Ninja Turtles’ Designer Creates Biblical Characters Toy Line (w/ Howard Chang)
On this episode, Darren sits down with Howard Chang (designer of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures) to discuss the development and launch of his new line of biblically themed toys.
Darren Shearer sits down with Howard “Quiggly” Chang, the original artist behind the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy line, to discuss his faith-fueled return to creativity through Ancientz — a line of futuristic, faith-based action figures. After a life-changing encounter with God 12 years ago, Chang began envisioning biblical heroes like David and Deborah as robotic warriors brought to life by advanced bio-AI technology. Blending Scripture with sci-fi aesthetics, Ancientzpresents timeless stories of faith and courage in a modern, imaginative form. Launched at San Diego Comic-Con, the project has grown through Kickstarter and toy industry partnerships, reflecting Chang’s mission to bring God’s truth into pop culture without compromising creativity.
Key Takeaways
- Faith and Creativity Collide: Howard “Quiggly” Chang’s Calling – After years in the toy industry, Howard “Quiggly” Chang rededicated his life to God and began envisioning Ancientz — a faith-driven toy line that reimagines biblical heroes as futuristic warriors born from prayer and creativity.
- From Turtles to Testimony – Realizing there were no modern, appealing faith-based toys for his children, Chang drew on his Ninja Turtles experience to create Ancientz, where robotic versions of David, Deborah, and Gideon battle evil through a fusion of Scripture and sci-fi.
- Bringing Scripture Into Pop Culture – In six months, Chang and his wife Gloria built and launched Ancientz at Comic-Con, blending art, storytelling, and faith into collectible figures designed to make Scripture engaging for today’s generation.
Christian Business Leader is the show for marketplace Christians seeking to explore and apply God’s will for business. If you want to learn more about how to do business for the glory of God and shape culture through discipling the business world, this show is for you.
Full Episode Transcript
Heads up: This transcript was created with AI, so you might notice a few typos or small mistakes. We recommend listening to the episode for the best experience!
SPEAKER_01 0:05
Welcome to the Christian Business Leader Podcast, where Christ following business leaders explore God’s will and ways for business. This show is a ministry of the Center for Christianity and Business at Houston Christian University and features conversations with today’s Christ-centered business leaders who are representing Christ faithfully in the business world. I’m your host, Darren Scheer, and if you want to make your work, leadership, and company’s culture more Christ-centered, you’ve come to the right place. On this episode, we’re joined by the legendary Howard Chang. Howard Quigley Chang is a celebrated artist behind the first wave of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy line, which if some of y’all might not be familiar, but if you’re my age, uh you definitely had these toys uh growing up in the late 80s, early 90s, and they were just iconic uh toys based on the Ninja Turtles originally the comics and then the TV show, and then it just took on a life of its own. He’s now working on ancients, which is a line of toys that reflects his journey of faith and creativity based on biblical characters, uh, but he presents them in a way that you’re just not gonna expect. And it’s it’s really cool what he’s doing. He’s actually the second Christian toy maker of iconic toys from my childhood that I’ve interviewed on this show. We interviewed Brad Pederson, Howard. I don’t know if you know him, uh, but his company is a Canadian-based company that brought Lightbright to market and a number of other toys as well. Um, but really excited to have this conversation with you, Howard. Welcome to the Christian Business Leader Podcast.SPEAKER_00 1:53
Hey, thank you for having me on board, Aaron. Excited for today’s conversation.SPEAKER_01 1:58
Same here. Howard, when did you first realize God wants to be involved in your work in the marketplace?SPEAKER_00 2:04
Well, this new IP, we call it, Ancients, um, came about in a form of prayer 12 years ago when I first encountered God. Uh, when I really first gave myself to Jesus. Um, I’ve known, I’ve been in and out of church following my parents. They weren’t really strong believers, but it was more like a social gathering at church for them as immigrants uh from Korea. So uh when I first encountered God, I got in, I learned how to pray and how most people, when they get inspiration, they get hope, they get um healing from prayer, I get visions and dreams. And I saw these images of what I was supposed to create 12 years ago.SPEAKER_01 2:57
Yeah, and and so when you were working with the the ninja turtles and you know the other um products that you had done kind of in the 90s, like you weren’t serving God, you didn’t God was just sort of uh church was a social club.SPEAKER_00 3:15
I would go to church once in a while, it would just be like you go to church to be good. Uh you do something bad, you go to church, and you feel like you’re good again. But that was me being a child of parents who just went to different churches, and they would plug me into these uh Sunday schools, and you know, you would listen, but nothing was practiced at home or anywhere else. So I knew the stories, all these Bible stuff stories that even today we’re gonna be launching through through ancients, but I was would I wouldn’t be right for me to say I was a believer before uh 12 years ago.SPEAKER_01 3:53
Huh. So, what did you do between that time and in back in the late 80s, early 90s with designing the Ninja Turtles? What was keeping you busy during that time?SPEAKER_00 4:05
Well, um, it’s interesting. We’re on a uh a business leader, it’s a business uh podcast because um at first I was just an artist um for eight years on and off while going to school. I worked and designed hundreds of ninja turtles, and it was like a phenomenon back then. You would design something, they would produce it, and it would just be gone from the shelves right away. So we were always busy producing and designing, and it wasn’t just the ninja turtles. We did Star Trek, uh, Flash Gordon, the Exo Squad, which went on for a few years, and a lot of McDonald’s Happy Meal toys. I got I was involved in designing. Oh, yeah. Yeah, like the like the Looney Tunes flip cars, if I remember one of them. And so you do that for eight years, and um, I think I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit in me because I felt like I should be doing something on my own the whole time. Um, so while I was working, I remember after about seven and a half years, you know, you get burnt out from drawing all the time, right? It was a skill that I think God gave me, so I was pretty good at it, I was fast. I came home one day, and one of my friends was like, Hey, how are you drawing? Can you draw me something? I’m like, No, pay me. So it it now be did it become art became something that was work, it wasn’t exciting, it wasn’t fun anymore. So I left, and from that point, I say 20 years. Um long story short, I started over 20 businesses. Meaning, when I start, I mean, we get a business license, you get it registered, you have business cards, you have a bank account. So I think that would uh qualify as starting a business, right? Sure. So we did all that. I went 20 times. 20 times. I could I had I have business cards to prove it. Um manufacturing uh and I was even a software developer at one time. Um automotive parts, um, a lot of apparel fashion. Uh one of them I was manufacturing headwear with uh a friend of mine. He invited me to join in, and that did well. We went from zero to twelve million dollars in sales in four years. Uh, I feel like that was my MBA, right? Which I heard about it.SPEAKER_01 6:36
Um that’s way better than the MBA.SPEAKER_00 6:38
Yeah, so I I I did multiple companies where we um uh did digital marketing, uh, would build websites and drive traffic through Google Ads and Meta ads. Uh, we built our own software for e-commerce when Shopify was just starting, and they would do Google Ads against ours. So I have had a lot of experiences. Uh, you know, a few were successful, but a majority were failures, the amount of time and money that we lost. But you know, like they all say, these experiences add up, and um, you become better at what you’re doing.SPEAKER_01 7:17
Yeah. And so 12 years ago, when you gave your life to the Lord, did you kind of feel like you needed to do something that was Christian themed or that was biblically themed to really kind of be on the right trajectory with the Lord? Did you feel like doing the sort of, I’ll use the term secular, even though we don’t really buy into that idea on this on this show anyway. Uh, but doing something that was more mainstream was not gonna really just be inspiring enough for you.SPEAKER_00 7:53
Well, yeah, well, I’ll tell you what happened. It wasn’t me getting a calling from God that I gotta do something, I was just getting images. I couldn’t explain what it was. But when I was getting it, I felt like I had to draw it out on paper. So I would do those sketches real quick. Didn’t exactly know what it was, but I would just keep drawing it up. Um I was going through a divorce, it was a very low time in my life. I was now a single dad to three young kids, four to nine years old, three of them. And you know, I really gave myself to God because um I couldn’t handle it on my own, right? So one time when I was looking at the Christmas tree, I was thinking, hey, what can I give my kids that is you know biblical or faith focused? I looked online, I couldn’t find anything. I mean, the closest thing at that time probably was Vegeta, just on his way out. But I guarantee if I bought any of those things for my kids, they would disown me as their father. Um, they’ll never forget. So uh my mind started clicking. I go, you know, why can’t they have um something that’s faith-driven, that is not outdated, that is not embarrassing, that kids want, whether you believe or not, you want it, right? So I looked around, I couldn’t find anything. Like you said, um, you had another toy maker that was on before. Um, I haven’t heard of it, but I’ve heard of something called Kingdom Heroes, right? Um, it wasn’t as cool as I would want them to be, right? It was just, you know, likenesses or what their interpretation of maybe David and Goliath would look like what uh Angel Gabriel would look like, Moses. And I don’t think my kids would have liked that either, right? So I put two and two together. I I look back and I go, hey, you know, I used to design Ninja Turtles, man, for eight years. And these were uh I when I was doing it, I didn’t think about it, but now that I look back, these were some iconic toys people still collect, and it’s worth money. And ninja turtles are still going strong, movies are still coming out. So I figured I would try to create something, and then I remember these visions that God gave me. So I started doing some paintings and trying to figure out what I need to do, and what I remember is when I’m doing a design for a company like Playmates Toys for Ninja Turtles, I can design a turtle figure in one day, and they would approve it, it’ll get done. But when I’m designing something for myself, it has to be perfect, and and it took 12 years, right, for me to figure out that there is no such thing as perfect, and uh only God is perfect. But for me, whatever He put in, I’m just gonna do it. And even though I was unhappy with the designs, I just decided to go forth. Uh, I got remarried six months ago. I was with Gloria for two years before that. So she’s the one, she was very, she’s very um faithful, right? And she when she heard my idea, she was blown away. She’s told me you have to do it. And she’s the one that told me it doesn’t have to be perfect. And that struck a chord, and I go, You’re right, you know, it doesn’t why don’t I just get it done? Otherwise, it would be another 12 years before I get to it. And uh it was almost like miracles happening back to back. Um, my our partnership with our previous partners suddenly ended in December in a not so nice way, and my old boss Steve Varner had a booth at Comic-Con, which is uh the number one geek show in the world, world-renowned. Um, the difference between a Comic-Con San Diego and let’s say Comic-Con LA, Comic-Con LA is$40 to get in, Comic-Con San Diego is$400 to get in, and you can’t even buy the tickets, right?SPEAKER_02 11:59
Wow.SPEAKER_00 12:00
But to get a booth there is almost impossible. But he decides he doesn’t want to do it anymore. So I took it over in January. So in February, we got married and decided to present this idea at Comic-Con six months later, right? So in six months, finished eight characters, designed them, got them sculpted, 3D printed, and barely made it on time, including the mini figurine versions. Um, so yeah, it was like a shotgun marriage, a shotgun, shotgun business.SPEAKER_01 12:35
Yeah. Well, so a lot of our listeners are probably assuming when you talk about ancients being based on biblical characters that you know they kind of look like they they did say, you know, 3,000, 2,000 years ago, uh, but with just a little bit more of a comic book spin on it. That’s not what we’re talking about. And so so our listeners that can’t see what you’re talking about, how do you describe this to them?SPEAKER_00 13:04
Well, I think the story came to mind um of how spirits could manifest physically. So I so imagine uh in your head, I’m I’m actually in the middle of getting a little comic book treatment done because we have a meeting with Playmates Toys this Friday. They want us to bring everything in and uh so that they can take a look at it. Imagine like a uh glowing orb, and that’s the technology. It glows in different colors, like David here. It glows in uh light blue with long tentacles that look like hair, like a predator uh figure, right?SPEAKER_01 13:41
Yeah, I was gonna say it looks kind of like a cross between predator and mega man.SPEAKER_00 13:45
Yeah. So so that technology comes into being, a company like um, you know, something like uh Elon Musk company, they figure out how to do this, make this work, and it would manifest into physical form, right? It would glow. And the company decides, okay, we’re gonna build put them into robots so they can actually walk the earth and communicate with us. And there’s an evil scientist who steals it, and because they can only manifest biblical spirits, right? He he uh resurrects Goliath, Sisera, Pharaoh, Jezebel, and all the evil characters and decides to take over the world and be his own god. His name is Professor Baal, right? So uh that’s the origin story, and you know, we’re we’re hoping to you know have a season one, season two, and and so forth. Um, the idea is yeah, they’re robots run by spirits, and this is uh David. He has his uh name on top.SPEAKER_01 14:53
So cool.SPEAKER_00 14:54
They look they look just awesome, and they glow, the the hair and the eyes would glow, and then the his significant Bible verse, 1 Samuel 17, written on the side, and they have little jetpacks in the back. Um you see a 20-inch Goliath behind me. Yes, and I’m I’m not lying when I say these images came to me during prayer. Uh this is Cisera up here, it’s a lopsided robot, it’s a Canaanite soldier who fought against Deborah, you know, and uh we have the mini versions of them. These are the uh mini version of David, eyes light up.SPEAKER_01 15:33
So typically what’s done is the toys kind of come after the the universe has been created, right? For the the the toy universe. Um but and I heard you saying on another interview that you kind of did it a little backwards, and the and that this is kind of more of the trend nowadays is starting with the toys, and then you begin to unpack the story and develop the the world in which these characters live after the toys kind of launch. Uh so what kind of is your your vision for communicating this and and getting people to buy into the narrative?SPEAKER_00 16:20
Yeah, well, first off, I’m not a writer, I’m an artist and toy designer, right? Um, I have ideas for the stories, but I’m not someone you would hire to write a book or write a write a story. Um and it has been a growing trend. Uh it’s called art toys, um, where the toys themselves they have a particular look and it looks like they have a story, but they don’t. Uh, you’ve probably heard of um Kid Robot and Huck G has a bunch of figurines and toys that he would design and sell, but there’s no story behind it. Even Labubu, these collectibles, there’s no real story. Uh, when Hello Kitty came out, there was no story. They kind of made a story from uh its popularity. So um for us, it was a like like again, a shotgun business where we had to make Comic-Con in six months. And I had a general idea of a story, but I never um took it any further.SPEAKER_02 17:23
Yeah.SPEAKER_00 17:24
Um, but now that we did Comic Con and we’re we’re finishing up our Kickstarter, I have to get these things made, and we do have meetings and pitches we have to make to fundraise. I am putting together a five-page origin story. I’m getting a lot of help from AI for the scenes and all that. I’m gonna be sketching it out and um including it on all the Kickstarter pledges. So, yeah, we’re working on that. Uh, the whole art toy industry or that space is a rapidly growing industry where it’s not mass market toys like what Mattel, Lego, Hasbro would sell, but more like Popmart. Um uh just where figuring collectibles are sold for hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars.SPEAKER_01 18:14
That’s but you’re wanting to teach kids, right? You want to you you want to use these to to help teach kids the Bible, is that right?SPEAKER_00 18:23
Well, the idea is to um get these amazing stories from the Bible into everybody’s hands. So what would be my ultimate goal is um to get these stories and get these figurines out there so people recognize them. Uh maybe uh strike a license with a major toy company. If they’re okay with something that’s spiritual, right? But uh, you know, we don’t have to say biblical, we can say they’re spirit-driven. Uh there’s a lot of biblical references throughout time in in pop media, right? Uh look at Matrix. It’s all like Mount Zion, Nebuchadnezzar is the name of the spaceship. Uh I used to watch a TV show called Night Rider when I was a kid, and the big bad truck was called Goliath. So you see biblical references everywhere, right? Uh, even in the Simpsons, you know, even in um just pop cartoons. So I don’t think they’re we’re stepping on anyone’s toes if we bring a David and Goliath into toys, because uh you don’t have to you don’t have to be a believer to know what David and Goliath is. Um they bring it up all the time, even in the Ukraine war. This is a David and Goliath situation on CNN. Uh so uh these are inspirational stories of faith. They’re not superheroes with super strengths, but they run on faith, right? Uh, this is a different type of storytelling, I would think. Um, so yeah, we need some good writers to to come out with some creative ways to put them in battle situations. And um, yeah, the goal is to have them in every household, hopefully. Whether you are a believer or not, um, they’ll be intrigued by these stories and how they handle the battles and how they fight good and evil. So when you see all the comic books throughout time, I think the majority of them is about a war between good and evil, right? So it’s the same model.SPEAKER_01 20:33
Yeah, there’s actually uh a really interesting show that has come out on. Are you familiar with Angel Studios?SPEAKER_00 20:42
Yeah, yeah, of course. We did um King of Kings recently.SPEAKER_01 20:46
That’s right, that’s right. And they have a kind of a lesser-known series that’s on there. I I think originally it was going to be a series called Testament, and maybe they didn’t get all of their funding after that first episode. Um, and then they just kind of turn it into a standalone movie called The Parables Retold. And and so I think everybody should watch it. It’s it’s really fascinating, but it’s it’s kind of an alternate reality in which the Bible kind of and the events of the Gospels and the Book of Acts transpire in modern day in sort of a you know another dystopian type uh environment or type world. And and so it’s the the apostles are on the run, and the temple guard is wearing like you know, riot gear and and coming after the the Christians, and they are trying to get rid of these stories that Jesus told. And and so interspersed in the story of kind of the Modern retelling of the book of Acts, they are they are retelling the parables in a modern day context. So for example, well, I won’t spoil it, but maybe I’ll spoil one a little bit. Um, the parable of the talents is told from the perspective of a of a music teacher, a uh world-class piano teacher who was training these other world-class prodigy students and has given her skills, and then they have a choice of what they’re gonna do with their skills that she’s given. And and it’s just uh it’s it’s really really fascinating. But to be able to that that’s been one of the challenges, especially with you want to teach the Bible to your kids. You want your kids to consume biblically based content, uh, but you’re you’re kind of limited in a lot of ways to these ancient Near Eastern contexts and settings. And it it just is harder to resonate with that. I think Superbook has done a great job with this. Have you looked into familiar with SuperBook? No, um, yeah, so this is put out by CBN 700 Club, uh, but it actually started to to reach Japanese kids who were really into manga comics. And so it’s kind of that Dragon Ball Z animation style. And then they kind of rebooted it and updated the the design uh several years ago, and and they’ve got I mean dozens and dozens of of episodes, but it’s time travel with this robot named Gizmo who takes them back into back into time as the super book, you know, which is the Bible that kind of beckons them to come learn about a story that relates to some specific situation that they’re going through in their present day lives. Um and and so yeah, I mean there’s a lot of really interesting takes as long as we’re moving.SPEAKER_00 24:08
What was that movie from Angel Studios again?SPEAKER_01 24:11
Yeah, you can actually watch it for free. Go on to the Angel Studios app. But the last I checked, the title of it was The Parables Retold.SPEAKER_02 24:19
Gotcha.SPEAKER_01 24:20
And I think they may have kind of spun off the the kind of the retelling of acts as a separate um episodic serial um TV show. I think I think they may have gotten some more funding for that. I’m not really sure, but it was very well done. Uh, so as long as we’re okay with um not you know kind of pushing the the boundaries of what is is gonna be because even with the chosen, have you watched the chosen series?SPEAKER_00 24:58
Oh yeah, sorry, I was writing it down looking for things, yeah, yeah. I’ve watched a couple of episodes, but I never really got into it.SPEAKER_01 25:07
Yeah, okay. Well, so even with the the chosen, you know, it people get upset about the light, the literary license that they take with writing the the screenplay and everything, and and um I mean we gotta kind of lighten up and let let God’s word speak to us in in different ways, you know, and not be so critical when when creators get in there and try to present the scriptures in a fresh and new way. Not that I mean, as long as you you’re not actually changing the scripture and making sort of coming up with some other gospel or some other um you know heresy or something like that, certainly we need to set boundaries against that.SPEAKER_00 25:58
Uh but I feel like it’s uh it could be a tight rope the walking we’re rocking uh when it comes to um trying to bring the Bible into pop culture, right? Yeah, um, who’s gonna accept it, who’s gonna be offended, uh, especially in today’s climate, uh with with in America, you’re taking the Bible out of out of uh uh America, right? Uh you are uh targeted if you speak the truth, right? So if we look at uh how the world is and every everything they see about speaking the truth, you look outdated if you talk about the Bible, right? So we’re trying to merge scripture right now. We’re starting with the old testament, but we’re gonna get into the new testament too later on, right? But we want to bring that into pop culture in a way that you know it’s not offensive because they’re robots, right? We’re not going up in your face and you’re gonna need to believe in God. No, dude, we’re gonna bring these stories to you. You might love it, and um, hopefully because it is a tight rope for walking, we won’t offend people, but if you want to get out there and make a big impact, you have to find a door, a way to get there instead of pushing it in their face, right? Yeah, you know what I’m saying? It’s hard to do that.SPEAKER_01 27:28
Yeah. Unfortunately, the people that get the most offended about you know something like you know, a toy line like this that is putting a different perspective on the scripture is is is gonna be the pushback from Christians. Like, have you have you faced that very much?SPEAKER_00 27:50
I I heard that and I was expecting it. Uh, there could be you know very um very conservative evangelicals might see it as you’re twisting the Bible, you can’t bring David into this light. But um, we haven’t heard any yet, but before we started it, it was a uh passing thought that maybe they will be the the harshest critic. Um, but I don’t know because we’re not changing the Bible, we’re using characters from the Bible, bringing it up to today’s world and see how they would act. Um, and in today’s war, in our own made-up uh story, right? So is that offending the Bible? I personally don’t think so. And I really feel that God put this into us to do this, and if uh God is leading us, I feel like I have to be obedient, I have to follow.SPEAKER_01 28:47
Um yeah, so is it so is it the actual spirit of David that comes to inhabit these robots? Is that what you’re suggesting here?SPEAKER_00 28:59
Yeah, I mean we have eight, we’re starting with eight. Um, the actual spirits of David. Imagine they’re now here 2025 in a in a metal shell robot, and he’s he still has memories of beating Goliath and being faithful to God, but he’s now fighting another war here, right? In today’s time. And we’re starting with Joshua, Gideon, Noah. Um, they all have their own colors and different color auras, and we have um uh Rahap in the book of Joshua, and we also have um um uh Deborah, the prophetess. So we’re starting with all of them, and but imagine years from now, it could be like uh Robotech meets Pokemon. Pokemon has like numerous characters, and we can find all these characters in the Bible, right? There’ll be the main ones that people really recognize could be their leaders, and then we’re gonna have Samuel the prophet, they might have a different body type. Uh, we’re gonna have a lot of different um like soldiers, like the Canaanite soldiers, the Philistine soldiers, they’re all fighting a war today, yeah. Right, so yeah.SPEAKER_01 30:08
What you know, while it may be and is and is far-fetched that the actual spirit of David would come and inhabit a robot where the spirit of Deborah, where their actual the person of David, the person of of Deborah would come back on the earth in that way, um, would be somewhat well quite implausible. I would say it’s not implausible the idea of in the way that, like, for example, Bruce Willis, I know that he has he has given up his his voice rights to some kind of AI so that his voice can be used as a as an AI. Um, and and you can go on to Chat GPT and say, talk to me about what you were talking to me as if you were David, young David, getting ready to go fight Goliath. And talk to me as if you’re literally getting ready to walk out on the battlefield. Now I’m out there on the battlefield. Now talk to me about what you’re actually feeling as you’re getting ready to you know sling this this stone. So I was thinking, like, what about a possibly kind of nuancing the story a little bit to where there’s uh because yeah, I know you talked about you’re looking for more storytellers as well.SPEAKER_00 31:46
Um, so I’m gonna at the I might be writing the story right here.SPEAKER_01 31:49
So yeah, so so so the idea of let’s say there’s a kid, and the kid is uh you know a a computer prodigy where he knows how to program AI and he he knows the scripture, he knows how to program these robots to think like David, to act like David, to do the things that that Dave that David did, but still have some of the same character flaws, and the kid sort of becomes um, you know, sort of like I’m thinking of Paw Patrol, if you’re uh you’re probably familiar with Paw Patrol. Um yeah, so writer is the kid that adopts all these all these dogs, these stray dogs, and then one of them is sort of the you know the fire dog and the police dog and the construction dog, and but writer is the kid that really sort of holds them all together. Um, I would say that would be more palatable for a lot of Christians than the idea of saying that they’re actually respect. Yeah, I think doctrinally there’s gonna be a lot of pushback on that.SPEAKER_00 33:10
Um the the idea was that initially we’re calling them AI, biblical AI robots, right? But then it became like anyone can do that, like you said, chat GPT could be inside these robots, and it’s just so simple. So the technology was a is a 20-year-old technology that that I brought up, it’s supernatural biorobotics, and um it’s like a mix between biogenetics and machine learning AI that brought these robots that they were summoned from the spirit world, right? So maybe they were they’re summoned from the spirit world, and their um presence got pushed into this machine AI learning, whatever. I don’t know. There’s got to be a way to make it so it’s not offensive that we’re we’re uh saying that they’re resurrected, but it is them, it’s undeniably them, right? But something beyond what a regular AI program can do. So it has to be a little bit more um, I don’t know, just deeper than just to say it’s AI robots. You know what I mean?SPEAKER_01 34:21
Yeah, yeah. I mean, there’s probably there’s probably a way to do that without saying it’s the actual spirit of the person. Um, because there’s just not really a there’s not really a biblical basis for that. I mean, there’s the the great cloud of witnesses, you know, that Hebrews talks about. I can think of I can think of Saul conjuring Samuel, which was something he shouldn’t have done. Um, you know, in terms of yeah, through a media through a yeah, through a witch. So, you know, when you talk about bringing spirits from the spirit world, you know, typically that is gonna result in some demonic activity. Um not not the not the kind of I mean there’s there’s angelic activity, but the idea of going to heaven and then coming back on the earth, and your spirit is now going to be free to inhabit a robot is gonna be really hard for a lot of orthodox Christians. But to be able, but but to spin it to where and I and I think it can there can be more of an emotional connection with the characters than just this is just you know this is just a character that was programmed uh by a computer, but there’s still I think a lot to be said for if the kid is the one doing the programming, your your connection is also with that with that child, and that that child knows the word so much, and he so wants to wants to see um people living the way God intended and and modeling what has been modeled for us in the scriptures to the point where he can’t find too many other people willing to do that, so he’s gonna have to make his own make his own robots, you know.SPEAKER_00 36:39
Right. I mean that you make a good point because I’m I’m really glad we’re having this conversation.SPEAKER_01 36:43
Yeah, it’s as I was I was just watching, you know, some before we got on, and you know, thinking about this the spirit, the spirit is where I get a little bit uncomfortable, and where I think others will get uncomfortable.SPEAKER_00 36:57
If you look, if you saw our uh Kickstarter video and all the videos, we saw we say AI-driven uh spirit robots, right? So it was originally that, and we try to dive dive a little deeper. So we are using the term AI for this, right? But we wanted to go deeper by saying they are biogenetic interfacing AI. So like maybe this AI is so so mechanical, it’s just so computer, right? But maybe this orb and this this lunar technology, it actually helps them feel or something, right? So I don’t know. You’re right. You bring up good a good point. Uh we were kind of torn between AI and their actual spirits. Um, we were there’s a deep debate about it.SPEAKER_01 37:49
Um because like eventually, if if you can actually put like an AI in the robots and have them talk to you as though they are David and try to dial in the you know the the voice and and everything to where you can ask them these questions and talk to them as if this is like this is like a far advanced version of the Teddy Ruxpin I grew up with, which uh also my guy Brad Pederson, they help bring that to market as well. But but if if I’m gonna get this toy and I’m gonna say you’re gonna you’re you’re gonna actually commune with the spirit of David as you’re talking to that toy, I think parents are gonna say heck no.SPEAKER_00 38:37
Uh well well the there’s this company we we were just at a conference uh a month ago. Uh there was a company in uh India that just got funded like tens of millions to do this technology. Uh it’s AI. Um, it it talks to you, like you can make a toy talk to you um beyond what Alexa or all these uh machines can do. And it does machine learning, knows your name, and starts talking to you. And we were talking about putting that technology into our um figurines one day, yeah. We were thinking of using NFC chips so they could trigger each other. So let’s say uh you know, these small uh keychains, I have a Joshua, right? And then I’m carrying around my backpack, and then you came with the David um figurine, and then if they come within a certain distance and they start talking, hey David, and they’ll speak in like you know, the King James biblical, hey, how art thou, right? So I thought that would be kind of fun. Uh, but you’re right. The the whole part about is it AI? Is it directional spirits? We were on the fence kind of left and right of that. Um, just AI seems like it’s everywhere now, it’s anyone can do it. How can we go a step further than just AI? How far can we go? That’s the big debate.SPEAKER_01 40:07
Yeah, well, you know, out there in the mainstream and they’re buying like demon um demon toys and all this stuff that’s going on out there, like the the world doesn’t care. Um, I think in targeting Christians and Christian families who do want to stay true to the scripture and are very cautious about what they you know the toys that their kids play with and the shows that they watch, um getting a little more orthodox with the theology, I think, would would be better for everybody.SPEAKER_00 40:47
Yeah.SPEAKER_01 40:48
Um I know that uh super book, they have you can see in the credits that they have theologians that that are very much involved in all of the storytelling and you know what making sure that we’re not pushing things too far. And actually, one of those professors was one of my professors at Regent University, which is the same campus where they make super book. Um, but this is such a cool concept. Um, these these robots just look awesome, and uh there’s so much potential, and you obviously have the the skills to be able to to design these and bring them to market, and so I’m I’m really excited to see where this where this heads.SPEAKER_00 41:40
Yeah, I mean uh Kickstarter just to get out there and see how people um react. Um, we couldn’t find our audience, so like we talked about before, the art toy audience is really hard to connect with, but we’re out looking for funding um to trying to raise money. Um, so hopefully we’ll get to get there sooner than later. We’re trying to pick up some partnerships with maybe major toy manufacturers and um get these things out there as soon as we can. Um, we’re gonna miss Christmas if we’re gonna do it manufactured like in China. So we’re gonna continue to make these uh here, um, made in USA, painted by the artist himself. Get it out before Christmas.SPEAKER_01 42:27
Awesome. Well, so everybody can go to ancients.com. That’s ancient with the Z on the end.com. Anything else you want to say about how people can get involved?SPEAKER_00 42:38
Yeah, I mean, follow our Kickstarter, um, which is ancients with the Z underscore official. Um, please follow us. We just started this Kickstarter, so we’re trying to get as many people on board as possible. Uh, we’ll keep you guys updated on what’s going on. Uh, if you want to go to ancients.com, our website, you could fill out uh our um email subscription. We’re gonna send out updates and we should have our online store up within a few weeks. Um, we’ve just been focused on Kickstarter. We want to take pre-orders. Uh, we’re gonna try to go to all these shows: DesignerCon, WonderCon, uh, be there to interact with potential fans and new fans and existing fans and um show them what’s coming up. We’re gonna come up with Moses and Faral next. We might do um Jacob and Joseph.SPEAKER_01 43:32
Awesome. All right, everybody. Ancientswiththez.com is the website. Go check it out, check out the Kickstarter, and um, and you can go ahead and get one, and it’ll be painted by the artist himself. Howard, thank you for spending time with our listeners. It’s been uh it’s been fun to chat with you today.SPEAKER_00 43:52
That was very insightful today. Thank you.SPEAKER_01 43:56
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