A Creep Down Memory Lane

[00:00:00] This episode of Goosebumps Crew is sponsored by Trophy Smack.

[00:00:02] Celebrate your wins and losses in style with your own customizable trophies, belts, and rings.

[00:00:08] Link in the description, but more on that later.

[00:00:30] Goosebumps Crew

[00:01:00] Greetings Goosebumps fans, young and old, being in small.

[00:01:06] Welcome back to the Goosebumps Crew Podcast.

[00:01:08] As always, I'm your host, Isaiah Vargas Alsonas, The Goosebumps Channel on YouTube, Twitter,

[00:01:12] and Instagram, and I'm joined by the rest of my Goosebumps Crew, Goosebumps Austin fan

[00:01:16] Bjorn Panwick, and Shaoan Nixshaw.

[00:01:18] Unfortunately, Michael Elquids, the ultimate Goosebumps man was unable to join us today,

[00:01:22] but that's okay because whether or not we're still going to talk about Goosebumps,

[00:01:26] of course.

[00:01:27] Now, today's episode is going to be a kind of special one because you know we here on

[00:01:32] the podcast, we talk about Goosebumps all the time, whether it comes to the books, the

[00:01:36] show, the movies, whoever.

[00:01:38] And we talked to people today, we're going to actually go back a little bit.

[00:01:42] We're going to talk about ourselves.

[00:01:44] Haha!

[00:01:45] It's the most selfless thing you can do is talk about yourself.

[00:01:49] And specifically, we're going to talk about our first Goosebumps experiences.

[00:01:54] We're going to talk about how we discovered Goosebumps, what our first books were, how

[00:01:59] we discovered the TV show, and how we got into collecting Goosebumps.

[00:02:04] So we're going to kind of just take a stroll down memory lane and talk about those things.

[00:02:09] But before we do, of course, if you guys are not subscribed to the Goosebumps Crew

[00:02:14] podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, then what the heck are you doing?

[00:02:19] Seriously, what are you doing?

[00:02:21] Because if you are a Goosebumps fan, you are going to want to tune into this podcast because

[00:02:25] in my opinion this is the ultimate celebration of Goosebumps that we do here.

[00:02:30] Because not only do we talk about Goosebumps books, the show, the movies and all that stuff,

[00:02:34] but we also have some incredible guests on the podcast.

[00:02:39] Most recently, we've had Avery Jones who was the puppeteer Slapy in the Goosebumps

[00:02:44] movies.

[00:02:45] We have Eugene Lepinski who played Mr. Mortman in the Goosebumps episode, The

[00:02:48] Girl Cried Monster.

[00:02:49] We've had tons of other wonderful guests including Tim Jacobus, Kairi Garrickson, the guys over

[00:02:54] at Trick or Treat Studios, Alan Doucette and Matthew Wilde.

[00:02:57] So we've had tons of people.

[00:02:59] And this is episode number 20.

[00:03:01] So that means there's 19 other episodes that you guys could watch right after this one.

[00:03:06] So make sure you guys follow the Goosebumps Crew podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and

[00:03:10] Apple Podcasts.

[00:03:11] All right, so we're going to talk about, as we said, our first Goosebumps experiences.

[00:03:17] And I think the best place to start out is by talking about how we, the three of us discovered

[00:03:22] Goosebumps, how we first came across it.

[00:03:26] And since you are undeniably the biggest Goosebumps collector in the room right now,

[00:03:30] Bjorn, why don't we start with you?

[00:03:32] Well, Goosebumps, first experience.

[00:03:38] Should I get ready for story time?

[00:03:41] Yeah.

[00:03:42] Light the fire.

[00:03:43] Are you afraid of the dark?

[00:03:45] Um, wow.

[00:03:49] It's funny because like you run it through your head so many times, like my first experience,

[00:03:54] Goosebumps, what it means to me, da-da-da-da.

[00:03:56] It's like, God damn, there is so much to say.

[00:03:58] Like I could have a two hour video just in itself doing this.

[00:04:02] Um, well, when I was a kid, uh, so we're going back to 1999.

[00:04:07] So I was only four.

[00:04:09] And it's funny because I always thought I was five when I started into Goosebumps,

[00:04:14] but no, because I found a photograph of me and my mom, and she's reading Goosebumps to

[00:04:22] me.

[00:04:23] And I checked the back of the photo and it stamped 1999, back when you used to actually

[00:04:26] get a photo that you would pick up.

[00:04:30] And yeah, it was crazy because like I thought, wait, if it's 1999, I was born in 1995.

[00:04:35] I'm literally four here.

[00:04:37] Like this is crazy.

[00:04:38] And it was when we went over to New Zealand actually.

[00:04:41] I know I'm from Australia, but I discovered Goosebumps in New Zealand.

[00:04:44] And um, yeah, we went there for Christmas and she's reading it to me and I'm thinking,

[00:04:49] okay, so I remember when I first discovered it, it was in my cousin's bedroom who was

[00:04:55] an 89 baby.

[00:04:56] So he was well and truly a Goosebumps kid.

[00:04:58] Like he was seven, eight, nine, 10 when it was, you know, big.

[00:05:02] So he actually was like part of the fan club.

[00:05:05] You know, he had all the books, merchandise.

[00:05:07] He actually had a full set of those mini figures, the scare pack ones that we're always

[00:05:10] trying to find.

[00:05:12] He had like all that really cool stuff that you just can't find now.

[00:05:16] But I remember, yeah, we went over to their place and I remember like, you know, I

[00:05:20] wanted to hang out with him.

[00:05:21] He's the older, cool cousin.

[00:05:22] And I specifically remember in playing a Simpsons game on the computer.

[00:05:28] Couldn't tell you what Simpsons game it was, but it was 1999.

[00:05:31] So I'm assuming, yeah, it's a pretty old one.

[00:05:35] And it looked, it looked like I think, I think from memory, it was like

[00:05:40] a, I remember the cover was all yellow.

[00:05:43] But then I think of just the Simpsons game cover itself.

[00:05:46] But yeah, this was and it was like a big PC box game.

[00:05:49] You know, like they used to come in the big cardboard boxes.

[00:05:51] Yeah.

[00:05:51] And I remember that being right next to his computer and he's playing the game.

[00:05:55] And I remember thinking like, oh, wow, like the Simpsons, but you know,

[00:05:58] my parents never let me watch the Simpsons when I was like four.

[00:06:01] But I was watching it going, oh my God.

[00:06:03] And I remember him even saying to me, oh, you're not supposed to be

[00:06:05] watching this member.

[00:06:07] And I'm like, yeah, what am I going to do?

[00:06:08] What am I supposed to do if I can't watch you play?

[00:06:10] And he's just like, go read a book.

[00:06:11] There's a bunch of books over there.

[00:06:12] And I'm like, okay.

[00:06:13] Go check out my Newtie Max.

[00:06:16] Just don't look under the pillow, please.

[00:06:19] But yeah, no, I remember like him saying that and I kind of just looked

[00:06:22] over and I was like, but I just tried to imagine my four year old boy.

[00:06:26] He's like, I want to watch you play.

[00:06:29] But yeah, no, I went over and he had just, yes, stack of books there.

[00:06:32] And I remember looking at them going like, well, you know, what are these?

[00:06:36] You know, right on top was Knights of the Living Demi.

[00:06:42] So my love for Slappy was literally born in 1999.

[00:06:47] Day one, like my immediate introduction was this cover right here.

[00:06:53] Very nice.

[00:06:54] Kim Jacobus, love your word.

[00:06:55] Good book to be introduced to.

[00:06:58] Oh, yes.

[00:06:59] I look straight at this, but my cousin, I wish he was here

[00:07:03] because he would be perfect to be like sitting next to me

[00:07:05] to tell this part of the story, because he said, I remember looking over

[00:07:09] and you were just staring at that thing for like the longest time.

[00:07:14] You weren't you weren't flicking through it.

[00:07:16] You were just staring at that.

[00:07:18] And he said, I was playing the game.

[00:07:20] And I remember like doing a big section of the game.

[00:07:23] And I remember turning back and you were still staring at it.

[00:07:25] And he said, this must have been at least half an hour, 40 minutes.

[00:07:28] And you would that's a long time to just be looking at the same thing.

[00:07:32] And he said, yeah, you were just standing there like a weirdo.

[00:07:35] Staring at this book come not reading it or anything.

[00:07:38] And I remember saying, are you going to read it or can you even read it?

[00:07:42] Like you're only four.

[00:07:43] And at this time, no, I probably wouldn't have been able to read it.

[00:07:45] But I was just mesmerized by that.

[00:07:48] And then I eventually started flicking through it, flicking through them.

[00:07:51] And I remember seeing like the ghost next to me had a whole set.

[00:07:53] So I would have seen pretty much every book at this point.

[00:07:56] I was introduced to Goosebumps by seeing almost pretty much every cover

[00:07:59] from the original 62 along with some serious 2000s

[00:08:01] because he had every book that was out at the time.

[00:08:04] So that was my introduction to Goosebumps, hanging out with my cousin.

[00:08:09] So my family are always like any time we go and see them,

[00:08:14] they're always like, it's your fault.

[00:08:16] You started this.

[00:08:17] You're the evil one.

[00:08:18] You did this. It's your fault.

[00:08:20] And he's just like, well, you know, it's crazy.

[00:08:22] Actually, I'll quickly grab one item because it's just behind me.

[00:08:26] I mean, that's just that's just really funny to how funny is that?

[00:08:31] You just by telling your cousin, like go read a book and then that starts

[00:08:35] like a 25 year love for Goosebumps.

[00:08:42] And he gave me this card game.

[00:08:45] The thing it wasn't a Newtie magazine then

[00:08:47] that started on you on a different path.

[00:08:50] There's his name.

[00:08:51] It's probably like back to front, but it's Nicholas Ankovich.

[00:08:54] So there you go, Nick, I'm just giving you a shout out.

[00:08:57] But this was his card game that he gave me.

[00:09:00] Yeah, man.

[00:09:03] But yeah, it's crazy.

[00:09:04] Like so this was one of his pieces of Goosebumps.

[00:09:08] Just to give you a little insight there.

[00:09:10] But yeah, that was that was my introduction to the series.

[00:09:13] And then obviously my love for sloppy was immediate.

[00:09:16] It was like we fell in love right from the get go, you know,

[00:09:21] love at first sight, literally.

[00:09:23] So, yeah, I can't explain it enough.

[00:09:25] That's probably, you know, well, I'll talk about it a bit later.

[00:09:29] But that's just my first story about it.

[00:09:31] But there's something that I'll show you later, why I was probably so obsessed

[00:09:34] with it and why I was like dying to try and find this specific item.

[00:09:38] But we'll see if that for after you guys tell your first stories.

[00:09:42] Yeah. My story is.

[00:09:47] I remember it so vividly.

[00:09:49] So growing up, I was it was funny because in kindergarten,

[00:09:54] I was like in terms of reading, I was actually ahead of the other kids.

[00:10:01] I was reading at like a first grade level in kindergarten,

[00:10:04] which my teachers were like, oh, he's doing so well.

[00:10:07] But then I think after kindergarten, I started kind of falling out with reading.

[00:10:11] I think by that time I was getting into my

[00:10:13] I was getting more into like video games because around that time

[00:10:17] I got my first Nintendo DS and I think I also had a Game Boy Advance

[00:10:21] at the time, so I was kind of just into my video games and watching TV

[00:10:26] in VHS tapes because I actually surprisingly had a VCR

[00:10:30] when I was growing up in the early 2000s.

[00:10:34] So that was kind of like what overtook things for a while.

[00:10:37] And but when I got to second grade

[00:10:41] and it was just out of the blue because by this point, you know,

[00:10:45] kids are starting to read chapter books or they're starting to like

[00:10:48] really push that like advanced reading

[00:10:52] and I just wasn't really there yet.

[00:10:54] And then one day I think I finished a test before everyone else did.

[00:10:59] So I brought my test up to my teacher and my teacher was like, OK,

[00:11:03] go read like go like to the reading corner and pick out a book and read.

[00:11:08] I was like, all right.

[00:11:09] And usually I would just kind of be like,

[00:11:12] yeah, just pick one and sit in the corner and just kind of be like,

[00:11:17] you know, whatever until one day I went over

[00:11:22] and I saw one of the shelves in the front

[00:11:29] had these three books in particular, Beasts from the East, Bad Hair Day.

[00:11:35] And strangely enough, deep in the jungle of doom, give yourself goosebumps.

[00:11:40] These three were sitting there

[00:11:42] and I think it was actually Bad Hair Day that was in front.

[00:11:45] So that cover just like hooked me.

[00:11:47] I was like, what the hell is this?

[00:11:50] Like, what's with this rabbit? What's his deal?

[00:11:53] And then, yeah, I flipped through and I was like,

[00:11:55] well, this one has like a neat pattern on the cover

[00:11:58] and it's got like this sea monster.

[00:12:00] And I was like, I got to like look at these.

[00:12:03] So I actually I took all three of them

[00:12:05] and I think I picked Bad Hair Day and I just started like reading it.

[00:12:08] And I was just reading and reading and reading.

[00:12:11] I was mesmerized by this thing.

[00:12:13] And I think I actually got like almost a halfway through

[00:12:18] before like the bell rang and then I had to stop.

[00:12:22] But I was just like, that was incredible.

[00:12:24] Like, I got to like I got to like find more of these.

[00:12:29] So after that, I was I would kind of go back to those specific ones

[00:12:35] and I would just kind of skim through them.

[00:12:36] But then we took a trip to the library about a few days later,

[00:12:41] because I think we went every week.

[00:12:42] They would just take us to the school library.

[00:12:45] And I was like, I got to see if they have some of these books.

[00:12:48] And sure enough, they had a bunch of like these,

[00:12:51] you know, the hardcover library ones that schools would have.

[00:12:54] They were like not the original books.

[00:12:57] They were kind of like specific hardcover printings for schools.

[00:13:02] But I'll talk more about that when we talk about the first books

[00:13:05] and we read because that kind of transitions into that.

[00:13:08] What about you, Nick?

[00:13:11] Oh, man, that's been so long ago.

[00:13:14] I'm not like a young kid.

[00:13:15] I don't I don't know if I can remember that far back.

[00:13:19] It's it's it's, you know,

[00:13:23] see, I was born in 85.

[00:13:24] So like I grew up the 90s, as we all know.

[00:13:28] My first experience with Goosebumps

[00:13:31] actually came at this elastic book fair.

[00:13:34] But I didn't really notice any books

[00:13:37] if they were there.

[00:13:37] I don't even remember seeing them.

[00:13:38] The only first thing I actually remember seeing

[00:13:41] was the Haunted Mask sitting on the shelf.

[00:13:44] And it was just the art that caught my eye

[00:13:47] because I love to draw most like most kids.

[00:13:49] I love to draw, love to do monsters and things like that.

[00:13:52] I was a big still a big Halloween person.

[00:13:54] Actually, that's my life, you know what I mean?

[00:13:56] So even back then it was so it very

[00:14:00] like like sank its teeth in and kind of pulled me in.

[00:14:05] That was like the first book I bought actually still have it.

[00:14:08] It is not in the greatest condition

[00:14:09] because as a kid you don't care anything.

[00:14:13] But I did write inside on the front cover,

[00:14:16] obviously my name back when we had a right cursive

[00:14:18] because, you know, that was the thing back then.

[00:14:20] They don't do that anymore.

[00:14:22] So I write cursive now.

[00:14:23] It's Egyptian to some people.

[00:14:26] But also had the I was in fourth grade at the time.

[00:14:31] If that wasn't written in there,

[00:14:32] I would not even remember what grade I was in,

[00:14:35] what year it was or anything like that.

[00:14:37] But it was very impactful

[00:14:41] because then I read it, loved it,

[00:14:43] started getting me into some other ones.

[00:14:44] So the first experience was at Scholastic Book Fair.

[00:14:49] It did what it was supposed to do.

[00:14:51] Yeah, I mean, absolutely.

[00:14:53] I mean, I remember, you know, going to the Scholastic Book Fair.

[00:14:57] I actually more remember not the book fair, but I remember like

[00:15:04] I don't know if you guys were like

[00:15:06] if this was just a my generation thing,

[00:15:08] but like the package you would get in school

[00:15:11] that would have like books that you can order.

[00:15:14] So you would fill out the form.

[00:15:16] OK, so yeah, you'd fill out the order form of the books you want.

[00:15:20] And then you give it to your parents and your parents like,

[00:15:23] you know, write a check.

[00:15:25] They send it or no, you they write a check.

[00:15:28] You bring it to school.

[00:15:29] You give it to your teacher.

[00:15:30] And then the teacher sends all the order forms

[00:15:33] and then Scholastic brings all the stuff to the school.

[00:15:37] And then it was like a big it was almost like Christmas

[00:15:40] because like you would one day all of a sudden

[00:15:43] you never know when they were going to come.

[00:15:46] But one day, like at the end of the day,

[00:15:48] the teacher would just say like, hey, we have the deliveries from the Scholastic

[00:15:52] like order.

[00:15:54] And so she is like, OK, like here's yours, like here's yours.

[00:15:59] And I remember, you know, well after the fact

[00:16:03] I would, you know, order goosebumps books through there.

[00:16:06] So I would get like the new book or like I would get like some

[00:16:11] not so new but like recent books.

[00:16:14] And it was all. Yeah, yeah.

[00:16:17] You know, I have a bone.

[00:16:18] I remember the Scholastic on that.

[00:16:19] I have a big bone to pick with them because I remember when we

[00:16:23] I think it was 2000 and.

[00:16:26] When the DVDs like first came out and I remember

[00:16:30] there was a deep trouble.

[00:16:31] You could actually order the DVD through the Scholastic catalog.

[00:16:35] And I remember being like, oh my God, I can order the movie and like watch it.

[00:16:39] Like my eight year old, nine year old, whatever brain.

[00:16:42] And I remember my mom being like, oh, yeah, OK, cool.

[00:16:45] Yeah, we'll order that.

[00:16:46] And so she ordered it for me.

[00:16:47] It arrives. We put it in the DVD player.

[00:16:50] Oh, it won't play. It's the wrong region.

[00:16:52] And I'm like, but it was in this Australian catalog

[00:16:55] to order it in the Australian school, which should work on the Australian.

[00:16:59] Player. No, it was literally the American freaking DVD.

[00:17:05] And I'm like, why would they even have that?

[00:17:08] Like for an Australian cattle?

[00:17:10] They messed up. They messed up.

[00:17:13] Oh yeah. But they you know, they've got to have a region.

[00:17:16] Like, I know you could get region free players.

[00:17:19] But I was like, still, like you wouldn't.

[00:17:22] Why would you put an American release of something in a catalog?

[00:17:25] Like in Australia?

[00:17:26] Like it would have made sense if it was only, you know, for you guys over there.

[00:17:30] But like goddamn, I was like, I cried.

[00:17:33] I remember saying you were crying because you couldn't watch it.

[00:17:36] Like we had to go out and buy a region free player so you could watch it.

[00:17:41] You wouldn't stop crying.

[00:17:42] And I'm like, yeah, I was a spoiled little shit.

[00:17:45] I was a kid, apparently.

[00:17:48] I mean, that's kind of weird that they yeah, that they would when you were a kid.

[00:17:52] I'm sorry, I look behind you.

[00:17:53] I think you're still a little spoiled there.

[00:17:56] Hey, my money now I got to use my money.

[00:17:59] I got to work for can I get a thought selling myself in the corner or something

[00:18:03] if I want to stop paying for more Goosebumps.

[00:18:05] Hey, Nick, we're going to have to start in a Goosebumps only fans.

[00:18:09] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[00:18:10] And only fans and stuff.

[00:18:12] We'll call it, you know, we'll call it Goosebumps fans.

[00:18:16] You know, you can show people items in your collection.

[00:18:21] Oh, yeah.

[00:18:24] I feel like very weird.

[00:18:26] Slapy.

[00:18:27] That's a very weird avenue to show off your collection.

[00:18:31] So it makes money.

[00:18:32] I guess.

[00:18:34] Just don't be asking me to be a part of that.

[00:18:39] I'll put the haunted mask on and I'll recreate the famous haunted

[00:18:43] mask kissing Slapy from the Goosebumps movies, like behind the scenes photo.

[00:18:47] I'll be like, hmm.

[00:18:50] Or just pull that Jay and Silent Bob

[00:18:53] trybacks moment, the Jay dance, the tuck and everything.

[00:18:57] Just wear a slapy mask or a haunted mask or something, you know.

[00:19:02] Oh, man.

[00:19:03] We took a doctor.

[00:19:05] It took a very weird turn.

[00:19:06] Let's move on.

[00:19:09] Turn.

[00:19:11] But I mean, I find it's a very life.

[00:19:14] I don't really find it surprising that, you know,

[00:19:16] Scholastic Book fairs and the catalogs and that sort of stuff.

[00:19:19] Most likely were a lot of people's first introductions because that was the time

[00:19:25] when you as a kid, you could get a peek at, you know, books that were coming out

[00:19:31] and because I mean, I don't know about everybody's parents,

[00:19:35] but I know my parents weren't taking me out to the bookstore like

[00:19:39] every single week when I was a kid.

[00:19:42] And but that was like the only way that you could like, wow,

[00:19:46] these books are coming out.

[00:19:48] These ones are like which ones can I get?

[00:19:52] And I mean, even if I remember correctly, there were like

[00:19:57] Scholastic Book fair exclusive like Goosebumps books, not like entirely new

[00:20:03] books, but like they would make specific versions

[00:20:08] of the original series that they would sell at the Book Fair.

[00:20:11] I think that's where like those really thin books come from.

[00:20:14] They wouldn't have like a ISBN tag.

[00:20:17] That sort of thing.

[00:20:19] But I mean, if you have one of those, I think even some of them even say

[00:20:23] like for Scholastic Book sale only like Book Fair sale only.

[00:20:29] Like that sort of thing.

[00:20:30] You have like the warehouse sales to like Scholastic

[00:20:33] would sometimes do a warehouse sale and like I went to one recently.

[00:20:38] They had Goosebumps, but they only had one book.

[00:20:41] And it was The Dummy Meets the Mummy.

[00:20:44] And there was about 200 copies of it just stacked

[00:20:48] of that one book.

[00:20:49] And I'm like, did they just get one?

[00:20:52] Did they just take one box off the shelf and unload that onto the shelf?

[00:20:55] And that's it.

[00:20:56] Like what the hell is this?

[00:20:58] I mean, I was like, what?

[00:20:59] I want to buy like 20 copies of this book.

[00:21:01] No. Well, you know what?

[00:21:03] It's like, isn't it just funny how we as Goosebumps collectors

[00:21:08] like it's all the same series.

[00:21:11] But like anything after like Horrorland and after is just kind of like

[00:21:16] if it's there, it's like, oh, cool.

[00:21:19] Anyway, but if it's like original series,

[00:21:23] even if it's like super beat up, we're just like, give, give, give want, want, want.

[00:21:29] Yeah. Because if I go to Half Price Books

[00:21:31] and I see, yeah, like Slappy World, I'm like, who cares?

[00:21:36] Like literally let them sit there.

[00:21:39] I don't know, maybe.

[00:21:40] A lot of it has to do with just timing because, I mean, obviously

[00:21:44] anything original, it's hard to beat original, whether it comes to movies,

[00:21:49] you know, book series or whatever.

[00:21:51] It's hard to beat originals.

[00:21:52] So when you look at it that way and the fact that it's been

[00:21:56] over 30 years for that original run of books compared to Slappy World

[00:22:00] or Horrorland, there were still more recent, maybe in another 20 plus years.

[00:22:06] They'll have that same feel and nostalgia to kids who grew up on those

[00:22:11] like we do with the originals.

[00:22:13] Yeah, maybe in the future.

[00:22:14] I think because I do the same thing.

[00:22:16] I see all that.

[00:22:17] And I'm like, why don't they have series 2000 or give yourselves

[00:22:21] or even original series, even though I have the original?

[00:22:24] Doesn't mean I'm not going to be like, oh, look,

[00:22:27] there's a really good copy of Werewolf Skin or Monster Blood 4 or something.

[00:22:31] I'm like, you wink.

[00:22:33] Although I've come across those in half price books because mine suck.

[00:22:37] But yeah, mine is when I look at you guys and your posts on Instagram

[00:22:41] and stuff, it's like, oh, I'm Isaiah.

[00:22:44] I got all these stupid Russian books.

[00:22:47] And then it's like, oh, Nick, what did you come across?

[00:22:50] I got a rock.

[00:22:53] You're a Charlie Brown moment.

[00:22:55] It's the Charlie Brown Halloween moment.

[00:22:56] I got a rock.

[00:22:58] You rock.

[00:22:59] Like literally get the country.

[00:23:00] You rock.

[00:23:01] Half price books has had nothing for months.

[00:23:05] And I don't know what it is about mine.

[00:23:08] Maybe it's just because I guess there's a lot of people

[00:23:12] have goosebumps in my state.

[00:23:15] I don't know.

[00:23:16] I can't explain.

[00:23:16] I don't want this crap.

[00:23:19] I'll certainly come back to that.

[00:23:21] Apparently, there's some goosebumps hunters in Indiana.

[00:23:23] I thought I was alone in Indiana as a goosebumps collector.

[00:23:27] Apparently not so much because the books are damn near impossible to find.

[00:23:31] Maybe maybe that's it.

[00:23:32] Maybe I'm the goosebumps Wisconsin fan or something like that.

[00:23:36] Honestly, I get most excited when I find a serious 2000

[00:23:40] or a black spine, choose your own adventure or TV or TV presents.

[00:23:46] That is like the like even when I find the original 62,

[00:23:50] like it's exciting.

[00:23:52] It's great.

[00:23:53] But when you find a serious 2000 book in the wild,

[00:23:56] it's like another level of great.

[00:23:59] Or you find if you find a black spine,

[00:24:02] like 39 of book 35 to 42, it's like,

[00:24:07] what the fucking like, you know what I mean?

[00:24:11] Like, holy slappy.

[00:24:12] What's going on here?

[00:24:13] Like who the hell donated these?

[00:24:16] Who just didn't want them straight up, you know, like,

[00:24:19] and then you find them like that last haul I found

[00:24:21] there was like elevated and nowhere and it came from the Internet.

[00:24:23] And I was like, what the hell?

[00:24:26] Like, why just these two random books amongst the small fry?

[00:24:30] You know, I don't know.

[00:24:31] I just I envy your your findings beyond seriously.

[00:24:37] This this guy will literally go one week

[00:24:40] and then he'll just come across some some sale or some store

[00:24:44] that just has happens to have a ton of super rare books.

[00:24:50] For like, a lot of noems, 50 cents.

[00:24:53] OK.

[00:24:56] I have now seven copies.

[00:24:59] Yeah, in view.

[00:25:01] So I'll just you know what?

[00:25:03] I'll just I'll just buy that.

[00:25:04] You know what?

[00:25:05] Like I'm starting to debate if that's just my side gig now

[00:25:07] and just buying and selling Goosebumps books.

[00:25:09] Like that is my side gig.

[00:25:11] You know what I mean?

[00:25:11] Like as I kept saying to myself, like, I need more money to buy Goosebumps.

[00:25:14] Well, what if I just buy Goosebumps to sell Goosebumps

[00:25:18] to buy more Goosebumps?

[00:25:19] You know, like just sell the doubles, sell, you know,

[00:25:22] all of the books and the merch, anything.

[00:25:24] And then I can use that money to buy new things I don't have.

[00:25:28] I mean, I've been doing that lately.

[00:25:29] Sounds like a lucrative business,

[00:25:31] especially for how much you have.

[00:25:33] So we should we should just open up the prices are going for

[00:25:36] right now, too, with Goosebumps stuff.

[00:25:37] It's like, man, I could remember like a couple of years ago.

[00:25:41] This was like half the price that people were paying for now.

[00:25:44] It's like, oh, more things.

[00:25:46] One more flight.

[00:25:47] So sorry, like I've never seen the two together.

[00:25:52] Oh my God.

[00:25:53] One more thing I want to bring up about first Goosebumps experiences

[00:25:57] and I'll get more into this when we talk about how we discovered the show.

[00:26:01] But there was actually one book I did see before

[00:26:06] the ones I mentioned that I saw in the school library.

[00:26:10] And it was actually Beware of the Purple Peanut Butter.

[00:26:13] I saw this in the library and then this was long before,

[00:26:17] maybe not that long.

[00:26:18] I'd say maybe like three years before I really got into Goosebumps.

[00:26:24] And scary stuff for me was scary.

[00:26:27] Like I didn't really like much scary stuff, except for maybe like

[00:26:30] I think Scooby-Doo is probably my limit on scary stuff.

[00:26:35] And I saw this one in particular at the library.

[00:26:37] And for whatever reason, it just creeped me out.

[00:26:40] Like, I don't know, something about being in a big sandwich.

[00:26:44] Looks like the Elvis sandwich, honestly, like

[00:26:49] we talked quite a bit about the Elvis sandwich before recording.

[00:26:52] So yeah, for those of you who don't get the joke.

[00:26:55] If to those of you who don't know the Elvis sandwich is like real quick,

[00:26:58] it's a you can YouTube how to make it.

[00:27:01] It's just like a massive sandwich.

[00:27:03] It's a heart attack on a bun.

[00:27:06] It's a heart attack on a bun.

[00:27:07] It's like half a jar of peanut butter, half a jar of like blueberry,

[00:27:10] a whole packet of bacon and like banana.

[00:27:13] Like it's honestly you can feel your

[00:27:18] eyes fogging while eating it.

[00:27:21] Yeah, like my arteries are like dead if I eat that.

[00:27:24] And I'm like, I feel like I want to do it one day just to see

[00:27:27] like what the king was eating literally.

[00:27:30] But at the same time, I'm like, I don't know.

[00:27:32] He'd be like, well, it's a good sandwich is a very good sandwich.

[00:27:35] Try I highly recommend for your arteries.

[00:27:39] You need to go to bathroom.

[00:27:44] I kind of I kind of feel like if you're still here,

[00:27:47] you know, the impersonation would be just a collar flip up.

[00:27:50] Get that extra chin down here.

[00:27:54] That just dead for one bite of that sandwich, just dead.

[00:27:59] Love you, Elvis. Love you, Elvis.

[00:28:00] But goddamn, I would not have eaten that sandwich.

[00:28:03] God, seriously, don't eat the Elvis sandwich.

[00:28:07] That's the moral of today's podcast.

[00:28:10] No, OK, it's your PSA for today's podcast.

[00:28:15] Yeah, podcast service announcement.

[00:28:18] That's exactly the next part to get into naturally

[00:28:24] was what was the first book that we fully read?

[00:28:27] And I guess I'll start on this one because even though I did,

[00:28:31] you know, technically read parts of like these three,

[00:28:36] I guess technically if you want to talk about the first like book

[00:28:39] I read to end it was this one.

[00:28:42] But I don't count this because you can reach the ending

[00:28:45] technically within like two or three pages.

[00:28:48] So I don't count that.

[00:28:50] But if you want to talk about the first book

[00:28:52] that I ever read fully from start to finish,

[00:28:55] it was actually not only Cuckoo Clock of Doom,

[00:28:58] but this particular library version of Cuckoo Clock of Doom.

[00:29:03] As you can see, I don't know if you can see with my awesome green light.

[00:29:07] But this version, as I said, was made for schools

[00:29:11] and it's not fancy at all.

[00:29:13] It's basically they just photocopied the cover onto a hardcover.

[00:29:18] Same thing with the back, except it's seriously cropped.

[00:29:23] And in the spine looks like that.

[00:29:26] It's literally just standard text.

[00:29:29] It could be right now.

[00:29:30] It could be a rare book. You never know.

[00:29:32] Someone might put it up and be like,

[00:29:34] could Cuckoo Clock hot cover on some Goosebumps collectors?

[00:29:37] Like, I'll give you two thousand dollars.

[00:29:39] Oh, definitely.

[00:29:39] I mean, these books are a shout out.

[00:29:41] Definitely hard to come because they were only made for schools.

[00:29:45] And most likely schools are when they're done with them

[00:29:48] are going to probably throw them out.

[00:29:50] Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[00:29:51] I was lucky enough.

[00:29:53] That's actually pretty cool.

[00:29:54] I was lucky enough to get myself one of these copies.

[00:29:56] And I'm so glad because it's super sentimental to me.

[00:29:59] But this version of Cuckoo Clock of Doom

[00:30:01] was the first Goosebumps book I ever read through from start to finish.

[00:30:05] And I just remember like really being interested in the plot

[00:30:10] because even though it didn't have any monsters,

[00:30:13] it was just like you're following this kid.

[00:30:15] He's got a super, super bratty sister.

[00:30:20] And I don't say you say it doesn't have a monster, but that sister.

[00:30:23] Yeah, she was a monster in the philosophical sense.

[00:30:29] Hara, bloody terror.

[00:30:31] And just as it's actually funny, too, because I think this was before.

[00:30:38] No, this was after I have a little sister who is

[00:30:44] you know, like everybody knows having a little sister

[00:30:48] is sometimes or a little sibling at all is sometimes just a pain in the ass.

[00:30:53] And I remember reading this book and seeing the little sister Tara

[00:30:58] in this book and being like, good thing.

[00:31:00] I don't got to go through that.

[00:31:02] And then never take two or three years.

[00:31:06] Do you think that's why they named her Tara because she is a terror?

[00:31:08] Right? I think that is definitely why they knew that.

[00:31:12] And like, that could be a happy accident,

[00:31:15] but that actually would be really cool if it was factual.

[00:31:20] If the day ever comes that we get RL Stein on here.

[00:31:24] That's a question.

[00:31:26] We will. That's a question right there.

[00:31:28] But I just remember like really being interested about the journey in this book

[00:31:31] and like how it kept going back in time until he was a baby.

[00:31:34] And then, like, you know, he's got to go back to the clock and turn the head around.

[00:31:39] But I don't know what it was about this one in particular.

[00:31:43] I think it was probably the cover art was probably the cover art.

[00:31:46] That bird just looked really, really evil.

[00:31:49] And I wanted to know what its deal was.

[00:31:51] So this was my first.

[00:31:54] Is your malfunction?

[00:31:56] I love to cook a clock of doom.

[00:31:57] Yeah, but mine's mine's boring because I've already said it.

[00:32:01] But the first book I read all the way through obviously was this night living dummy.

[00:32:06] And then I discovered, you know, years later when I started reading more

[00:32:10] that the sequel is actually a thousand times better.

[00:32:12] We all love night living dummy too.

[00:32:14] Just a little fun fact about this goosebumps crew.

[00:32:16] We all agreed the sequel is better.

[00:32:19] But I mean that cover up that Tim did is just so iconic, man.

[00:32:25] It's unlike every any time they do like a line of goosebumps clothing at any store.

[00:32:29] What do they always put on the like on the T-shirts?

[00:32:33] Always this this.

[00:32:35] I will say they come out with I think it was Target.

[00:32:40] Actually, I think you have it, Isaiah.

[00:32:42] It was a night living dummy too.

[00:32:44] The wall on there.

[00:32:44] Yep, I got one.

[00:32:45] Yeah.

[00:32:46] And I was like the first time I ever saw two put on something over one,

[00:32:51] which was really surprising.

[00:32:53] Yeah, two is better.

[00:32:55] I mean, I definitely think more apparel should have lesser used goosebumps art.

[00:33:00] I think there should be a shirt for goosebumps artwork.

[00:33:04] Yeah, well, that's what I mean.

[00:33:05] Even the book was trashed.

[00:33:06] The arts always great.

[00:33:07] And we've talked about that several times.

[00:33:09] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:33:10] Like the art for this is obviously more iconic.

[00:33:14] Even though I love the second book is I think that's I think it's more eerie.

[00:33:19] Well, like, well, I wouldn't say eerie.

[00:33:20] This one's probably actually wins on eeriness.

[00:33:22] But the second book, I think is just so much more going on with the colors.

[00:33:26] Like I love the pinks and the greens.

[00:33:28] And you know, I love it.

[00:33:29] And I love that you get to see Sloppy's full body, like lanky body.

[00:33:33] Looks real creepy.

[00:33:33] But yeah, no, I, you know, this was the first book I read all the way through.

[00:33:39] And I remember reading it for the first time being like,

[00:33:43] but I thought, wait, why is Sloppy not doing the evil things?

[00:33:46] Why is it this other dummy?

[00:33:49] I remember being like, well, this is this is weird.

[00:33:51] Like, you know, and like, but yeah, no.

[00:33:54] Yeah, my first Christmas book I read all the way through was my living dummy.

[00:33:58] The first one.

[00:33:59] But, you know, it's just crazy to me that like after all these years,

[00:34:03] you know, it's still the one I stare at, even though, like,

[00:34:07] the second one I prefer, I will still pull this one out and just stare at it.

[00:34:11] I don't know what it is.

[00:34:12] It's it's just, you know, it's the nostalgia.

[00:34:16] That's what it is.

[00:34:17] It's the nostalgia level.

[00:34:18] I'm going to call it a statue because I got one of the Haunted Mask from RJ Murtagh.

[00:34:22] Didn't you get one from him too?

[00:34:24] But there was not a living dummy too.

[00:34:26] I did. I got nine living dummy one entry.

[00:34:29] He did. He did both.

[00:34:30] I remember two, I think, but I didn't know you got one.

[00:34:34] Yeah, he did one for one as well.

[00:34:35] And he did the horror at Camp Jelly Jam for me, which is my basic book.

[00:34:43] Love that book. Love the cover.

[00:34:44] Love the inside. It's that's the package deal one for me.

[00:34:47] But but yeah, no.

[00:34:50] First Goosebumps book ever read all the way through was obviously had to be

[00:34:53] the one that I stared at for a very long time because I was like, well,

[00:34:56] I need to know what happens in this book.

[00:34:58] And when I was old enough to actually read it, that's when I and I would say

[00:35:01] I probably read it when I was about six.

[00:35:04] So probably like 2001, I would say was when I actually read the book.

[00:35:08] I was about to say that.

[00:35:08] But I remember my mom reading it to me.

[00:35:10] I was going to say, did you actually read it when you were four years old?

[00:35:13] I was like, that's my mom read it.

[00:35:16] She kind of read it.

[00:35:17] And I remember just laying there and listening, but I wasn't really listening,

[00:35:20] listening like I was kind of like just every time I'd hear like the dummy

[00:35:25] would do would punch Lindy.

[00:35:28] I'd be like, oh, like, you know what I mean?

[00:35:30] Like I wasn't really paying attention to it.

[00:35:33] But but the way the way I look at it is like Night Living Dummy 2

[00:35:37] is like the terminated to of the dummy franchise.

[00:35:40] It's the aliens of the dummy franchise for the story.

[00:35:44] But I think the first one definitely wins, I guess, for the cover.

[00:35:48] You can't really you can't really beat it.

[00:35:51] Like it's just it's just perfect.

[00:35:53] Like it is perfect.

[00:35:54] Everything about it.

[00:35:55] You can't change a single thing about it.

[00:35:57] Like it's definitely one of my favorites, like without a doubt.

[00:36:01] Yeah. And that's why I was so stoked when we did talk with Toss

[00:36:05] and they were like, oh, yeah, we're going to do an actual ventriloquist dummy

[00:36:08] based on the cover from Night Living Dummy 1.

[00:36:10] I was like, yeah, it's like, oh, my God.

[00:36:13] Finally, you know what they should do for the box?

[00:36:15] If it comes in a big box, they should just put the book cover on the box

[00:36:19] like on the actual thing.

[00:36:20] And when you open it, the dummy is just it's literally he's doing the face

[00:36:25] as you like open it.

[00:36:26] Well, I have it like the box.

[00:36:29] But yeah, I say we're like the suitcase thing that he comes in.

[00:36:33] You would have it like with him like peering through the window,

[00:36:37] but it looks like the book, but it's the actual dummy, you know?

[00:36:42] I will die when that was definitely see what they will.

[00:36:45] I should say we'll see what Sam comes up with.

[00:36:46] Sam's the guy who we had on the podcast who said he does all the box design.

[00:36:51] So we'll see.

[00:36:52] I'm excited to see what they do with it.

[00:36:53] I'm hoping they do something really cool with it like that,

[00:36:55] because I may not even take it out of the box at that point.

[00:36:58] Like how amazing just I want to display the box

[00:37:00] if it's going to look like that too.

[00:37:01] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:37:03] Well, you get like a big large cabinet and you put like slappy

[00:37:06] sitting in the sitting in the chair with the box behind it or something.

[00:37:10] Like, I don't know, but I would probably me as a collector,

[00:37:13] you know, I probably just buy two of them if I can afford to.

[00:37:17] Yeah, that's going to be my thing and see how much it costs first.

[00:37:20] That would be cool, though.

[00:37:21] It did show up in a like a suitcase, like just an old suitcase

[00:37:25] and you open it up and it has like the card in his pocket.

[00:37:28] That would be pretty neat.

[00:37:30] That's how you would sell it.

[00:37:32] Like people would buy it just so like when it arrives at the front door,

[00:37:35] they're like, like, you're like unlock the thing.

[00:37:38] And then on the inside,

[00:37:39] who is send you a doll?

[00:37:43] They go like, like, imagine if they made it look like the TV series,

[00:37:46] though, with like the red like Sappy's name.

[00:37:48] Yeah, like the with the weird little.

[00:37:51] Yeah, that's what I actually had a decal made.

[00:37:55] Same maker who made those decals

[00:37:56] I sent to you guys for our Goosebumps crew logo made

[00:37:59] that slappy one that's in the box.

[00:38:02] That's what's behind mine.

[00:38:04] Like it's a little blocked, but I mean, like

[00:38:06] it's behind my slappy that's in my case.

[00:38:09] I'll have to send you a picture later.

[00:38:11] Yeah, you'll have to send.

[00:38:14] Nick, what's the first book that you read?

[00:38:16] Do you remember?

[00:38:18] Oh, yeah, I mean, like I said, I mean, it's kind of like B.

[00:38:20] Ornio's found haunted mass, picked up, finished it in a day.

[00:38:26] We read it a thousand times or more since then,

[00:38:28] obviously, in the last 30 plus years.

[00:38:31] So I mean, it's a but I did go back and read once I read that

[00:38:36] when I was like, oh, this is really good.

[00:38:37] Let me go check this out.

[00:38:38] So, you know, of course, I read Welcome to Dead House

[00:38:41] and Stay Out of the Basement.

[00:38:43] I wasn't a big fan of Monster Blood.

[00:38:44] I don't think if I remember right, it was OK.

[00:38:48] And say she's and I wasn't bad.

[00:38:50] I actually enjoyed say she's and I, but I did notice

[00:38:53] like as it kind of went on, like there were obviously not

[00:38:55] every book was fantastic, but I always kept going back to

[00:38:58] haunted mass to kind of get my, you know,

[00:39:01] my reading just won't sound like that was garbage.

[00:39:04] I got to go back to read this one again.

[00:39:06] Yeah, you hit a baby.

[00:39:08] I basically peaked on the first book, so it's like, yeah.

[00:39:12] But I will say, like, you know, there's a few that kind of rival

[00:39:16] it if I want to, I guess, say that.

[00:39:18] I mean, I really enjoyed Welcome to Dead House.

[00:39:20] And maybe it's because it was just that early book

[00:39:24] and Stein wasn't really sure what he was going for

[00:39:27] because it was like we've talked about.

[00:39:28] It's really dark.

[00:39:29] And I was just one of those, again, Halloween kids

[00:39:32] love the dark stuff.

[00:39:33] I played Magic the Gathering and did all that stuff, you know,

[00:39:35] back then.

[00:39:36] So that really set the tone for the books I enjoy,

[00:39:41] even outside of goosebumps, you know.

[00:39:44] So what's funny for me because I said my first ones were

[00:39:48] Bad Hair Day and Beast from the East.

[00:39:52] I said, I'm so sorry.

[00:39:53] It was like, I like this from the East.

[00:39:56] I like this from East from the East to me is just a fun,

[00:39:59] quick roller coaster.

[00:40:01] That's how I always looked at that book.

[00:40:03] I love the cover art, too.

[00:40:05] Tim is, oh my God, the colors like on the weird plants and stuff.

[00:40:08] Yeah.

[00:40:08] And that's what I said.

[00:40:09] Like Tim's artwork, man, will sell me any book.

[00:40:12] I swear.

[00:40:13] Even the books trash.

[00:40:15] Like they love the Beast from the East artwork.

[00:40:18] Yeah, it's a roller coaster.

[00:40:20] Like it's crazy.

[00:40:21] If you want to quit, if you want to quit Goosebumps

[00:40:23] book to just read and just have a fun time,

[00:40:26] like just quick and easy fun.

[00:40:28] That's that's that book for me.

[00:40:29] It's like if I just want it, it's like literally from start

[00:40:33] to finish that book as a roller coaster and you're going like this

[00:40:37] because like it's just like because it's like a chase, you know.

[00:40:40] And it's just like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

[00:40:41] And then you finish it and you're like, oh, it's over.

[00:40:43] You don't mean like that's that's the Beast from the East for me.

[00:40:46] Like it's not a bad book.

[00:40:47] It's not a masterpiece of a Goosebumps book.

[00:40:49] It's some it's in the middle range of the story.

[00:40:52] And it's just it's fun.

[00:40:53] If you just if you like want to introduce someone

[00:40:56] to Goosebumps, so it's like not really, you know,

[00:40:59] at a not a high level of reading, or you know, that's a book to be like,

[00:41:02] hey, just read this one.

[00:41:03] Like, you know, if you want it quick and you want to just read it and get out.

[00:41:07] You know what I mean? That's that's that's what East.

[00:41:10] Who are we talking like Asia or like Philadelphia?

[00:41:12] And what are we talking about here?

[00:41:14] We're talking about you trying to get on the podcast.

[00:41:19] I was going to say, you know, now I'm really disappointed.

[00:41:22] You you're going to bring up Jon Tron.

[00:41:23] But when you said Cuckoo Clock of Doom, you didn't go.

[00:41:25] The whole clock of doom.

[00:41:27] We're all going to do now that we're talking about it.

[00:41:30] Yeah, I.

[00:41:32] Yeah, why am I afraid of bees?

[00:41:34] Oh, that's obvious.

[00:41:35] Is it?

[00:41:37] Oh, man, God, John really wish we could make another Goosebumps

[00:41:41] pop three with Goosebumps pop three, Jon Tron.

[00:41:43] I really hope that this this episode becomes poorly aged

[00:41:47] and we do have Jon Tron at some point.

[00:41:50] Oh, my God.

[00:41:52] Wasn't that a great time when we thought I would like to have Jon Tron on here?

[00:41:55] I think it'd be fun. That'd be awesome.

[00:41:57] One more candy corn.

[00:41:59] This masterpiece will be epic.

[00:42:02] Oh, man.

[00:42:02] I used to like that was that also kind of helped in

[00:42:07] my growth as a Goosebumps fan, even though that was much later.

[00:42:11] But that video.

[00:42:14] Substantial, I would say.

[00:42:17] Oh, 100 percent.

[00:42:18] 100 percent. Absolutely.

[00:42:19] Anyway, we're going to continue with our talk about our Goosebumps

[00:42:23] experiences. But of course, if you guys are not following the podcast,

[00:42:27] please make sure that you follow the Goosebumps crew on YouTube

[00:42:30] Spotify and Apple podcasts, wherever you can find podcasts.

[00:42:34] And like I said, we're going to have some amazing guests coming on the podcast.

[00:42:38] We've had some amazing guests in the past.

[00:42:40] So make sure you follow us.

[00:42:41] You can also find us on our media dot org.

[00:42:45] You can also follow the Goosebumps channel and the Goosebumps

[00:42:48] Oscar fan and Sean on our social medias and our YouTube's.

[00:42:52] If you want to just see what we do outside of the Goosebumps crew.

[00:42:56] And you can also pledge to our brand new Patreon.

[00:43:00] We have a link to our Patreon in the description below.

[00:43:03] If you guys want to support us, want to help us grow.

[00:43:06] It can be as little as a dollar a month.

[00:43:08] And you'll guys will get some pretty cool perks

[00:43:11] if you pledge to the Patreon.

[00:43:13] So make sure you go and check it out.

[00:43:15] Link is in the description below.

[00:43:17] We also have our Discord server up.

[00:43:19] If you guys want to join that, we kind of have discussions over there.

[00:43:23] We also have a book club.

[00:43:25] We have episode watches, all sorts of stuff.

[00:43:28] Lots of people who love Goosebumps getting together and talking about it

[00:43:31] alongside us.

[00:43:32] So if you guys want to join that server, that link is also in the description.

[00:43:37] Now, before we get back to more Goosebumps discussion,

[00:43:39] let's have a quick word from our sponsor.

[00:43:42] This episode is sponsored by Trophy Smack.

[00:43:44] Everybody wants to feel like a winner.

[00:43:46] And what better way to feel like one than with a trophy of your accomplishment?

[00:43:50] As seen on ABC's Shark Tank, Trophy Smack is the ultimate destination

[00:43:53] for custom fantasy sports awards.

[00:43:55] Trophy Smack has what you need to celebrate your wins and losses

[00:43:59] with their large array of customizable championship trophies, belts, rings and plaques.

[00:44:03] Their custom made awards make for the perfect addition to almost any occasion.

[00:44:07] Anything from fantasy football, corporate awards, gaming, wrestling, eSports

[00:44:12] and real sports.

[00:44:13] But even if you're not into sports, Trophy Smack products are customizable for anything.

[00:44:17] Even for those who want a nice, shiny trophy for being the best Goosebumps fan ever.

[00:44:21] Trophy Smack uses top of the line materials to make superior made

[00:44:25] awards that will last for years and years and made to suit any price point.

[00:44:29] And if that weren't enough, not only does Trophy Smack have quality made

[00:44:32] products for affordable prices, but they also include free shipping, free

[00:44:36] engraving and 100 percent guaranteed satisfaction.

[00:44:39] If you want to snag yourself some quality made awards for your fantasy

[00:44:42] sports event, visit Trophy Smack's website by clicking the link in the description

[00:44:46] and check out their large array of trophies, belts, rings and more

[00:44:49] and feel like a champ in no time.

[00:44:51] And of course, special thanks to Trophy Smack for sponsoring this episode.

[00:44:55] And now back to more Goosebumps.

[00:45:01] Hey, while we were gone, Micah joined.

[00:45:03] What? All right.

[00:45:05] So Micah, since you're joined halfway through,

[00:45:09] we're going to ask you really quick.

[00:45:13] What was your first Goosebumps experience?

[00:45:15] How did you discover it and what was the first book you read?

[00:45:19] So I discovered Goosebumps for the first time going to my public library

[00:45:23] in like the first grade.

[00:45:24] We would always go there like every week for a field trip to check out books.

[00:45:27] And there was like these like rotating circular shelves that they had

[00:45:30] near the kids book section.

[00:45:32] And in those shelves, they had like all the animal books.

[00:45:35] And in the middle, they had like every Goosebumps book from a mix

[00:45:37] of like original series and GYG, from what I remember.

[00:45:41] And I just like saw some of the spines and the titles and I just got curious.

[00:45:45] I would like pull some of them out and we get traumatized by the covers.

[00:45:49] And then they put them back onto the shelf.

[00:45:52] That is this creepy fucker right here.

[00:45:54] Ah, yeah.

[00:45:57] Haunted my all the scary stories and telling the dark hot in my dreams as a kid.

[00:46:04] No, we were brothers.

[00:46:05] We were talking about that before break,

[00:46:08] because that was Bjorn's first book that he saw and he read.

[00:46:12] Yes.

[00:46:13] Yeah, another book that I saw that I started reading,

[00:46:16] I never finished, was How to Kill a Monster.

[00:46:18] That was the first one ever like checked out from library, but I never

[00:46:21] actually read it all the way through because I got too scared.

[00:46:25] But then the first book I tried all the way through is The Ghost Next

[00:46:28] Store, which is still one of my all time favorite books.

[00:46:30] I just reread it like last month and I still love it.

[00:46:33] So yeah.

[00:46:35] It's always one of my favorite books, one of my favorite episodes.

[00:46:38] I love it.

[00:46:38] That's a good one.

[00:46:41] Speaking of libraries,

[00:46:43] I know I talked about the school library,

[00:46:46] but I got to say that before I technically started collecting,

[00:46:49] I actually went and got books from the public library.

[00:46:53] So this is not school one, but the public library.

[00:46:56] And they had a ton of Goosebumps books.

[00:47:00] And that's where I would that's where I went to get Goosebumps books

[00:47:03] before I started collecting them was I checked them out the library

[00:47:07] and I'd get like stacks.

[00:47:09] I remember I got like

[00:47:12] some of the ones I remember very much were my Harriest adventure,

[00:47:16] Vampire Breath, Stay Out of the Basements,

[00:47:21] Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, like just a bunch and they were like beat up.

[00:47:25] Some of them were like torn.

[00:47:28] It was like, I don't know why it's so nostalgic to me.

[00:47:31] And actually I went back recently and mind you, this is like 15 years later.

[00:47:38] Just about and they still have a ton of Goosebumps books.

[00:47:43] Many of them have been replaced with newer like they're still O.G.

[00:47:48] They have newer ones, but they have a lot of O.G.

[00:47:51] And they're kind of newer copies

[00:47:53] replaced with about five years ago.

[00:47:55] But I found that they have a Monster Blood 4 there.

[00:47:59] They have Monster Blood 4.

[00:48:01] Take it.

[00:48:02] I can't take it.

[00:48:04] Take it, borrow it and don't return it and then just pay the fine.

[00:48:09] What is it, ten bucks?

[00:48:10] Like ego.

[00:48:11] That's what I keep accumulating over the amount of years I haven't.

[00:48:16] Don't do this.

[00:48:17] But when I was a kid, they had

[00:48:20] I did this when I was a really young kid.

[00:48:22] OK, to you young ones listening, don't listen for the next minute.

[00:48:25] But they had Ghost in the Mirror at my school library and I borrowed it.

[00:48:30] I never returned it.

[00:48:31] I was just waiting for that little slip of paper in the mail to be like, you owe

[00:48:35] this much money and I just paid it.

[00:48:38] I was like, hey, don't do that.

[00:48:41] It's naughty. It's very naughty.

[00:48:43] But I was like, I was like eight or nine.

[00:48:45] I would call the police.

[00:48:46] So a kid.

[00:48:48] I grew up, I learned my lessons.

[00:48:52] I learned lessons, but it was it was the Ghost in the Mirror.

[00:48:55] Like one of the hardest ones.

[00:48:57] Telling your mom.

[00:48:58] Yeah, honestly, that's my friend.

[00:49:00] She watches this.

[00:49:03] I'm not calling the police.

[00:49:05] I'm calling your mom.

[00:49:06] Mom.

[00:49:07] I can hear the fire ringing in the background now.

[00:49:10] Like.

[00:49:13] Get out of there with the bell like a giant ladle spoon.

[00:49:18] Where's that book? We got to take it back now.

[00:49:21] It's 20 years past due date.

[00:49:26] It was probably like it was like 2004.

[00:49:29] So it is probably was like 20 years exactly.

[00:49:32] So I had to have it going into the.

[00:49:35] We talked a lot about the books, but one thing I definitely want to bring up is

[00:49:40] and our query at least, like his finger.

[00:49:45] Yeah, I was one of I didn't finish.

[00:49:47] I was some more like more first goosebumps experiences.

[00:49:50] I distinctly remember the first five experiences you have.

[00:49:54] Well, the first books.

[00:49:56] This is my sixth first experience.

[00:49:59] Look at the.

[00:50:01] But these are the first ones that I bought and I simply remember going to like a

[00:50:05] secondhand store we had locally that's gone out of business now sadly.

[00:50:08] But as most of them do, but they're like a little locally owned store.

[00:50:12] And they have like these two big bags of goosebumps books.

[00:50:16] I only was able to buy one of them.

[00:50:18] By most of them were G Y G's.

[00:50:20] But I was a little kid, so I didn't know at the time.

[00:50:23] But and then these are these are the first five original 62s I ever got.

[00:50:28] Let's get invisible.

[00:50:29] This is not the original copy.

[00:50:31] This is the one they got from Nick, but it is one of the first.

[00:50:33] I do have that original copy still.

[00:50:35] The rest of these are all those original copies that I got.

[00:50:38] Goes next door was one of them.

[00:50:40] You can't scare me.

[00:50:41] Another cover that I absolutely traumatized me.

[00:50:46] Deep trouble and going worms.

[00:50:49] Shit.

[00:50:49] So yeah, those are the first five.

[00:50:53] Deep shit.

[00:50:54] That's the version of goosebumps.

[00:50:56] Deep trouble, it's in deep shit.

[00:51:00] I am a deep shit still.

[00:51:02] My life.

[00:51:03] Taking that book.

[00:51:05] Well, I'm in deep shit now because Nick's going to call my mom.

[00:51:08] No, but as I was saying, I definitely want to bring up how we got into the

[00:51:11] goosebumps TV show because that was another aspect of my growth in the goosebumps.

[00:51:16] At least I know it definitely was for a lot of other people.

[00:51:20] But in terms of my experience,

[00:51:22] I know I said that my first experience was discovering these three books.

[00:51:27] That's not it.

[00:51:28] My very first experience with goosebumps as a whole was and I've said this before,

[00:51:34] the Cartoon Network.

[00:51:35] How many firsts you got?

[00:51:38] Don't use my jokes against me.

[00:51:40] That is my job.

[00:51:44] No, my the first time I ever saw the goosebumps TV show was during the first

[00:51:50] Cartoon Network Halloween marathon back in 2007.

[00:51:54] And as I said before, I've said I've told the story before,

[00:51:58] but I remember seeing those promos and they were horrifying to me because the way

[00:52:04] they edited them, the way they recut the episodes.

[00:52:07] And it's funny because the show is really not that scary.

[00:52:12] But the promos made it seem like it was freaking terrifying.

[00:52:15] They made it seem like it was some kind of 70s, 80s horror film.

[00:52:21] But I remember that just horrified me and seeing this book in the library

[00:52:26] and seeing this tape in the library stay out of the basement in particular

[00:52:31] with the green hand was so frightening to me.

[00:52:35] I was like, I don't ever want to see anything goosebumps related.

[00:52:38] And then three years later, then I got into the book series and I was like,

[00:52:43] well, crap, sorry, Pat, I'll get you.

[00:52:48] Never going back.

[00:52:49] Now, I'll get you.

[00:52:50] Once you get goosebumps, you never go back.

[00:52:53] You're a goosebumps horror.

[00:52:57] Those Cartoon Network commercials, they were like Grindhouse almost.

[00:53:01] Exactly. They were like the 70s, 80s Grindhouse movies.

[00:53:05] That was definitely what they went for.

[00:53:07] Yeah.

[00:53:08] Not for the 2009 one, though, they had three years.

[00:53:11] The last year, they didn't do anything for that.

[00:53:13] That was disappointing.

[00:53:15] But those are my vivid.

[00:53:17] Maybe Cartoon Network, someone will watch this from Cartoon Network

[00:53:20] and be like, oh, look, they want the goosebumps thing back.

[00:53:22] We're going to do that goosebumps thing again.

[00:53:24] Yeah, I wish.

[00:53:25] So I haven't seen goosebumps on TV since like almost 10 years.

[00:53:29] The movie.

[00:53:31] Yeah. Disney.

[00:53:32] Disney Channel was playing the episodes I remember here in Australia during the movie.

[00:53:36] I remember I literally turned on TV and straight to Disney and Night in Turretown was just on.

[00:53:42] It's just on. I was like, what the hell?

[00:53:44] No, what?

[00:53:45] And I actually thought that brings up a good point.

[00:53:48] I wonder why that Disney Plus hasn't put the goosebumps show from the 90s on Disney Plus,

[00:53:54] especially as it does like 20 hours.

[00:53:56] Twenty twenty three.

[00:53:57] I wouldn't think it would be a rights issue because Netflix had it.

[00:54:00] You know what I mean?

[00:54:01] They still have some, but they don't have all the episodes anymore.

[00:54:03] I don't know.

[00:54:04] So clearly they have the rights to stream if they wanted it, I guess.

[00:54:09] But it's just not on there.

[00:54:12] Again, it's because they know that everybody will watch that instead of the twenty twenty three show.

[00:54:16] Maybe. Yeah, I mean, I would.

[00:54:19] I'd. Yeah, I would.

[00:54:21] If I own a bootleg blu-ray of the whole show, I'd be like there is no 2023 series.

[00:54:28] It might be a 2024 or 2025s.

[00:54:31] When's that season two coming out?

[00:54:32] Do you think you think this year or next year?

[00:54:34] I think next year.

[00:54:37] Next year.

[00:54:38] Because they still got a.

[00:54:39] I'd be really surprised if it was this year, just because I don't even think they've

[00:54:43] started filming yet.

[00:54:45] They just announced the cast maybe like a week or two ago.

[00:54:48] Yeah, David Schwimmer.

[00:54:50] So who knows?

[00:54:51] I mean, now don't get me wrong,

[00:54:53] they could very well just throw this together so fast and just throw it out

[00:54:57] there for this October, because I want to say maybe that's also what happened

[00:55:02] with that other show that must not be named season.

[00:55:07] But who knows?

[00:55:09] I mean, I would hope that at least they would take their time and

[00:55:13] make it at least make it good.

[00:55:15] May not be great, but at least make it good.

[00:55:18] Now, make it better than one.

[00:55:20] That's all we ask in terms of the 90s series, though, Nick,

[00:55:23] I'm pretty sure that you did you watch that when it was airing, though?

[00:55:27] I'm pretty sure.

[00:55:29] Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[00:55:30] You're my whole first experience with the show was the original airing.

[00:55:35] You know, they built it up all the way up to the end of October.

[00:55:39] I remember it was a special thing I got to stay up late for

[00:55:42] because it was premiering at like, I think like eight o'clock at night or something.

[00:55:46] It was a primetime event, one hour special of The Haunted Mask.

[00:55:51] And it was amazing and increased my love even more for the Goosebumps franchise.

[00:55:57] So I was like, wow, I can't believe they they made this book.

[00:55:59] Like that I was reading and it looks so good.

[00:56:02] And I wanted the mask so bad.

[00:56:04] Like I'm sitting there the whole time thinking I was like,

[00:56:06] Charlie, Beth doesn't deserve you.

[00:56:08] You just need to leave that bitch and come to me.

[00:56:11] Yeah, I need you.

[00:56:13] I need you.

[00:56:18] What about you?

[00:56:19] I just I just I loved it.

[00:56:20] I loved it from start to finish.

[00:56:23] You know, even when I got to the later episodes, you know,

[00:56:25] because we talked about it before, you know, when your kid

[00:56:28] everything was much better when you're a kid.

[00:56:30] But when you go back and watch some of these things as an adult,

[00:56:33] you kind of see, you know, Oz behind the curtain, if you will, of well,

[00:56:39] this wasn't that great.

[00:56:41] It's probably could have been better if they did this.

[00:56:44] Now I definitely see how they did that.

[00:56:45] Look at that bad CGI.

[00:56:46] Look at it. So it's like, yeah, look at that kid in obvious fat suit like.

[00:56:54] What could I see?

[00:56:56] G fat suit with the balls and cheeks.

[00:57:00] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:57:01] You know, do you guys have do you guys have caramel slices over in America?

[00:57:05] Caramel slice.

[00:57:07] OK, I was wondering what that girl was eating in the haunted mosque.

[00:57:11] There's like that girl that has a big frizzy like blue hair.

[00:57:14] She's almost like a clown at the the the scene of the lunch when she

[00:57:18] eats the one that she pulls this thing out of her bag and it looks so good.

[00:57:22] Whatever it is, kind of goes.

[00:57:24] It's like orange bread with like chocolate bottom or something.

[00:57:28] I'm like, I always wanted that too.

[00:57:29] It's so weird.

[00:57:31] The hell is she because I wanted I guess I guess it was just like a sandwich

[00:57:36] that someone died orange for the bread and charred the other way.

[00:57:40] Yeah, I did charred the meat.

[00:57:42] And it looked seriously like that was the most Halloween looking sandwich I

[00:57:46] ever seen in my life.

[00:57:47] It looks better than the Halloween burger at Burger King.

[00:57:49] That bottom half was chocolate.

[00:57:51] And I don't know what the top half was, but I thought it looked good.

[00:57:54] Yeah, we should have asked Alan to set when he was on here.

[00:57:57] Looking at that sandwich like

[00:57:59] Oh, she's like, yeah, even she was surprised.

[00:58:03] What the fuck is

[00:58:05] it?

[00:58:06] She's a natural reaction.

[00:58:07] I mean, I guess that was like kids when parents were just putting their kids

[00:58:11] lunches and the kids didn't know what their parents pack.

[00:58:13] Just pull that out like what the fuck?

[00:58:16] Yeah, no, that's me.

[00:58:18] That looks good.

[00:58:19] I'll take a bite.

[00:58:20] I might look good.

[00:58:22] I might eat it.

[00:58:23] And there's a worm in it.

[00:58:25] Yeah, I've never said.

[00:58:27] What about you, Bjorn?

[00:58:28] You know, mom didn't put the worm in the sandwich.

[00:58:30] You know, it ended up being Steve.

[00:58:33] What about you, Bjorn?

[00:58:34] I just cut through it in there.

[00:58:35] I think Steve was an attraction.

[00:58:37] Did you discover the show through maybe like a DVD of some kind?

[00:58:44] Wow.

[00:58:46] Fuck you.

[00:58:47] You should have.

[00:58:50] I went to a place called I can tell you the story exactly how it happened.

[00:58:55] My introduction to the series was, of course.

[00:59:03] Yes, this boy right here.

[00:59:05] Transformers.

[00:59:06] I'll try to do the whole like.

[00:59:07] I would do the thought that you actually put it the wrong way than you're like.

[00:59:14] Well, like.

[00:59:16] What's crazy is so many people are introduced to like the Horned Mask,

[00:59:19] Night and Terror Towers, the other one.

[00:59:20] A lot of people say they're introduced by.

[00:59:22] But like I funny enough, so like I knew my cousins had my cousin had some of the

[00:59:27] videos, but he genuinely wouldn't let me watch him at the time.

[00:59:31] I went to a place called like, you know, when you would go to like a club,

[00:59:36] so to speak, with your parents and you would have like dinner and then they

[00:59:39] would drop you off in like the kids area and then they would go like,

[00:59:42] you know, play on the protein machine.

[00:59:44] Different kind of co-op.

[00:59:46] Yeah, I was like when you said they're thinking I was like,

[00:59:49] I'll never get taken over.

[00:59:50] The time as a kid.

[00:59:53] You do that.

[00:59:54] Taking you to that kind of a club.

[00:59:56] Yeah, I was like the ones that have like food and then and then there's

[01:00:01] like to be like a kids area.

[01:00:03] And then they'd be like the adults going like gamble on the pokey machine.

[01:00:06] So like like at a casino and they would drop the kids at like the kids

[01:00:10] area that had like video games.

[01:00:12] Yeah, man, Australia had some cool shit because we didn't have that.

[01:00:17] Well, you didn't have that.

[01:00:19] It's gamble.

[01:00:20] OK, so best way to describe it is like we call them like like a surf club

[01:00:25] almost, but they would have like breakfast lunch and like a dinner.

[01:00:28] So you would have like a big you have like an area where there might be

[01:00:32] like a buffet dinner or breakfast and you would all have dinner together.

[01:00:36] Then there'd be an area for the adults,

[01:00:38] which was like where they would go and gamble on pokeys and stuff.

[01:00:41] And then you would have like a little kids zone area where you would

[01:00:44] drop your kids off to like go in there while you go and, you know,

[01:00:47] so you'd be in the car or some random person at the club.

[01:00:51] But they would usually have like claw machines in there.

[01:00:54] They would have like arcade games.

[01:00:56] They would have like PlayStation.

[01:00:59] They'd have Nintendo's and they would normally have like a little theater

[01:01:02] room area, which would have like movies.

[01:01:04] So we're going back to when it was literally VHS and it was 2000.

[01:01:10] 2000, because I remember we took a photo with the family.

[01:01:15] And like I said, back then they used to stamp the date on the back of the photos.

[01:01:19] So it had 2000 on it.

[01:01:20] I remember we went into there and I was well and truly into goosebumps at this

[01:01:24] point, collecting it, had books and everything went into.

[01:01:27] I got dropped off into the kids area with my brother.

[01:01:30] What's on the TV?

[01:01:33] This video and literally they had the video like there next to the TV.

[01:01:37] And then they had like the big TV screen and they were playing

[01:01:40] on a little dummy and kids were literally screaming and crying and going off.

[01:01:46] And I'm just sitting there like

[01:01:49] I'm watching it now.

[01:01:51] I'm actually watching.

[01:01:52] And it's funny because when it finished,

[01:01:54] they were like, we're going to put something else on it.

[01:01:56] I was like, no, no, no, no, no.

[01:01:58] You played that 10,000 more times.

[01:02:03] I did.

[01:02:04] And they played it again.

[01:02:05] The kids were like, oh, I'm scared.

[01:02:08] I'm like so good, wasn't it?

[01:02:10] And I would like play it again.

[01:02:11] And as you guys know, the Australian copy had 9,

[01:02:13] let me do and three.

[01:02:14] So the thing is when I came in to watch it,

[01:02:17] it was already like halfway through, I think the third one.

[01:02:19] So I was like, no, play it again.

[01:02:21] And then they went back to the beginning

[01:02:23] and then I was like, wait, this is all new.

[01:02:25] This is different. What's this?

[01:02:26] It was like 9, let me do and I looked at me three.

[01:02:28] So that was my introduction was, you know, as you know,

[01:02:33] ironic as it is was looking at me, which is why I now have

[01:02:37] 20, no, 31 copies, 31 copies of this on VHS.

[01:02:43] VHS.

[01:02:46] We have 31 copies now.

[01:02:48] So I'm going to become the Titanic guy on Instagram.

[01:02:52] So to those of you who don't know who that is, he has like,

[01:02:54] I think nearly 3,000 copies of Titanic on VHS.

[01:02:57] That's going to be me with this.

[01:02:59] I'm going to keep buying them.

[01:03:00] And then maybe one day people just start sending them to me as well.

[01:03:04] So that number will just be growing.

[01:03:06] And yeah,

[01:03:08] I'm not going to send them to you randomly, buddy.

[01:03:12] Yeah, oh man, well, he gets he gets sent boxes of them from people like boxes.

[01:03:18] One guy's sending him like an entire box with sealed copies,

[01:03:22] soundtracks.

[01:03:23] And I'm like, so if I can just become big enough that like,

[01:03:26] you know, people know I'm up to these, they might just start sending

[01:03:29] them. I don't even care if they're moldy copies.

[01:03:31] Just send them, send them.

[01:03:32] I need to get back.

[01:03:34] I want to get, I just want to get to 50.

[01:03:35] If they're cake, you have no more room.

[01:03:38] Yeah, like you have no more room.

[01:03:40] So your Mrs. is going to be really pissed when she's looking like,

[01:03:44] where'd my plants go? Why are they replaced by VHS?

[01:03:46] Of this show.

[01:03:48] W on VHS.

[01:03:52] We got another 20 copies of 9 to living dummy on VHS.

[01:03:56] Oh, I just love that parachute pretzel.

[01:04:01] I yeah, I'm going to make I'm going to make a video and say this video is

[01:04:04] inspired by Titanic or fan 97.

[01:04:06] Like I will I will make a video.

[01:04:08] I will do that because I am even a shout out and a shout out.

[01:04:13] But but hey, you'll know how big and much people love them when they start

[01:04:17] doing inspired videos.

[01:04:19] So I'm just sharing the love of his Titanic obsession.

[01:04:23] And he might get some followers out of it, you know,

[01:04:25] like them, maybe people hadn't heard of him before.

[01:04:28] Maybe I got to check this guy out.

[01:04:30] How does he have three thousand copies of this movie?

[01:04:32] I got to get like a I got to get like a big

[01:04:34] cardboard cut out of like Hayden Christensen and I was like, like,

[01:04:37] just be like, oh, we're going to add it to the book of Hayden.

[01:04:44] I will look at it in Christensen.

[01:04:47] Oh,

[01:04:50] sorry, that's so weird.

[01:04:52] And what about you?

[01:04:53] I mean, you're I believe you and I are on the same age.

[01:04:57] So you probably you obviously didn't catch it in the 90s.

[01:05:01] How did you find out about the show?

[01:05:04] Well, I was a fan of the books for a while.

[01:05:06] Like ever since I was a kid, I was morbidly curious.

[01:05:09] I wouldn't say I was a diehard fan because I hadn't started

[01:05:10] reading them yet, but I started kind of getting into collecting the books

[01:05:13] and things like that.

[01:05:15] And I remember I was just browsing through Netflix one day and I found

[01:05:19] Goosebumps the show.

[01:05:20] I didn't watch it because I was too much of a coward.

[01:05:22] But

[01:05:24] so you so you discovered it on Netflix.

[01:05:27] That's interesting.

[01:05:28] Yeah, I was on like the Netflix kids section when they used to have that.

[01:05:32] And I was like scrolling through and just looking at all the episode

[01:05:34] listings and just wondering what they would be like.

[01:05:36] I also remember the old Goosebumps website that Scholastic used to have.

[01:05:40] And like this whole section

[01:05:42] of all the episodes and like little clips from each episode.

[01:05:46] I remember that too.

[01:05:48] And that's why I started out was just looking at those clips and watching

[01:05:50] a couple of them.

[01:05:52] But a couple of other things I remember seeing this DVD and a five dollar

[01:05:57] movie been at Walmart one time.

[01:05:59] And I just like stared at this for hours,

[01:06:01] like just looking at it while I was waiting for my mom to finish checking out.

[01:06:04] So hours is an exaggeration, but you know,

[01:06:06] I was about to say that's a long time.

[01:06:08] Yeah, probably the most nostalgic DVD for me.

[01:06:12] But it's a really funny story about how I actually got into actually

[01:06:15] started watching the show itself.

[01:06:17] My dad is terrified of introquist dummies.

[01:06:22] He magically.

[01:06:23] I was eyes him so and I'm not a big Star Wars fan.

[01:06:27] I never I was never was as a kid and I still am not that big of a fan of it.

[01:06:30] But my dad was wanting me to watch a new hope and I didn't want to.

[01:06:34] So I was like, I'll give you an ultimatum, dad.

[01:06:36] If I watched a new hope, you got to watch Night of the Living Dummy too.

[01:06:42] Definitely. Oh man.

[01:06:44] And then good bar.

[01:06:46] I watched it that night.

[01:06:47] They were big reported to me the next morning.

[01:06:49] So I was like, yeah, you know what?

[01:06:50] I'll check this out.

[01:06:51] So yeah, dummy two is probably my most nostalgic episode because it's like

[01:06:54] the first one I ever watched.

[01:06:56] Should have made them watch the third one because then you could have said,

[01:06:58] oh look, there's Hayden Christensen.

[01:07:00] There's.

[01:07:01] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:07:03] It would have been like, oh my God.

[01:07:05] He didn't watch the prequels.

[01:07:06] We watched a new hope.

[01:07:07] So I didn't even know who Hayden Christensen was as a kid.

[01:07:11] Oh man.

[01:07:12] You know what?

[01:07:12] I actually could get a cardboard cut out of Hayden Christensen from Star Wars

[01:07:17] like an original one and then I could just dress him up like Zane.

[01:07:20] Yeah, just put a shirt on him or something like that.

[01:07:23] Yeah, put a camera around his neck.

[01:07:27] No.

[01:07:28] So obviously we talked about what books that we've gotten into and we

[01:07:32] discovered and how we got into the show.

[01:07:34] But I think the best place to kind of close things off is to talk about

[01:07:38] how we started collecting goosebumps.

[01:07:40] And I remember when I first went to Half Price Books because,

[01:07:47] you know, as I said, I was going to the library and I was checking out all these

[01:07:51] books and I think my parents were like, we're going back every week is like,

[01:07:55] why don't we actually buy you some?

[01:07:57] So we went to Half Price Books for the first time ever.

[01:08:00] Had no idea what the store was at the time.

[01:08:03] My little nine year old self.

[01:08:05] And we went to the back where all the kids books were.

[01:08:08] And I'm telling you two shelves of goosebumps books.

[01:08:13] Now, I wish I was back at that time because I probably would have cleaned out

[01:08:18] that whole thing, but I couldn't.

[01:08:20] So I got five books and I don't remember exactly what they were.

[01:08:25] But I remember I got Welcome to Dead House and You Can't Scare Me because

[01:08:29] I remember I saw a photo of You Can't Scare Me and I really wanted that one.

[01:08:34] So I was glad to get it.

[01:08:35] But I also got this.

[01:08:37] I got a Monster Edition 2 as one of the first books I ever owned in my collection.

[01:08:43] That's how lucky I was.

[01:08:45] And that was nice.

[01:08:46] Oh, man.

[01:08:47] So I just wanted to get more and more books because I was like, hey,

[01:08:52] I really like these books and I really like these covers.

[01:08:55] And I think I also remember like seeing on old YouTube how people used to

[01:09:00] put their goosebumps collections on YouTube.

[01:09:03] They'd be like, here's my goosebumps collection.

[01:09:06] I have this book and this book and this book.

[01:09:08] Now it's like, I want to do that.

[01:09:14] Oh, man.

[01:09:15] Like, he's a big kid now.

[01:09:19] God, making the best YouTube videos.

[01:09:22] How did that monster of a collection start?

[01:09:27] Well, short and sweet immediately.

[01:09:31] Like when I started getting the books, it was like the merch came pretty much right

[01:09:36] away because my cousin, I showed it earlier.

[01:09:39] He gave me his card game and I'm going to keep showing this because his name is

[01:09:43] written on the inside. There you go, Nicholas says your card game.

[01:09:47] So yeah, he gave me this because he had two of them, which was really weird.

[01:09:51] I think the other one he had was a sealed one.

[01:09:53] So he gave me his open one.

[01:09:56] So he gave me that.

[01:09:57] And then I remember like we were in New Zealand.

[01:09:59] So we went back home to Australia and then like I am talking the next day

[01:10:04] after my dad finishes work, he stops off at like a thrift store,

[01:10:09] which we call them op shops here.

[01:10:11] And he comes home with a binder and it was the ghost beach one.

[01:10:15] So like the Nive the Living Dummy one,

[01:10:18] it's just basically that, but it's ghost beach.

[01:10:20] And he also had

[01:10:22] what was it?

[01:10:24] It was that and oh God, I can't remember.

[01:10:27] Pencil case, a little mini pencil case

[01:10:30] that had like all the characters on it was purple one.

[01:10:32] I think you might know what it is.

[01:10:33] It's purple.

[01:10:34] It's got like sloppy, the horror, curly, I think cuddles on it or the money.

[01:10:38] So he brought those home and they were from yeah, he just went in.

[01:10:42] I'm like this was at a time when no one wanted goosebumps stuff.

[01:10:45] So but when I went to these thrift stores,

[01:10:47] I wasn't looking for stationary stuff.

[01:10:49] I would go straight to the toys or the games.

[01:10:51] So now I'm like, God damn, if I went

[01:10:53] to these thrift stores back then and looked at everything,

[01:10:56] I would have found a lot more because

[01:10:59] yeah, I just wasn't looking in those sections because as a kid,

[01:11:01] you don't think to do that.

[01:11:02] But my dad was he was like looking in every section.

[01:11:04] So that's how we got like that two o'clock a doom clock for like two

[01:11:08] dollars now people want to pay a thousand dollars for it.

[01:11:11] But I'm like, it's never for sale.

[01:11:13] But then it led me to

[01:11:15] the last part of my story, which is

[01:11:18] I had the ghost beach one of these

[01:11:20] and I went to a vacation care.

[01:11:22] So kind of like the club again, but an actual club for kids.

[01:11:26] So it was like an after school care slash

[01:11:29] during the holidays as well.

[01:11:31] So during the holidays, my parents worked.

[01:11:32] So it was like just easy to drop myself.

[01:11:35] But we wanted to go because they they had like video games like

[01:11:38] had every game that you could think of at the time.

[01:11:40] Like when Kingdom Hearts first came out,

[01:11:41] that was like the biggest game.

[01:11:43] It's like a hundred dollar game.

[01:11:44] They had that on like every PlayStation screen at the time.

[01:11:47] So everyone was obsessed with it.

[01:11:49] And I remember when you would get

[01:11:52] dropped off to this place, they had to sign your name in, sign your name out

[01:11:58] when you would leave, come and go.

[01:12:00] And this was the fricking folder they had

[01:12:03] opened up with all the kids' names written in here and here.

[01:12:07] And I remember thinking like, oh, my God,

[01:12:11] there's one of the book that I stare at for 40 minutes of that folder thing.

[01:12:15] So then the hunt began.

[01:12:19] And I remember asking you a long time, but you found it.

[01:12:25] I've got seven of them now.

[01:12:27] If you follow me on Instagram, you would see the the ridiculous video I made

[01:12:31] where I like opened up two more.

[01:12:32] But yeah, I got this many now.

[01:12:35] And yeah, I remember like asking for it.

[01:12:39] No, I'm not.

[01:12:39] So you can't.

[01:12:40] But why would you want it anyway?

[01:12:41] It's all written in.

[01:12:42] I was like, I don't care.

[01:12:43] I don't care what's written in.

[01:12:44] I don't care if someone's trying to be.

[01:12:45] I don't care if someone drew a thousand dicks in that.

[01:12:48] I want it.

[01:12:51] I want it.

[01:12:52] And like, I couldn't have it.

[01:12:54] And then I went to a collectible store and here's the ironic thing.

[01:12:58] The lady always gave always put the Goosebumps stuff aside for me to give to me.

[01:13:02] Then she had this out the back and she used it to write down like her

[01:13:07] stock take notes when she would sell something.

[01:13:09] And I remember one day I was like looking at the back and I was like,

[01:13:12] oh, can I have that?

[01:13:14] She's like, oh, no, sorry.

[01:13:15] This is the one Goosebumps thing that I want to hold on to.

[01:13:17] And I'm like, what is it about this fricking binder

[01:13:20] that people don't want to sell apart with at the time?

[01:13:23] And I think I know how iconic it was in itself, the book.

[01:13:27] But I think a lot of the people that had them at the time were like parents of kids

[01:13:31] that are now grown up and they were like holding on to it almost like a sentimental

[01:13:35] thing, like it was their kids at school or whatever.

[01:13:38] And whatever reason, I just couldn't have this thing.

[01:13:41] I found a ghost beach one, cuckoo clock one, a shrunken head one.

[01:13:45] But the damn sloppy one just pointed me until I was 13.

[01:13:49] I would say I got my first 12 or 13 was when I got my first one.

[01:13:52] And now it's seven.

[01:13:53] You could say I found one every three and a half four years.

[01:13:56] That's how fricking hard they had to find.

[01:13:57] But yeah, that's my story.

[01:14:04] What about you, Nick?

[01:14:04] Yeah.

[01:14:06] What about me?

[01:14:07] Yeah, I got no sloppy binder.

[01:14:10] Oh, I got no sloppy binder.

[01:14:12] Oh.

[01:14:15] And obviously I started collecting back when they first started putting the toys

[01:14:21] blackpacks, all the stationary stuff out.

[01:14:23] I mean, I think if I remember right, my first item was actually the

[01:14:26] sloppy inkster.

[01:14:29] You know what I'm talking about?

[01:14:30] Like I think they had one too.

[01:14:32] But obviously one is a sloppy one because obviously the fact of disappearing

[01:14:36] ink was just so cool as a kid.

[01:14:38] So I got your shirt stained.

[01:14:43] It's gone.

[01:14:44] I was just kidding.

[01:14:45] Don't beat me up.

[01:14:46] It's like the Roger Rabbit where like

[01:14:48] Marvin Acme shoots the ink on Eddie and he just grabs him.

[01:14:52] Like he's like, wait, wait, look, it's gone.

[01:14:57] Yeah, exactly.

[01:14:59] Yeah, exactly like that.

[01:15:01] I just remember the commercial for those is like Inkster's for vile ink

[01:15:05] that disappears in a flash like that.

[01:15:08] Oh, yeah.

[01:15:09] And it was awesome.

[01:15:10] And I wish I could say I still have it.

[01:15:13] I have some of some things just get lost over time because parents sell it

[01:15:18] in garage sales or whatever most of the time without even telling you.

[01:15:21] Yeah, it's like you don't need this no more.

[01:15:24] Right.

[01:15:26] Getting a quarter for that now.

[01:15:27] So yeah, I'm going to sell it for one for one dollar for one.

[01:15:33] So I'm lucky to still have a good chunk of stuff, I guess, from when I was

[01:15:38] a kid, because I actually remember like the catalog that I ordered.

[01:15:42] Because it's the only way you could get them at the time anyway.

[01:15:44] I was ordering through a catalog of the masks that they finally came out with.

[01:15:50] So the Honda mask was the first one I bought.

[01:15:52] But then I remember finding the horror in my local Walmart one Halloween.

[01:15:58] And I wish I could say that like you could still get goosebumps in a Halloween

[01:16:03] aisle nowadays, because that was super awesome to find back on the day.

[01:16:06] I never found any of the costumes.

[01:16:08] I mean, I had to own them later when I got adult and got adult monies.

[01:16:12] Mm hmm.

[01:16:13] So I just remember that like when Target did that whole promotion

[01:16:18] and they would just have like the whole

[01:16:20] because I found footage of this like I think a year or two ago.

[01:16:25] And it was just like two aisles of goosebumps, like books, tapes, clothing,

[01:16:32] all sorts of stuff.

[01:16:33] And there was like the big standy.

[01:16:35] So I give me goosebumps or something like that.

[01:16:37] And it's like, man, I wish I grew up in that time.

[01:16:41] Yeah, let me tell you, it was everywhere at the time and it was amazing.

[01:16:45] I can remember jumping into some of these stores,

[01:16:47] especially around school time, because again, there's so much stationary stuff

[01:16:51] that they came out with.

[01:16:53] So I mean, you constantly could get that back in the day.

[01:16:56] And people are again trying to sell one pencil set of like four pencils for

[01:17:01] 80 bucks. Yeah.

[01:17:03] And that's outrageous.

[01:17:05] You know, funny story about the stationery.

[01:17:08] So my cousin said that at school they banned goosebumps stationery because it was

[01:17:13] like it looked too much like toys and kids were just playing with it and they

[01:17:17] were getting distracted from their work.

[01:17:19] And he said he remembers like he was at assembly and like they literally said,

[01:17:23] oh, so by the way, and at this point, parents had bought it all for their

[01:17:28] kids already, so they've already spent the money because it's like,

[01:17:31] oh, this slappy alligator stapler and tape just so like, I mean,

[01:17:36] I've got a tape dispenser right handy here.

[01:17:38] Like that just looks like a toy and that's a tape dispenser.

[01:17:43] So it's like I can see why it was distracting.

[01:17:47] And parents literally bought all the stuff for the kids because they were

[01:17:50] like, oh, my kids love goosebumps.

[01:17:51] So I'm going to buy them all the shit that goes with it with the books.

[01:17:55] And he said he remembers the principle coming up and saying, oh,

[01:17:59] and by the way, we know it's popular, but all goosebumps stationery items.

[01:18:04] And that is desk caddies, tape dispensers, staplers, pencil sharpeners.

[01:18:09] I think the only thing they allowed goosebumps was pencil cases and like pencils.

[01:18:13] But they said and like the erasers and stuff, he said everything else was banned

[01:18:18] because the desk caddies just kids apparently kids used to just like open

[01:18:21] and close Slappy's mouth like when they were born.

[01:18:25] And I was just like, yeah, that makes sense.

[01:18:28] But yeah, they look like we did that just then.

[01:18:31] So yeah, but like, let's be honest,

[01:18:34] I mean, all we could go back to the 90s.

[01:18:38] Like if we could go back, we wouldn't be getting the merch.

[01:18:42] We would be going to these stores and saying, I am having that fucking display.

[01:18:46] Like we would be taking the displays.

[01:18:48] We wouldn't want we wouldn't care for the merch because we'd be like,

[01:18:51] well, we'll just get that later.

[01:18:52] I would be like, can I have the cardboard?

[01:18:55] Can I have that stand of Kurt?

[01:18:56] Like we would be taking all this stuff.

[01:18:58] Just walking into a store, I want something goosebumps.

[01:19:01] And they're like, well, what would you like?

[01:19:03] All of it, all of it, all of the goosebumps.

[01:19:06] All of it.

[01:19:07] Give me everything like I was like, are you grabbing items?

[01:19:12] Yes.

[01:19:13] Which ones?

[01:19:14] I go straight to Kmart.

[01:19:16] I go straight to Kmart and just grab like the whole stack of these.

[01:19:19] Like just fill the trolley with only dummy buying this.

[01:19:22] No, like, are you serious?

[01:19:23] You have no fucking idea.

[01:19:25] I'm serious.

[01:19:27] OK, dead.

[01:19:28] I am dead serious.

[01:19:30] But like there was because it was actually a display stand for the escape from

[01:19:34] Horrorland game with Jeff Goldblum and I remember I think I sent it to you guys

[01:19:37] or Nick on the chat.

[01:19:39] There was a random Australian show where this girl knocks into it.

[01:19:42] And it's literally like a display stand.

[01:19:45] Yeah.

[01:19:45] And it's got and it's got escape from Horrorland written on the cardboard

[01:19:49] part.

[01:19:50] I'm like, what?

[01:19:52] I don't understand why they put the horror up the top of it, because that would

[01:19:55] have made more sense.

[01:19:56] But yeah, like I would be going back to get all that stuff before I grabbed the

[01:20:00] merch 100 percent.

[01:20:02] Like I'd be getting all that like imagine going to Disneyland and grabbing

[01:20:05] all the like promotion for like the Disney show, like as if you wouldn't be

[01:20:08] grabbing that over like what was in the gift shop.

[01:20:10] You'd be like, I want the big.

[01:20:12] I don't know.

[01:20:13] Big straight.

[01:20:14] I think the gift shop might have had series two collectibles, which case I

[01:20:18] would have snagged all them suckers up.

[01:20:20] Yeah, those two.

[01:20:21] God, what it would have been like to just live in that era and just with the

[01:20:26] knowledge that we have now, we would know what to grab.

[01:20:29] We would be like, that's the thing because our knowledge now, if we could go

[01:20:33] back for a day, we would know what to grab.

[01:20:36] We would grab the things that were like a hard to find and we'd leave all the

[01:20:39] common shit and do like we'll get that later.

[01:20:41] It's like we'll pick that up later.

[01:20:42] It's like that meme of like what girls would do with a time machine.

[01:20:46] They go and see like their grandmother, what boys would do with a time

[01:20:50] machine is I want everything Goosebumps related.

[01:20:55] Or if to get money, hey, Nick, I know how we can get rich.

[01:20:59] We can do a back to the future too situation and get the sports.

[01:21:04] What was it?

[01:21:04] The sports betting thing.

[01:21:07] Yeah, we just go and do that.

[01:21:09] And then we can become multimillionaires and we can buy all the Goosebumps stuff.

[01:21:13] And my only issue is I can bet on stock and butter.

[01:21:17] I completely ruined the change the future.

[01:21:20] And I don't care.

[01:21:21] Oh, and Michael, you I mean, you kind of showed that you

[01:21:28] kind of started collecting right away.

[01:21:31] Yep. But recently we've been able to send you some merchandise stuff.

[01:21:34] So your collection is growing too.

[01:21:37] Yes, it is.

[01:21:38] Hooray.

[01:21:40] You'll be one of us.

[01:21:41] You got your first.

[01:21:41] Your first working.

[01:21:43] One of us.

[01:21:44] One of us.

[01:21:44] Google.

[01:21:45] Google.

[01:21:46] Google.

[01:21:47] I started collecting the DVDs for crying out loud.

[01:21:51] I didn't start collecting these until like October of 2023.

[01:21:57] So I was going to say October of last year.

[01:22:00] That's when I started collecting the DVDs up until then.

[01:22:02] I don't believe in doing the books because I could never like find these in

[01:22:05] like a thrift store or anything.

[01:22:07] So he's a late blue.

[01:22:08] He's a late blue.

[01:22:09] OK.

[01:22:11] Yeah, he's a late bloomer.

[01:22:13] But we all get there in the end.

[01:22:15] We all do.

[01:22:16] We do.

[01:22:17] We eventually all chase them.

[01:22:19] Anyway.

[01:22:21] All right.

[01:22:21] But yeah, I think that I just find myself being really fond of how I got in the

[01:22:30] goosebumps and it's always cool to just think back on it, especially when you

[01:22:34] look at what you got now.

[01:22:36] It's like, wow, all that started because of that.

[01:22:40] And we're doing now like who would have thought we would talk to people from the show?

[01:22:46] Exactly.

[01:22:47] Yeah, we all loved and stuff.

[01:22:49] So if you ever told if I ever told kid me that I'd be talking to people like Tim

[01:22:54] Jacobus or Captain Long coming up for like any of these people from the show or

[01:22:59] working on the series, like I would not have believed me.

[01:23:02] Yeah, I'm crazy.

[01:23:05] I'm a bit crazy.

[01:23:07] Like I'm going to be crazy.

[01:23:08] Wow.

[01:23:09] Think about.

[01:23:11] Can we just say we are amber heard crazy?

[01:23:14] We'll just say that.

[01:23:16] Is that because everyone knows exactly what we're talking about?

[01:23:20] It's like the thing with me as well is like

[01:23:22] throughout my life, I've kind of been on and off with goosebumps collecting.

[01:23:25] Like I've been really at there.

[01:23:26] Moments I'd be really into it and then I would like to put them in a bin and

[01:23:29] stick them down in the basement for a couple of years and then I get really

[01:23:32] back into it again and then stick them back in the basement.

[01:23:35] And it wasn't until twenty twenty two that I really started getting like hard

[01:23:40] core about it again.

[01:23:41] Once I when I found one of those retro tins at Books and Millions,

[01:23:46] I ended up donating it to Goodwill to Goodwill for some reason, but.

[01:23:50] Dude, the switch returns off.

[01:23:55] Do not put them in the basement ever again.

[01:23:57] Ever.

[01:23:58] Out of the basement.

[01:23:59] Stay out of there.

[01:24:01] There was also times when I was a kid, my parents kind of took away my

[01:24:04] frivolages because I would be too over.

[01:24:09] Took away my goosebumps privileges because I was bad.

[01:24:13] I've never heard that before.

[01:24:15] And I'm like, I like because I remember one of my classmates used to like sell

[01:24:19] me some of his books for like a dollar a piece.

[01:24:22] And remember one time he promised me like he because we got caught in our teacher

[01:24:25] was like you can't sell books in school.

[01:24:28] So he's like, OK, just meet me after class and I'll give them to you.

[01:24:32] I just like that stuff.

[01:24:34] Back alley.

[01:24:35] Goosebumps.

[01:24:36] Why do I imagine?

[01:24:38] But I met him after class and I was about to do him.

[01:24:42] He's like, oh yeah, sorry, we can't sell stuff in school.

[01:24:44] I refuse to tell them to me.

[01:24:47] And so like my little self broke down into a teary tantrum because of it.

[01:24:53] And I just imagine you being like,

[01:24:56] take the PlayStation 5, take the TV, but not the goosebumps.

[01:25:01] And then they take it away and you just say, hey, here's the story.

[01:25:04] It was good to leave off on kind of going off of that.

[01:25:07] There was one time soon after I started getting in the goosebumps and

[01:25:12] I could have swore when I was taking the trash out one night that there was

[01:25:16] someone standing on the side of our house and it scared the shit out of me.

[01:25:21] And I ran and I pounded on a front door to my parents let me in.

[01:25:25] And I was so freaked out.

[01:25:27] I want you out.

[01:25:28] No, I just.

[01:25:29] I did not want to risk going through the garage again.

[01:25:34] So I went to the front door and I banged on the door to let me in and I got in

[01:25:39] and I was so freaked out.

[01:25:40] And my parents like, you know, if you're going to be this freaked out,

[01:25:43] maybe we should take a like stop having your goosebumps.

[01:25:45] No, no.

[01:25:48] But you say you were taking the trash out.

[01:25:52] You take the trash.

[01:25:53] Yeah, you trash can.

[01:25:56] Like, what do you tell you?

[01:25:59] Go away.

[01:26:02] My first thought ended up being home alone personally.

[01:26:05] When Kevin was outside.

[01:26:06] Yeah.

[01:26:07] Yeah.

[01:26:12] That's exactly what I thought.

[01:26:14] Right off the bat.

[01:26:15] And we'll be McCulloch open.

[01:26:17] We're going to end off this episode of the Goosebumps Crew podcast.

[01:26:21] Like I said, it's always just great to reflect on the early days of being

[01:26:25] the Goosebumps fan.

[01:26:26] And if you guys have some good stories about your first times discovering

[01:26:32] Goosebumps, leave them in the comments because we really like hearing you guys

[01:26:35] as comments and hearing your stories if you ever have one to tell.

[01:26:40] So definitely go ahead and leave one in the comments below.

[01:26:42] And of course, make sure you follow the rest of my Goosebumps crew.

[01:26:45] Goosebumps, Austin Van Buren, Panic, Shaolin,

[01:26:47] Nick Shalin, the ultimate Goosebumps man, Michael Loakless on their social

[01:26:50] medias and their YouTube's because they really, really, really do deserve it.

[01:26:53] And of course, give me a follow at the Goosebumps channel on YouTube,

[01:26:57] Twitter and Instagram if you want to keep up with what I'm doing,

[01:27:00] because I'm great too.

[01:27:02] I just I just figured out how absolutely selfish I was there.

[01:27:08] But yeah, go ahead and send to the Goosebumps channel if you want

[01:27:11] to keep up with the Goosebumps videos that I post.

[01:27:13] And don't forget to follow the Goosebumps

[01:27:15] for YouTube channel because that's for new episodes of the Goosebumps

[01:27:18] podcast are going to appear.

[01:27:21] And stay tuned.

[01:27:23] We've got some amazing guests that are going to be on the podcast coming soon.

[01:27:27] Don't want to reveal them right now,

[01:27:29] but you guys are going to see what they are soon enough and you guys are going

[01:27:34] to love them, so make sure you subscribe.

[01:27:37] And also again, don't forget to check out our Discord server.

[01:27:40] Make sure to pledge your Patreon if you guys want to support us.

[01:27:44] And all that good stuff is down in the description below.

[01:27:47] So this has been the Goosebumps podcast.

[01:27:50] And from all of us here at the Goosebumps podcast,

[01:27:52] we want to wish you all to take care, stay safe and have a very scary day.