TOYFARE WEEK > 5 Questions with: Jon Gutierrez

Codename: Jon Gutierrez
Specialty: Price Guide Editor
Base of Operations: ToyFare magazine
History: After getting a degree in political science/journalism from the University of Connecticut, Jon worked as a newspaper reporter until he realized that covering town meetings wasn’t going to get less boring. He then managed to land a job as ToyFare‘s first dedicated price guide editor, which he’s been ever since. In his spare time, he’s a comedy writer/performer with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, where he’s on the house team T.R.U.C.K.S.

PG: Please describe what you do at ToyFare. Is this the culmination of a lifelong desire to work with toys or the inevitable result of a misspent youth?

I’m the price guide editor, which means in addition to writing for the magazine and Twisted ToyFare Theater, I also determine the prices of every figure in the price guide. I kind of stumbled into ToyFare after getting bored with “normal” journalism–but the obsession I had for toys during my youth makes this my dream job.

PG: Please list the toys in your work area.

Um, it’s a huge pile of different figures, with different limbs sticking out of it like a cartoon fistfight. From my sitting vantage point, I can see a Diamond ST:TNG Q figure, a 3/4 completed Legendary Comic Book Heroes Monkeyman figure and two Superhero Beakers in his (their?) Rocketeer outfits. Their probably my favorite figure overall, at least until someone can come out with a Rocketeer figure I can afford.

PG: What’s the most interesting thing going on in the toy industry today?

For me, it’s getting to buy updated (and better) versions of the figures I had as a kid. I’m grabbing all of the new G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary figures when they come out and I can’t wait for those new NECA classic-style Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to come out.

PG: What’s the best thing about working at ToyFare?

Hanging out with the rest of the staff. We’re all good friends that just happen to get together every day and put out a magazine together. It’s a wonderful environment to work in.

PG: What’s your fondest toy-related holiday memory?

It’s not quite a holiday related memory, but my favorite toy memory is my Dad coming home and giving me my first Star Wars figure. It was the classic Tatooine-outfit Luke, of course, and I remember him explaining that it was a little version of that guy in the Star Wars movie. I think it took me a while to understand–I was four or so–but I still love that he went by the store and picked one up for me just because he thought I might like it.