Episode notes
You know! Those things that are like gumball machines, but for little toys! Growing up in the USA, they usually dispensed a sticky hand, some slime, maybe a lil Homie, but in Japan they’ve been in another league for decades. We unpack (or perhaps unbox) the charm of randomly distributed toys and trinkets, some of our greatest gets, and the backwards order that we’ve become aware of them.Intro contains clips from a Gashapon machine, Dragon Ball and Se7en.
Podcast
This Thing Rules
Brian Altano and Max Scoville · Leisure & Travel · English
This Thing Rules is a show where we celebrate our favorite things. What kind of things, exactly? All kinds of things! Movies, foods, cities, bands, shows, books, albums, toys, pictures, moments. Each episode, join long-time collaborators and best pals Brian Altano and Max Scoville as they focus on a
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S1 · E61 · 22 May 2026 · 34 min
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From Comic-Cons on both coasts to gaming expos on multiple continents, we’ve attended our fair share of nerdy gatherings, and they’re great! This episode, we’re digging into that magic of getting a bunch of people in the same place who are all really excited about one thing. Sometimes that’s comics, video games or pinball tables, other times it’s… less family friendly activities.
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S1 · E60 · 1 May 2026 · 49 min
Refrigerator Magnets, Short Stories and Breweries Rule!
This episode, we’re extrapolating on the joys of the most functional souvenirs with magnetic properties, our favorite short-form fiction, and one of the more wholesome settings to legally imbibe beer. Intro contains clips from Stranger Things, the trailer for Maximum Overdrive, The Simpsons (again) and Beerfest
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S1 · E58 · 6 Mar 2026 · 46 min
Yard Work, Sneakers & Cookies Rule!
We’ve got another grab bag episode here, or rather, three very different bags: one’s a big paper bag full of dead leaves and grass clippings, another from a shoe store, and the third is from a bakery. This week we’re unpacking our love of gruelling manual labor in the hot sun to make our yards look nice, the timeless appeal of wearing athletic shoes all the time for completely unathletic activities, and cookies. Which are like crackers, but sweet, or cakes that are small and flat and hard. Look, you know what all those things are, just listen to the show. Intro contains clips from King of…
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S1 · E57 · 20 Feb 2026 · 43 min
Road Trips Rule!
Ah, hitting the open road! A timeless rite of passage and quintessentially American adventure, unless of course you’re stuck in the car with your whole family, taking the bus or making unexpected pit stops so your driver can hook up with random dudes. We recount some of our most memorable, or in some cases mercifully forgettable automobile journeys. Intro contains clips from National Lampoon’s Vacation, The Simpsons and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
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S1 · E56 · 6 Feb 2026 · 47 min
Carrot Cake Rules! ...Or Does It? (Featuring Alex "Kozibear" Kozina)
This week, it’s our most politically-charged and divisive topic yet: Carrot Cake. We’re joined by Alex “Kozibear” Kozina, long time friend of the show and culinary adventurer, to discuss the history and appeal of this vegetable-based confection. If you have any doubt of Kozi’s expertise on the matter, he further demonstrates his familiarity of the matter while making Snake Quake: The Official Cake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wk8nwCMpAk Intro contains clip from Looney Tunes
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S1 · E55 · 23 Jan 2026 · 43 min
Lizards, Tunnels & Bubble Bobble Rule!
It’s another grab bag of odds and ends that we love: lizards, those dogs of the reptile kingdom, tunnels, those underground bridges, and Bubble Bobble, which is sort of about lizards in a tunnel, among other things. Which is your favorite thing? Intro contains clips from Daylight, a David Attenborough nature film, and Bubble Bobble.
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S1 · E54 · 9 Jan 2026 · 1 hr 1 min
Movie Theaters Rule!
Easily one of the top 5 best dark rooms you pay money to sit inside for several hours, movie theaters make for a singular experience, where people flock together to sit in silence and social interaction is generally frowned upon during the proceedings. We’ve seen this form of entertainment undergo some pretty major changes in our lifetimes, in some ways for the worse, but many for the better. Still, as increasingly expensive and sometimes distracting and occasionally tedious as the theater experience may be, we hope it’s still a thing long after we’re dead. Intro contains various clips from…
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