Social media– bringing together toy collectors, action figures, and the actors said toys are based off of every day since…nineteen dickety…

Okay, so this almost never happens. But with Zombie Sailor at the helm, anything is possible!

Zombie Sailor, aka, The Time Travelling Toy Seller is no stranger to Toy Wizards. We reported back when he found an entire warehouse of case-fresh, uncirculated Masters of the Universe toys, and again when he discovered sealed cases of Batman: The Animated Series figures. All of said toys were successfully sold (very quickly) via Instagram in claim sales.

Therefore, when Zombie Sailor found another wholesaler’s stock of vintage  Waterworld action figures by Kenner (circa 1995, about 500 figures), Zombie did what he usually does– spend some time hyping up the find, posting that the sale is coming, and creating content letting fans and followers know that they can’t miss this sale!

But this time, a little something different happened. Discovering these Waterworld action figures had a personal effect on the mega toy seller– it rekindled his love for Kevin Costner, and he started re-watching all of his movies.

“I’ve always been a huge fan of his”, Zombie Sailor said in our discussion about the Waterworld toys and figures. “I then came to the quick conclusion that Kevin Costner, or ‘Big Kev’ as I like to call him, is the greatest actor of all time and represents the 90’s perfectly, which is my favorite era.”

Mine too, Zombie Sailor. Mine, too.

Being part toy seller and part entertainer, Zombie Sailor knew that he had to approach this very carefully…aka…well…loudly.

“I started making crazy, over the top videos and posts to try and get his attention,” Zombie Sailor continued. “Like wearing a shirt that says “I <3 Big Kev” with the sale start date on the shirt. This happened after opening on video a sealed case of Waterworld figures and me pleading my love to ‘Big Kev’.”

When I asked Zombie Sailor what other creative avenues he took in order to have his shouts to ‘Big Kev’ heard, he informed of the following:

“I also took a photo with a mall Santa holding up a Waterworld sealed figure, while in a neckbrace which was a result of getting kicked in the face by WWE superstar Dolph Ziggler a few weeks prior at a Major Wrestling Figure Podcast live show in Chicago.”

“I made fake movie posters with my face poorly photoshopped over his co-stars.”

“I started leaving silly comments on his Instagram pictures. Anything that would help drill in my love for the greatest actor of our era, ‘Big Kev’.” 

 

Then on Thanksgiving day, (a few days after the Waterworld sale took place) something special happened. ‘Big Kev’ wrote a fire emoji to something in Zombie Sailor’s Instagram story. It was promptly sent to Zombie’s direct messages. This was the pinnacle moment  that changed everything.

“I was so excited so I made a video showing he actually noticed me with that fire emoji,” Zombie stated. “Then on the video, ‘Big Kev’ commented “Happy Thanksgiving” and started following me! it’s his verified account with blue checkmark.”

Zombie Sailor was so stoked about this domino rally of amazing events that he went to his local bakery and got a cake with the writing “Big Kev follows Zombie”. This celebratory cake made an appearance on his Instagram account.

Since then, even though the Waterworld sale concluded, Zombie Sailor has been posting many Kevin Costner posts and stories. It’s added a shift in his toy sales and content that is delighting his followers. This love and devotion to the actor are welcome antics based on the number of likes. There are also tons of comments also referring to Mr. Costner as Big Kev.

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“Finally….” Zombie Sailor continues, “The climactic moment was reached…on NEW YEARS EVE at 3 in the morning Costner sent me a very humbling 4 part video message to “Zombie Sailor” wishing me a Happy New Year and thanking me for being  so cool to him about the things he’s done and he wanted to let me know they were nice gestures, they made him smile and he thought they were funny.”

“He also mentioned about how I help out the kids (as every year I donate new toys to many kids charities / drives since I started selling toys full time ) this was something I let him know in a DM,” Zombie Sailor said. “What started out as a fun gimmick to get his attention because of the cases of Waterworld toys lead me to realize that Big Kev is sincerely a very kind, humble, and classy gentleman. For a huge celebrity like Kevin Costner to take time out of his busy life, let alone on New Year’s Eve to send that video really meant alot to me.”

Once Zombie Sailor posted the Costner video on his Instagram, it set his followers wild. It received nearly 10,000 views with almost 300 comments, all of it encouraging, excited, and positive disbelief.  Zombie Sailor finishes by happily discussing 2019, which he describes as an amazing year. “I didn’t think this would ever happen- I can’t believe Kevin Costner is following me and also sent that video.”

In addition to following Zombie Sailor on Instagram, you can watch him in Season 3 of The Toys That Made Us on the Wrestling Figures episode. He is also associated with the Major Wrestling Figure Podcast.

 

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