Feb. 10, 2025

TRAINER'S EYE #132 - "The Absol-ute Perfect Plan" ft. Caleb Hatfield from Rockets Markets

TRAINER'S EYE #132 -

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by Caleb Hatfield, a Pokemon Trainer who co-owns Rockets Markets, a business who helps hosts and market events around Dallas-Fort Worth.

Caleb Hatfield starts his journey with Pokemon Blue and playing the Pokemon games and watching teh anime. Caleb continues his Pokemon journey playing through the Hoenn games, but somehow completely misses Pokemon Gold & Silver! 

Caleb Hatfield takes a brief break from Pokemon, but returns with Pokemon GO where he would play the game during the initial hype of 2016. Caleb would also play Pokemon GO with his girlfriend as they would Shiny Hunt together and even share catches. 

Finally, Caleb Hatfield dives into the origin of Rockets Markets and becoming a vendor using Rockets Relics. He gives insight into how he met his business partner and what he has learned along the way about hosting Pokemon events around the DFW area.

Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay

Connect with RocketsMarkets: Website | Instagram

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Connect with David Hernandez: Linktree
E-mail Me: asthepokeballturnspodcast@gmail.com

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Transcript
WEBVTT

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Hey, I'm Caleb Hatfield from Rockets Markets and this is my Pokemon story.

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Welcome to As the Pokeball Turns, where we interview people about their experience with Pokemon.

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name is David Hernandez.

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I'm joined by Caleb Hatfield, co owner of Rocket's Markets, where they curate exceptional vendor markets, pop ups, and craft markets across a diverse range of genres.

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They both host TrainerCon, a dynamic Pokemon marketplace and convention where Pokemon trainers celebrate all things Pokemon.

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Thanks, man.

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David, you're such a professional.

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This is awesome to be on this with you.

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It is, and it's finally nice to bring you on because we met, I think,

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It had.

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was it three or four?

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And I was excited because I had never heard of a Pokemon trainer convention.

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I was like, yeah, I can get to be around other Pokemon people, just

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Heck yeah, man.

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I remember meeting you.

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I mean, I definitely was at at TrainerCon 3.

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That was the first time that we were at our new space.

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It was a much larger space than we'd had before.

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But, yeah, man, it was good to meet you and glad that we fostered a friendship out of this.

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For sure, and it's cool to see you also come out to the community.

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So it's clear that you have such a passion for Pokemon.

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Sure.

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So it started when, my parents graciously took me to a Toys R Us back in the day.

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we were walking down the aisle and I remember seeing Pokemon blue version and I just I had to have it my parents knew that I was into Pokemon and you know with a little bit of egging on they let me go home with Pokemon blue version

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What was it like to finally you play

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dude absolutely after watching the anime for so long it was interesting to to finally get to play and I was so excited I remember after beating the elite four I actually leveled up my dug trio to level 100.

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Oh, wow.

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Why your favorite Pokemon?

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Or was it just

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Not even close.

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Um, I have no idea why I dug Drio.

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I think I just heard that, you know, if you leveled up a Pokemon to level 100, then it like magically turned into Mew or something like that.

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And so, you know, it had be, it had to be, you know, those things were crazy.

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That's cool.

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Oh, geez.

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My starter had to be, Charizard for sure.

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Um, What's wrong with

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ha ha ha ha

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I you're right.

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You're right.

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After going back and playing as Bulbasaur and Venusaur, like, alright, there's some others that are pretty good in there.

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But you said you were also watching the anime beforehand,

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I mean, back at that point in my life, I didn't even realize that shows had a story to them.

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It was just kind of like, you know, the show's on.

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So let me just watch this episode and see what this episode is about.

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I didn't know that there was an overarching story to anything really.

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I just knew that Ash was 10 always and never beat the elite four.

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That's true, wouldn't have gotten to the games, it sounds

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Absolutely not.

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No, there would have been no way.

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How did you feel that now that Ash has kind of retired from the Pokemon franchise?

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It's bittersweet, man.

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to be honest, I haven't really kept up with the anime in quite a while, but, you can't stay 10 forever, I guess.

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He

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That's right.

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That's right.

00:04:05.105 --> 00:04:14.164
Oh,

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Charizard, Pokemon Blue I did Blastoise, And, I just love, being able to pick your own Pokemon, and just, know, develop kind of a bond, and going through all the Gym Leaders, because I always had trouble beating, because Alakazam and Kadabra were just so

00:04:28.432 --> 00:04:28.971
geez.

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Absolutely.

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Mhm.

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What about, did you stick with and

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Absolutely, man.

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I mean, well, okay.

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So I, played blue and I got yellow at a thrift store for like 5 bucks or something like that.

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I paid for it with my own allowance.

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It was that cheap.

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I actually didn't play 2nd gen for, I mean, a while.

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It was probably 5 years ago until I actually sat down with crystal and played it.

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I had blue and, and yellow and I was content with that.

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I, I didn't even know that there was a second generation for a while, so it went from first gen to, third gen and ho end, and then, you know, just kind of went on from there.

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I did play Soul Silver and Heart Gold whenever those came out, but the second gen just kind of slipped on by.

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That's crazy, especially considering how many people revered Gen 2 and it just slipped you You just, it just didn't care, you didn't care attached

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Well, it wasn't that I didn't, didn't want to get into it.

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I just didn't know it existed.

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I had no idea.

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It wasn't until I was at somebody's house, kind of just playing around and he busted out his game boy.

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And I remember seeing the classic, first gen graphics on the screen, but it had so much more color.

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I was like, what is this?

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Do you have a better game boy than I do or something?

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And, uh, then I saw all these different Pokemon that I hadn't, uh, I hadn't seen before and it was just kind of mind blowing.

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I was wondering, so, you know, you kept playing after, you know, Gen 3.

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Do you have a particular favorite, like, generation that you grew to play or

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I don't know, man.

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It's tough because like, you know, I grew up with the first gen, but.

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As I get older, like the, the third gen Pokemon going back to that art style and those Pokemon specifically, I just, I don't know, something just gravitates.

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I just gravitate towards the gen three, Pokemon and the art style.

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So I would have to say is definitely the best for me,

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What

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Flygon, um, Salamence.

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I mean, even like the little guys, like the Reggie's, Latias, Latios, Jirachi, all of the, the legendaries in that are just so sleek.

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they just have something to them, man.

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I agree, cause I mean,

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Mm hmm.

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Mm hmm.

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world building, I love the Pokemon specifically, like, there's not, I hate the most is Feebas, it pain catch.

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But, other than because it looks bad, it's just cause it was a pain, it was just a hard one to catch.

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I never, I Pokemon that I look at, I'm like, I don't really care for it.

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So, yeah.

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seemed like

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hmm.

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Dude.

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All of it, all of it, art style, the story.

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I mean, you, you hit the nail on the head, all of gen three.

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It doesn't miss.

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Absolutely.

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of those three starters and you'll have the probably similar difficulty.

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I think Mudkip has the most advantage probably out of the three, but it's not by you really would have still just a solid play Trico or Torchic as well.

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I'm right there with you, man.

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What's your favorite

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Pokemon?

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Dudee, it's a toss up between Quilava and Absol.

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So Quilava, just because, you know, I grew up a little emo kid and Quilava's pretty uh, pretty alt.

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been a favorite of mine for a while.

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Absol though, it's, first off, the dark type.

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It's something to it.

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You know, it's got a lot of type advantages.

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but also Absol, it may not be great at special attack, but it sure does have thunder it's got fire blast.

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It has blizzard that it can learn.

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It's got all, it can cover so much ground.

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it in your playthroughs, I assume?

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No.

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Well, it was.

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It was.

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I mean, okay, so it is my favorite Pokemon, but I've come to learn that it has some weaknesses to it, too.

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Used to.

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Used to, I would use it in, in my playthroughs, but, you know, I've grown a little bit, learned that there, there may be a few other Pokemon that can do the job a little better than Absol.

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Still holds a special place in my heart, though.

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Oh my, I mean, I can see that the emo stuck with you with as I called it when I like, it's kind of the emo Pokemon

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That's right.

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Yeah, exactly.

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Um, As I've grown older, I've come across people in my hometown that like, will talk about Pokemon.

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And at the time we had no idea that either of us played Pokemon.

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So I think in my community, it was kind of more hush hush about like, you know, there was something, taboo about being into Pokemon.

00:09:36.758 --> 00:09:45.042
Well, it was, I remember it was, there was a certain period where it was kind of, shameful in a way to be into Pokemon because some people either thought it was too little, you're too old to be into it.

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And then also, you know, nerd culture wasn't really embraced at the time.

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This is before, you know, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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I think, I always accredit that to really why people who have kind of nerdy of, I don't want to say come out, but they can kind of be more comfortable about Having kind of those interests and it just was a different time that thankfully it's gone

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Right.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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I mean, that's all that we want is for people to be who they want to be.

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So that's perfect.

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And I, you know, Pokemon kind of allows that.

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it does it does it does Well, as we keep going on, I know that I've met you at Pokemon Go at

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Go, I was actually a day one Pokemon Go download.

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I was so excited for it.

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And then I got out there and started playing and I was like, Oh, this kind of sucks, but my girlfriend at the time, she's now my fiance, she told me that she played Pokemon go and I was like, really?

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So she kind of got me back into it.

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Um, this was probably two years ago that I, that I really got back into it.

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2023, I think September, 2023.

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Now you were surprised, so was she not much

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So, as far as I know, like she would watch the episodes every once in a while.

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I don't think she's ever played a Pokemon game like a core game.

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Um, so learning that she was into Pokemon go.

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Yeah, it was, it was surprising.

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Um, I'm really glad that she did play it because, you know, it got me into it.

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Now it's, it's awesome.

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I love the raids, the max battles that they're introducing now.

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And just the, the community that's around Pokemon go, it's, it's so cool to go to, the stuff that.

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That you hold and, you know, where you're passing out those wristbands.

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I mean, I've got a, a backpack full of all the, the wristbands that you, uh, that given out now.

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So.

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And if you want one of them wristbands, you can become one by Anyway, Ha ha

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That's perfect.

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do

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ha

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helps David out helps.

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Uh, so, Yeah, going to those Pokemon Go events is really cool, being able to see how much of a community there still is around Pokemon.

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This game that we've been playing since we were kids, it's still, it's still going strong.

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It's so, so cool.

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What would you and your girlfriend do?

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Would like y'all just take walks together or just would y'all's

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So, in the beginning, we kind of just like hung out and saw what was in our area.

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We're both kind of from a small town area.

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So there really wasn't much of a Pokemon go community.

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Um, it was just something more to do to pass the time.

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But when we got to Dallas, going in like, Oh, I see a red gem near us.

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Let's go mess them up.

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Let's go take over that gym.

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you know, she's in the yellow one, which is instinct.

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Okay.

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And I'm in blue with his, which is mythic, So.

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Yeah, we would kind of have a rivalry like, uh, whenever I saw a yellow gem, uh, you know, I'd be like, Oh, I'm about to mess you and your folks up.

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And same with her to me.

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but yeah, just kind of a friendly rivalry, I guess, is what we were going for.

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And, that kind of evolved to, you know what, maybe let's get out there and do a route or, Oh, I see this Pokemon that we don't have.

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Let's go find out where that is.

00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:10.360
And that just kind of evolved into like, Oh, well, there's this Pokemon go event that's going on at Addison circle park, you know, let's, let's go see what's going on there.

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And then there you are.

00:14:13.562 --> 00:14:21.131
so it was just kind of a, a fun evolution of, you know, it started innocently and now it's like just a thing that we do.

00:14:21.894 --> 00:14:23.215
almost like a social outing, it

00:14:23.517 --> 00:14:24.596
That's exactly right.

00:14:24.596 --> 00:14:25.067
Yeah.

00:14:25.381 --> 00:14:26.841
do you try to shiny hunt at all?

00:14:26.851 --> 00:14:27.552
Or, like, what's

00:14:30.813 --> 00:14:35.033
So shiny hunting is definitely a thing, especially when there's like a community day.

00:14:35.368 --> 00:14:40.707
she and I will, uh, we'll text each other screenshots of like, Oh my God, look who I just got.

00:14:40.717 --> 00:14:42.207
Look what shiny I just got.

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And, you know, it's, it's really cool.

00:14:44.293 --> 00:14:44.933
Awesome.

00:14:44.953 --> 00:14:50.683
That's amazing, It's cool to see how Pokemon goes kind of not only kind of enhance your I guess

00:14:52.890 --> 00:14:53.160
right.

00:14:53.160 --> 00:14:55.600
Yeah, it's kind of neat how Pokemon does that.

00:14:56.057 --> 00:15:04.368
I want to kind of dive into, you know, how we did meet, which was at the trainer and want to know, like, how did this start originally?

00:15:04.368 --> 00:15:07.817
It's like overseas it's by rocket markets, the kind of the oversight.

00:15:08.298 --> 00:15:11.028
How did y'all kind of kind

00:15:12.235 --> 00:15:19.057
Yeah, so, we started with our first event was held at a little coffee shop.

00:15:19.447 --> 00:15:20.618
Okay, well, let me back up.

00:15:20.942 --> 00:15:26.750
Our first kind of foray into getting into events within the Pokemon community was with Rockets Relics.

00:15:26.769 --> 00:15:44.166
That's a, a little company that are a little business that we made, uh, where we make, Diorama cubes from, the Pokemon TCG, we would, we would never cannibalize a card to do this, but we would take the image of those cards and kind of make it into a diorama, a 3d diorama where it has some dimension.

00:15:44.166 --> 00:15:50.773
And it's more of like a, collectible, a memorabilia piece, somebody to put it on their desk or whatever or like a shelf in their room.

00:15:51.091 --> 00:15:57.654
And it kind of evolved into like, well, we have this product, we started making air fresheners to go along with that.

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And then it was like, okay, well, we're going to these events and they're awesome.

00:16:03.647 --> 00:16:06.076
we want to hold events ourselves.

00:16:06.116 --> 00:16:25.100
So we created trainer con and trainer con is where we had, a marketplace where artists could come and, Set up their shop and sell their products and, you know, we saw what it would do for us and we wanted to spread the love within the community and and have other people do the same thing that we were doing.

00:16:25.490 --> 00:16:30.679
So we would have artists come, people that are selling sealed products like TCG products.

00:16:31.077 --> 00:16:38.658
People that are making clothes for, like, Pokemon themed clothes, you know, all different kinds of people in the Pokemon community.

00:16:38.658 --> 00:17:17.332
We just wanted to, to spread the love, to be a part of it, you know, So over time that evolved into us holding a TCG tournament and then like a super smash bros tournament, and then most recently a cosplay contest it's amazing to see how much fun there is within the community and how strong and how tight knit of a community, the Pokemon community is, there's always a friendly face that you see at, these events, like, uh, I'm by nature, somewhat of a loner and seeing all of these wonderful people at the markets, whether it be our markets or somebody else's is just, it's so neat.

00:17:17.571 --> 00:17:20.461
So neat to share a story about, what's going on.

00:17:20.481 --> 00:17:23.632
You know, I've learned so much about these people's families.

00:17:23.954 --> 00:17:26.214
So it's really such a tight knit community.

00:17:26.214 --> 00:17:29.029
and I've typically I'm more of like the product side of things.

00:17:29.339 --> 00:17:32.923
I create, things for us to sell, and then.

00:17:32.942 --> 00:17:37.507
Joey, my business partner is more on like the socializing with people.

00:17:37.507 --> 00:17:39.487
He's much more social than I am.

00:17:39.957 --> 00:17:43.797
Um, so he's kind of the, the voice of the company.

00:17:43.846 --> 00:17:46.656
I'm kind of the hands of the company, if that makes any sense.

00:17:47.064 --> 00:17:52.594
Earlier, uh, while you were talking, you said to kind of give people the opportunity that Jaw Guys received.

00:17:52.866 --> 00:17:52.926
hmm.

00:17:53.693 --> 00:17:54.013
I guess.

00:17:54.013 --> 00:17:56.884
Could you give me more insight on like, maybe you go into these events?

00:17:56.884 --> 00:18:03.705
Like before y'all started the whole rocket relics and everything, how did y'all experience going to these other events that made y'all want to start this?

00:18:04.333 --> 00:18:08.633
I mean, we were, we were nobodies within the Pokemon community.

00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:11.560
we really didn't have a name at all.

00:18:11.641 --> 00:18:19.211
And, being kind of boosted up by Indigo Plateau, they showcased us for one, one event.

00:18:19.221 --> 00:18:21.330
They put us on their Instagram story.

00:18:22.337 --> 00:18:28.288
People were coming to their market like, Oh my gosh, I saw your product on Indigo Plateau's Instagram story.

00:18:28.458 --> 00:18:29.758
I have to have this.

00:18:30.057 --> 00:18:34.538
And I guess it just kind of went from there, seeing what they did for us.

00:18:34.567 --> 00:18:36.798
We kind of wanted to do that for other people.

00:18:37.148 --> 00:18:37.788
Mm hmm.

00:18:37.798 --> 00:18:40.489
And then that's what led y'all to kind of want to start the

00:18:44.046 --> 00:18:45.096
Right, right.

00:18:45.115 --> 00:18:51.986
Because there's so much love to spread in the Pokemon community and, being able to spread it, it feels nice.

00:18:54.115 --> 00:19:02.195
It feels nice and it feels like we're doing, we're doing something that, you know, gives back to where we started, if that makes sense.

00:19:02.775 --> 00:19:03.295
It does.

00:19:03.325 --> 00:19:06.934
And then I loved how y'all said y'all get to kind of know these vendors, you get to not kind of know the

00:19:10.423 --> 00:19:11.103
Absolutely.

00:19:11.103 --> 00:19:13.363
Yeah, we, we talk throughout the day.

00:19:13.363 --> 00:19:18.212
We always like to check in with our vendors and make sure that, you know, do you need anything?

00:19:18.522 --> 00:19:20.272
what can we do to help you?

00:19:20.442 --> 00:19:23.303
Do you want us to stand in your booth while you run to the restroom?

00:19:23.303 --> 00:19:25.583
Or, you know, just a number of things.

00:19:25.663 --> 00:19:28.823
What can we do to make this better for you?

00:19:29.182 --> 00:19:29.613
You know?

00:19:30.323 --> 00:19:36.292
Just kind of along those lines, we'll, we'll do whatever we can for our vendors because we ourselves are vendors.

00:19:37.704 --> 00:19:40.855
So y'all get to kind of experience, I guess, the struggles that they're kind of going through, or

00:19:44.153 --> 00:19:44.813
Absolutely.

00:19:44.813 --> 00:19:45.123
Yeah.

00:19:45.153 --> 00:19:47.903
I mean, we know exactly what goes through people's heads.

00:19:47.903 --> 00:19:50.032
So, you know, we try to be one step ahead.

00:19:50.632 --> 00:19:51.231
What kind of things?

00:19:51.231 --> 00:19:52.132
Could you give me some insight?

00:19:52.132 --> 00:19:53.071
Just, like, what are

00:19:56.474 --> 00:20:00.045
So I think the biggest thing is where's the restroom?

00:20:01.164 --> 00:20:02.194
Where's the restroom?

00:20:02.434 --> 00:20:03.434
Where's the food?

00:20:04.694 --> 00:20:07.275
So tried to accommodate in those ways.

00:20:07.275 --> 00:20:12.214
And, we always try to point people in the right direction of either 1 of those.

00:20:13.932 --> 00:20:14.491
They're kind of

00:20:17.825 --> 00:20:21.305
There have been events where we're just like, Oh my God, I've got to go real bad.

00:20:21.714 --> 00:20:23.744
Where do I, where's the nearest bush?

00:20:23.785 --> 00:20:26.164
Because I have no idea where the restroom is.

00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:35.549
I was wondering, so, you know, you hosted the first Trainer Con, you know, before, you know, you finally decided to host it for Pokemon people.

00:20:35.957 --> 00:20:38.797
what went through your mind when you started hosting your own event for vendors?

00:20:38.797 --> 00:20:42.457
Were you Were you kind of freaking out at that point?

00:20:42.576 --> 00:20:46.636
Especially because you, you're more on the, you know, uh, not loner, but

00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:51.329
Absolutely, absolutely.

00:20:51.329 --> 00:20:53.180
Reserved is going to be the better way to put it.

00:20:54.170 --> 00:21:00.464
So, yeah, I mean, I'm also more of a go by logic sort of thing.

00:21:00.494 --> 00:21:09.861
I mean, Joey is too, but, it was so I'm more of a planner and I have to see the data to justify what we're doing.

00:21:10.121 --> 00:21:10.461
Right.

00:21:10.471 --> 00:21:10.740
So.

00:21:10.998 --> 00:21:15.508
Knowing zero data about like, oh, is this going to turn out?

00:21:15.508 --> 00:21:16.057
Okay.

00:21:16.288 --> 00:21:18.248
Are there are people even going to show up?

00:21:18.278 --> 00:21:28.138
Like, it was so nerve wracking that 1st trainer con that we that we had, we just had no, or I had no idea if it was going to work or not.

00:21:28.148 --> 00:21:30.878
Joey was just like, yeah, no, it'll work out.

00:21:30.888 --> 00:21:31.519
It'll be fine.

00:21:32.548 --> 00:21:33.179
And it did.

00:21:33.568 --> 00:21:34.038
It did.

00:21:34.078 --> 00:21:41.691
I actually, he inspires me all the time to, To kind of just lean back and trust the process, because that's what he does.

00:21:41.691 --> 00:21:46.240
He, he knows exactly how to do things, how to make things happen.

00:21:46.570 --> 00:21:48.240
And, I've seen it firsthand.

00:21:48.310 --> 00:21:56.847
So knowing zero data about the, the event, how it was going to go, and then seeing how it went, like, it was an amazing process.

00:21:56.847 --> 00:22:01.448
It was an amazing transformation from being nervous as hell to, Oh, my God.

00:22:01.988 --> 00:22:03.008
This is actually working.

00:22:05.265 --> 00:22:12.424
I mean, it's very scary because that's a real possibility that nobody shows up because you're wondering, did I market this event enough?

00:22:12.664 --> 00:22:14.065
Do about it?

00:22:14.095 --> 00:22:16.095
Would people even care to come out?

00:22:17.025 --> 00:22:21.755
And the fact that I think, you know, y'all have to put all this investment, you're hoping things work out.

00:22:21.755 --> 00:22:24.115
You're promising vendors that people are going to come.

00:22:24.115 --> 00:22:25.694
Like, how embarrassing would it be?

00:22:25.964 --> 00:22:33.164
You host this event and nobody shows You know, it's just, it not only makes us bad on you, but it looks, it hurts the vendors that you deeply, of

00:22:36.573 --> 00:22:37.442
Exactly.

00:22:37.502 --> 00:22:38.292
Exactly.

00:22:38.472 --> 00:22:52.048
And I've kind of relaxed about that in the more recent ones have when we've seen the progression of having, we started with 10 vendors, I think 11 vendors and the, our more recent ones are our next one.

00:22:52.048 --> 00:22:53.948
We're going to have over a hundred.

00:22:54.298 --> 00:22:56.597
So I've, I've learned to trust the process now.

00:22:57.182 --> 00:23:03.083
My last question, just in regards to what y'all have been I wanted to kind of get an insight on how you and Joey met.

00:23:03.083 --> 00:23:04.113
Like, when did y'all first kind

00:23:07.365 --> 00:23:14.285
Yeah, so before we started working together on Pokemon stuff, we actually started working together in a job.

00:23:15.545 --> 00:23:16.825
that's how I met Joey.

00:23:16.894 --> 00:23:21.714
He was a graphic designer for a, for a company.

00:23:21.744 --> 00:23:25.805
And I came in as a production manager for this company.

00:23:26.194 --> 00:23:33.229
And, we started just kind of chatting back and forth and I think it was like the second or third day.

00:23:33.818 --> 00:23:38.298
I noticed that he had a cup that had Pokemon cards all the way around it.

00:23:38.909 --> 00:23:42.298
And I was like, Hey, uh, what's going on with that cup there?

00:23:42.298 --> 00:23:43.878
I like it, but what's going on?

00:23:44.028 --> 00:23:45.868
And he was like, Oh dude, you like it?

00:23:45.868 --> 00:23:47.459
I got it from a Pokemon market.

00:23:48.038 --> 00:23:50.148
I was like, I didn't know there was such a thing.

00:23:52.739 --> 00:23:55.778
So from there, you know, it just kind of took off.

00:23:55.818 --> 00:23:58.009
It was like, Oh, well, who's your favorite Pokemon?

00:23:58.169 --> 00:23:59.568
What games have you played?

00:23:59.749 --> 00:24:01.538
Do you know how to play the TCG?

00:24:01.979 --> 00:24:04.259
And I had no idea how to play the TCG.

00:24:04.259 --> 00:24:05.628
So he got me into that too.

00:24:05.778 --> 00:24:13.288
I mean, as just threw down cards and we're just like, here, I'm going to hit you with the head, but, and it your grout on.

00:24:16.058 --> 00:24:23.539
you know, he's actually taught me a lot about, about like the TCG Brought me into the community as a, as a whole.

00:24:23.573 --> 00:24:32.487
so anyway, after we started talking about Pokemon and like where we came from, where we wanted to go, it was a no brainer.

00:24:32.487 --> 00:24:33.707
We were business partners.

00:24:33.717 --> 00:24:35.646
It was just meant to be, Who's

00:24:35.926 --> 00:24:37.844
idea was it to start the do these

00:24:38.207 --> 00:24:39.136
well, it wasn't mine.

00:24:43.413 --> 00:24:45.544
okay, on a limb.

00:24:45.544 --> 00:24:46.743
It's probably Joey's,

00:24:47.636 --> 00:24:48.227
might be right.

00:24:49.354 --> 00:24:50.104
I might be right.

00:24:50.104 --> 00:24:50.523
Who is there?

00:24:50.523 --> 00:24:51.124
A third person?

00:24:51.124 --> 00:24:53.884
We don't know about but you, I buried in the basement.

00:24:56.782 --> 00:24:57.323
Oh, geez.

00:24:57.373 --> 00:24:59.130
Okay, well, you know, it's Wally.

00:24:59.140 --> 00:25:02.619
He was always just a little, little sorry little guy in Gen

00:25:02.952 --> 00:25:03.972
Oh, poor Wally.

00:25:03.972 --> 00:25:06.643
Oh, had a health condition.

00:25:06.643 --> 00:25:06.883
Come

00:25:07.529 --> 00:25:08.220
Did he really?

00:25:08.359 --> 00:25:08.819
Oh, no.

00:25:09.732 --> 00:25:09.823
had

00:25:10.220 --> 00:25:11.730
Oh, well, so do I.

00:25:11.769 --> 00:25:12.940
He has no excuses.

00:25:14.232 --> 00:25:15.012
Oh damn.

00:25:16.452 --> 00:25:21.103
But I did kind of wonder, said you're more reserved, you know, you gotta see the data.

00:25:21.788 --> 00:25:33.270
And then for Joey to pitch idea is like, Hey, let's do, let's start a business together and let's a host where we bring vendors in, some

00:25:35.272 --> 00:25:36.053
Absolutely.

00:25:37.053 --> 00:25:39.553
I was like, yeah, um, let's do it.

00:25:39.563 --> 00:25:39.843
But.

00:25:40.009 --> 00:25:42.559
I need to know how this is going to happen.

00:25:42.569 --> 00:25:43.930
We need to plan this thing out.

00:25:44.049 --> 00:25:49.502
And, uh, you know, he kind of gave me a rough outline, but in my mind, it wasn't enough data.

00:25:49.593 --> 00:25:51.386
I needed to know the whole thing.

00:25:51.386 --> 00:25:53.212
Like, how many people are going to be there?

00:25:53.232 --> 00:25:54.053
And you never know.

00:25:54.103 --> 00:25:57.712
That's not, that's, that's something that you, you can't plan for.

00:25:58.133 --> 00:26:03.333
and I think it was just all the unknowns that I wasn't prepared for, but, he was just kind of like, trust the process.

00:26:03.703 --> 00:26:05.153
I mean, how do y'all kind of find a balance?

00:26:05.153 --> 00:26:08.324
Because, you know, you got your planner, he's by the seats of his pants.

00:26:08.324 --> 00:26:14.144
Sounds like, how do y'all kind of find that balance to kind of work together and make polar

00:26:15.082 --> 00:26:20.711
We very much are, but being polar opposites covers all of the bases.

00:26:21.087 --> 00:26:23.337
So, absolutely.

00:26:23.337 --> 00:26:24.597
He's the social guy.

00:26:24.798 --> 00:26:26.417
I'm the behind the scenes guy.

00:26:26.692 --> 00:26:28.051
at least that's the way I like it.

00:26:29.443 --> 00:26:29.753
Hey,

00:26:30.791 --> 00:26:31.892
That's exactly right.

00:26:31.902 --> 00:26:41.311
So, know, we're going to, these venues beforehand and kind of checking them out, making sure that it will work for our needs, measuring out the spaces.

00:26:41.335 --> 00:26:45.617
and yeah, we are polar opposites, but we're a lot alike in the same vein.

00:26:47.367 --> 00:26:48.948
We have a common goal, I guess.

00:26:49.394 --> 00:26:53.324
What's something that maybe has Do you have any funny stories on that?

00:26:54.007 --> 00:27:01.747
Hmm, you know, thankfully I can say that we haven't really had anything go, go wrong.

00:27:02.116 --> 00:27:05.287
I think that might be, it is right.

00:27:05.297 --> 00:27:06.817
But you know what that's from?

00:27:06.856 --> 00:27:07.646
It's from

00:27:07.723 --> 00:27:08.074
What?

00:27:08.797 --> 00:27:09.517
planning.

00:27:12.294 --> 00:27:16.894
you have done your thorough homework, and whatever you and Joey got going on, clearly it works.

00:27:16.894 --> 00:27:17.173
I'm

00:27:21.156 --> 00:27:22.366
Yeah, absolutely.

00:27:22.596 --> 00:27:23.186
Well, okay.

00:27:23.217 --> 00:27:23.497
Okay.

00:27:23.527 --> 00:27:24.186
I will say this.

00:27:24.186 --> 00:27:25.836
There has been one thing that went wrong.

00:27:25.876 --> 00:27:27.856
It was our first TCG tournament.

00:27:28.477 --> 00:27:34.836
We had, One person sign up the night before, the TCG tournament was supposed to go on.

00:27:35.227 --> 00:27:37.446
And so we were like, okay, we, we got to make a decision.

00:27:37.757 --> 00:27:41.717
We can't go on with the TCG tournament with one person.

00:27:41.747 --> 00:27:44.606
I mean, there was, I think it was 150 prize.

00:27:44.997 --> 00:27:48.906
We can't just walk up and hand this person 150 bucks.

00:27:49.396 --> 00:27:50.817
So we.

00:27:51.092 --> 00:28:02.545
Made the tough decision to cancel that first TCG tournament and, uh, you know, we, we put out a blast on social media saying that, you know, we're sorry, but can't make it happen.

00:28:03.174 --> 00:28:04.771
And then we get to the event.

00:28:04.791 --> 00:28:05.642
We're setting up and.

00:28:05.946 --> 00:28:10.037
People are coming up to us like, Hey, where do I sign up for the TCG tournament?

00:28:11.477 --> 00:28:18.557
And we probably had a dozen people that day, like, dude, we've had the ad up for so long.

00:28:18.656 --> 00:28:29.923
I wish you would have told us, but it's not their fault of course, but you know, it's one of those things that it was a tough decision to make, but we felt like it was the right one at the time.

00:28:29.923 --> 00:28:32.093
And turned out it may not have been.

00:28:32.093 --> 00:28:35.367
Yeah.

00:28:35.516 --> 00:28:38.675
but had to say, nah, he can't just do it by himself.

00:28:39.218 --> 00:28:39.577
Right?

00:28:41.516 --> 00:28:46.546
But I mean, that's a tough decision though, because on one hand you want to him at least earn it.

00:28:47.250 --> 00:28:52.260
But on the other, you kind of want to, it'd be kind of he's the only one who signed up.

00:28:52.260 --> 00:28:52.671
So he wins

00:28:53.238 --> 00:28:54.178
Exactly.

00:28:55.938 --> 00:28:57.107
That's exactly right.

00:28:57.258 --> 00:28:59.667
if he would have had one opponent, it'd have been fine.

00:28:59.928 --> 00:29:01.448
We would have had to honor the deal.

00:29:01.488 --> 00:29:06.518
And we would have gladly, but yeah, exactly.

00:29:06.738 --> 00:29:07.728
But we didn't have that.

00:29:07.738 --> 00:29:09.597
So had to make a decision.

00:29:10.038 --> 00:29:11.358
And this thing is just growing.

00:29:11.509 --> 00:29:12.009
It's growing.

00:29:12.009 --> 00:29:13.999
It's amazing to see how much it is growing.

00:29:14.269 --> 00:29:18.729
This will be our first time in this new market hall and next event.

00:29:18.739 --> 00:29:22.019
We'll probably even have to upgrade to a bigger space because of it.

00:29:22.019 --> 00:29:24.898
Yeah.

00:29:27.481 --> 00:29:29.872
Oh, Caleb, thank you for coming on the show.

00:29:29.912 --> 00:29:33.951
Before you go, if people do to check out Jaws Merchandise, if they want to go to this

00:29:34.659 --> 00:29:34.719
Yeah.

00:29:36.162 --> 00:29:36.471
please

00:29:37.364 --> 00:29:45.403
So, first off, I want to, to kind of plug a few of our vendors, a few of a few people that mean a lot to me and to us.

00:29:46.092 --> 00:29:49.291
first off, I want to plug our, our artists that we have.

00:29:49.301 --> 00:29:52.942
Her name is Liz Anna May on Instagram, Liz Hendrickson.

00:29:52.961 --> 00:29:54.721
She does amazing art.

00:29:54.771 --> 00:29:59.011
She's done all of our arts for all of our events, except for the first one.

00:29:59.011 --> 00:30:02.932
That one was just kind of thrown together, but she's done all of the art.

00:30:03.281 --> 00:30:04.761
an amazing artist.

00:30:05.041 --> 00:30:07.481
Uh, she just got, I think an award recently.

00:30:07.491 --> 00:30:10.821
So Liz anime, uh, professor Caton.

00:30:11.182 --> 00:30:14.281
An amazing artist, uh, within the community.

00:30:14.281 --> 00:30:17.132
She does play mats, mouse pads.

00:30:17.182 --> 00:30:21.961
Um, my mouse is on a mouse pad right now from her, button up shirts, all kinds of cool stuff.

00:30:22.221 --> 00:30:23.251
Blank canvas.

00:30:23.571 --> 00:30:29.291
She does heat press, hoodies, sweatshirts, tote bags, all kinds of cool stuff.

00:30:29.791 --> 00:30:31.701
Joro Gumo does.

00:30:32.067 --> 00:30:36.727
Rugs, she makes rugs and bunch of different cool little art pieces.

00:30:37.153 --> 00:30:43.809
Meiji market helps a lot with the TCG tournaments also does her own art, uh, within the community.

00:30:43.900 --> 00:30:44.809
She's amazing.

00:30:45.269 --> 00:30:51.039
Ghostly waters is a guy that we, we met recently, but he's becoming a fast friend and.

00:30:51.125 --> 00:30:54.335
Really big part of, what makes trainer con trainer con.

00:30:54.742 --> 00:31:04.622
and the list goes on, man, I can go on forever, but if you want to look at our stuff, rockets, relics trainer con on Instagram, rockets markets.

00:31:04.852 --> 00:31:06.332
com to find our events.