Here’s a list of interviews with MetaZoo’s Founder Michael/Mike Waddell along with informative points taken on some of them.
The newest interviews are being added to the bottom of the list. – Video last added on April 23, 2023
There are some neat and not as well known things at the bottom of this page as well.
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INTERVIEWS | NEAT STUFF
MICHAEL WADDELL INTERVIEWS
23 MICHAEL WADDELL INTERVIEWS IN TOTAL
May 24, 2021:
Information gathered from this interview:
- Has been a huge fan of TCGs ever since he was 7 years old.
- Never really played competitively, but did play TCGs like Pokemon and Magic The Gathering for fun.
- The newest cryptid in Cryptid Nation is Fresno Nightcrawlers; which emerged in 2014. Other cryptids go as far back as 200+ years ago.
- MetaZoo was always to be community driven.
- 10,000 SAMPLE cards in existence. 100 copies of every card. 100 different cards.
- He got in contact with a group of artists that were creating ‘fake Pokemon’ that don’t actually exist in the Pokémon world.
- and much, much more!
July 10, 2021:
July 19, 2021:
Information gathered from this interview:
- Born in Long Island, Grew up in Brazil.
- Worked at Goldman Sachs.
- Started thinking of creating his own TCG in 2016, when Pokémon GO was huge. Started off as a hobby.
- No more SAMPLE cards outside of Cryptid Nation. None in Nightfall.
- MetaZoo Play Testers will receive as a gift, a finalized Master Set of the BETA cards going forward.
- and much, much more!
July 20, 2021:
Information gathered from this interview:
- Talks in depth about how the red borders came about. Good listen.
- Doesn’t want to short-print, also doesn’t want to over-print and flood the market.
- Stores are asking for between 100 and 2,000 boxes.
- Doesn’t want a ton of different rarities like gold rares and rainbow rares, etc.
- Is taking the holo foil pattern choices seriously.
- The Obnoxious 9 were not available in reverse holographic because the details on most would have been too small; ie. Ghost Train would be just the face, Silver Bullet would be just the bullet, etc.
- Wanted to ensure low barrier of entry for new players.
- and much, much more!
August 15, 2021:
Information gathered from this interview:
- 4,000 in the official MetaZoo Discord server at the time of this live stream on August 15, 2021.
- 14,555 in the Discord server on December 4, 2021, just 111 days later. (2,000+ people joined the Discord server during the whole NFT information drop, pre-sale and public sale that occurred in mid-to-late November into early December 2021.)
- and much, much more!
August 19, 2021:
August 26, 2021:
September 20, 2021:
October 26, 2021:
Information gathered from this interview:
- Played a lot of basketball.
- Near-fluent in Portuguese.
- Born in Huntington, Long Island.
- Went to Columbia for Masters, PhD.
- Left Columbia, worked for Unqork.
- Covid-19 hit, started working on MetaZoo.
- Is a ‘comic book guy.’
- Loves Pokémon Company, loves Wizards of the Coast.
- Putting himself out of his comfort zone by doing interviews; is an introvert.
- Will always be heavily involved as the founder and creator.
- Is proud of the positive Discord channel feel and mods as well as community members helping one another.
- Happy to continue self-publishing MetaZoo Illustration Novel.
- Mentions Cryptid Nation story book.
- and much, much more!
October 29, 2021:
- Interview with Mike starts at precisely 1:07:20.
Information gathered from this interview:
- Next MetaZoo shoe release will be available all the way up to size 16.
- ‘Family of 10’ MetaZoo Plushies coming soon.
- Eventually wants to work with Build-A-Bear and more.
- Hoping to get into Walmart & Target in January 2022 for pins & trading cards.
- Plushies are harder to get on store shelves. Possibly later on retail store shelves once a relationship has been built with the smaller items.
- Mike and his team have daily R&D meetings.
- Original NFT owners will be able to redeem it for a special alternative artwork of a card, but remain the owner of the NFT.
- If you own a MetaZoo NFT in the blockchain, you will have the option to be first in line for future NFTs; many of which will not be 1-of-1s.
- Potential future idea. If you own a MetaZoo SAMPLE card, you will be able to bring it to a special MetaZoo Party, and redeem it for an NFT of that SAMPLE card. You will require a SAMPLE card to take part in the party.
- Exclusive Blister Packs are expected to be the first product available in big box retail stores.
- and much, much more!
November 17, 2021:
December 29, 2021:
February 13, 2022:
February 27, 2022:
- The interview with Mike Waddell starts at precisely 32:29.
March 7, 2022:
May 31, 2022:
July 2, 2022:
JULY 27, 2022:
JULY 29, 2022:
JULY 29, 2022:
MARCH 13, 2023:
APRIL 1, 2023:
APRIL 1, 2023:
Show support to Michael & all those hosting the interviews! 🙂
SOME REALLY NEAT STUFF
1/1 Mothman Alt Art Alpha Card
MORE INFORMATION
- There was only ever one of these Mothman alt art cards ever created.
- Mike had printed this card at home using his own printer.
- It was later gifted to Steve Aoki.
MagiCast Card Back Concept
MORE INFORMATION
SpellCaster Card Layout Concepts
