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- [00:00]
Ryan Alford
Welcome to the Trading cards and Collectibles podcast on the Radcast Network. From chasing grails to calling bluffs and going inside the hobby. Are you ready to collect? Let's get at it. Here is your host, Ryan Alford.
- [00:18]
Ryan Luden
Welcome to Trading Cards and Collectibles. Today is a loaded episode. Jam packed. We got a special announcement, special interview. Came here on trading cards and collectibles. V Friends has a huge announcement. Just telling you, one of the biggest names in retail is picking them up. Got a great collaboration. Talked to Andy Cranac, the president of Vee Friends. Talked all about that announcement. It's a big one. Then, of course, Brian and Ryan Luden. Yes. L X the LX segment of the week. Brian and I break it down. Got into all the hot cards, Major League Baseball, huge announcements and giveaways. You don't want to miss that one bit on today's trading card. Cards and collectibles. All right, guys, what's up? We're breaking in here. Hey, we've got a special release, if you want to call it. I didn't know we were going to get into late. Breaking news here on trading cards and collectibles. But you know what? We got Friends in good places, and we like to support good people doing good things. Hey, don't worry, V. Happy we got the president of the Friends, Andy Cranac. What's up, brother?
- [01:24]
Andy Cranac
How you doing? Right? Happy to be here. Thanks for having me on.
- [01:27]
Ryan Luden
Yeah, man. Hey, we get. If I get an email says, hey, exclusive announcement. You want in? I'm in. I'm in. I love, you know, I've got four boys. Gary's been on my show a couple times, the business show and this show and a few other, you know, running into him. And I love what he's done with the Friends, what you guys are doing, you know, your leadership, his creativity, what match made in heaven. And it's just the messages of positivity. And there's so much negative out there that I love what you guys are doing. Having four boys, getting positive messages. And you know what? The big boys are paying attention. It sounds like.
- [02:10]
Andy Cranac
Absolutely. And I, I love that you mentioned your four boys, too. I think Be Friends has been really successful to date because of the authenticity. And I think the authenticity comes from Gary. A combination of everything he loves. You know, we have the messages and values of these characters and what they represent, whether it's empathy, elephant or balance, beetle or flexing fox. But also it's culture, it's collectibles, it's storytelling and we're doing it in really fun and innovative ways. And I think our partners and our exclusive partners at New York Comic Con this year recognize that.
- [02:42]
Ryan Luden
Yeah, man. You know, you can feel it's interesting when there's momentum behind a brand and something, and you've got. So you got a few ground, you got the whole hobby momentum that's going on right now, and then you've got the friends who sort of. Yeah, you're taking advantage of that, but you have your own momentum and energy that are this groundswell. And it's funny how you see it, because I know it when I. It's hitting my feed. People that maybe don't normally talk about it bring it up. They're going, this vee friends. Or I see somebody opening a pack at a store, and I'm like, you can just almost. I don't know. It's so funny how momentum you feel. I'm sure it's feeling that way internally.
- [03:22]
Andy Cranac
Yeah. I mean. And we say brick by brick at Veefriends because that's how we think about building this IP long term, every day. You know, the announcement with Walmart today is just another stepping stone into creating what we want, what we aspire to be with this ip. But with the release of our Tops Chrome Veefriends product in May, I think we really got people by surprise because there's a lot of people in the hobby that might be familiar with Gary, but I've never really tapped in, understood, be friends or were familiar with the brand at all. But outside of the hobby, we've been building a very, very passionate community of collectors and fans that really love this IP and these characters. And I think that came to life come May when our first ever Chrome product was released, which is really exciting and it's been extremely successful. And I think we're just continuing to build off of that momentum.
- [04:14]
Ryan Luden
Yeah, man. We got mangas at the house. I'm just saying. Just saying.
- [04:20]
Andy Cranac
The fast follow from Chrome to our super sticker product that includes autographs by Steph Curry. So I'm super proud of that. And I think when I look back at my time at Vee Friends, that unsealed box, I have manga super stickers featuring the greatest shooter of all time. Well, I always have a special place.
- [04:39]
Ryan Luden
Yeah, man. So I want to put a big exclamation point on this announcement because it's a big freaking deal and I want to spell it out for our listeners. So we launched Tops Chrome, sold out everything. Nobody can get enough. I know dealers. I'm on the ground floor with dealers locally, nationally, talking to them. They're like, yeah, can you get any? I'm like, they're like, Gary's on your side, can you get. I'm like, no, Gary can't even get me. Jerry's got his coffer stuff but with his own. But he's like there, you know, he's like, I told him to make more. It's like, well, hey, so scarcity isn't, isn't a terrible thing if you leverage it right. But then, you know, you get the stickers. The greatest shooter on earth. Like you said, my kids love Steph Curry. We do have the sticker collection at the house. And now Walmart distribution. Let's spell that for everyone. Exactly what it is, what that means.
- [05:38]
Andy Cranac
Yeah. So at New York Comic Con next week at the Walmart booth, booth 2821, Walmart is going to be giving a free bundle of veefriends comic which is almost sort of like a prequel. It's a special story edition A we're calling it, which is the lead up story to the first ever comic book. And inside of that comic book is a VFriends mini sticker. It's a smaller sticker of, of the super sticker which we first released actually in collaboration with the restaurant. You could get that sticker in the Happy meals of purchases. It's going to be at the Walmart booth. We're also going to be doing a live stream with Gary where those not in attendance are going to be able to join Gary and the Befriends team on Walmart live and try to snag one of 300 CGC graded comic books and really exciting. I, I think this is the first phase of what will hopefully be a long term partnership with Be Friends as we bring a wider audience and awareness to our characters and our IP and hopefully for Walmart bringing a lot of innovation and excitement and fandom around the collectibles and generally our, our business acumen is how we think about onboarding new collectors into the space and hobby.
- [06:52]
Ryan Luden
A lot to unpack there. I love the, the blending like comics need a little revival in my work in my mind, like in the mainstream in everyone's mind.
- [07:03]
Andy Cranac
Yeah, I've been boring to comic books. I attended San Diego Comic Con for the first year. This year I think everyone is ready for innovation and taking more contemporary takes on, on storytelling within comics because it has the history of really being the cornerstone of collectibles for a very, very long time.
- [07:23]
Ryan Luden
So I'm gonna first Give like our listeners the Cliff Notes, what Annie just described. I'm going to tell you the hidden meaning and the real meaning. Hidden meaning, Go buy more Veefriends products because Walmart's got to want them and they're about to get that much more demand. So anything you have or you can get your hands on, go get your hands on it and put it in the collection and thank me and Andy later. Now, number two, okay, it's still a big deal, but I love the integration of cards, the stickers into the comics, leaning into things that are working, the scarcity, the parallels, like all that sort of thing into the comics. That's where we need to see it go. And I think, look, there's a huge gap in storytelling, you know, like happening right now. It's like, seems like a huge opportunity. So much so few printed materials these days that are worth, you know, getting your hands on.
- [08:13]
Andy Cranac
Absolutely. And you know, it's really fun and interesting for bfrons for a lot of reasons. We're very unique, but our characters really have this built in collectibility. The first time the IP was ever created or seen to the world was as an nft, a digital collectible. So I think from the onset collectibility was built into the brand. But we have yet to really tell the stories of these characters. And that has always been the goal and aspirations of Gary, the founder and creator. He has very specific vision for who motivated monster is and motivated monsters. Origin story and comic debut is also coming out at New York Comic Con. But I think we are going to turn some of our biggest fans into, into character Maxis as we call them, of different characters because they're going to learn for the first time ever where Optimistic Otter is coming from and what he's about and who the villain is. And I think we're going to see some shake ups not just in new fandom, but existing fandom around who's everyone's favorite defense.
- [09:10]
Ryan Luden
Yeah, I love it. The storytelling and the funny thing is you had wild success without, you know, other cards. People have stories around the players because they watch them play, they know them, you know, like personal someone difference took off without anybody really. Those backstories. Now you get the story in there. Hello. And I don't know man, it's. You can look at this a lot of ways. It's just how can you argue with number one, the creativity that that's here, the art, the, the, the thought and care that's gone into the design. But the positive, I mean, like, you know, let's let's have some positivity in this world.
- [09:49]
Andy Cranac
My favorite thing, probably on earth, FB Friends, is seeing tweets of parents that have not been in the hobby for decades, basically. And they last opened a pack cards when they were 14. And now they're not just reconnecting with the hobby by opening befriend stores, but they're reconnecting with their kids, and they're talking about these traits and values that the beef Friends represent with their kids while collecting cards and getting affirmations, positive sentiment from either new fans or collectors or people that are old in the hobby. And honestly, people that might have feelings about Gary and his bravado and recognizing that we have been extremely thoughtful and we're thinking about building this IP in the collectibility of our characters and cars and products for a very long time. And it's just exciting to see. And as you said, I think now more than ever, I don't know, more than ever. But positivity, accountability, happiness, balance, these are the things that Befriend represents. And I think the world could definitely.
- [10:58]
Ryan Luden
Use some of that, 100%. And I. And I. I told Gary this when I talked to him. I was like, you know, if you've been paying attention, obviously, to gary, his content 10 years, like, you've seen it and maybe. And I always could see what Gary was building and doing because, I mean, I'm a marketer, my guy, but at the same time, always like, I. His heart's in the right place, you know, and then this is the. This brand is the manifestation of what I felt like I knew about Gary. Like, yeah, it brought it to life.
- [11:33]
Andy Cranac
There's a. There's a character called Single Cat in Be Friends. And I think cynicism is not a good trait. And I actually think it's very easy. It's easier to be cynical, especially around someone like Gary who's trying to do two things at once, which is. And at times, and I think in the world we've been told that they're contradictory, which is building big businesses, being an entrepreneur, being a mogul, while also doing the right thing about people, while trying to be a good leader. Watch. While I was trying to teach values and Gary believes and I believe and it's what we from represents that you can do both at the same time. You know, you can be a kind warrior, and you can also be, you know, practical peacock and optimistic otter.
- [12:21]
Ryan Luden
Yeah, there's a lot of broken people out there doing broken. You know, like. And it's. They point the fingers at the wrong direction and they focus outward instead of inward. That's what I love about the friends is it's really about inward, like making yourself inwardly better because you're taken from these characteristics and it's not like pointing outward. All of these characters are talking about themselves but not because they're self centered but because these are the attributes that we should all strive to have inside of us.
- [12:57]
Andy Cranac
Trillion percent accountability is the unlock to happiness and a fun thing. With over 250 characters at Befriends, a lot of people just joining always want to know like who's the most popular one? How do I think about collecting them? Obviously our logo character, the very, very, very, very lucky black cat is the holy grail, the most collectible character in all of VTruns. But aside from that, it's really related to the trait in attribute. You know, accountability from Gary's content and in general is such a big and important word. I think society. And it's why Accountable Ant is one of the most popular and collectible defense characters because as you said, accountability really starts with pointing the thumb back at yourself and recognizing that you have a lot of control over your future and pointing fingers, blaming others. Ultimately it's just going to lead you to a place where you're not going to win anyhow.
- [13:46]
Ryan Luden
Yeah. The irony of accountability is it's about counting. But there's really only one and it's you. I like that. Yeah. And it's just so true. Andy, I know you're a busy man. We got the big release. Talk to me. Let's talk to the audience. Okay. Next week's release, what does it mean for the audience? What can they, you know, get their hands on? Where is it going to be? Any of the logistical things? I like that.
- [14:10]
Andy Cranac
Yeah. Well, if you are coming to New York Comic Con, good news. We have a lot of event exclusives outside of just what we're releasing with Walmart. A lot of them, honestly, they're free giveaways. You can come to our booth. We're going to be right by Funko's booth. We're having a Funko pop again for the second year. Or come by Walmart's booth. Gary's gonna be doing a signing of this giveaway which will be awesome. Besides that, if you're not going to New York, Hong Kong, hit someone else up who is so that you can make sure you get some of these exclusive Be Friends collectibles. Otherwise too much Walmart live. I think Walmart recognizes again the industry of not just Collectibles. But retail is really evolving and it is coming in the form of live shopping. And we are going to be going live on Walmart Live with Gary, which I believe is going to be Thursday, October 9th at 1pm on Walmart Live, which should be available to anyone who wants to check in on the live. We're have 300 of those great exclusive comics available. And honestly, I think it'll be a really good time to just hang out, learn more about the product, see Gary and his element at New York on the live stream. Should be a good time.
- [15:16]
Ryan Luden
We'll have all of that in the show notes that will be linked here. We'll link it this week and next week's release. We really support what Andy, Gary and the whole veefriends team is doing. Positive message. They nailed it, man. It's about business. But look, we can do it in a positive way and we could share what matters in this world in ways that collects and brings great values both inside and maybe to your wallet.
- [15:47]
Andy Cranac
I'm going to make sure I try to get you a newer Comic Con comic bundle. So we're releasing comic. I need it.
- [15:53]
Ryan Luden
That's what I was gonna say, Andy. It will sit right every week.
- [15:59]
Andy Cranac
We're gonna be the bundle, the South Carolina creep, because I think you and the boys will like it. And we'll give you a taste of the future of our storytelling and IP and our character.
- [16:10]
Ryan Luden
Andy, Brilliance. I love what you're doing. I really appreciate you for stopping in. Know you're busy. This is an important announcement. It's big news for you guys. Congratulations.
- [16:19]
Andy Cranac
I appreciate it so much. Thank you for the opportunity. I really value. Appreciate the support.
- [16:25]
Ryan Luden
Hey, guys, you know where to find us. You know where it is. Collectibles show. We'll have all the links to everything Andy mentioned, of course, more in today's episode.
- [16:35]
Brian
Collecting's Americana. Honestly, getting this industry people collect something, it's just part of our culture. It could be like freaking stickers or stamps or whatever it is, but everyone has something they like.
- [16:46]
Ryan Luden
I remember you talking about the Brady lover that's got like 39,000 different cards or something like that.
- [16:51]
Brian
His collection's almost like a million bucks. He walked up to meet the national. He looks like he jumped off a bus. He's like, hey, I'm so and so. I got 39,000 Tom Brady cards and here's my collection. I'm like, holy crap.
- [17:03]
Ryan Luden
You got like somebody that's got 40,000 of them and he keeps rescanning them or something because he's like, it's got to be worth more than that. And I've done that myself. I've rescanned a few cards on Lude. I was like, maybe the valuation will go higher if I scan it more.
- [17:17]
Brian
That's funny. Yeah.
- [17:20]
Ryan Luden
What's up, guys? Welcome to trading cards and collectibles powered by Ludx. Brian, what's up, brother?
- [17:28]
Brian
How you doing, my man? Week two.
- [17:30]
Ryan Luden
I know. Week two. Brian and Ryan coming to you. Look, we're sporting our hats. Brian's got the jerseys in the background. He's got the white socks jersey. He's got Earlocker. I mean, he's got the winners behind him. I don't know what I'd call on your jersey, man. I. I mean, I. I don't hate the White Sox or anything, man, but it's a. That's a tough road to hoe.
- [17:50]
Brian
Yeah, I get. I guess it's like one of those things where I get excited for playoff baseball and I have no. I have no rooting interest ever. But this is a, you know, the old White Sox jersey. No big whoop. World Series 05. So with playoff baseball, I like to represent. The White Sox. Put it away for next year, but the White Sox did it.
- [18:13]
Ryan Luden
Yeah. They didn't have a bad year, though, right?
- [18:15]
Brian
They actually were the number right behind the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays had 20 wins differential from 24 to 25. The White Sox had 19. Now, the White. The White Sox went from 40 to 41 to 60.
- [18:31]
Ryan Luden
So you got six baby steps. Do you have to hate the Cubs if you're a Sox fan?
- [18:40]
Brian
I mean, some would say yes, absolutely. I mean, I'm a South. I'm from the south side, so, like, I had no choice. I'm a White Sox fan. But the Cubs fans don't hate the White Sox as much as the White Sox fans hate the Cubs. It's jealousy. It's like, you know, they got a great stadium they make. You know, they keep winning. It's.
- [18:57]
Ryan Luden
I mean, all I think about with the White Sox is it brings me back to the nostalgia of Frank Thomas, when his cards were the hottest thing on leaf. Frank Thomas when I was a kid was like the hottest card, you know, right after. I think it was right after Griffey Jr. You know, like, Frank. Yeah, it's like Frank Thomas hot. You know, dude reminds me like, Aaron Judge now. Big dude, looks like kind of almost like you swear he belong on a football field or a baseball field, and he was so hot. And that leaf card as a Kid, I was hoping, I don't know how many packs of leaf never opened a damn one to F him in it though. That's what I think. The White Sox. That's what I think of the Big hurt.
- [19:37]
Brian
He's actually got an interesting air card. So his tops has a no name. I think it's his picture from Auburn University. And it's a no name and it's, it's a very valuable card. Obviously really rare, but yeah, the big hurts amazing. In person, he's even like. You're like, wow, that, that dude's a beast. And imagine if he took steroids.
- [20:00]
Ryan Luden
Exactly. You know, I did live in New York. I've got my Yankees hat on. I want to put an asterisk. I'm a Southern guy. I grew up a Braves fan and still am, but moved to, you know, lived in Manhattan for six years and you know, adopted the, the Yankees because I'm not that guy. That's like the Cowboys, Yankees and whatever else guy. You know, I lived there, I lived in Manhattan, went to the games, embraced them. And yeah, it's not a hard living because they win a lot. But they lost last night though. Damn, they blow. Their bullpen sucks.
- [20:34]
Brian
Yeah, that was. I mean, it's a crazy. I mean, you got the division rivals in the AL playing each other with clean Detroit.
- [20:43]
Ryan Luden
It's weird a little bit. I mean, it's like, it's cool. But God, the energy, like, it feels like a World Series almost because it's just so energized. It's just like I'm like, whoa. I, I kind of need like, like ease my way into the playoffs. And it's like, I know the energy last night was crazy, but they blew it.
- [21:00]
Brian
You gotta get your playoff mojo out, dude.
- [21:03]
Ryan Luden
I know. So, yes, but it's 01. We'll see where it goes. They're gonna have to get more out of the bullpen and, you know, you don't have to worry about the White Sox.
- [21:14]
Brian
No, there's no pressure. I mean, this, this I don't. There's no energy here that I have to worry about.
- [21:20]
Andy Cranac
And manage.
- [21:22]
Ryan Luden
Collectibles show is where you'll find all of the channels and learn more about what we're doing. And ultimately, hey, we want to hear from you. You do case hits at collectibles show. I want you to send in your favorite pulls of the week. And here's the difference. This isn't about just value. Hey, we want to see some ten thousand dollar hits. Had a couple of those myself a few Months back. But it's not just about the value. It's about what you're collecting, what means something to you. Share a story, share a video of you holding up the card that you hit last week. That was your favorite player and you nailed it. So Case hitsollectables show, send in those videos. I want to know the stories. We're going to bring them to life here on the show. We're going to do a segment each week once we get rolling and get some videos in where we share that on the show with us. We want to feature you on collectibles show. We had a lot of big releases, though, this week. You know, being in the card game with the boys in the opening side and selling. We've got gone through our fair share of Bowman Chrome, which came out. And then, you know, I gotta go there. This isn't all collectibles, Brian. And I know how much this gets play in the Ludx app. But Pokemon Mega Evolution came out. I got all a variation of each of the packs here that's been hot. I mean, it's just funny when you see, like, at least around here, you go to a Walmart, good luck finding any product, any retail product of Pokemon or something. But it's like, you know, grown men fighting one another.
- [22:47]
Brian
Yeah, yeah. Now, that said is. It's crazy because we'll be like, Pokemon will sit here like this, and then the release comes out, and you just see it pop by 20% scans.
- [22:58]
Ryan Luden
All y' all have seen it pop the last few days or weekend or whatever.
- [23:02]
Brian
Yeah, in a month, this the month when there's a release, we'll get about. We'll scan about 3,000. 3 million Pokemon. And that's a release month. Without that Release, it's about 2.2 million. So a month. So it's definitely a big, big bump.
- [23:19]
Ryan Luden
Does Ludex like you're scanning? Do you have to train it on every new set that comes out? Or is it like y' all have AI or something? Like, is it everything new if it comes out, you got to retrain it?
- [23:31]
Brian
No, I mean, we have some proprietary models that kind of take a lot of left out.
- [23:36]
Andy Cranac
All right.
- [23:36]
Brian
It would just be too hard to keep up with them. But that was probably the. That's a big. It was a big piece of technology that we had to build to get relevant cards in. So.
- [23:48]
Ryan Luden
And that. And that's the thing. I'll say this. So plug for our team here. But I'm just saying Pokemon, like, all the scanning card apps struggle with certain things and none of them are perfect. But Ludx is the best. But Pokemon, they are absolutely undoubtedly the world champion. I get like 9.5 out of 10 with Pokemon with you guys. I love it.
- [24:13]
Brian
Thank you.
- [24:15]
Ryan Luden
I don't know what it is, but y'. All, y' all got the Pokemon down.
- [24:18]
Brian
There's not as many parallels. I mean, honestly, that's the big thing. The parallels in baseball, if you could figure out baseball parallels. You got everything else, honestly.
- [24:27]
Ryan Luden
Yeah. What's hot this. I mean, you know, you got the playoffs, you got these releases going on. What's poppin on the charts?
- [24:33]
Brian
Well, I think just on some interesting data that we like to bring every week to you guys, the number one in the last five days is Chapman. Chapman scans are up almost 100% from week to week. And then you have a cub, Nico Horner. And these are all we. We take the rookie cards and you know, in PSA 10, Nico Horner is up 86%.
- [25:00]
Ryan Luden
Damn.
- [25:01]
Brian
And then I mean, like an Otani's. Like, Otani's already high, so he's not going to. Like he's only up for 4%. But yeah, I mean, those are the. Those are the big ones. And Jose Ramirez is up 41%, which is kind of weird, but maybe someone just really has a liking to Jose Ramirez. But those are the three big ones for sure.
- [25:21]
Ryan Luden
You got like somebody that's got like 40,000 of them and he's. He won't. He keeps re scanning them or something like, because he's like, it's got to be worth more than that. Denial scans. Like I. And I've done that myself. Like I've rescanned a few cards online. I was like, I want that. Maybe the valuation will go higher if I scan it more.
- [25:41]
Brian
That's funny. Yeah. I mean there's. I'll get you next week. I'm going to get you like the guys who had the most of certain player. Like, maybe we'll do Otani and see like of the Lunox members, who's in the top five for how many they have.
- [25:57]
Ryan Luden
Talking about Brady's. The Brady lover that's got like 39,000 different cards or something like that. Yeah.
- [26:03]
Brian
And he's got. His collection's worth almost like a million bucks.
- [26:07]
Ryan Luden
I was about to say he's got to be. If he's got that many variations.
- [26:10]
Brian
He walked up to meet the national and he's got. I mean, he looks like he jumped off a bus. Like, I mean. And all of a sudden he's like, hey, I'm so and so. I got 39, 000 Tom Brady cards and here's my collection.
- [26:23]
Andy Cranac
I'm like, holy crap.
- [26:24]
Ryan Luden
That's what's so funny about the hobby. You know, guy will have a million dollar case in his hands and, you know, shower maybe not case. Autograph, PSA 10. Yeah, absolutely.
- [26:38]
Brian
Got it. Yeah, you got it.
- [26:39]
Ryan Luden
Priorities in order. You know, we all do. We're all junkies in some way or shape or form. Just some, some live it out and smell it out more than others.
- [26:48]
Brian
Yeah, I mean, collecting is Americana. Like, honestly, like being. Getting in this industry, people collect something like it's just part of our culture. And it could be like fricking stickers or like, I don't know, the stamps or whatever it is, but everyone has something they like.
- [27:04]
Ryan Luden
Yeah. And I mean, I. The boys and I rip a lot of packs and I'm up late at night working and I'll be working on something and you know, we sell a lot of cards and move a lot of stuff. The Rad Collective look us up on ebay and. Or ludx. Soon the. It's obviously working and I'll have like random packs that didn't sell or like a box it's like, torn. I can't sell it now to start as like my little like 15 minute, like personal break from like working on a deck or a report or something. I'm sitting there just ripping packs of like some random, you know, I call it, hey, call it spillage. You know, it's kind of like breakage in the bar, you know, like, oh, I'm not gonna be able to sell that box to dent it up. Give me that thing as you drop.
- [27:51]
Brian
It on the floor.
- [27:52]
Ryan Luden
Yeah, exactly. I kicked it a couple times before I did it, but, you know, it was an accident.
- [27:58]
Brian
That's what's happened, man. You know, I was thinking about something to engage the audience with as we talk about scans. So talking to my talented team over here, we came up with an idea that I think could be pretty cool. So what I want to do is I want to bracket out the playoffs and then starting next series, we'll see which team has more scans and they move on in the Ludox bracket. So it necessarily won't be winners or losers. It might predict the winners or losers. We'll find out. But at the end, it'll be really interesting to see what, what, what teams end up with it.
- [28:39]
Ryan Luden
World Series of scans. Yeah, series of scans.
- [28:43]
Brian
We'll be at the SBS next Year.
- [28:45]
Ryan Luden
So, yes, I love it. No, it's interactive. I love it. And to see the biggest. The funnest part is the. All right, is it. Is it correlate to the winners? You know, here are your heavy scanners. Predictive of actual on field. I don't know that. Be hard to. I don't know the predict. I could go either way on the prediction.
- [29:05]
Brian
And also I think there's going to be interesting data because, like, if you have. If you have Aaron Judge cards, you've probably scanned a lot of your Yankees in. But if you have a team that's up and come, like, the brewers, and you're like, holy crap, I got a lot of Brewer stuff here. I'm gonna start scanning those in. So you're going to see, like, things that. Anomalies that I don't think are going to make a lot of sense to people. Obviously there's a population density in New York or the Dodgers, but week to week, I don't know if that's going to show, but we'll. We'll find out.
- [29:32]
Ryan Luden
Yeah, it will be. What's happening in Texas? Talk to me about any updates with the trading card store there or anything you can talk about.
- [29:41]
Brian
Yeah. So I'm going to head down there in a couple weeks and we're going to start this, the. The series of filming it and get you guys in to see what it's all about. And it'll be a weekly. Definitely a weekly update. Right now it's just kind of vacant and they're cleaning it and ripping stuff apart. So we start with a 5,000 square foot, like, open cube.
- [30:07]
Ryan Luden
That's what it is. It's a blank slate. Yeah. But the renderings I've seen look amazing. I know that's going to be fun, bringing, you know, your baby to life.
- [30:18]
Brian
I got it. I got a proposal for you.
- [30:22]
Ryan Luden
All right, let's.
- [30:24]
Brian
I want to do a giveaway. Our first giveaway.
- [30:26]
Ryan Luden
Yes.
- [30:27]
Brian
We talked about it last. Last week about giving some Ludox swag away. So what I did is I called my. My friend Clint Anderson at Zion Cases. He's a Illinois guy.
- [30:40]
Ryan Luden
I like where this is headed.
- [30:41]
Brian
And I said, can you make a Ludox branded Z case? And he's like, sure. And he sent a bunch up and I said, I'm going to give it away to members of the. Whoever watched the podcast. So then I'm thinking, what's a cool thing to do for the giveaway? And if we're going to use the LX ecosystem, what I think I want to do is every card that's scanned from today to the final game of the World Series. How many baseball cards were scanned into Ludx during that time? And whoever is the closest wins. The Ludo Zion case.
- [31:22]
Ryan Luden
Look at that beauty.
- [31:23]
Brian
Shiny, beautiful.
- [31:25]
Ryan Luden
Look how nice that is.
- [31:27]
Brian
Love Zion.
- [31:29]
Ryan Luden
The best cases. And that Ludox logo is slick. We already know that. What I think is you better start counting. Whoever's listening, we need. You need to start counting because you want that case. And I'm trying to even do the math in my head. You guys get so many freaking scans. Like, I mean, that's a month and a half, isn't it? I mean, it's two months. How long is the playoffs? They go all the way through October, November.
- [31:53]
Brian
Like I would say, they're probably. Yeah, six, seven weeks. And at that point, I mean, there's some cues in here on these. Like, I've given numbers out, you know.
- [32:03]
Ryan Luden
Start adding it up, get close. So it's a lot. The closest to the total scans that have him from now in baseball only or in or just the baseball only scans. We're gonna get these notes down and we'll have it in the notes of the show episode. We'll have it on the screen as well. Ludex Zion case. Are you kidding me? Yeah.
- [32:31]
Brian
I kind of want this one, though.
- [32:32]
Ryan Luden
I know it's hard to give away.
- [32:34]
Brian
It's hard to give away that you want.
- [32:36]
Ryan Luden
We'll have all details of that in the show notes each week as we lead up to that. We'll bring it up during this segment. And of course, you gotta be counting it and be ready. And then we'll do, I guess, some form of a submission of everyone's guesses once the playoffs end. And we'll. Good luck to you. It's a big number.
- [33:02]
Brian
That's a big number. Think bigger than you're thinking. Yes, a lot of Ludox employees are exempt.
- [33:11]
Ryan Luden
Yeah, no LUDX employees. Give us some feedback. What do you want to see? What do you want to learn? We're going to make it fun around here, letting our hair down. And look, this is all about collecting and what we collect. I mean, you hear Brian's got 5 million sitting in a. You know, some of these stole out of some old man's house that he's now someone off.
- [33:31]
Brian
You know what happened, though? This is. I know we're running out of time, but I want to tell one story about it because. So these cards were sitting in this guy's basement for 30 years, right? It's January in Chicago. We're moving these things out. I get them to the storage unit, and one unit is all basketball, one's all football, and the other one's like, non sports, like Marvel, you know, hockey and baseball. Two days later, my guys are there and they're like, brian, you got to see this. This is not good. He goes, there's been a. A leak. The sprinklers froze. I get there and I walk in and I'm like, holy crap. I'm like, I pick up a. A binder I don't have. Like I said, I don't know what's in here. I pick up a binder. 61 tops set. The whole set just leaking with water. And I'm like, man, I guess. I guess that wasn't meant to ever come out of that basement. But I lost. Probably. I would say I lost 25% of my baseball and, you know, hockey. But hockey, you know, it's not like an Opici Gretzky's, But I lost 25% of baseball. And I stopped looking through it because I'm like, it is what it is. Like, you know, let's just get it cleaned up. But that was. That was not a fun, fun day.
- [34:46]
Ryan Luden
No. I hope you got insurance.
- [34:49]
Brian
Yeah, we're so we had 10,000. We maxed it out at $10,000. We. We had 10,000. We had 20,000 top loaders.
- [35:00]
Ryan Luden
Yeah, but I mean, yeah, I want to see that policy get ridden.
- [35:06]
Brian
You know, they're like, take us to court. And I'm like, well, for 10 grand, no one's going to take you to court. And that's kind of how they do it. So. Self insured.
- [35:16]
Ryan Luden
Self insured for sure is. Yeah. God, it hurts my feelings thinking on that wet.
- [35:22]
Andy Cranac
Oh, geez.
- [35:24]
Ryan Luden
Any other news of the week, Brian, before we get out of here?
- [35:26]
Brian
No, man, I think I have some homework. I'm going to get you guys a peek at the. At the storage unit. I'm going to get you guys, we're going to get that bracket going, and I think, yeah, I think we're ready to rock and roll.
- [35:41]
Ryan Luden
Yeah. Start counting. Start counting all those scans. Just take it. Hey, pay attention. Go back. Listen to last week. We talked a lot of numbers, and every week we'll be bringing up so you can start to formulate your best guesses at the end of the day of the World Series. Brian, brother, always fun. Can't wait till next week.
- [36:01]
Brian
Yeah, man, appreciate it. This is great. And we got some good things coming up. So let's rock and roll.
- [36:06]
Ryan Luden
Hey, guys, Collectibles Show. That's where you find Brian and I. All the recaps, all the info. And of course, go to that app store. Look for Lud X. You'll thank me later. We appreciate you, Brian. Ryan, here on tcc. Ccc. We got to get an acronym. TCC Sounds cool. Tcc. You know me. Done with tcc. Yeah, you know me. We. We'll see y' all next week.
- [36:32]
Ryan Alford
Thanks for tuning in to the show. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform, and don't miss the full video version on YouTube. You can find us at www.collectibles show or follow Ryan on Instagram at ryanolford. Now get out there and collect.