Friday, July 10, 2015

SDCC 2015: The Jakks Collector Presentation

It's Ben Delloiacono's first San Diego Comic-Con, and with me playing Oracle in NJ and my two excellent photographers working real jobs, he was left on his own to brave the crowds at the most chaotic geek gathering on the planet. Brave man! PEOPLE WERE PUNCHING EACH OTHER AT THE HASBRO BOOTH OVER STAR WARS FIGURES!!! It's insane over there! Taking a break from the hazardous show floor, Ben ducked into the JAKKS Pacific collector panel to see what's going down with their World of Nintendo, Warcraft and big figure lines...

The Jakks panel at San Diego Comic Con was a sneak peak of what we can expect this coming Fall.

The panel began outlining the three main tiers of action figures Jakks has come to be known for: The 20” “new gold standard,” the 31” “massive” line, and the 48” “colossal” line or the “roommate” model—these things are HUGE. The first of the lines presented was the DC line, which focused mostly on the forthcoming Batman V Superman movie with other Justice League favorites, Wonder Woman and the Flash.

The majority of the toys coming out in the Fall are “gold” or “massive” with the exception of a new “colossal” Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle: a new 48” Leonardo with detachable katanas and a shell that opens for storage. They also told the attendees about a “colossal” Darth Vader that they presented at Celebration this past year. There was no footage of this figure but they told us it was automated with sounds and had some pretty cool interactive features where you can address Lord Vader as “friend” or “foe” and he will treat you accordingly.

As the Jakks crew introduced its Star Wars line, I was disappointed (but absolutely not surprised) to find nothing from The Force Awakens. Jakks is currently focusing on the older trilogy: 20” Luke Skywalker, Bossk, and a Tuscan Raider—this Tuscan Raider was previously only available in a four-pack and will now be available on it’s own! As for the Star Wars “massive” line there will be a 31” Master Yoda as well as an R2D2. Your favorite foul mouthed droid will be available in a “basic” and “deluxe” model. The basic version has standard articulation and movement (moveable arms, wheels, and a swivel head) whereas the deluxe model will offer sounds and lights, and will even have an overload mode where R2 will shake side to side and “essplode”!



Some other quick things to look out for: From "Power Ranger: Dino Riders" will be a 20” and 31” Red Ranger. We can also expect a 31” Master Chief from the Halo video game, which will also come in a deluxe articulation model and a basic model. You can also expect MINIONS!!! A 20” model of Kevin with a head that opens for storage capacity!

Another piece of the panel that was a bit disappointing  (understandable, but disappointing all the same) was the World of Warcraft line. There were no pictures. Boo. But I suppose this is to be expected since these figures will support the World of Warcraft film scheduled to be released in the summer of 2016. Jakks assured us that the first product reveals will be at BlizzCon 2015. In lieu of pictures of we got promises and some things to look for: 2.5” Army Builder Packs, 6” Collector series with deluxe articulation and accessories, Jakks Big Figs 20” scale figures, signature role play items… and… and… “more.”

The Nintendo line holds worlds of possibilities and Jakks has been mining that to the satisfaction of many collectors. There are 20” “big figs” of Yoshi and Link with a special SDCC version of Link that features a metallic sword and shield… sorry, folks, per the crew at Jakks, it’s sold out already. There were a few novelty plushes from Super Mario Brothers also available of a Shell, Mushroom, and Star! These were pretty cool as they make sound effects when they are squeezed or hit against a surface. The pretty cool thing was a Mario RC “Anti-Gravity” Cart, priced to sell at $99.



One of the coolest things here was a new interactive mold maker line based on the old Hot Wheels chassis maker where you can make your own figures. I'm hoping that is the start of some awesome new technology we can use to build all the action figures we've always wanted, but couldn't convince a company to make. YOU WILL BE MINE CHAIRFACE CHIPPENDALE!!

Entertainment Earth

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