Toy Hunter – Jordan Hembrough Interview NYCC 2012

Last week before the New York Comic Con, I got sit down one-on-one with Jordan Hembrough. from Travel Channel’s popular show the Toy Hunter and from Hollywood Heroes. I am huge fan of his show so I have to admit I was pretty nervous going into the interview. My index cards full of questions went blank, yikes! so I just started randomly blurting out questions. Lucky Jordan is a real cool guy and super friendly, which made the interview easy and fun. And I found we have a few things in common. Check out the entire interview below and you can catch Jordan on the Travel Channel’s Toy Hunter Wednesdays at 9pm ET/PT!

BS: So I hear you are a huge fan of Star Wars?

JH: Huge nerd!

BS: If you could be any Star Wars Character, who would you be?

JH: Who would I be? I’d probably be R2-D2. He’s a droid. He’s really resourceful. He’s always taking care of everything. So I kinda like that whole thing. He always has these really cool tools and everything.
So yeah, R2-D2..

BS: What if you had to pick Natalie Portman (Padmé Amidala) or Carrie Fisher (Leia Skywalker)?

JH: Carrie Fisher… I’m old school. Who would you pick:

BS: Carry fisher too!

BS: What exclusive NYCC toys do you have your eye on?

JH: You know, I really don’t know. There are so many of them! They make so many of them…Just too many made, so I just try to stay away from the new stuff. I like vintage toys.

BS: Favorite Urban Vinyl Artist?

JH: I really don’t I really don’t’ get into the urban vinyl to much but I will take a minute to walk around the Con, since you brought that up.

BS: Ever thought of opening your own toy/pop culture museum like Geppi’s Museum in Baltimore?

JH: I thought about it a lot. I’ve had a lot of people ask me, and I know people have come up to me and wanted to donate stuff to a museum… I just don’t have the time do it right now. If I do it, I would want to do it right. I’ve known Geppi for years and I have been meaning to make it down there.

BS: Any toy factory stories?

JH: I kicked around Cincinnati, Ohio for a while. A lot of my clients were from Kenner Toys so I would always go back down there where the old buildings were. It was really cool, just walking around the whole place where Kenner was. When Kenner shut down in Cincinnati Ohio, a lot of stuff was just being thrown out. A friend of mine called me who worked for Kenner and she was like ‘come on down!’ We walked around the building and the offices and everything. It was really cool to see the old catalogs that were thrown out and old business cards, just all stuff that was really so central and so cool for that era of the industry I got a lot of mementos and a lot of people gave me a lot of stuff which was a lot of fun.

BS: Best city to toy hunt in?

JH: Right now would probably be Cincinnati, because all around there… Cincinnati and Kentucky that’s where Kenner Toys was. A lot people saved a lot stuff. I love that! Also I like up in New York State. There were distribution houses out there, in that part of the country ,right near Canada. You will find a lot of warehouse finds up there as well.

BS: Is there a certain toy you are sick of seeing?

JH: Sick of? I’m never sick of seeing any toy! There is a particular toys that comes around a lot that’s funny. It’s a double edged sword. A lot of vintage Star Wars but then again I love vintage Star Wars. They made a lot, so there is a lot of it out there. Especially in flea markets or in attics. There is also a lot of Barbie. You know, it just goes with the job. They just made hundreds and hundreds of thousands of toys so there is a lot of it! I’m not really sick of it, I just kinda go… oh hello, there’s Barbie again. I just roll with the punches.

BS: What is your favorite 70′s cartoon?

JH: Super Friends

BS: What is your favorite 80′s cartoon?

JH: Thundercats

BS: Favorite Pizza

JH: My favorite pizza? Oh, this is a great question! I love…I really, really love just a good Neapolitan pizza, just cheese and tomato pizza, brick oven, thin crust, nice and crispy. I want to taste everything and its gotta have fresh basil. With a nice glass of red wine. mmmm.

BS: Since you’re a big Jurassic Park fan what’s your Favorite Dinosaur?

JH: I really like the Bull Thrasher T-Rex he goes around thrashing his tail, he’s such a bad-ass.

BS: Favorite Batman (Actor/Movie)?

JH: The one with Michael Keaton, he is the best!

BS: Favorite Catwoman (Actress) & (Movie)?

JH: Anne Hathaway! I really liked her character Selina Kyle, although they never really referred to her as
Catwoman only as Selina Kyle.

BS: Favorite Tim Burton film?

JH: Nightmare Before Christmas!

BS: Have you seen the new Frankenweenie?

JH: No I haven’t see Frankenweenie. He redid the short …I also need to see the short! I also love Peewee!