Shocker Toys Rises to the Indie Challenge
Shocker Toys revealed their line of independent comic book based heroes at the New York Toy Fair and since there’s no other hot toy news out there right now let’s talk about it, shall we? (Also, their showing has created both positive and negative buzz so as long as people are talking about it…) And if you don’t keep up on such things you might be asking yourself right now, “Hey, isn’t there an independent line already from Marvel Toys aka the ghost of Toy Biz?” Well there was and now it’s dead thanks to almost no one buying them.
The first wave from Shocker Toys consists of five figures with a couple of repaints. Here’s their proposed first wave:
Let’s face it, some of these figures leave a little bit desired. The painting on the prototypes isn’t the best and the Shadowhawk just doesn’t work out for me right now. If they can get him a little more into shape, I’d want to buy him on costume design alone. I really dig his nifty helmet. I really am hoping they work out the kinks too, because the folks at Shocker Toys is simply the most open toy company that I’ve ever had any sort of contact with and they seem like pretty cool people. It’s amazing that they are as open as they are considering the amount of abuse they sometimes get from the toy collecting community. No, I’m not just saying nice things about them because I’m secretly hoping they will send me free figures to give away as prizes… no… never that…
Anyway, what’s the future of this line? If these figures make it to the shelves and sell they have Dethklok, Dick Tracy, Jack the Lantern, Zombie King, Ignacia, and a build-a-figure the Tick lined up for the next wave. That’s not too shabby of a selection. When asked if they were going to go for one of my favorite indie characters of all time, Battle Pope, the answer was no but they’ve tried getting Kirkman on board and are still working on it. Shocker added that if you have a particular character you want to see in plastic form, bother your favorite comic book creators until they cave and let Shocker make the figs. Okay, they didn’t say it in those exact words but that was the gist.
If they can get the toys looking up to snuff, get them into some sort of retail outlet, and then successfully sell enough to warrant making more toys, then the future could be pretty great for fans of independent comics.
March 11th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Give me Scud and The Maxx! (I’ve also got the Shadowhawk #1 comic too, from 10 years back, but it wasn’t that great.)
March 11th, 2008 at 9:23 am
[...] see a ShadowHawk toy, but I’ll probably pass. Check out more about Shocker Toys or read the Toy Bender article. Thanks Paul! Posted in Comics, Toys | [...]
March 11th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Wow I use to love SCUD!
March 11th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
I think Shocker’s confused about what a BAF is. Their press release says: “Retail price is $13.95 per figure and $14.95 for each Build a Figure.” Huh? “Build a Figure” doesn’t just mean “bigger than usual.” But it does specifically mean “not sold by itself”…
March 11th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
The line looks great. As far as Marvel Toys alot of people bought them (me and a few friends I know). It was openly said that the line sold well and in the final days sold to Walmart only which put strains on mom and pop stores bad move (Indie Toys = Indie stores). Marvel as if anyone didn’t know owns(owned) Marvel Toys and put the Kybosh on it to work on their own line through Hasbro and movie toys for Marvel. I hope to see good things down the pipeline and I just read at Fwooshnet that they picked up a Mass store to carry Shocker’s Indy Comic Hero line.
March 11th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Katchoo and Scud! Ftw
March 11th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Okay, first thing: punctuation. And paragraph breaks.
Secondly, you’re right, Marvel Toys’ Legendary Heroes were a great line, but as for “a lot” of people buying them? If that was the case, I wouldn’t be able to go buy a full set of Series 1 off the shelves right now.
And sure, the line was mainly sold through Wal*Mart, but only because no other stores ordered them. It’s not like these were exclusives: Marvel Toys offered them to everybody, but only Wal*Mart accepted. (Well, Wal*Mart and some TRUs). That doesn’t have anything to do with “mom and pop stores,” since they were welcome to order them as well. Same goes for Indie Spotlight.
Also, yes, everyone knows Marvel owns Marvel Toys. It’s kind of a given. But the pace of two seven-figure series in the span of a year isn’t one that’s going to tie up a lot of resources, so the idea that LH was scrapped in favor of Hasbro’s lines doesn’t hold up.
We all hope to see good things down the pipeline - we just don’t know how realistic that is…
March 12th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I’ll stick with my old McFarlane Toys Maxx. He may not be quite as articulated, but he looks better, unless Shocker can deliver on his paint apps. That SCUD looks pretty cool, though.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Yo go re–
Apparently, the deal with the Maxx is that he will be sold in pieces, but on a single card. You have to assemble him yourself, so technically, he is a BAF–but not in the way the concept is usually presented.
Why do you have to put him together yourself? I believe I read somewhere that it helps them keep costs down…Japan does the same thing with a lot of their action figures (like the Aoshima Aliens).
March 12th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
That’s bizarre. I think it would be funny if they sold him in two pieces.
March 13th, 2008 at 2:24 am
Makes sense - you don’t have to pay factory workers to sit there and pop pieces together, just someone to make sure each card gets one of each piece…
June 5th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Shocker Toys is the bestest toy company ever. They’ve answered all emails satisfactorily, are always upbeat, welcome suggestions, and actively communicate with customizers! There are a few who are getting free toys to customize simply because they asked! It’s good publicity for everyone I guess, Shocker Toys rocks!
October 22nd, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Pre-Order Indie Spotlight shipping in December
http://www.shockertoys.com/store.php
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I like these for the most part, but I absolutely hate both Shadowhawk figures. I loved Shadowhawk, but these figs are way too cartoony for me. The rest are pretty cool though.
Sam
November 12th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I’d hope no one buys anything from Shocker Toys. Their figures look ugly and they create fake names and act childish all over the internet.
Here’s some references of them acting childish, the Image one is the best where they piss off Robert Kirkman:
http://imagecomics.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?t=42423&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
http://collectiondx.com/node/2073
http://shockertoysworsttoycompanyever.blogspot.com/
If you also do a google search for anything having to do with Shocker Toys or the Maxx you’ll see tons of stuff under Mike or some other username. I can’t wait until this company goes out of business.
November 12th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I think it is true that they could have hired a PR person…