Craig Drobis is the SVP of Marketing for boys action figures and collectors for Jakks Pacific. Craig will be answering your questions 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 May 26th.
1. So far in the world of Nintendo 2.5 figure line, we have orange, green, purple, and turquoise squids. Are there plans for a blue squid? Thanks and keep up the great work.
Yes, we have lots of Splatoon related products coming this year which we are really excited to have be in our line as well as to have Splatoon 2 come to market for the gamers. A 2.5″ blue squid is on the way. If you want to fill your blue squid needs in the short term, look for the Splatballs which are out now too at Toys R Us and elsewhere. There are some 4” Inklings out now as well and Splatoon blasters will be available this summer if you want to take Splatoon skills from the game to the back yard.
2. For the new Power Rangers line, will the entire team be available or just the Red and Blue Ranger?
We just have the red and blue Rangers in the Big Figs scale. For the kids, we do have dress up of all 5 Rangers available at Target.
3. Has JAKKS ever considered doing a cardboard diorama for the Super Mario castles, such as Browsers Castle, or backdrops from key scenes from the games?
This is a concept we like and we have tried to execute it in a few different ways. To date, we have not been able to make it work with cardboard. However, there is a castle playset on the way which was teased on the Jakkstoys Twitter account. More to come on that very soon as it will be available this Fall.
4. The April offering of the DC Originals Batman figure with 8-bit deco is one of the most beautiful repaints that JAKKS has ever done on Big Figs. I noticed that this figure sold out within 24 hours on Amazon (at least temporary out of stock). The 8-bit deco is normally used mostly by NECA Toys, and I was very excited to see JAKKS use this. Could more characters such as Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and other characters use this deco down the line should the first six figures sell well?
We are really happy you like the Batman and as you can see from the 5 figures that have been released so far that we are trying to find unique ways to make the product more premium and catered to the collector that appreciates these details. Flash with a metallic paint and adding more soft goods materials to Superman and the recently released Joker are some other ones. We wanted to try a few things and see what fans are attracted to the most. So this type of feedback is great and we can use it as we make plans for future offerings. If you are still looking for the Batman, Amazon is back in stock now.
5. At ToyFair, JAKKS debuted some of the Smurf’s figures and mushroom houses. But it looks like only two of the village houses were shown. What are the chances of more houses and village pieces making it to retail this year?
The Smurfette and Brainy Smurf mushroom houses are the only ones that we are releasing this year. They are available now at Toys R Us, Walmart, Amazon, and elsewhere.
