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

Notable quotes

• "You're going through something internally that you need to fill that void with NFTs, or what the fuck?" — CEELOS [6:17]
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  0:38
• "Hey, it's not addiction. It's collection." — Baked [11:24]
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  0:38
• "That is kind of wild and like super disrespectful to just like be up in someone's office like that." — Baked [34:13]
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  0:38
• "That's the manager's restroom… These cheeks only." — CEELOS [35:49]
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  0:38
• "People don't see the work, they only see the success… you don't remember them 17 hour days." — CEELOS [55:47]
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  0:38
• "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]
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  0:38

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.