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 July 31st.
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
1. Hi Jakks. I am a big fan of the Nintendo line. The Nintendo Diorama series, will this lineup continue to offer reissues such as the 6” Bowser vs. 4” Mario figures or will we to see this line expand and offer something that fans haven’t seen before in either scale?
We are working on a few different diorama packs, some of which were announced at San Diego Comic Con. We really like the story telling that they allow for and the ability to bring the game to life in a different presentation. More is definitely high on the to do list for 2019, and I look forward to announcing more.
2. Earlier on in the Big Figs Star Wars collection, Jakks offered both Boba Fett and Bossk as part of the Bounty Hunters from The Empire Strikes Back. With Jakks focusing on movie product for the most part, what are the chances at this point of Jakks ever finishing the Bounty Hunters collection such as IG-88, 4-LOM, Dengar and Zuckuss?
We always like to have different themes and segments to collect. The Bounty Hunters was a lot of fun, Boba Fett was a strong seller, however Bossk was in lesser demand and prevented us from going deeper into the Bounty Hunters.
3. If retail isn’t an option (for the question above), what about a subscription service or an exclusive club that is similar to Gentle Giant’s Premier Guild and Mattel’s former Mattycollector offerings?
We are also looking for different ways to deliver product to consumers. Jakks is not there for a subscription service at this time.
4. I was wondering if there was a chance for Jakks to offer additional variations of Mario and Luigi in the Nintendo line from the classic Super Mario games of the 80’s and 90’s? Such as Cape Mario, Cape Luigi, or possibly even Mario in his wedding outfit from last year?
We like to have a variety of Marios and Luigis as you have seen in the past. We announced an 8-bit Jumpman version in a two pack available at Walgreens at the end of the year. Mario Odyssey has also opened up many variants as well. Mario with Cappy was shown in San Diego and I expect more from the current offering of games before we go back to more from the ‘80s and 90’s.
5. Are villains a possibility such as Steppenwolf or a Parademon in the Justice League Big Figs line?
Our Justice League offering has been completed with the 2 versions of Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Flash, and Superman were shipped last year and into 2018. For 2019, we have taken a new direction with the Big Fig Evolution figures, starting with a Batman Rebirth version available at Target in October. This figure has all the added detail and articulation that fans have been asking for in the Big Figs line. We are very excited to see what the response is to them.