# Re:Building Together EP 273 — Collectors Anonymous

*Host: CEELOS (@CEELOSFIGG) with cohost Baked (@Bakedmetax) · Sun 26 Jul 2026 · 1:07:25 · 6 speakers*

## TL;DR
- The regulars confessed their latest addiction — sorry, *collection* — a $2-ish NFT called Trip NFT with a burn-to-evolve mechanic (stage one → two → three), and spent the first stretch nerding out over how the upgrade pool works. [6:00]
- Baked walked through his fully handmade custom trading-card process — two cardstocks, sticker, laminate, slide cutter, glue stick — and CEELOS confessed his Virgo brain can't stop cutting rounded corners by hand. [21:14]
- CEELOS told the saga of catching a big-name coffee guy using his warehouse office, and his plan to lock the door (and a bathroom) to plant his flag. [32:20]
- A tour through collector rabbit holes: Ghost Rider casting, Power Rangers, and Hot Wheels' Red Line Club paid membership. [26:00]
- SLICK RIC called in from the California State Fair (17-hour days, six Dippin' Dots booths) and the room workshopped his next menu item: the cheddarwurst corn dog. [50:02]
- Closing lore: Val is now Catholic, Baked is three foot eleven, and shout-outs to Solo Dolo for finishing his run. [1:03:29]

## Highlights

**"Fill the void with NFTs"** [6:00] Baked opened by admitting he and Tumazing had been going ham on a cheap project with an evolve mechanic. CEELOS diagnosed it immediately — "you're going through something internally that you need to fill that void with NFTs" — which, as Baked noted, is literally what a space called Collectors Anonymous is for.

**The RNG burn pool explained** [15:00] Baked laid out the mechanic the room kept circling: burn two matching stage-ones to roll a random stage-two from a hidden pool of the doubles, then two stage-twos for a full-body stage-three. His two swamp monsters came out as a ghost and an ice queen — proof it's RNG on the back end. CEELOS floated the same idea for TCG cards.

**Say hi to Val** [10:00] After a solid ten minutes of NFT talk, Baked caught himself — "I feel like we're being rude. Hey Val, how are you?" Pharaoh got a quick hello too before slipping out.

**Handmade trading cards, revealed** [21:14] The build breakdown: black backer stock, brown middle, sticker with laminate on top, pressed between two books in a vise. CEELOS, ever the Virgo, has been hand-cutting rounded corners; Baked's fix is nipping the corners with scissors — or an Amazon card corner-punch.

**This is Celos' domain** [32:20] The centerpiece story: CEELOS arrived at the roastery to learn a clout-heavy coffee-industry guest was "upstairs using your office." His heart, in his words, fell to his ass. The takeaway — a locksmith, a new lock, a nameplate, and collectibles on the desk as territorial markers. Baked agreed it was "super disrespectful."

**The manager's bathroom** [34:13] Escalating from office to plumbing, CEELOS revealed his plan to also lock the solitary far-side restroom for himself: "That's the manager's restroom… These cheeks only." Everyone else can pick from the men's or women's.

**Hot Wheels Red Line Club** [46:29] Baked put CEELOS onto Mattel's paid membership tiers — ~$10/year for member-only cars. He'd missed a drop days earlier that was now flipping for $200 ("motherfucker"), which sent CEELOS spiraling through Mattel's site marveling at He-Man "best cat dad in the universe" shirts.

**The cheddarwurst corn dog** [50:02] SLICK RIC called in from the fair and the room got to business inventing his next separation-factor menu item — a cheddarwurst dipped and fried. Ric already has Johnsonville cheddar links on his trailer hot plate and vowed to pitch it to his wife that day.

**Vendor economics and staying humble** [1:01:54] Ric got real on pricing — his corn dog costs about 60 cents to make, so he refuses to charge the $18 he sees "greedy" vendors ask, especially for his local street crowd. He also called out competitors passing off frozen pre-made dogs as fresh. His throughline: stay humble, remember the 17-hour days nobody sees.

## Topic timeline

| Time | Topic |
|------|-------|
| [1:04]–[5:20] | Intro / Sunday vibes / intro song |
| [5:20]–[19:00] | Trip NFT: the evolve/burn mechanic, floor prices, RNG pool |
| [19:00]–[25:12] | Custom stickers & handmade trading cards |
| [25:12]–[29:33] | Collectibles: Ghost Rider, Nic Cage, Power Rangers, Hot Wheels |
| [29:33]–[38:48] | CEELOS's warehouse office (and bathroom) territory saga |
| [38:48]–[45:56] | Desk collectibles, first NFT coffee drops, discovering Discord |
| [45:56]–[50:00] | Hot Wheels Red Line Club & Mattel memberships |
| [50:02]–[1:03:14] | SLICK RIC calls in: fair life, cheddarwurst corn dog, vendor pricing |
| [1:03:14]–[1:07:05] | Closing lore, shout-outs, regens sales talk |

## Notable quotes

- "You're going through something internally that you need to fill that void with NFTs, or what the fuck?" — CEELOS [6:17]
- "Hey, it's not addiction. It's collection." — Baked [11:24]
- "That is kind of wild and like super disrespectful to just like be up in someone's office like that." — Baked [34:13]
- "That's the manager's restroom… These cheeks only." — CEELOS [35:49]
- "People don't see the work, they only see the success… you don't remember them 17 hour days." — CEELOS [55:47]
- "When I see these motherfuckers charging like $18, I'm like, bro, you guys are just greedy. And then nobody goes. You price yourself out." — SLICK RIC [1:01:54]

## Who said what

- **CEELOS** (@CEELOSFIGG) — Host. Playing the "big chilling, not spending" foil to the NFT addicts, but the day's real energy went into his warehouse-office territory saga and the corn-dog brainstorm.
- **Baked** (@Bakedmetax) — Cohost and chief enabler. Drove the Trip NFT deep-dive, detailed his handmade card process, and put the room onto Hot Wheels' Red Line Club.
- **ValerieKates** (@valeriekates_) — Popped in with upgrade-mechanic questions before dipping early, later immortalized in the closing lore as "Catholic, at church."
- **Pharaoh** (@spade_pirates) — Brief hello, gone before the trading-card questions he'd have wanted.
- **SLICK RIC** (@richj530) — Called in from the California State Fair grind; anchored the back third with vendor life, the cheddarwurst corn dog idea, and a genuinely grounded take on fair pricing.

## Worth a full listen

- **[32:20]–[35:49]** — The office-and-bathroom saga is CEELOS at full flow, from the heart-in-his-ass discovery to "these cheeks only." Summary can't carry the escalation.
- **[50:02]–[1:03:14]** — SLICK RIC's whole call-in: the corn dog R&D, the fair economics, and the "stay humble, nobody sees the 17-hour days" throughline make it the warmest stretch of the space.
- **[1:03:14]–[1:04:16]** — The closing lore bit (Val's Catholic, Baked's spaghetti and disputed height) is the running-bit register the regulars live in.