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 15th.
After a brief hiatus, we have readers submissions for the months of March and April of 2018, making this a double edition. All the answers are below.
Jakks Pacific products can be ordered on Entertainment Earth, BigBadToyStore and Amazon.com.
March 2018:
1. Is there any way that Jakks Pacific can improve distribution of its DC BigFigs internationally? Unfortunately, the “comic book” based BigFigs are never released down under in Australia. It would be great if all fans around the world had the chance to buy those figures.
I really wish I had a better answer for you on how we can get broader distribution globally on all of the Big Figs. Given the extra retail quirks and challenges of the Big Figs in general, some countries are better equipped to merchandise the extended than others. Australia and our retail partners there have been supporters of the line, but I recognize not every figure has made it there.
2. It was unfortunate to hear that there weren’t any Big Figs on display at ToyFair this year from the Star Wars and DC line, and I was wondering if there were any new developments of comic based DC offerings?
I think more is known now, but at the time the Han Solo figures remained under embargo and thus we did not have them on display in New York. There are some other things in the works for the second half of the year which has similar restrictions. So rather than showing figures that had already been unveiled, we decided to hold back for later releases.
3. What films is Jakks currently focusing on for the Big Figs lines for 2018?
Solo: A Star Wars Story as I mentioned has now been announced. That will be our main one for 2018 that we can announce.
4. The Incredibles 2 figures looks great and I was wondering if additional waves were planned for the 2” figures line?
We are very excited about the Incredibles 2 line. There are several figural lines for which there will be multiple waves of figures. As you can imagine, there are characters in the movie which aren’t known or recognizable before the film is viewed. We held those back for subsequent waves, but you can expect to see new waves throughout the year.
5. For Mega Man, has Jakks considered offering backdrop diorama for the 2” 8-bit figures inspired from the game? Something larger than what is inside a single packaging?
We do not have plans for fold out or separate accessory backdrops to come with the packaging, but each of the two packs of figures will have a background specific to the characters included in the pack. I think you will like them.
April 2018:
1. As Toys “R” Us is currently in liquidation and closing their stores, has this affected Jakks Pacific’s plans in anyway regarding product release for 2018, and has anything been put on hold or cancelled due to the loss of shelf space? Where can fans find the Incredibles line and other products after the closing?
Nothing has been changed as far as the Incredibles 2 product plans for 2018, as most of was already well into development before we received this sad news. There are an exclusive item or two which were shipped in limited quantities for which we will need to find homes, otherwise they will be very limited edition items.
2. When can fans expect to learn about the DC Big Figs line-up for 2018? Are there any plans for comic based figures in the foreseeable future? One character that would be ideal is Batman Beyond, with a variant of an unmasked head sculpt.
We do have a revised product plan and line up in development for Fall of this year and we will be ready to talk in more detail about it in July.
3. Are there any variants or chase figures in the 8-bit Mega Man line, and if so, what are they?
There are no limited edition figures in the launch wave of the line. We are very excited to have them be available for everyone to enjoy and hope we covered the most exciting Robot Masters and versions of Mega Man for the launch. There will be more to come in the Mega Man franchise as a whole.
4. Is Browsers Castle still on the horizon for the 4” Super Mario line?
We have the Mushroom Kingdom Castle in the 2.5″ scale. We have had a lot of interest and positive responses to that and we are looking at other opportunities for expansion around that scale of figure. Bowser’s Castle would certainly be one to consider if we do.
5. Depending on how the 12” electronic Mega Man goes, could Jakks consider additional offerings in this scale, including some f the villains?
I try to never say never and I am really excited about the Mega Man video game based line. There will be a lot more Mega Man news to announce in the coming months so stay tuned for that.