The first Ask Jakks of the year is here and we have the latest scoop with Craig Drobis.
Craig Drobis is the SVP of Marketing for boys action figures and collectors for Jakks Pacific. 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 15th, 2022 (send these in right away before we max out of submissions).
Update: March 6 10:55 AM EST – Submissions are now closed for the next round.
Jakks Pacific products can be ordered on Entertainment Earth, BigBadToyStore, Hobby Link Japan, and Amazon.
Q&A:
1. Will we be getting more Luigi, Toad, and maybe even Peach powerups soon!? Also, will the 4” line be getting more stuff, as it’s been a little lacking lately in the main line!
There are some very cool and exciting things on the horizon for the 4” line. We had to do some last minute shuffling in the last year as the supply chain challenges impacted everyone and we had to make some calls to keep the wave release schedules on track as much as possible. I know one of the comments has been that Jakks doesn’t project out waves in the future as much as some fans would like. I know from several years ago that there was greater fan frustration from being told something was in a particular mix or timing and when we had to make updates for whatever reason and it didn’t show up as expected. That is why we have kept it a little closer to the vest in terms of announcements, but we will follow a better cadence. There is a lot of great stuff on tap this year across the line and we are pushing very hard to get it all out.
2. This year, you guys released the new Super Mario Advent Calendar with Christmas themed packaging and Holiday themed exclusive figures (Santa Mario, Snowmen), however you also released another new calendar different from that of the 2019 version with slightly different packaging and a different figure selection which has been found overseas. This set included an exclusive Red Shell accessory which hasn’t been released otherwise. As a completionist of the 2.5” and 4” lines, this exclusive release is concerning as I would rather not drop $50+ on a set that appears to only be releasing overseas, not to mention it would be difficult to find online in the first place. Is it possible that this Red Shell accessory will make a release otherwise, whether that be in another multipack released in America or included with a 2.5” or 4” figure as an accessory?
Editor’s Note – This is available exclusively at Amazon for $49.99.
First of all, thank you for your support and attention to detail to the product line to see this item from the European market. Yes, a different version of the calendar was released overseas last year. The intent of the red shell was not for it to be exclusive to the product nor to frustrate completionists. I don’t have a specific item or mix to point you to in the immediate future. If I did, I would definitely say. I will speak with the team and find a home for it.
3. How come the 4″ Amy figure is as tall as/taller than Sonic? You got the scaling so good for the rest of the 4″ characters (minus Eggman), yet Amy’s taller than Sonic if you don’t have him standing straight up? Will this ever be fixed?
Also can we ever expect deluxe figures at some point? As Vector & Big NEED deluxe releases, as they’re too big released in the main line waves without shrinking them down (which would just make them not fit in accurately AT ALL with the rest of the line).
Sorry for being so blunt, I’m just really hoping you’ll be able to release them both in their accurate sizes.
We agree with the need to keep the characters in scale as much as possible. I would like to think we are perfect, but sometimes we can be a little off. I hope the Amy scaling issue isn’t so egregious that it detracts from her introduction to the line, as we were very excited to include her and we also want the value of the figure to be comparable for the consumer. Regarding Vector, we understand that some characters would be better if they were introduced at a different size and price point. Sometimes we do play the relative scale (definitely not perfect scale) game in order to make sure we can hit all the key characters. The result is like Eggman where he is bigger than Sonic but not multiple times bigger. We want the core characters in the main assortment at what we believe continues to be a reasonable price point. Scale is one of the things that is sometimes cheated to so that in order to avoid having something that is 2 to 3 times more expensive.
5. Will future female figures come with a fabric skirt/dress for more leg movement?
We don’t have immediate plans but mixing materials is something we look to find ways to do. For us it is as much about having the character shown in a more natural way as the articulation.
6. Will you finish the World Of Nintendo 2.5 Yoshi Colors? As the only ones left are Pink, Purple and Brown Yoshi, you’ve mentioned before that you’ve done Purple Yoshi, but that’s actually the Dark Blue Yoshi figure you were referring too, which can be mistaken as it’s color scheme can resemble a very dark purple color of sorts a bit.
We are always trying to finish things off. We aren’t totally there, but I have a feeling if you pay attention to the GameStop packs this summer that we will get closer to the end.
7. I enjoy the products for other Nintendo franchises you’ve been putting out recently, such as Breath Of The Wild Link’s Tunic Accessory, The Animal Crossing Figure Pack, and the very amazing Pikmin 3 Deluxe Figure Pack! Is there any plans to produce new characters and figures in both 2.5 and 4 Inch scale for these lines? As they have been very popular franchises and have found quite a market with new audiences with these rereleases.
We are happy that you enjoyed these releases. We know that we have not done a lot of new development in these franchises as we have focused on Super Mario which was part of the evolution from World of Nintendo. As you noted, we try to find ways to play in the other franchises and do something different than the original releases. I’m glad you enjoyed it. There may be other introductions in the future.
8. Are there any current plans for merchandise of the extremely successful and long awaited Metroid Dread game?
We are very big fans of Metroid and would like to do more. As noted above, we have focused on the Super Mario franchise, but will step out when there are opportunities.