Foreign Daniel Welcome to the show the two to three P.m Eastern slot where I am going to unbox I'm gonna unboxer now that's a big deal Daniel This is awesome I I'm super excited! Hello to everyone who's tuning in. Gary Great to see you as well. We're here with Damon and Roy as well. I'm with it I Love what you do listen Gary Masters of the Universe this is big.

this is huge like I've seen the reaction you know I've been busy all day but I've been trying to kind of poke into the Discord into Twitter um but I think you've been on the pulse and I'm gonna look at uh all the people Liam Kimmy Gass Harrison Alpha is free like it seems like a lot of people especially if they're in the know. you know under 25 you know I can see more and more people know Masters of the Universe more and more. but man if you're over 35 people have been losing their mind in excitement to this and wait till they see do you guys put up pictures in the blog post everything so they got a sense of how epic this is. But I do think up close and personal in this unboxing.

it's a whole different. I Agree I saw the images and then I saw it even I haven't even seen this I'm actually and you saw what I did right So I gave it to me this and I was like no no he was like starting to open I'm like I'm gonna unbox live because I want my authentic unboxing happening here. So I'm really excited Daniel Let's get everybody set up but also let's say hello to everybody in the chat because this is a community thing. Obviously if you're people are watching all over on Instagram Instagram Great to see you but if you're in the Be Friends Community Tick Tock Great to see you somewhere.

Where is Tick Tock Is it just linked is ticked on? Not happening? You didn't bring it? Tick Tock You're coming um soon. but the be friends who own you know a bee friend are in our chat right now through the website on Meet.vfriends.com Everybody uh please check out on Open Season You're about to find out why. um but we have a really cool unveiling which will be open to the general public as well. Um so I'm excited about this I Have a feeling people that are collecting toys which is on the rise are about to see some super fire in this brown box.

Uh and I'm excited about that. Daniel set us up Amazing! Yeah let's start from the top. For those that are joining and have no idea what the heck's going on, you're just tuning in. First of all, thank you for taking time out of your day to be here.

We're just really excited here at V Friends! We're announcing the most latest partnership with V Friends and Mattel and their legendary IP Universe Masters of the Universe franchise to deliver an unbelievable collaboration. We are releasing in partnership with Mattel Masters of the Universe Origins Skeletor and V Friends Skilled Skeleton two pack. It's super exciting. it goes on sale October 6th, 12 p.m 45 dollar price and it's available worldwide U.S and international.

We're going to drop the links here in the chat. This is massive. All of the details of the countries prices which I know is super important to our community in Australia in the UK all over the world. Canada We have all that information on the Mattel site.

check out the blog on blog.vfriends but again massive collaboration with Masters of the Universe and Mattel to have this be Friends Skilled Skeleton and Skeletor coming together in this unique product available on Mattel's official website. We're also joined by I'm sorry to interrupt here and like Maddie n said in the chat and I think for a lot of people here I'm looking at Instagram because I know I'm doing this to meet.bfriends.com Let's call Spit of Spain. Skeletor is one of the iconic fictional characters. intellectual Property on Earth and Maddie called it out properly like wait till you see what I'm about to show you And for for Motu fans.

For Masters of the Universe fans and we've got the Mattel gang with us, they're going to go into more nerd culture more Comic-Con Culture more masters of universe culture. The form factor of Skeletor is incredibly imperative in this toy. There's an enormous amount of He-Man collectors that are going to go after this toy because of Skeletors form factor that's different than what. Uh, just a B Friends Community I'm actually looking I have a Ram Man somewhere here? Oh no.

Well this is yes, for all the people that don't know, this is skilled skeleton in V Friends, this is you're going to be seen very shortly. but Skeletor is a G like a real G And like Skeletoric matters in the culture, right? Like you'll go in like a pretty cool hip-hop concert and see somebody rocking a Skeletor hoodie like Skeletor is different and that's why we're so pumped about this. and unlike any other collabo when we did Mattel with Uno right, you know there's Uno collectors, but like there's a different level of Motu fans like you Masters and Universe fans are hardcore. One of the things that I'm kind of want to make sure why we did this event is I Want people to Um, you know I want people to know the exact date and time Daniel because I think a lot of people in the V Friends Community are going to get caught off guard that they're going to be competing with the He-Man Masters of the Universe collectors.

Once this becomes and this is like on Action and Action figure insider right now it's on Yahoo News Like the the news is spreading on this collab pretty strong in the last hour and I think it's gonna be a little bit more competitive than people think. Absolutely super important. Date time. Mark your calendars October 6th 12 P.m Eastern 9 A.M Pacific Time on Creations.mattel.com A simple search of V friends, you'll pull it up.

We have it in our blog again: October 6 12 P.m Eastern 9 A.M Pacific time The best part that I think is really cool as well Gary are the Series One skilled skeleton holders. They're gonna have an opportunity to claim one for free which is super awesome so we're really excited for them right? Well, there's 40 units I don't know I probably have a couple in My Vault but the Series One Skill skeleton owners will get this for free. Absolutely! So we're going to have those details, email and contacted them Super excited for them as being the OG holders there. I Want to pass the mic over to Damon and Roy if you guys just want to introduce yourself to our community on who you are, your story, what you do, and even maybe a little insight on I'm seeing comments on who is Skeletor Some folks may just know Skeletor from the meme which is very big in culture as well.

very big so would love to hand the mic to you guys. Thank you for taking the time and we're super excited about this partnership! Uh, so are we and thank you so much for for inviting us to be a part of this Um so I Am Domini I Am senior Director um of uh creative uh behind the design of of the action figures of the universe Hello everyone! I'm Roy Juarez and I am the key lead packaging designer on Masters of the Universe Origins massavers and all these fun projects like we're doing right now. these Cloud Really excited to be here guys! Amazing! Thank you for being on here gentlemen! What do you think from your perspectives because you weren't there day one? but obviously you've been deep in the Master's ecosystem with your professions. What do you think it is about Skeletor that resonates so heavily with people you know I grew up with seeing the cartoon first as you know, because you're in the business, but I know because I'm a maniac about this stuff.

the toys actually, which was rare for the 80s I don't remember the full details, but the cartoon was a little delayed in comparison to the toys. so that comic book that it came with told us about the lore. The toy hit right away even before the cartoon. So I remember vividly: Me and my friend Robbie Turnick, Andy Greco and Eric Godfrey and Marissa Byrd were already hyped for the first cartoon episode of He-Man because the toy ironically hit which was different than Transformers GI Joe Like that was all that 80 zero where the cartoon would come out, the toy would follow.

it was. there was something that happened in the history of uh He-Man Masters Universe where the the toy actually came out ahead of the cartoon. So I was there when cartoon one dropped and we lost our minds. But for the kids and the people that weren't what do you think all these years later and we're talking 40 years, what do you think it? you know it is about Skeletor even though he's the you know we've seen this in other.

The Joker We've seen this where the arch rival can take on a life of its own. but it's Skeletor hits like on so many levels he really doesn't Again, you're the you're the master of massive man. Well yeah I think I think the reason why Skeletor resonates a lot with a lot of the people. I think it's sort of like embracing that that evil you know.

Like a lot of times you know people always have like a bad side to them but they're always so afraid to, you know, show it. but I think what? Skeletor just seeing it so it kind of resonates with a lot of people. just kind of like bringing out that bad side of you. you know, like the bad boy side.

So um I think that's the reason why Skeletor does resonate with fans you know and made the mini comics for me too. That was actually my introduction to to He-Man you know I I grew up seeing the cartoons. no sorry, not the cartoons but the mini Comics first then I saw the cartoon and then that was a whole different take on it. and I think it sort of brought New Life to Skeletor.

Just sort of like the more comical but but there was always that you know that evil wanting to rule the world undertone that always existed. You know whether it be in the mini Comics or in the Um in the cartoon so that just seems to be some like a fun drink that he has that seems to resonate with fans. it did for me. Yeah I mean he is uh, evil right? Just no way to to spin it in another way.

Um. But the difference between economics and the Um and the animation was that in the animation he became more relatable because he there's something um that was you saw a funny side to him. There's a comedic side in some ways, whether intentional or otherwise. That made it more relatable.

and he is just cool visual. On top of that, you know he's this big buff character with a skull head. So I mean you're really drawn to him just by the cool visual. um and then depending on what Medium you're you're reading or watching to get into them.

He is a rich character, There's depth to him and and again that the animation which you know this is this design is based off of. um he's He's funny and relatable and and how he uh interacts with his cast is is I've always enjoyed that. Who doesn't love the laugh right? Yeah he no question he he the the dark humor or the wink wink to the audience watching the cartoon I mean somebody asked when why did he become a meme or when did he become a meme? you know I think a lot of it has to do with he had permission to be a meme based on how he acted in those cartoons. Yeah, all right Daniel what look I know you're going to keep us on track because I'm already looking already 15 minutes off the board quickly like people already yelling at me to open the box already.

they're kind of a little bit of look at the at the brown box. Is this the right time to unbox? I I think it may be time I know Damon Roy you guys also have it as well Gary I Think we should start with you because this experience that you're having is what folks who purchased starting on October 6th at 12 P.m Eastern 9 A.M Pacific on Mattel's website are gonna have this exact unboxing experience I'm at the starting point. find out I like the starting oh it doesn't work either way. Um so we got the names on top.

Okay so here here's the right off the top gets me super excited is the Motu comic that comes along with it which is humongous for me. like again, like I'm gonna be very Frank here this is like crazy. You know it's just crazy to look at and know that like just a C skilled skeleton in here is just this is bananas I don't really I don't really have words Ginger called out properly Robbie turning must be going crazy. The fact that this little guy is in I mean this is like these comics for me when I was 10 and 11 and 9 and like this was huge, this was the only way we knew who the characters were at first before the cartoon came out and something about this just hit super different for me.

like and he-man's in there, you know it's this is a pretty big deal. Yeah please. As you're tapping it right now, you can just see it in your emotion too, like you're literally tapping into like 10 year old. Gary as you're seeing this and realizing it's been the whole journey about building this IP You know I'm trying to teach good virtues you know? He-Man was teaching a lot of things.

this was the core of like if you really look at those cartoons, it's not only entertaining, they're teaching lessons Adam would jump in and talk to you. you know and you know, be friends has a big agenda of that and you know I think I think that. um I think it's just crazy like you know this really was one of the biggest IPS for me and one of the few things I collected I collect wrestling figures Star Wars and He-Man was core top three for me as a child and you know building out this IP has just been a real pleasure for me and did starting with digital Collectibles and you know, very focused on that in its future. Obviously Nft markets where it's at right now and so we're strategizing on what happens going forward.

And you know the collectible cards are completely out of control with the Fnatic slide thing. But collectible toys? If you've been watching my videos for years, they've always been back there right? Like you can go back to any daily B and see anything in my office. they're there. It's a big part.

Besides trading cards I had a few minutes with comic books and I went heavy. collectible toys I have a bunch of Key Man Masters of the Universe original 1985 toys in original package that I bought in the late 90s before. this was really like a thing thing. so like you know you know, like Ramen and Mossman is still one of the coolest characters I think ever created in the history of creation and as a toy bananas like we'd actually lose it in the grass because it Blended in so well and in the core and like you know Beast Man and like Ramen and like Oracle like the whole thing.

it's a big IP for me and you can. you can see you know how I'm feeling about it and and again making a limited edition. Collective I mean let's just get into it because I'm trying to I need to get through this all right. let's go this way first.

Insane. Just like this is, this was the most. Probably the most exciting part of this for me was knowing that for the Masters team looking all the stuff they put out these two gentlemen and their team, it's all nasty. like it's not Dorkville.

this is like hot like it's real stuff like like wait, do you see the next thing this is sort of be friends hardcore I know for people on Instagram and others here like that don't know, be friends but this next scene is about to kill you like this is nuts. Look at this. that's awesome. How sick is this like this is Skeletor literally literally teaming up with a character that I created in my mind and Drew and three years later like look at, look at this like the stuff I collect the stuff that like people flip a Comic-Con and goes on eBay and like sits on shelves like this is different.

We've done some stuff but like this is different. like and again what's unique about this and I Know a lot of be friends people talk about this a lot. This expands our universe this unlike anything else we've done. This will bring Masters of the Universe people.

They will collect this and they're gonna these two gentlemen. This was huge when they explained it to me early in the process. The form factor of Skeletor in this collectible. um, we're gonna listen to them for five minutes.

Everyone's gonna understand why on October 6 the competition is not going to be the Be Friends Maxis it's gonna be the friends Maxis up against the Motu Maxis and the Skeletron Maxis and like that's uh, it's pretty exciting. So all right I mean like that's so cool. Shout out again to Roy and Damon here because being integral in this experience, the little attention to detail here is insane. Okay, all right so here we go.

This is insane. Oh my. God This is absolutely crazy sick. Look at this.

Look at the detail. Oh now I'm getting the scene. Look at this. the vaccine.

Look at this. Literally shaking out of excitement. Look at this. Look how sick this packaging is.

This is insane like oh my God Nice work Roy Thank you Roy This is too much brother like. So yeah, just a little bit of backstory on that packaging. Just wanted to, um, really highlight how they each influence each other. You know? So the So So we can see from the front how um, skill skeleton influences.

Skeletory teaches them to embrace compassion. So that's why you get the heart-shaped hands you know coming together and then the back side is kind of Skeletor uh, teaching skills Skeleton to embrace the Havoc side. So it's kind of like that good evil set dwelly that we're playing with. you know, and um, yeah, when you open up that packaging, you see that, um, that cool pack out.

There's also like a window. Um, actually here, you know. So when we open it right here, you know right there you can see that awesome pack out. So you got that cool illustration.

You kind of like bookending the um, the product, but then the um, yeah. and then it has this, uh, removable plastic window. So then that way all the extra piece comes in the artwork and uh, it's basically collector friendly so you're able to just go in there, get the toys out and play with them, pose them, put them back in package if you wish to. Um, and like I said, you know, like the back side embracing.

The Habit F cool close-up of skills skeleton and scale through there. and as you open that up, you get that moment there, you know, like both. then just kind of like arms in the air. like really feeling the power.

There you go. So yeah, really fun fun with this one and then just you know, fun little Doodles here that we did on the top. Collector friendly, but um, yeah, just cool illustrations there we have. you know, um right there.

sort of skilled skeleton and um, skeleton going down this hill like on the land shark? you know. And then you know also the compassion. You know, just them two embracing each other. Really cool moments.

You know there's a lot of fun little Easter eggs throughout. Just kind of cool. 360 visuals all around. It's amazing.

And as Gary's opening it and we're going to see something, look at this. Look at this. You know, a couple people said the packaging's worth it alone. They're not wrong.

it's really crazy. Look at that. The art design here is incredible. Um, another cool note that I think a couple people caught on to quickly is if you look at skilled Skeleton if you guys put that in your room and office at night with no lights, correct me if I'm wrong.

Yeah, but that glows in the dark. He does. We absolutely want the uh, we went the route of having him glow in the dark. We thought that'd be a cool touch.

Something very toy attic. um, and potentially in a way showing that he's embracing the havoc and he's now glowing with some of that that evil Havoc energy. So it's just we wanted to have that influence of the characters upon each other and that was one way that how we thought we could know we can make that happen with that skill skeleton. It looks like Gary's trying to make his pre-order right now on.

Mattel October 6 12 P.m Eastern 9 A.M Pacific it'll be available. Have you seen this yet? This is up right? It's it's up You can you can go right now to Creations Look at the zoo man. No really, it's really well done. Like you can really really like.

I'm really impressed Mattel Team super nice Damon and Roy and even Gary here. look what are you gonna do with them? That's awesome! How crazy is that? That's my next question. It's like a skill skeleton with Skeletor Daniel It's so crazy making the hard hands together. It's amazing.

Damon What are the accessories like? Kind of like the product breakdown: I Think for everyone the box is 10 out of 10 Price: Point's awesome. The packaging is great. What's the accessory breakdown that we have here? It's basically a two pack. correct of it is um we're really leading into is the fact that there's with our with our uh Master the universe figures there's some modularity I mean you can mix and match some parts.

Um and so we wanted again to bring the two characters together um and have their influence and become besties. And so by creating the hard hands you're able to Interchange some of the hand accessories in there. To create hard hands, you can create rock out hands. Um or you can have hands.

So to encrypted the accessories. um Skeletor has a a flex chain uh that that the skill skeleton has given to him that bequeathed him and he's wearing that on the package. you can see it there on Gary screen. Um, he also has his Havoc step and sword.

um and then there's also uh for for Skeletor and this is this is the first time this will be available is this is our our new uh We've updated the bodies of our Master the universe figures to look more like the old animation that we've been referencing all this time. um and so he's he stands a little taller. he's he's still very uh much a muscular character but he's not as who we call has that squatty body. um and the likeness of the of the uh of his face is Overlook is based on the animation and so you're able to mix and match the faceplates of Skeletor so you can have his standard look and then you can have a look in which he's he's feeling the the influence of of the good that that skill skeleton has brought into him and so that's where you see the two different Expressions there in the corner so you can get that I'm feeling good kind of expression for for Skeletor this is awesome and I'm not surprised Gary that's Q a time Oh just do some Q A yeah let's just make sure we like yeah we oh yeah we can hear you.

You you everyone. Good thing you didn't say anything crazy I can hear you. is that Tyler I think it's Tyler yeah we're gonna get into something. Whatever your setting is, everyone heard you.

Thank God no output. Nah because we're all up here so it could only be so bad. This is insane to me. Uh actually before we get into Q A Damon Roy talk to everybody about why this specific form factor of Skeletor in action figure set is something that most of the be friends here.

unless they collect you know Motu really won't understand um of how big of a deal this is going to be for the Masters community and why this may trigger more Demand on that end than just uh just uh. the Be Friends Community Yeah so again like I was mentioning is this is the update. So we a previous prior to the this look for Prescott or and for the other Master of the Universe characters the the body has been based off of The Styling the overall figure was based off of the Vintage figures. um this time it's based on the on the animation and so this is the first time that Master of the Universe fans will be to get their hands on um this more filmation style look.

our cartoon collection look yeah so everybody I apologize for interrupting brother for everybody. This is why this was such an exciting collaboration for me. Knowing that in the history of Masters of the Universe toy collecting which is monstrous that the first form factor of the animation body is going to be available in this two pack this becomes. You know if you know about collecting, this becomes a big deal.

There will be people in seven years when they go on their Journey looking for the first action figure that had this form factor that will have to go and get this toy the skilled Skeleton two pack to ever own it. and that's a big big deal in toy collecting and that will create. You know I You know I want to use my words wisely here because I hate to create speculation because of everything that's gone down in Manatee land. But like let there be no confusion, this has demand in the Masters of the Universe World In a big way the you know we I really feel comfortable in Roy and his hands.

I mean you know Honestly, you can't even imagine how epic this really is until you have it in your hands. And so for me, as you can imagine having an incredible amount of Focus on how to make sure that this is you know, a worthwhile investment. How do you drive down the cost, create the excitement and expansion of the intellectual property, but create something that has a value to people that buy it. There's only a very small group of people on Earth that are really going to buy this.

On the sixth, you've got the Be Friends Community You got the hardcore Masters Community But like you know, this is not available at every Walmart or Target it's not available at every you know it's not at Comic-Con This is directly on the website. This is going to be people in the know. unlike the Uno on collab. Unlike my trading cards where it's really over time as we build demand for we friends, those implications will happen.

As a collectible, this actually has a built-in audience. that I mean I've gone on the Masters of the Universe toy and forums and toy forums and reddits, they've been waiting for this body. Roy David People have been waiting to know when this body comes out, the fact that it's coming out and by the way, I'm prepared for some people to be annoyed and be like well, I don't have to buy that other skill skill like they don't even know about people. they don't care about skill something, but they're going to want this and that creates a double demand factor that I think is super exciting and something I'm happy to create for my Be Friends Community Yeah, there's also one other thing that's super cool about this figure that um, that hasn't been done before.

and if you can see like there's basically these two face plates that you care for Skeletor So the head is actually the faceplate's swappable. You can actually remove the face plate and then put these other different to the different Expressions on him so that we haven't done that yet in. Origins That'll be the first time that we're actually doing that in this form factor so that's actually super cool. Something really cool also.

Yeah, Daniel are we a lot of people are asking about quantity? Are we? that's not. that's not public information. almost fell off his arm hold on I got a handful like go ahead. One important thing to note again: October 6 12 P.m Eastern 9 A.M Pacific 45 dollars three per customer.

We have a limit. There's a limit here, so something to be aware of that I think is super important as we're talking about quantity is there is a limit of three per customer so just high level. That's super important. But um, we got some folks on the backstage Gary and Damon Roy if you guys are ready for some q a you see a bunch of other people.

the affordability like this is something I was blown away that that Mattel was able to come through on like I do a lot of I've done a lot of toy collecting I don't know how to tell you like 45 for what they did. you know it's funny. 25 bucks A lot of money I Don't think of that as like no money but it's funny watching the chat as I was talking. There's enough people that are educated that were like the boxes were like like There's people like.

people that are. You know they say the website says 50. maybe that's because they have an updated. It's updated.

It could be a hard refresh thing. We're good. Hard refresh. Mikey Toy Box Um you know I appreciate Mikey's all out on this like and this is a big shout out to Mattel And and y'all I Can't believe what you packed in here for the price.

Thank you really thank you. That's awesome And yeah again two packs. So it's two characters. the glow in the dark, the accessories, the boxing, the mini comic strip.

all of it just super well done guys. I Love it, Thank you thank you Awesome! Let's go ahead and get some Q A I know we got some people waiting up there if you guys are game. um backstage if you guys want to bring some some folks up. I know they're really excited Roy Damon Were you guys about to say something? or no.

we're just seeing how much fun we had. Uh, working on this and working with the the befriends team. it's been. It's been a pleasure.

it's been. it's a lot of fun. Thank you Brother! look at this. Robbie Clark What's up brother Hey what's up brother first? Congrats! This is amazing! We're a similar age like this was my childhood and another toy from a different brand.

but I mean Masters of the Universe big deal. So I'm pumped for you man that's so cool I appreciate Chris Boyd coming in heavy. Go ahead Rob, you have a question for these guys. Yeah, so so these guys and for you as well Gary Like collaborations obviously.

Big deal V friends for the next for your lifetime. But like business-wise like for you, what's important about how you collab who you collab with Is there just some like you know, askgaryvee advice on how to do collabs properly. You know I think you have to have intent and truth you know? um I I don't mind mentioning other IPS and find these guys Rob So like Thundercats I like ThunderCats I you know I like them but there was a humongous Delta you're talking if Star Wars and wrestling were 10 for me He-Man was nine and Thundercats was four and so if I'm able to have a collaboration with He-Man first authenticity right? I can speak about Mossman in detail I can talk about man like I can talk about you know Sheila like I could talk about stuff I Remember you know, like I remember when it's when Shiro was launched I remember AJ AJ I'm sorry to blow up your spot but I remember my four-year-old brother sitting in the living room saying I am Shira like obviously you love you know as an older brother I love just saying that out loud to the world so everyone can joke with AJ about it. Um, Battle Cat and Snake Mountain and the lessons from Adam and like it's an authentic so first I Love authenticity right? like I love that I can speak to this.

It means something to me as a matter of fact. I don't know if it was I'm sure it was caught on film I'm sure some of you saw this. We've announced a lot of things through the years. I got a little bit emotional there as I was going through I was even shaking my hands were shaking a little.

That's unheard of. I'm like like I never shake like this means a lot to me so that matters with collaboration I think it needs to mean something, but then there's also the business factor of it. I Know that this is going to acquire more awareness because I know how sought after this skeletal. You know we talked through this and these guys know like there was a lot of conversations here.

There was times where I was like I'm not sure I want to do this because I want to be right I want to be a great partner too I want to sell through like you know there's a lot that goes into this and again you know this. I see Mo just joined. You know he's been following Chris like it's a journey. This is a true journey and knowing how this IP started it'd be like an IP that started with like a canceled cartoon after one season.

Like you know, we've had the ups and downs of the Nft market. A core part of this the trading cards thing is bro. I'm like I'm really pot committed long term to this and so I have to think about things that make strategy and then and then. Honestly, I care about the collectible aspect of all this.

Like this is a very highly collectible piece at an obnoxiously affordable price and so I'm excited about that. For the people that you know, Rob I get it. Like 50 to 75 of people are going to want to buy one and put on their shelf. but you know we thought through a lot about the three product limit and I thought through like what does that mean and like you know, like we think through this stuff and like I know if people buy three they're thinking about let me own one.

maybe I'll flip two and I worry about it being up or down like you know, like I'm not in control of when people decide to flip it or trade or things. So you just think about all these things. but you know I think for me, um I think there's an enormous amount of credibility that comes to the IP in in having someone like Masters of the Universe even be interested in collaborating Elevates skill skeleton. I'm thinking about storytelling.

There's a lot in the pipe around animation, music, content. you know this creates a context. Point um you know there's a lot of there's a lot of uh, a lot of things to think about. You know, uh, three is not just there because I think most people actually I think more people are buying three to give two of these as a gift because a lot of the fans of this.

IP sit in their 30s, 40s, and 50s right? So I know for sure if I was one of the three of you that are on screen right now like I'm buying one for Robbie turnick and buying one for Eric Godfrey for Father's Day You know, like because I want you know because think about it, a lot of you are emotionally attached to this IP oh I'm gonna give one to you know my friend because it's a nice gift he or she will be pumped about Skeletor but it's going to make them introduce them to be friends and so just a lot of thoughts that go into my man price point you know about. like this one one of the big triggers you know, you know this. A lot of things we do with Partners they don't have an international structure. One of the things we've been spending more and more time on is what do we say? yes and no to if they don't have international infrastructure you know I want to make sure this is available in Canada if let's say A Very handsome man with good hair.

would want to buy it in Canada and so like you know you got to be ready for all these things. So we think about it and there's all like twists and turns. We were in a meeting for an hour and a half. about a bunch of stuff you're all about to hear in the next two three weeks you're just making lots of decisions.

Lots of decisions on the tone, the temperature. You know this has been a long time in the making. Oh well, over a year they're trying to anticipate those things like what's the world look like in a year. So a lot of things brother.

So for you so much when I saw the Willful Wizard I thought of Orco right? So for you like when I'm trying to like you know, push on to like Reebok about this or that I'm trying to when I forward it to their CEO and say you something with my man here I'm trying to think about what you could actually bring to the table so there's a lot. you know there's a lot Chris here. Thanks so much Rob I Appreciate it. We have Chris up here.

Yep I can hear you as well. We have Mohit is Mohit as well. Thank you guys and Chris one second here I know we have the mask on I'm actually gonna hand the mic really quick over to Mohit only because Gary What crazy thing we did prioritization with this tool. We can actually give access to Spectacular! So Mohit Eat it Chris Eat it I mean Chris to eat it Oh it's sex getting some love.

Um, price point Gary I Think you up. It's not a 45 product. It has to be a lot higher because I have a seven-year-old kid and I go buy toys and 45 doesn't buy you much these days. Yeah, yeah, but anyhow, you know I I forgive you.

There's a couple ways to think about that. I Think to your answer: if I up there's a lot of reality of that being on the consumer. Shelf I I Do think I do think and we do think a lot and we're feeling it with super sticker pricing and some other stuff. Are we in a place where we want to maximize every dollar on suggested retail right? Or do we want to leave some room for? Think about how small who's going to get this is and so I'm I'm very empathetic to your point and I think from a one business angle your aggressive call out of like you up is right I think from a different angle of leaving dollars on the table for the audience that first owns it is another fun way to debate it and a big call out.

You know somebody in there Mo said oh, 45 utility for getting a free one for a skill, right? We're playing forever and so as you can imagine, even like we just talked through a bunch of burnt Islands some of them are this narrow, some of them are this wide. One of the things I'm trying to think through is like not like everyone in a silo can be analyzed but a collective over 20 40, 50 70 activations I'm trying to think of the Ebbs and flows and like leave different rooms for different things. so uh I respect that point of view and I I think hey, there's more on the IEP uh building standpoint. Um, so if you look at skilled skeleton as a character, this is the first activation it's been featured in.

Halloween What does the journey look like? Do you do? You plan on getting skilled skeleton in another collab with let's say a completely different you know from you know what I mean yeah like a great question. What I'm worried about is it can get to a point where skill skeleton has had I know let's say 11 activations in four years and now the journey feels a little lost. Yeah yeah you know but like there's two separate tracks here. one I used you this era as Alpha right you go look at Daredevil episode first appearance.

he's in full yellow. It's got a different personality today. we don't see them that way so I I will say officially and I haven't really said I've alluded to it but I'm very comfortableness I do Leave myself and my team the creative freedom to adjust narratives, personalities, things that nature. I'm going through that very heavily right now.

That being said, great call out about brand integrity and how you build. I Don't think it's going to be 11. you know we're not. We're not in that place where we're gonna create so many mixed messages that by the time we kind of solidify obviously we're very aggressively.

and I think we're finally getting to the point where the community will start to see this. There's been incredible work on character development. We've got kids book coming out next year. Animation and content is a very big part of next year and so I think you're going to start seeing some characters solidify themselves and to your point: MO You're going to see some of your favorite characters show up next year in animation form and it might be different than the little cartoons or even the social media content from a personality from a voice from A vibe at the same time because we're in Alpha But but as we now are kind of getting into the fourth year third year, things that nature some of these characters are going to mold in.

So to your point: I Don't think you'll see skilled skeleton and six more things that are completely dispersed and then there's confusion. That's what I was with. Yeah, and I think I think that's a very good call I don't think you'll see that I think we're starting to Zone in um on certain characters doing certain things and so it's a mix to your question. There is definitely some Alpha going on I've not been scared to put out a mini video on social or part of the toy thing and then if I change my mind on gratitude gorillas or Genuine like I still think we're quote-unquote early enough at the same token, I'm incredibly conscious of if we do too many things too many times with the same characters, there's so much confusion it might take mockery to solidify.

Okay, and you said the animation thing is getting closer. I mean I know that's something we're all very excited about. Is that happening? As you can imagine, there's been a lot of thoughtfulness. oh sorry, somebody might need to go mute.

Um, it's uh, not only the thoughtfulness of the proper way to do it proper proper. the process of Animation is quite an interesting long journey. like um I Remember going into a meeting early on and said I wanna I want a Halloween special and they're like three years I'm like what you know, it's so um you know animation's a beast but we yeah I've mentioned about the animation business my wife started I think a few months ago we you know real quick. I mean you know for people on YouTube it's called out of a book but I am I'm realizing that like I tell my voice over artist we need to change something and when she does change that, that doesn't show up on the video for like six months and we are like nothing and we're like tiny.

You know you know that's why South Park is so brilliant and we've We've got a lot of different tweaks so look, we're gonna play high low, left, right with animation. We'll see a lot more in the future. Mo Thank you brother! thank you thank you Excited! Chris Thank you for being patient I Love that your dresser for the occasion. Any questions you have while we have Damon and Roy here as well for the Mattel team on the product I Know you're super into it right now and as a iconic Soldier I See you I appreciate that.

Um, yes, my question is to anybody who wants to answer. but um, what is your favorite part during this collaboration process? And maybe talk about some challenges that you may have had during the process? I'm always I Love the process of how these things come together. Um so yeah. take it away.

Yeah, let's do this boy. Damon Let me make you feel very comfortable I Know we know each other a little bit, but like one of the things I love is vulnerability transparency like like you know. I'm also probably very comfortable with this question because I know how I treat collaborations so I don't think it could be too horrible, whatever comes out of your mouth. um I think it, you know, why don't you answer Chris's answer in twofold: one this collaboration and two maybe the others that you've done or considered and what the variable differences are or some of the common themes for people that are thinking about it.

So the the fun part of the about the collaboration is basically when you have the other team coming with their idea to the table and you know just kind of hearing them out, seeing what they like or you know what they don't like and just kind of taking that and then also working here with our internal team and then just kind of blending the two ideas. That's that part's always the fun part because you're basically you know you're trying to. You're kind of like kind of the way you're kind of like the middle person trying to make you know this side, happy, This and happy and just bringing the two ideas, meshing them together. And that part's fun.

Um, and that's also kind of like the the Challenge too because sometimes some ideas can be very different right? Sometimes Some team might have something very different and then you're kind of seeing your perspective from like your own. IP and then you're seeing and then they're seeing it from their own. IP So that can be a a challenging part, but but again, you know, just bringing the two ideas together. That's always like the fun part that I have.

For me, it's about the story. What is the story we're telling? Why are we bringing these two Brands together? Um how are they interacting? You know what? What is that? Nexus what is that the Confluence of of their of those personalities and the worlds Um and once we struck that idea of of having skill skeleton and skeletal or you haven't influence on each other that this is the first time we drew Skeletor With this hilarity ensued and we're like okay, we found it, this is it. And we were super stoked because it was. We had to find that touch Point Um and once we did, it was.

It was almost easy at that point. And for me Chris you have to know. You have to know the role you play. So for me, when I go into this partnership for example, I'm aware of the 40 Years of Rich history I Sometimes I have to do my homework whether that's like squishmallow, right? I did 20 hours of community homework before I went into that collab because I wanted to get a sense.

This one was easy for me, my friends who are actual friends and acquaintances who are hardcore. you know Masters collectors right? So for me it was about and I I Hope these two guys can tell you how incredibly quote unquote hands off I was You know I have a young IP I have a lot of freedom. They have an incredibly mature, important IP they have less Freedom They have to hold up so many values, so many history lessons, so many things that the community holds cherish and important. and so for me, it was about flexibility and really giving them creative freedom at the highest levels.

Of course there'd be things that I wouldn't compromise like I couldn't have the comic you know, the Masters comic kill skill skeleton. that'd be bad I have things to do with skills, you know? But but in this scenario and this is something I've noticed Chris A lot of people come to me and they want to collab in all forms of life where I have all the leverage and they come in with audacity and I smile to myself I'm like you're the one asking you know you know Even though we had an incredible Uno collaboration and even though I have an incredible relationship with you know Mass Uh with Mattel it wasn't like these two emailed me 55 times and said we need to do a collab. You know I was coming with the idea, quote, unquote, the ask and so I think too many people don't have the humility when and understanding the roles. And to me, I knew how to hold up the Skeletor and O2 IP and I wasn't willing to draw lines in the sand other than I wanted these two gentlemen in the team to feel incredibly authentic and was willing to go through a lot of work and meetings with my team and them.

and if they were unable to get to an authentic place I was mentally I told my team I said listen, this could be 15 20 meetings. This could be hundreds of hours of collective work and they may have to come to us at 11 30 p.m before midnight and say we don't feel it and so like I think that's you know something to keep in mind around collaborations, you know, cool Thank you very much. That was awesome! Thanks so much Chris We got two more coming up on stage as well. um Damon Roy and even Gary How rare is it to see Skeletor in that vein with like the hearts and actually having a smile like is that super rare like For folks that don't know anything about Skeletor like this seems kind of unique in that way.

never been done before. All right, it's something very very very unique. I Mean there he has had expression, changes in in different content. but to have it in product and to do something that's very modern and contemporary is is a little break frame.

um but again it made sense because a story. It made sense because of the collaboration um and the influence of one another And so that's why we brought it together. So like yeah, it's it's first time and And it it has to make sense in this. This made sense.

That's amazing hearing the the line never been done before and then having Masters of the Universe and be friends in that sentence is pretty remarkable for this character. It goes back to Chris's last question should have like look I really as you can imagine one to me compassion, respect, respect new collaborations like the way you enter someone's home when I tell you when I enter someone's home and it is obvious in the first nanosecond that I have to take my shoes off I'm taking my shoes off I'm entering someone's home I don't care what my point of view on that is I can do anything I want in my home if I smell it in the first Nano Second, my shoes are coming off immediately I'm respecting entering someone's home. So first, this is a 40-year home, 50-year home like it's a real home at, you know Motu But as you can imagine Daniel in return. Once we got over that, I knew that I wanted to do great things for be friends I have responsibility for this community and so you're hearing the first first form factor first.

First, like I know how much this is going to bring demand for this collectible, this toy and that's going to be of the benefit of the people in our community. and I want that? That's awesome. Well we got two spectacular people here on stage with us. I'm gonna hand it to gag on first just because you did have the the hand up and we'll pass it over to Laura if you guys have a question for Garrett even the Mattel team while we have them.

Super Awesome! Sure! Uh, thanks. Daniel Can you guys hear me? Yeah, we hear you? Yeah, Hey, a question for Gary First of all, great work everybody. And I think in the industry of authenticity? uh, my only exposure to the character is through memes. yeah coming out right up front.

yeah and uh. and also I Just have to say looking back, the box is the most badass interpretation of the different character I've ever seen so far. Uh, fingers crossed. Uh, so so that's on the creative side.

Yeah, like it's just it's a super cool. Uh, my question specifically was I think and you've been talking about this since the pre-mint days, right? expanding the IP which is more sort of creative side of things. And we also talk about left and right frame right. So on the Quant side.

Like, how do you quantify these collaborations right? Like how do you really measure the success? Like six months, 12 months on the line and so on? that? So already with trading cards I I Can see first-time buyers of different Series 2 Nfts record correlated to accounts that are on social that we can backtrack into their social and see that they discovered the IP at the National. So there's a lot of work we do to see what brings people into consideration to the Nft. And so we think, especially during this Market physical Collectibles is an incredible way to do it. I Think you're going to see it quite a bit.

you know when I when I heard you just say that you don't understand how good that made me feel about your exposure to Skeletor My dream is that you go to a streaming service or on or YouTube and now watch an episode like you can't imagine how epic, skeletorious and for me, I know I personally and the Be Friends Community brings a big audience I mean Motu's humongous, but we're not tiny tiny. there's gonna be a real chunk here and I'm pumped that so many people from be Friends will now maybe consider Motu as something they care about and in return. the way I'll measure this in a couple ways. One did this bring value to my audience both for they're happy Little things like you saying this is the most badass interpretation of the character I'm excited about that.

I have a lot of badass intentions. Maybe some could call it bad intentions. um, but we haven't shown that yet, right? We've shown you where series two is which is a little bit of a different thing and got a kids book coming out. so showing a little bit of the preview to I want people in Motu to fall in love with be friends as well and I know through this in I Can't wait to go to San Diego Comic-Con next year and walk around and see this at collector's tables for sale and say hello to them.

Be like oh and they're like oh and they they may be a collector that's not even thinking about be friends. All they cared about was you know the part we talked about earlier which is how important in Masters this? This figure is right. but by just being a Comic-Con my ability to be like hey and learn and so in a long-term view. We're looking at how much did this bring people into the franchise.

But the other thing is does this now create the framework of where this character can play. Obviously we won't have the luxury of it playing in the Masters universe, but like what the energy of this collaboration allows for? The truth, like think about a skilled skeleton reference to this collaboration in five years. Think about a skill skeleton video game or cartoon or book that has skilled skeleton dreaming something from a scene from this comic and it's like a little you know, Easter egg. There's just so many things that can be done so we're establishing permission and consideration.

Awesome! Thank you so much guy appreciate you I'm going to hand the mic over to Laura and Laura Just a quick shout out on a person on a everyone knows you're a creative a copywriter I Just want to congratulate you Gary I don't know if you know Laura Just recently released a new book called duck Buddies which is really awesome. Just want to give her her flowers. It's not easy as you know as an operator creatively to launch something like that. So yeah, thank you Daniel at Sicily and thanks to you Gary too you signed a a rough draft copy at Vcon and he wrote keep Crushing I remember and I just keep that because you know everyone encounters ups and downs as you create something.

so I always kept that in my mind. Oh my gosh, you just so you understand like be friends are the only ones in the chat but people could be also watching this on my socials because I wanted to make sure it's on. Instagram Again, a big part of my requirement is access to the be friends holders but awareness to the broader section so more people become those people. All right Laura Go ahead.

this is so cool and I'm an 80s baby too so this is really exciting. like how sick, how sick and the detail I'm telling you it's nuts thing we didn't go into the they talked about it for a second but the hands switch out. it's like it's a wild toy like I I Think most point is absolutely right. The price point is remarkable.

Yeah my younger brother and I watched all these cartoons all the time. So my question for Dame and Roy and you Gary is what are maybe some metrics or general things you're trying to hit to Kind of test this as a great collab and would you potentially do other characters like He-Man and Shira in the future depending? I'll let Allah Mattel you know Motu team answer from their perspective person: I think you kind of hit on some of that already Gary Is it what is what is the the fan of resonance? How are they reacting? How are they from from both sides of of be friends? and Motu how are they seeing the value in this and they're Are they in? Are they enjoying the story that we're telling? Do they want to see more? and and these are the things that we would be considering because yeah great to bring in uh, more more characters from Be Friends and more characters remotes and bring them together in this type of ways like we really enjoyed. Uh, look, Shiro was very top of mind I told you my story like that is one of my greatest memories in my childhood. Was my brother when we first moved to Hunterdon County New Jersey We didn't have cable at first and like literally all we had was like Shira on tape and it was playing over and over and over because AJ was three four and that was his favorite cartoon.

AJ was Shira for a full year AJ with Shira and so you know look I look the Uno collaboration. If the Uno collaboration did not go so great for Mattel, we're not here today right right now I anticipate because of how passionate Masters of the Universe you know and and they know there's some purists who are gonna be like what the like, you can't have anybody from the outside. the question becomes what we just saw earlier. I Also know that for that small group right that there's a wider group of tens of thousands of people in our world that are going to re fall in love with this character this.

IP Discover it I have a very young crew as well, not just the 30, 40, 50. many have only known this guy from uh a meme. this now gives him another story. They read the comic so you know hopefully this goes well and hopefully there's opportunities.

I mean Fearless fairy and Shira is a nice little two pack right? You know there's a lot to be done, but we don't want to rush it or force it either and so yeah, there's definitely things to Think Through Cool Thank you guys thank you Laura We got last two questions here. Rapid fires we hit Top of the hour. Yeah I have a three o'clock hard so I'll go for sure Danny Good to see you Yeah real quick I was like seven years old when this came out I Don't really remember all the story details um of Masters of universe but I am excited I saw that you can get it on Apple and you can go watch them again. Do you guys still create new new like animations and and new like story lines with He-Man and Skeletor Yes yes.

So if you if you have a Netflix account you can watch uh some great content there. so we have new animation. um new season starting in the spring. Uh so if you have more to come and then the other thing for Gary and the collab team What's the what's the process on? Like sneaking in um skilled skeleton into like an animation like that you guys have to get permission from Gary Does Gary up to like want it? Like how does all that work? Anybody who owns any IP controls that IP and so there's no sneaking.

especially I Get what you're saying from some of the purest. like if Skeletor was like this evil like bad guy right? like they might not like the heart and the soft side of you know? Yeah, that's right. there's always those kind of things but you keep pushing the envelope and you keep trying to figure it out and that becomes the game. Love you Benny Good to see you.

Let's get into it. Yes because I got it. Anthony's 60 seconds here on the clock. Good to see you.

Uh, go ahead. Oh wait, let's see if anybody can unmute him. let's see if he can. Looks for Google All right.

so the whole kindest thing. why Gary Now like does this kindness thing really work for Mattel in a sense with this character and will there be other avenues with the other refunds characters No I can't speak for Mattel I can tell you that back to the same way they couldn't compromise on anything you know like I'm not going to compromise that kindness is the greatest skill that I want to teach in the world and so I'm thrilled that it worked for Mattel and I think Skeletor does have a really irreverent personality and you to be very honest I think about why someone would say yes. The reason I get a lot of deals done is I give a lot of thought to even the potential of a yes from the other side and I know way way way too much about Skeletor to know that this is absolutely in Pocket to play because it's absolutely the curveball that Skeletor can throw. um and so you know I I can't speak for Mattel Obviously they've spoken with the decision to make.

um but I think we all think about like what's important and for me like skill skeletons showing up in Snake Mountain and then just trying to beat up He-Man you know or Ram it like like that wasn't gonna work. That wasn't gonna get the full story across of what we need to get done. I Was psyched to see the shorts on JetBlue so keep up the good work man! Thank you! But yeah the JetBlue shorts is fun and like it's gonna be a really a really fun October's let me end with Damon Roy Thank you I Love you men thank you! You're so excited! Everybody else who's watching anywhere all all my social right now is linked to the current blog post. I'll link it again.

lots of will be very loud over the next week or two about the launch. October 6th on this and October is loud I'm also live on Fnatics live tomorrow night doing more pack breaking so please go to be friends. Coffee Befriends.com cards. Make sure you follow the befriends cards account specifically on X Twitter there's information there.

register your Fanatics live um account because tomorrow's gonna be a big night of giveaways because I'm in the mood so we'll see you soon! Love you all! Bye thank you Everyone right? Thank you Gary Thank you Anthony Closing out here everyone Reminder: October 6 12 P.m Eastern 9 A.M Pacific This is going to be on Mattel's website: This Is Us International Super Insane Damon Roy Thank you so much again any final words here as we close out for the community? The coolest there it is. Thank you everyone thank you thank you thank you It's been a blast! Thank you everyone.