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 November 20th.
Jakks Pacific products can be ordered on Entertainment Earth, BigBadToyStore, Megalopolis: City Of Collectibles and Amazon.com
1. Has Jakks Pacific ever considered a play set that is in scale withr the Mega Man 8-bit collection such as Dr. Wiley’s Lab?
That is an interesting idea and one we haven’t pursued yet. We do have playsets coming in a few brands next year, including one for the Meg Man Fully Charged product line. More to come on that soon.
2. How has the Deluxe Mega Man figure sold and are additional figures planned in this line such as Cut Man and Guts Man?
The Deluxe Mega Man just started to become available at GameStop and Amazon, so we do not have any data on hand yet. It is one of my favorite figures this year with all the features included. For a higher priced item like this, we tend to be pretty conservative in the character offering, sticking to the title character and variations of him. We will of course monitor the reception and see what other characters could be done in the future.
3. Are there any plans for DC Movie Big Figs such as the Joker, Birds of Prey, Flashpoint, Shazam!, Green Lantern Corps, Cyborg or Suicide Squad 2? You stated previously there will be no Wonder Woman Movie Big Figs next year, but what about the other DC films?
There are no plans for additional characters beyond the Big Figs Evolution Batman Rebirth which is available at Target and Amazon now.
4. If the above question is yes, how will Jakks decide on which characters to make, such as the lead, fan requests and supporting characters?
The answer is no, but it is a common question which is applicable to many movie based toy lines. The lead characters are always considered first as they have the broadest appeal to all fans. We will work with the filmmakers to understand the story line and which characters will be featured or stand out more so than one might normally assume. As a separate example, in the Incredibles 2 movie, we knew from the script and our discussions with Pixar that Jack-Jack was going to be very memorable when you wouldn’t otherwise think that the baby would be the scene stealer after the first movie. We made sure Jack-Jack was in all of our assortments and we still under-estimated how popular he would be.
5. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but ThunderCats is making a return in 2019 with a new series and possible toy line that has an animation style similar to Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Has Jakks Pacific ever talked about or considered looking at this brand as a candidate in the Big Figs line, or a possible 2” figure line-up preferably from the 80’s cartoon over this new one?
Yes, we are aware of the ThunderCats series in development and it does look like it will be a fun, new take on the story. ThunderCats is a property we often consider for various product opportunities, given its history and fan base. To date, we haven’t done anything with it.
