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]. Send in your questions by March 30th.
Jakks Pacific products can be ordered on Entertainment Earth, BigBadToyStore, Megalopolis: City Of Collectibles and Amazon.com
1. Last session, it was mentioned that DC comic big figs are on hiatus. Was it due to sales ? If so, is the classic comic looks and movies different properties are seen as the same? Felt like it was a missed opportunity for not doing Shazam! movie.
We are very proud of the Big Figs line and enjoy working on it very much. The form factor allowed our design team to do a lot of great things and get a tremendous amount of detail in the figures while still having a reasonable price. Ultimately it is sales that determine the longevity of any line and the amount of space the product takes on shelf is a challenge for retailers. Shazam looks like it will be an awesome movie and you will find me in the theater.
2. The Evolution 20″ Batman was a great surprise. Did it perform well enough for more figures done in this way?
The Evolution Big Fig was another product that the Jakks design team had a tremendous amount of passion for. They were able to add all the articulation one could want in the full Big Fig size and glory. The figure has great poseability while still being a great value for a centerpiece collectible. Our hope was that execution would be the future of Big Figs. At this point, it doesn’t look like there will be any more in the near future.
3. I was wondering if you were planning on doing any more superheroes (either DC or Marvel) in the Big-Figs 31″ model I bought the 31″ Superman and Batman models and love them. But I’d love to have more; like Ironman, Spiderman, Hulk, DareDevil, Wolverine, Aquaman, DeadPool, Thor, etc.
For the reasons noted above, we are not moving forward with any new 31” figures at this time. The primary issue is retail shelf space and only the 48” figures took up more than these ones. You mentioned some of my favorites above which we would love to do. We are just not in the position to do so. We appreciate all the support and excitement around all the Jakks Big Figs.
4. Do you plan on doing more 4 inch koopa kids in the world of Nintendo line?
At this point, we have announced the figures for the Spring of this year and don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. The Koopalings are always favorites. We know it has been tough for a lot of the fans to consistently find the waves without Toys R Us. However given how the 4” figures are selling so far this year at Target, Amazon, and GameStop, it looks like people are finding where to go. There is a ton of new product coming throughout the Nintendo line for 2019, much of which was debuted at New York Toy Fair. We are really happy with how it is all being received and please keep the recommendations coming.
5. Do you plan on doing a classic line of Mega Man action figures like the Mega Man powered up figures you are releasing?
We have released the 8-bit figures in 2.5” scale and the Mega Man 11 figures in the same scale. We do have the one Classic Mega Man 12” figure with lights and sounds which was released last year and is available on Amazon and at GameStop. I am not sure if you are referring to the Mega Man Fully Charged feature figures based on the new TV show on Cartoon Network. Those are available now on Amazon and will be at Target stores in April. Those are all the feature figures at this point.