Craig Drobis is the SVP of Marketing for boys action figures and collectors for Jakks Pacific. Craig will be answering your questions moving forward for all Ask Jakks submissions. ToyHypeUSA will be sending him monthly questions and we will have your answers back on or around the beginning of each month. Send us your questions to [email protected] by February 26th.
1. What was the new reveals at this years Hong Kong ToyFair and are you saving any surprises for NYTF next month?
Hong Kong Toy Fair is really a last call for retailers for the following holiday season. There is usually not a lot of new development or reveals at least to retailers. It is not a press event, so we are able to show a lot more than we can publicly. New York is really the first place that we can introduce new product, so there will be some new Big Figs and other items revealed in a couple weeks. That’s where the first reveals happen. Not all of them but a few.
2. How many figures will have Jakks planned for release that are based on the animated Justice League line?
Currently the plan is three. We have been doing a lot with retailers to make room for all of the Big Figs we offer. Justice League Movie is where the focus is first for retailers, at least as far as Big Figs go.
3. Following up from last month with the battle droid question, were you referring too the Roger Battle Droid or the Super Battle Droid, or both? The Roger battle droids are more leaner compared to the Super Battle Droids as seen in the Clone Wars and films. When you say that the Battle Droids getting wide would pose a problem, it almost sounds like you are referring to the Super Battle Droid. It’s understandable that given the shape and scale neither might work for Big Figs, However, should you go with the Roger Battle Droids, you can offer many different repaints of the figure such as standard, battle blast damage, battle slashes, red repaint, red/yellow repaint, yellow deco (commander), green deco (tank driver), red deco (security) etc. Over the years many different variations in paint apps were shown and each one could be a candidate for a new release.
My apologies. When I was answering the question, I wasn’t thinking of the early Episode droids, even though in looking back that was clearly the question. Yes, Roger Battle Droids do fit within our footprint and would make good army builders. I think I mentioned before that there is so much great new content and characters available now and going forward that we have not been dipping back to the early episodes since the launch of Force Awakens. These are certainly ones we have considered in the past, but there are no plans right now.
4. What happened to the plans to make the 48.5″ Donatello and Raphael figures? Were sales below expectations? Does this also include the end of the line for the 48.5″ Turtles line? Or are villain characters such as Shredder a possibility?
There are no plans for additional 48.5″ TMNT figures at this time. We had a good run with them and there were some great value promotions at Target this past holiday season.
5. How has the response been on the 18″ DC Originals line with the fans? Are more limited releases possible providing how these first six go?
The fan response and reaction has been great. We really tried to put a lot of the detail that we normally can’t and we absolutely do hear both the positive and constructive criticisms from the first couple reveals, many of which we will try to address in future offerings where we can. The first six are all that are planned and announced for now. We are still closely monitoring the sales with Amazon to make sure that we are keeping the quantities limited enough to keep them special while also making sure they are a sell out.