro because when

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we were building out a lot of the technology for the e-commerce platforms out

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there in the fintech industry, I was like, damn,

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we need we need to like open up like a store to try this out.

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I was getting into collectible figures and I was like, you know what?

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I'm going to open up an online store using this technology that we're building

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for back end credit card processing, financial technology, e-commerce platforms, things like that.

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And I opened up 3D Retro as an online store using all this new tech.

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Not knowing that people were actually going to go to the website and buy things.

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So as that started to grow, I started to get more relationships with suppliers and manufacturers.

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And I was already into the whole thing. I was already a collector.

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So now I was becoming a retailer. And I was like, oh, man, you know,

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it's like this is really a nice way for me to be able to get exclusives.

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To make relationships with these guys.

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And then what ended up

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happening was as i became a larger retailer i

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was like there really isn't anything for this community

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this like collectible art collectible

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toy community i mean there's art shows out there

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there's like the comic cons

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out there that are kind of like they have maybe an artist

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section or like these art figure sections like

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this little group that huddles together but there was

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really nothing set up for this this kind

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of like show that we are and that's when.

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I started you know the very first decon

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in in 2005 which was actually called vinyl

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toy network we didn't switch the name to

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designer con until 2009 and literally

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the reasoning was the the concept was always

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to bring in everything in the aspect of

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the vinyl toy world you know like like resin

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figures and plush toys and prints and posters

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and all that stuff but whenever we would mention the name

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vinyl toy network people are like hey bro we

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don't do vinyl toys so and we're

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like but you don't understand it's a network it expands beyond vinyl toys and

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they're like yeah no so in 2009 i changed the name to designer con and the first

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show in 2009 was Vinyl Toy Network Presents DesignerCon.

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And then like, you know, 2000, 2010, 2011, we started taking away the presents

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and it became a standalone name because people started to like the name.

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I guess D-Con and DesignerCon was

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a little bit more catchy and people were starting to remember that more.

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So, you know, here we are today where D-Con is DesignerCon and that's it.

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But yeah, that's pretty much how it started. And, you know, going back to the

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whole thing, it's it's kind of because of my background in fintech that I was

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able to like, hey, I got to open up the store. The store started to grow.

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I started this, you know, getting more into the community. And because of that,

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we now have decom today. So there you go.

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I love that. So on the show, I'd like to keep it real as possible.

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And I know where Mike got that from.

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So you did a podcast, sir, called Clean Break. Do you remember that one?

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Yeah. Clean Break was, I believe, wasn't that Matt Gondex? It is.

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So his bio that he has for you, he states on there that you worked with including

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Black Ice Peas, Justin Timberlake, and Britney Spears.

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And that's where I got that from.

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If that's an inside joke but uh i promise that is under your name and it's on

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the internet so i believe it to be true if it's on the internet then it must

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be true we all know it's out there,

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well you know what i i've got

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to hit up matt about that that is you know

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matt aside from being an amazing artist he

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has an amazing sense of humor i would

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not be surprised if he put that in there to kind of like

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just kind of throw it in

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there like let's see if ben actually reads the shit that

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i write but i mean

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i i like i wonder how

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it's got to be like an insight like it's got to be like

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a joke on his end but i apologize to you

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mike that you know you read it and

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you're like wow this guy like has been in the in the music scene for a while

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he knows all these guys i mean i've been to a justin timberlake concert if that

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counts okay we're cleared yeah i mean it's kind of my job on this show to look

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like a bumbling idiot and it happened naturally so there we go.

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It is not your fault. Like I said, clearly, I mean, if you read it on the Internet,

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then I can only assume that there's about maybe like 20 other people that read it, too.

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So you and like 19 others out there are just like, man, this guy,

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Ben, he's been involved with all these like musicians.

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So I don't know if I should thank Matt for that one or what.

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But I apologize. I misinterpreted.

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You know, it's funny. And our longest time doing that, we've never had that happen before.

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So that's why i was like i need to correct this right now it's a first amazing i'm here.

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I knew i knew no one's gonna bring the party i knew it,

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i was gonna say there must be a

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black ip's toy line exclusive for the

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con right now okay all right uh we know

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it's funny the the only the only

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musician that we've actually worked with in producing a toy on

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the 3d retro side is we've actually produced

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a figure with nick cave back in

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the day we did we did it it was a vinyl figure that we

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did with the artist oh my gosh oh

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my gosh why am i skipping out on his name plastic god

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thank you so plastic god made a rendition of

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nick cave and then nick cave liked it and

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his team liked it so much that we actually produced the vinyl figures and then

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actually two years ago

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we or no it was last year was it

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last year geez we worked with a very

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popular asian pop singer artist by the name of jj lynn and jj lynn produced

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his 20th anniversary tour bare brick with us where we worked with medicom we

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we didn't actually like manufacture it but we worked with the company medicom

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to make that happen so i guess we're kind of tied into the whole,

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entertainment music scene.

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You can't really help it with designer vinyl toys and collectibles, but,

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But yeah, I don't know about that bio. I love the turn that this interview took.

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Yeah, now we're talking about that.

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So it must feel really great to create something from the ground,

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right? And then watch it grow.

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Now you're moving it into a bigger facility. You're in Vegas now.

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I mean, who doesn't want to go to Vegas for a convention, right?

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Like, so were you, were you intrigued a lot by, by design or like designer artists,

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graphic designers or more like the toy or was it just a combination of both?

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Cause I know when I get a toy, there's toys I, I will buy to collect that I will never open.

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Right. Just because the package is part of the collect, the collectible,

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you know, and then there's other stuff that you open and you,

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you know, you put somewhere and probably falls behind the counter.

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And you never see it again, but so, so what, what are you a most a fan of,

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or is it just the whole package as well?

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So for me, it's a little bit of everything, honestly, for me,

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the toys were a stepping stone into the art.

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And when I started getting into designer toys and designer vinyl figures,

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especially like that's, that's really my love.

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I was introduced to artists. I mean, some of the first artists I was introduced

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to, and this is from companies like Toy2R and CritterBox back in the day.

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I was introduced to artists like Gary Baseman and Tim Biscop and Joe Ledbetter and Nathan Javicious.

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These are all, even artists like Fafi, which is a big thing for me because she's finally doing decon.

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Like these are all figures that were

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the very first in the vinyl toy scene like

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i said made by companies like toy 2r made by companies like critter box you

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know sympathy for the record industry type of guys like that like you know long

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gone john the the initial guys that were doing this and even the initial figures

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from like kid robot when they first started back in the day back in like 2003.

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So for me, I love the figures.

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And then I love the figures so much where I'm like, who is this person?

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Who, who are these artists behind these figures?

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I started looking into their art and I'm like, man, that art really looks like my figure that I like.

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And wouldn't it be awesome to have the art that matches the matches the figure.

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It's kind of like what you're talking about

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in terms of figures with you know the packaging

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that is so you know matching to

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the figure itself like you don't want to take it out of that so for

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me it was it was that way with art figures where i love the figure so much the

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art that the artist did that matches the figure that i was buying i got intrigued

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into i i fell into this whole art world so you can't you can't help but mix that.

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Like even though you might start separated out where you're,

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oh, I'm only buying these like kind of collectible figures.

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If you are really into a specific artist, you actually end up buying either

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their books or their art or their prints or whatever it may be,

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just like you would when you buy a figure and you're like, man,

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I love the blister pack and I love the box art and I'm, you know,

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I love all this stuff that falls into it.

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And there's even artists behind that. So for me, it was like kind of like,

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you know, one thing led to another. And now I love it all.

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Beautiful. There's the package design, the product design.

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And I see, correct me if I'm wrong in the background, one of my favorite artists,

00:16:56.718 --> 00:16:59.938
I was a fan of his like, you know, 2D visual art.

00:17:00.078 --> 00:17:04.858
And then now he does lots of toys or mounted things on the wall,

00:17:04.998 --> 00:17:06.698
which you have three masks back there.

00:17:06.778 --> 00:17:10.098
Are those shag? josh eagle pieces that

00:17:10.098 --> 00:17:13.578
you have on the wall yes so yes you

00:17:13.578 --> 00:17:17.678
notice so right behind me those are the the hitchhiking

00:17:17.678 --> 00:17:21.338
ghosts done in tiki format

00:17:21.338 --> 00:17:24.798
by shag jack josh

00:17:24.798 --> 00:17:27.778
and i love his artwork i've always

00:17:27.778 --> 00:17:31.498
loved his artwork we've worked with him on exclusive

00:17:31.498 --> 00:17:35.038
prints a 3d retro we actually made an exclusive back

00:17:35.038 --> 00:17:38.838
to the future 35th anniversary print with him in 2020

00:17:38.838 --> 00:17:41.758
and he has been an amazing

00:17:41.758 --> 00:17:45.138
supporter of designer con for years he

00:17:45.138 --> 00:17:47.998
always comes and brings amazing prints and any kind of

00:17:47.998 --> 00:17:51.598
like figures or household items

00:17:51.598 --> 00:17:54.278
3d retro also produced one of his

00:17:54.278 --> 00:17:57.778
vinyl figures the elephant the pink elephants where

00:17:57.778 --> 00:18:01.278
if you like his art style he did he does these

00:18:01.278 --> 00:18:04.198
drawings of these pink elephants and we actually made

00:18:04.198 --> 00:18:08.018
them into vinyl figures but he loves

00:18:08.018 --> 00:18:11.378
making figures or he loves making things that actually have

00:18:11.378 --> 00:18:14.478
use so the way

00:18:14.478 --> 00:18:17.538
that we did it was that if you lift the hat off these

00:18:17.538 --> 00:18:20.898
pink elephant vinyl figures it's actually a coin bank and

00:18:20.898 --> 00:18:25.538
you can put put the money into into these elephants and there is a little thing

00:18:25.538 --> 00:18:29.598
on the bottom that you can open up but these are some he is an amazing artist.

00:18:29.598 --> 00:18:34.298
And yeah i i love his style and yes that's that's awesome that you noticed those

00:18:34.298 --> 00:18:39.178
those uh tiki masks which are the three ghosts from the haunted mansion,

00:18:40.958 --> 00:18:45.138
yeah i love that mike mike is hands with the eye you can see everything i swear

00:18:45.138 --> 00:18:47.918
you just see you just might get the wrong information sometimes.

00:18:51.118 --> 00:18:55.258
So before we end the show can we talk about any specific highlights that are

00:18:55.258 --> 00:19:00.058
coming for the Las Vegas version of DesignerCon that you want to have the audience know about.

00:19:00.198 --> 00:19:03.538
Because to be honest, it's so exciting that it's in Vegas. It's going to add

00:19:03.538 --> 00:19:04.878
a different level of excitement to it.

00:19:05.038 --> 00:19:08.278
I think designers are going to come out in ways that we've never seen before.

00:19:08.838 --> 00:19:12.338
And we'll be there, of course. And I just want to know what we have in store for us.

00:19:13.364 --> 00:19:17.324
We, we were really excited. I mean, Vegas is going to be incredible.

00:19:18.004 --> 00:19:21.504
We actually were initially worried, like, are people going to make it out?

00:19:21.624 --> 00:19:27.484
And like, no, I think it's actually easier to get to Las Vegas than it was to get to Anaheim.

00:19:27.924 --> 00:19:33.604
So, but some of the highlights this year, our rock stars are always the artists.

00:19:33.924 --> 00:19:37.504
So this year, there's no difference in that.

00:19:37.684 --> 00:19:41.744
We have some amazing artists coming. I've already mentioned that coming from

00:19:41.744 --> 00:19:48.344
France, we have Fafi, we have from Japan, we have a ton of artists coming from

00:19:48.344 --> 00:19:51.104
Japan, along with the usuals like Punk Drunkers.

00:19:51.204 --> 00:19:57.244
But this year, we have renowned artist Rockin' Jellybean, which is known for

00:19:57.244 --> 00:20:02.124
his a little bit more risque art, but we figured, hey, it's Vegas, baby, so why not, right?

00:20:02.544 --> 00:20:06.604
Rockin' Jellybean hasn't really done a lot of appearances out here in the US,

00:20:06.604 --> 00:20:09.404
but he is coming out for designer con and he has

00:20:09.404 --> 00:20:12.584
made an amazing print that is

00:20:12.584 --> 00:20:15.664
exclusive for decon along with him we've got

00:20:15.664 --> 00:20:19.764
this guy is blown up he is incredible casting

00:20:19.764 --> 00:20:23.084
long the creator of little monsters and

00:20:23.084 --> 00:20:25.824
he's worked with companies like pop mart which are also going

00:20:25.824 --> 00:20:29.164
to be pop mart's going to be at the show how to work which

00:20:29.164 --> 00:20:32.364
is another company that he works with is going to be at the show but most

00:20:32.364 --> 00:20:35.464
importantly casting himself will be

00:20:35.464 --> 00:20:39.344
at the show this is huge he has never done a

00:20:39.344 --> 00:20:42.124
show in the united states he's also part

00:20:42.124 --> 00:20:47.104
of kai kai kiki gallery which is associated to murakami for those who know so

00:20:47.104 --> 00:20:51.864
maybe we'll get some special appearances there not going to name anybody but

00:20:51.864 --> 00:20:58.384
uh we have i mean the list goes on and on like we have from amsterdam london

00:20:58.384 --> 00:20:59.784
police coming back out again.

00:21:00.024 --> 00:21:03.344
Once again, from Japan, we have Toma and his crew coming out.

00:21:03.504 --> 00:21:07.724
We have Rhymes Like Dimes doing exclusives with us this year.

00:21:07.924 --> 00:21:15.844
We have some really cool products, as usual, coming out from companies like Medicom.

00:21:16.724 --> 00:21:17.844
Collaborations with.

00:21:18.739 --> 00:21:24.599
Keith Herring and Coca-Cola. We have special bare brick releases with other

00:21:24.599 --> 00:21:28.519
artists such as like Tara McPherson and OG Slick.

00:21:28.819 --> 00:21:33.519
His very first bare brick is going to be debuting at DesignerCon along with

00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:37.939
some special maybe OG Slick is very well known for his LA hands,

00:21:38.139 --> 00:21:42.279
the LA, but if you turn it this way, it kind of looks like LV.

00:21:42.959 --> 00:21:46.899
So there might be a special drop on that happening.

00:21:48.299 --> 00:21:51.419
So what i would say is i know

00:21:51.419 --> 00:21:54.539
i'm forgetting about a million things here and there's

00:21:54.539 --> 00:21:57.279
going to be a lot of great figures a lot of great

00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:00.699
companies coming you know from mondo to tokidoki

00:22:00.699 --> 00:22:03.819
to robbie to medicom to you

00:22:03.819 --> 00:22:06.859
know lucky emma to all these guys from

00:22:06.859 --> 00:22:10.159
around the world and that's actually one thing that we

00:22:10.159 --> 00:22:13.599
were we were actually surprised is we were

00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:17.239
worried that is it going to be harder to get these international guys

00:22:17.239 --> 00:22:21.179
from hong kong singapore philippines japan

00:22:21.179 --> 00:22:26.519
china is it going to be harder to get them to come out to las vegas and what

00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:30.999
we actually found was that they are more excited about coming to vegas and it's

00:22:30.999 --> 00:22:36.419
not easier for them to come out here than it was for anaheim so we have all

00:22:36.419 --> 00:22:39.999
these big guys all these big manufacturers all these exclusive drops.

00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:43.959
And it's all happening all under one roof at designer

00:22:43.959 --> 00:22:46.999
con so that's the amazing stuff that's

00:22:46.999 --> 00:22:49.699
happening that's that's incredible and we do got

00:22:49.699 --> 00:22:53.799
to wrap up soon so where can audience members still buy tickets right now you

00:22:53.799 --> 00:22:59.079
can buy them now by going to designer con.com there's a link right there for

00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:05.499
for tickets and i believe we still have a few vip tickets available so vip tickets

00:23:05.499 --> 00:23:07.539
are capped at a certain number.

00:23:08.179 --> 00:23:12.799
Friday night is strictly for VIP. That's 5 PM to 9 PM.

00:23:13.019 --> 00:23:16.699
That's VIP night and press and media. So you guys, I better see you there.

00:23:17.719 --> 00:23:20.759
And, and then of course there's like general, and we,

00:23:20.879 --> 00:23:26.639
we've always said that we prefer that people spend their money inside the hall

00:23:26.639 --> 00:23:31.119
than outside, which is why we keep tickets at such an affordable rate where

00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:34.999
the weekend, if you're just buying a regular weekend pass, it's still only $40.

00:23:36.320 --> 00:23:40.000
That's really great. Yeah, because a lot of places, they jack up the prices,

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:41.700
and you got nothing left when you go inside.

00:23:41.940 --> 00:23:45.980
So thanks for doing that for the people and for the artists inside, too.

00:23:46.220 --> 00:23:50.140
Yeah, no problem. I mean, the way we see it is because kids 12 and under are

00:23:50.140 --> 00:23:55.540
free, usually a family of four can get into the show for the weekend for like

00:23:55.540 --> 00:24:00.320
$80 for everybody, which is not that bad, in my opinion.

00:24:01.140 --> 00:24:06.080
Especially in Vegas. Yeah, especially in Vegas. You walk out the door, you spend $80 in Vegas.

00:24:09.700 --> 00:24:14.380
One last question though ben so will fans get to get a chance to meet you if

00:24:14.380 --> 00:24:16.780
they want to meet you there and will

00:24:16.780 --> 00:24:22.080
fergie be there that is the final hard-hitting question i have for you,

00:24:23.720 --> 00:24:26.800
let's see will they be able to i i will be walking

00:24:26.800 --> 00:24:29.620
the floor i usually do walk the floor a little bit there's usually

00:24:29.620 --> 00:24:32.520
a panel on the stage or at least

00:24:32.520 --> 00:24:35.460
a talking session with me i think i have one planned

00:24:35.460 --> 00:24:38.560
with mark brickie he runs a podcast called

00:24:38.560 --> 00:24:41.600
adventures in design and he usually runs the stage

00:24:41.600 --> 00:24:44.260
so i'll probably going to be on there but yes you can see

00:24:44.260 --> 00:24:47.920
me walking around the hall if you can catch me and

00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:50.640
we have sent out the invitation to fergie but we have

00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:53.600
not heard a response back yet so i'll keep you updated on

00:24:53.600 --> 00:24:56.460
that one mike okay thank you thanks ben i'm

00:24:56.460 --> 00:25:00.360
glad we uh work together on that yeah oh man

00:25:00.360 --> 00:25:03.220
uh what a fun one hey ben it was an absolute pleasure

00:25:03.220 --> 00:25:06.420
if you um do you think we'll have an opportunity at least to say hi to you during

00:25:06.420 --> 00:25:11.140
the media night absolutely looking forward to to seeing you guys as well and

00:25:11.140 --> 00:25:16.400
shaking your hands in person yeah we'll bring a gift for you a special black

00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:21.140
eyed peas album for you all right no more black eyed peas jokes,

00:25:23.140 --> 00:25:24.740
speaking of capped we're capped.

00:25:26.840 --> 00:25:30.500
Hi everybody uh yeah so please go check them out i seriously i can't wait thank

00:25:30.500 --> 00:25:32.400
you again ben it It was an absolute pleasure talking to you.

00:25:32.900 --> 00:25:36.980
I mean, really, DesignerCon is seriously the funnest event I go to every year.

00:25:37.140 --> 00:25:40.840
I'm excited to have my man Mike with us. It's going to be such a great time.

00:25:41.020 --> 00:25:44.780
So thank you again for your time, Ben. And I guess that's really it.

00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:48.420
And without further ado, we're not uncles, we're not dads. We'll see you all next week.