Speaker 2
And I don't know honestly how they came to be the way they are, but they're kind of like country-fied warblets. But yeah, you can find them scattered around the country in private collections or in a few museums like ours. But it really is hard to find them. And of course, there are the handful of Chuck E. Cheese's where they still play them. But what constantly happens is they are so difficult to maintain. It really takes somebody with a passion to do it. And just as an addendum to the concept of animatronics, these guys work off of pneumatics as well. So they're pumped with air. You need more technology than just electricity and gears to get them going.
Speaker 1
Yeah. And I would imagine a lot of patience and technical know-how too to keep them running.
Speaker 2
It does, but oddly, it doesn't have to be somebody with a lot of experience. And our story is a perfect example of that because a young man named Ryan, who visited us when he was eight years old, who had a early interest in Chucky came back eight years later and asked us because at that point, our Chucky's were just on display. And he asked us if we would allow him to get them back into running order. Yeah. I mean, it took a lot of arm twists, and we basically said, yes, please. Yeah, I bet. Yeah, right. And Ryan single-handedly did it. I mean, he said, okay, I need these parts over here. We ordered them, no problem. Some of them we had to get off of eBay because they were difficult to find elsewhere. But he got them going all by himself, and now he's a senior in high school, great guy. And apparently he has his own Chucky team in his own bedroom, but we're glad to have ours as well.
Speaker 1
Well, it's time for a quick break. Our guest is Ross Brackman. He's director of the American Treasure Tour Museum, housing one of the largest collections of animatronics in the country. And when we come back, we're going to talk more about the recent wave of nostalgia, bringing back these charming, albeit sometimes creepy, animatronic bands back into the spotlight. Stay with us. Your business deploys AI pilots everywhere. But are they going anywhere? Or are they stuck in silos, exhausting resources, unable to scale? Maybe you don't need hundreds of AI pilots. You need a holistic strategy. IBM has 65,000 consultants with Gen AI expertise who can help you design, integrate, and optimize AI solutions. So you're not just deploying AI. you're scaling it across your business. Learn more at ibm.com/consulting. IBM. Let's create. Hey, welcome back to Business Wars. Ross Brackman is the director of the American Treasure Tour Museum located just outside of Philadelphia. It features toys, animatronics, and knickknacks that'll make you feel like a kid again.
Speaker 2
Ross, this sounds like so much fun. How did you get into this business? was as a visitor and I saw all of the Nickelodeons, the classic cars, the, of course, the animatronics, which are very seductive. So be careful when you get here. But I just came at a time when they needed people to come in to start giving private tours. And I guess they liked what I was doing well enough that they kept me coming here. So this really
Speaker 1
speaks to the passion that, that this stuff insights. I mean, are you more into the nostalgia or more into robotics or what is it that draws you to this? Well, I am
Speaker 2
kind of an addict of popular culture personally. So I also have an obsession with visiting museums all over the place. So a museum where you can come in and feel happier leaving is a very rare thing in this world because most of them deal with pretty heavy subjects. And that's not what we do here. So you come in, you listen to the automatic music machines, the Nickelodeons, the band organs, the carousel music, things like that. And then you also take a tram ride around the collection because it's over 100,000 square feet. And there's a definite sense of chaos when you come here, which I say that in the best possible way because it is just audio and visual saturation. Yeah.
Speaker 1
That's my favorite kind of place. I love that. I love that. Well, what's the consensus here? Are these things more creepy or is it more endearing or is the nostalgia factor maybe all of the above?
