Why Live Shopping and Collectibles are the #1 Opportunity in 2026

0:00This is the Gary Vee Audio Experience.

0:30TCG, stay and get into TCG. We're also going to talk some non-sporting there as well because inevitably TCG and not-sporting can't even be very close. So, I'm going to start with a question. I got this one. Make them work directly for the world at first. So, look at me, when you first jumped heavily in the Pokemon Act 2020, you basically were very probably about the area of influence into pushing there. What is it that, I mean, how much would you say followed from that original conversation?

1:07The amount of impact that that dude right there has had on my life is like borderline in Calgary. He has influenced me in so many positive ways. Like, fun fact about Gary and I, we go back, I think 13 years at this point, my first trip to New York ever was to go sign with Gary Vee and his media company. But I was just a pioneer. And he's always believed in me from day one. And he'll give me little hints and tidbits on his wisdom. He's a true Jedi, a true Yoda of his face. So when this man speaks, I listen. Gary called me up one day. He said, man, you really got to start looking at new sports cards.

1:54Sports cards. They're going to pop off, electrical market, all this. All this to talk. I was like, man, I'm not super into sports. I love Pokemon. I have a Pokemon tattoo. I grew up watching Pokemon, playing Pokemon. He said, Pokemon is huge too. Look at Pokemon. And the impetus of just that sentence changed the course of my life. So I thank you for the Gary. Thank you again, man. Because it is such an important part of my life. I love you. It's actually crazy watching Logan talk because over Logan's shoulder is Tyler Schmidt, who was my admin at the time and literally helped Logan make his first Pokemon buy.

2:40Yes. Yes. Insane, insane. I have a$3 ,000 shot. All right, so the question follows. now that you are influenced or six years later you have made quite a bit of yourself at this point curious what would you say as far as the last political purchase or sale that the two of you actually assessed is that are you more influencing here at now or Gary you saw a little from there do you think there's any correlation now yeah yeah you did a lot I mean Rob you sent me on a path that I cannot get off even when I tried here I try to stop bonding. I can do something there. I can assist him. Right now, I think for both of us, we're so busy.

3:26And, you know, it just ebbs and flows when you have a real relationship. It's always there. There's also not been anything that is like so off the charts. To your point, first of all, he knows Pokemon. And he did that day better overall than I knew anyway. And that's been his main focus. Probably the last significant collectible combo we had was more about the platform he's building. It was more business stuff. So it hasn't been specific to like, hey, this thing's going on or this collectible. It's been more macro business genre than anything specific. So being that you bought a$5 million book sold for$16 million just recently, it's obvious that you are deep into the TCG community.

4:18Gary, you have been doing V Friends for a number of years now. Started as a TCG, but now it's focused maybe more on the collectible cards. Do you find that TCG is still something that you're focused on, passionate about? Or do you maybe turn more to the non-sport? Because I know you've talked about that. I don't think I can build V Friends if I don't win in animation and film. and in TCG. So for me, I know that everyone rightfully for them is judging things in the short term. For me to build what I need to build, I need to think about it long term. So for me, I'm putting down different pieces of the puzzle.

5:02I would argue the most important thing I'm doing with VFriends right now is the comic books. Because yes, people will believe in me and think I'm a good entrepreneur or a good guy and want to support me. But VFriends cannot be what I want it to be, a Marvel, a Disney, a Pokemon, unless the world falls in love with the characters, not want to support me. So over the last two, three years, because of the Topps deal that I was able to put together, I needed the broad distribution of the Topps Chrome deal. and that's why you see me in non-sports and we're focused on comic books. The TCG that we put out in 2022 was very basic, a very simple game.

5:46When we re-enter the TCG place, we want to re-enter it from a much more complex, very challenging game standpoint with the hope that it has some collectability. I want to win over the TCG community that is more magic, the gathering, hardcore players, because that's another group of people. There's the collectors and flippers here, there's the gamers, there's the comic book, and then ultimately, I need to produce feature films and animations that play on Netflix and theaters for me to accomplish my mission. That's what I'm doing.

6:36versus creating a plan for the game. When we do our next TCG, and we almost did it a year ago, and then I stopped it because I feel like I'm getting stronger and better and understanding what we want to accomplish. I would say it's 80 % for the game and that true hardcore nerd gaming play for 20 years community when we come out. But of course, I'm a collector and I think about what happens here a lot. And so we'll do the proper factors that allow people to get some excitement on collectability, but I would say 80-20, whereas the non-sports cards right now are collectability and the back-of-the-card storytelling.

7:17Well, and to that point, and this is really a question for both of you, how much do you think in background on the original comic books or the movies, TV shows, whatever the original purpose of the IP was plays a part on the game. Because obviously, Pokemon started as really more of a game before it was really collectible time, right? When we've got Orphan, which is big right now, it started as movies and plushies and TV and obviously more TV and your TCG defense started as a TCG and now it's more collectible. Well, it started as an NFT, a digital collectible and then the second series was interesting.

7:54I went digital. You got the NFT with a box of TCG cards.

8:02Matter. I would say, I apologize, Logan. For this world, it's everything. I'm gonna just break this down because you might find it interesting. Where an IP starts really matters in its collectability. Harry Potter, I'm very bullish on Harry Potter trading cards, but the original first edition book, because it started as a book, really matters, right? Star Wars has done incredibly well in trading cards. but the action figures because they predated in a lot of ways and are more known you know Pokemon you look at these brands you look at history when you're collecting you always want to look at day one I believe long term the digital collectible for Be Friends in 30 years will be the ultimate because it started there even though we will have very collectible comic books and trading cards What about you, as far as Pokemon Origins?

8:58I know we're all about the Thoracore comics. You are here for multiple reasons. So one of the things that you're doing is trying to heal the perfect PSA technology from Thoracore. And that's a really big deal, even if that's where the origination of the PCC started. So you must hear it. Yeah, I kind of missed it. I think origin stories are so. And more in general, what contributes to the weight of IP, and how did they get there? And then, are various parts of that IP successful? Like, for some of it as a game, it did way better than a newer creature's thought of it. And they decided this should be a TCG.

9:38Then the TCG did a little well, and then the movie does well. They made it time after time after time again. It all matters because of the value of your IP. If one of them is underperforming, then that's just why. And it isn't yet to be in that space. I think it would have to be a perfect game or perfect IP to hear something. Yeah, it all matters because it all turns a little bit punctually, and I think how something culturally affects how they feel when I'm putting it into it. Absolutely. Well, so I've been watching a few of your weekly blogs. I appreciate you being so clear and what you've been like.

10:14I've seen a lot of fun you are in the past recently. And I know Gary, you obviously have been getting to be friends, but outside of those two, TCG, what are your things, TCG or not, that are you focused on? I'm really into game work. Jamie's going to be real. I think it's coming out of the value. It's not a short one. I'm a casual fan. You know, I'm going to try some time, I'm sorry, watching most sports. I had some time and watching most sports. I think they might get me through the world. Because, I mean, I don't want to get to say, also, I play sports. I like watching sports. I'll give it to you.

10:56I hate sports. Best in class, plays Kobe, LePron, Jordan Curry, Juleses. I have Wayne Gretzky's final championship game, Hockey Stick. I don't know, so cool. Yeah, he gave me his name. Okay. Gary? It's so fun to be with such a cool wrestler on stage. I've been doubling down and I've been collecting for over a decade vintage wrestling cards. So hand cut Andre the Giant rookie, the 82 series, which has Hogan and Flair and Iron Sheik's rookie. So vintage wrestling. And then we talked about this. The number one thing I did when I got here was looked for 1935 Mickey Mouse gum ink rookie card and 1940 Superman gum ink.

11:45I think vintage fictional. I will be on this hill for a while. 1966 Donruss is the 86-87 Fleer basketball fictional. It's got Spider-Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk.

12:03Nice. Nice. I'm crazy. I'm crazy on all that. And even some of the modern stuff. Shrek, Buzz Lightyear. I just think Transformers, my best friend Brandon out there, I gotta get him an Optimus Prime rookie card. I think 60s, 70s, 80s, fictional, even 30s, 40s, Felix the Cat, Papa Smurf, Kermit the Frog. I don't think this world realizes is that the Comic-Con community is starting to bleed into cards. I think it is on people's radar here that Marvel and Disney and Star Wars modern cards are doing well because of Topps, Chrome, and Sapphire. I think there's a lot of misunderstanding of supply and demand of the original rookie cards of these characters.

12:54So you know I'm very bullish on that. Hey, everybody. Hope you're enjoying the podcast right now. Make sure you follow the podcast. That's why I'm interrupting. Let's keep going on this show, but follow the podcast. It'll make my mom super happy.

13:31All right sir, what do you think? It's home. It's home, yeah, it's sports entertainment. Are we talking like 50-50 or is it 40-50? I mean, I think it's 50-50. I mean, look, I've done a lot, you know? See, I'm from a big emotions point of view. I've done a lot in my life. WWE is the hardest thing I've ever ever had in my life. I'm not saying that it is the most difficult skill that I've ever had to acquire because you're doing so many different things all in one. I mean, the physicality of it all is just insane. Like, it's dangerous. You don't have a safety net. You're alive. You better not slip on your nose because, you know, you don't.

14:16You can hurt the other guy. You can hurt the other guy. It's like, you know, you're not in some of these moves. And even if I do it successfully, it's a hole in your body. I mean, you're... I'm not sure, man. I'm not sure. But it was a cool dream about my head. We're jumping on it. We're doing a business. We have the physicality, we're showing the shit, we're storytelling, we're the organization, we believe in the way, really, we believe in the way. It's insane. So I believe you're quoted as saying you got a call from your account and saying that Logan, you spent$9 million on collectibles this year already.

14:51And your response was, you're like, I used their tent. Yeah, that's correct. You are obviously deeply into the collectible community. I find that it's very easy. You've got a little bit going on. And I just signed up myself. I think it's a very cool platform. I am very curious for both of you. As influencers, as public figures, what's your responsibility in the collectible space for talking on the card and the role that that thing plays on the rest of those listeners to go out and buy it or not buy it. Because obviously that's the sweet market very greatly with your own system. Less than five years ago.

15:35The best thing going on here by far is that people have become dramatically more disciplined and when a human being that has any amount of followers, whether it's a lot like him or somebody with a thousand over here, people are making many more decisions for themselves people are taking far less high risk people are being much more disciplined there's a reason you're seeing Jordan and Kobe and LeBron and Mantle do so well people are looking to be more investor versus hoper I mean I could speak for myself it's been about five years since I've even posted a specific card because I have no interest in people making up stories of what I'm doing or not doing.

16:20So now I talk more in generalizations, like I just did fictional characters instead of, you know, but even if I tomorrow started posting again about a specific card I like, I know for fact, because I watch everything, the market would move less than it did pre-COVID in 18 and 19 because the market has has got dramatically smarter, more disciplined, and I think that's very healthy for the hobby, and I'm proud of the collective. Yeah, yeah, you're right. The collective has gotten smarter, which is great. I take the exact opposite direction. I am so specific about what I'm buying, because for me, I don't view, I'm aware that when I show up, what I do when I say, I'm saying the stories I tell, that were like, not previewed my cards, and then ask 20 followers.

17:15But for me, I feel like what I'm ultimately trying to do is tell a story about a thing that I find fascinating. And it doesn't come over to like, oh, sit down, we'll be talking about today. No, I get obsessed. Like, like, critically sickening obsessed with these new quests that I go on. And I do that because it's so what it happens. I think it's sometimes historical. So I tell them a story, all I'm really doing is maybe like taking a big spotlight and trying to make a dark part of the world. And so, while I'm aware of the next I don't view it as a possibility in the sense of like, I mean, I'm trying not to tell a story because people are like, no man, this is a story that deserves a reason.

18:01I mean, it's also like, at some level, I have a lot of empathy for that. that we've got to get into a place in society around accountability. I see unlimited things in my social media feed telling me to do many different things, but I'm a big enough boy to make my own decisions. For example, my wife would kill you guys for drinking this water out of a plastic bottle, and she would say that is a disaster. Are you responsible for sipping out of this water, influencing them? And so I know I'm being a little facetious, but what I would say is a million people are saying a million things all the time.

18:41I think one of the worst things that's happening in society is that a lot of people are making their judgment based on another person. I think it's worse than politics and I think it's really time that everyone mans and womans up a little bit and own their own actions. If you decide to buy something because you think Logan is promoting it and you catch the wrong side of the cycle, where does his or your responsibility stop and start and I think that we need to grow up a little bit in society realize you're a big boy and you can decide if you want to do something or not and you're thrilled when you catch the right cycle of it and you make a buck but then you're wah-wah when you don't and I think that hypocrisy is complicated yeah I mean no one's complaining when you took the advice went out and bought it and skyrocketed and made money.

19:36No one's upset about that. They're only upset if it goes to the market. I mean, does anyone here think it's gonna be this frothy and ridiculous forever? Is there anyone here confused that this market is red, white, hot and it's inconceivable in any logical way given the history of humanity, of how markets work, that this will continue the way it's been going for the last 24 months? You know, and so if you're like, there's no one who's logical that believes it can last forever. And you're deciding not to sell something right now for 12 ,000 or 1200 that you bought for 600 or 6 ,000. And so where does personal responsibility come in?

20:23When I just said that and I watched everyone's body language, no one here is confused that this is so white hot. It's inconceivable. It can go, and by the way, it might triple from here. No one knows markets. No one. And so I think accountability, like the accountable ant in VFriends is something that we should get a little bit more into. Thank you.

21:02You know, you know, you know, you know, you know I'm decent at this. What I would say is there's seven to ten different things going on. You know, repacking has a whole lot to do with what's going on. How does that play out, right? Supply and demand. The demand, I mean, I was at this show nine years ago. There wasn't this many people on Saturday, let alone on Wednesday, right like how much more are we coming in i think what has happened is that collectibles have become a lifestyle genre like sports like fashion and i think like music and i think that in a 20-year window makes everything out here very good but in a 20-month window a 20-week window like and then by the way there's people speculating there's levels to this one of the reasons i like fictional is Superman and Spider-Man and the Hulk are locked in.

21:59You know who's not locked in? Jackson Dart. You know who's not locked in? Zion Williamson. You know who's not locked in? You know, Caleb Wilson. Like people are speculating on the prayer that people become Hall of Famers. Like there's a lot of high risk, high reward, likely downside going on out here. So in the macro, it's gonna work out. What I would say to everybody for sure is do not spend money on collectibles that you cannot afford to lose. Nice, thank you. I mean, that is sound advice for everybody in here. Honestly, there are people here who are kids carrying around tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

22:42But there's also kids in here who spend$5 and that's all they have on a Pokemon card. And that's okay too. Not only is that okay, that is preferred. this all dies if people don't actually collect. If this is just financial arbitrage flipping this will crash super hard. The greatest thing that's going on here is that that gentleman might collect Patrick Mahomes because he's wearing a Chiefs hat. Like that I'm out here buying Al Toon rookie cards who's my favorite wide receiver from the Jets in the 80s. I promise you they're not going up. Right? We need collectors. we need entertainers you know we got one here we got one in the crowd last row stand up Mickey Rips you're my favorite breakers shut up you know you need you need people that entertain people you need people that collect things that they're passionate about you need people that are investors that are savvy and are making moves this is an ecosystem what I will tell you this universe does very poorly is that everyone shits on everyone if they don't do it their way collectors shit on flippers flippers shit on and back.

23:50We need to stop yucking everybody else's yuck. If you want to collect non-sports and somebody else collects hockey and people collect vintage, this needs to be and culture, not or culture. Every single person here, whatever they're doing is right for them. And we should be happy about that because it's very positive. And this is a very positive place to be. But there are too many people risking financial risk risk that they can't afford to. And this is collectibles and it is a volatile industry and you need to be thoughtful, especially if you're speculating on rookies that have never accomplished anything in their professional career.

24:31I don't want to hurt the sports face but some would say this could be a sports conviction but it is, I'm very passionate about the non-sport world as well. You don't say. I mean, obviously there's a little bit of a... I mean, Jesus. Come on. This is what I just wear on Thursday. It's my Thursday outfit. you speak with such passion and it shows. It shows that your collection is based on how much you care about it. I was watching you this morning on YouTube. That's what we're going to say out loud. Why? A trillion people have. And I was watching you look at that you're waiting for a comic and you literally showed your news numbers when you pulled it out.

25:09And I was like, you can't thank that. That's an exciting music. That's real. He's good, but not that good. Yeah, right. But I think that is something that I think a lot of people out there still appreciate. Just because there's a camera on you, there's a microphone in front of you, doesn't mean that you're not a real, passionate collector. And if you're a real passionate collector, it's hard not to talk about people. You know, people probably a lot of people do. People probably help, because they're not actually working. They're basically doing simulations like 10 minutes in the air. And I think it's kind of the, you know, you can barely lose it a little bit, But there's like gatekeeping that's our love.

25:47And if you do things the way someone else is doing. In a hobby that they love dearly. You have to take people a little protective over it. I think it's kind of actually counterintuitive to what the most beautiful part about all of collecting is. In this. Like everyone is here because they love the same thing. We love something about collecting. And to shit on how someone does it. I totally love. um, granted I also believe I've known some time for the 100 % and I think it's weird that, you know, in this picture it's like, how do I, do I, like, have to prove that I love Pokemon and I love it for, just, like, almost three decades of my life, like, that's fucking weird, like, I've been thousands of dollars in me, itself, but like, you know, I'm just saying a lot of times, like, a hundred videos, and ten millions of dollars, and hundreds of dollars and hundreds of dollars and it's still looking out for people and I'm being there and I'm wrestling.

26:44I don't know what I'm doing and when I do come to shows, this is interesting, when I come to conventions and I go to shows, I don't see any of the people in real life. Yeah, right? Yeah, I don't see any of the people in real life. Oh, you do see them. They're just not willing to say things in person that they're willing to say because we are collectively incredible keyboard warriors because it's very safe and this is why I like the 80s because when you talk shit in the 80s, you got punched in the fucking mouth. I'll come throw you a punch in your face. Okay, baby. Thank you. Thank you. All right, so I'd rather like to know from a personal collective point of view, what is your favorite collectible regardless of life?

27:34Like, that you currently have where you want.

27:41I would say my favorite collectible is a 1968-1969 New York Jets signed football by the entire team from the Super Bowl III win. I bought it back in 1993 when I didn't have a debit card. We didn't have the technology we had today. So I always carried money in my pocket just in case I needed to do a business deal. And I went to the mall to go buy some stuff. and I saw the football and it was a thousand bucks, which was an enormous amount of money for me at the time. And I splurged on it and it means a lot to me because of my insane fandom of the Jets, but also because of the time in my life where I was working so hard and was coming from so little.