Wrestling Toys (Mattel WWE, Jazwares AEW, etc.)

[secondwhiteline]

WCT did Pokémon mini figures and plushies for ages, you've probably seen their stuff around even if you didn't know the name. I'd have to look up what else they did.

Monsuno was a Bakugan also-ran, just another collectible toy/card game grift series.

 

[secondwhiteline]

Jeremy Padawer is just a typical no-talent opportunistic sleazebag. Literally made money in the late '90s by buying up a bunch of .com names and sitting on them until someone needed that name and then selling it. Relevant to how he would treat everything he ever touched -- he also used to run a fucking website tracking the value of fucking Beanie Babies.

[Reams of harsh but entirely justified invective]

He's basically a sleazy finance bro masquerading as a toys and collectibles guy. The kind of dude that would trick a child into trading him a rare Pokemon card and then get hyper-defensive online if anyone called him out on how shitty that is to do. You know the type.

He really is an incredible example of failing upwards. But yeah, he's the missing link between the sleazy card dealer at the local toy show and the venture capital guy who destroys your favorite toy store and/or toy company.

I'll never forget when the AEW line released a chase Riho that was just "the one with the less-bad face scan." Holy shit, that line. Like, I can't imagine someone at the company wasn't unloading those chases on the aftermarket, and the only possible argument I can make against the theory was that there wasn't a chase Sting in every wave.

The only AEW chase I ever found in store was Blade Runners Sting, weirdly enough. Traded it to a collector friend who's the biggest Sting fan I've ever met for a bunch of inexpensive WWE figures I just hadn't gotten around to buying.

I'm going to weirdly miss this one, and not just because I didn't get a Mina or Thekla before it ended. Incredible line for a semi-bystander to follow. One of the most entertaining things you could do as a figure collector was track how many times a wave changed its lineup before hitting market. I swear, they must have accumulated more unreleased figures than Marvel Legends.

 

[Alt]

My last AEW pick up was Julia Hart. Still regret paying con prices on Skye Blue since she never ever surfaced again at cons or shows.

But I did dump everything except for all my Rosas, latest Hayter, and Julia a few months ago.

 

[Alt]

Jeremy Padawer is human garbage. He is a stain on our entire community, and represents the WORST aspects of toy company upper management on every level. The fact that he hasn't been drummed out of the entire communtiy yet is an embarrassment to us all.

So natch he is now CEO and not one of the severed heads. I was hoping he was one of the severed heads, pyrrhically.

 

[Damien]

My last AEW pick up was Julia Hart. Still regret paying con prices on Skye Blue since she never ever surfaced again at cons or shows.

But I did dump everything except for all my Rosas, latest Hayter, and Julia a few months ago.

I kept looking and then not buying the female figures - same as I often do with WWE - because they always just look too skinny. They do it to the male figures too, but I think it tends to be less obvious because those figures are already fairly large. But you take an already small figure and crank her waist size so it fits into a corset and I just... ick.

So natch he is now CEO and not one of the severed heads. I was hoping he was one of the severed heads, pyrrhically.

Yup. Jeremy is literal proof that 'CEO' isn't actually a legitimate position in a company and that having ANY ability to do literally any job pertaining to the company is not a requirement to be a CEO.

 

[secondwhiteline]

My last AEW pick up was Julia Hart. Still regret paying con prices on Skye Blue since she never ever surfaced again at cons or shows.

But I did dump everything except for all my Rosas, latest Hayter, and Julia a few months ago.

I still have most of the women's figures I bought from the line, although the scale mixed with the WWE women can be wonky. It's most noticeable with Shida, who was made way too tall and never got a true second figure (Can't really count that ShopAEW exclusive that was the same figure but with a fabric shirt and a kendo stick. Not even an updated head with her hairstyle and new makeup from that time).

 

[mrboshek]

Rick posted 70 people out at Jazwares. I don't know if that's true, nothing from JayC confirming that number.

 

[Damien]

Rick posted 70 people out at Jazwares. I don't know if that's true, nothing from JayC confirming that number.

That's around what I heard as well. I expect Rick isn't wrong there.

 

[Alt]

Rick posted 70 people out at Jazwares. I don't know if that's true, nothing from JayC confirming that number.

My own further exploration said it was many departments, so that fits.

 

[mrboshek]

I'm confident Tony has everything under control with a new deal in place to ensure some kind of continuity so there's no appreciable gap in the action figure market.

 

[Alt]

I always hear a lot of aew doomsaying, but it's because WWE and AEW have the Marvel Or DC, Pick One hostile fan base whenever I look around.

I just like the talent they have and how they beat each other up. I don't pay attention to the business. I don't like knowing all the behind the scenes. I have a friend that knows all that stuff and will tell you why someone's personal business mattered for a writing decision and I just don't care. I don't want to look behind the curtain.

So I don't know if it's true, false or slanted when people talk about AEW having an unstable Warner Brothers deal, not being profitable all this time, attendance now and across the board, Wimbledon attendance diminishing, etc.

 

[mrboshek]

I'm actually hoping there's someone in a high enough position at Jakks that remembers the long association they had with wrestling. I wasn't in love with the Wonder Woman I bought packed with a Sonic character, it could use some tweaks, but someone there seems to want to make action figures. I can't believe I'n wishing for a Jakks wrestling revival.

 

[Damien]

I'm confident Tony has everything under control with a new deal in place to ensure some kind of continuity so there's no appreciable gap in the action figure market.

I dunnoooo.... you'd think someone would have been announced as a partner by now because there's almost guaranteed to be a dead period now between whenever the last Jazwares products make it out and when a new company can get going and release something if they haven't even been announced yet. If they were already at tooling stage or something, you'd think someone would have heard something by now.

The only way I can see a new company remaining fairly secret about this is if they bought Jazwares' tooling and therefore it seems like business as usual behind the scenes.

Definitely don't want Jakks anywhere near any toyline I might be interested in, that's for sure. But I don't know who else is even a good contender anymore. Hasbro and Mattel get enough of my money.

I always hear a lot of aew doomsaying, but it's because WWE and AEW have the Marvel Or DC, Pick One hostile fan base whenever I look around.

Yeah, wrestling fans are super tribal.

I just like the talent they have and how they beat each other up. I don't pay attention to the business. I don't like knowing all the behind the scenes. I have a friend that knows all that stuff and will tell you why someone's personal business mattered for a writing decision and I just don't care. I don't want to look behind the curtain.

So I don't know if it's true, false or slanted when people talk about AEW having an unstable Warner Brothers deal, not being profitable all this time, attendance now and across the board, Wimbledon attendance diminishing, etc.

I actually love the behind the scenes stuff the way I love it with toy companies. I just constantly find myself fascinated by the reality behind the fantasy. It definitely can ruin the experience, but I think regular-ass ADHD pattern recognition ruins the experience just as often. If you're a wrestling fan with ADHD, you probably know who is going to win any given match at least 7 out of 10 times.

 

[Alt]

I'll rephrase: I like to get into it on my own time and pace, not be told the entire formula of a PPV before I even see the card.

 

[Damien]

I'll rephrase: I like to get into it on my own time and pace, not be told the entire formula of a PPV before I even see the card.

Ooh, yeah I get that. Although if you follow the backstage stuff regularly, like I do, you kind of already have all that stuff spoiled for you way in advance. Like, this guy is getting married to that girl next month, so they're definitely going to write him off on the next PLE by having him lose to that dude... etc. You can practically write these shows yourself if you have good pattern recognition -and- have a good idea what's going on backstage.
But I would never start spewing that stuff at someone just trying to enjoy the show. That's kinda ignorant.