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…
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Hey Sean give it a rest stop trying to ruin a toy company for your own sick pleasures. It is not only creepy but illegal so get a new hobby.
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=24820958&blogID=450636900
November 24th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Ummmm, illegal? To express your opinion? Or are you speaking of libel? How does slander/libel work on the internet anyway? Weirdness.
November 25th, 2008 at 4:36 am
Shocker, I’ve noticed that you have changed the release date again for these. You have added “to the U.S.” to your latest deluge of spam. So now it is the carefully crafted “Shipping to the U.S. in December” so that you can claim later that you never meant for anyone to get the idea that they would be able to purchase these in December. You are a liar. Stop trying to steal money from people through pre-orders for product that is always just around the corner.
Gail Simone destroys you here:
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=156451&page=3191
(bottom of the page)
November 25th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
This is getting good…
November 25th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Yep always said shipping to U.S. in December, you didn’t think the factory was going to ship to everyone’s house or to every store direct from China did you? And we are not stealing money from anyone all pre-orders will ship and more stores then us have pre-orders in for Indie Spotlight our only went up recently for the individual figures. If you didn’t pre-order and don’t plan to order then what do you care? Let the line come out and you will see this is going to be a great toyline.
November 25th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Keep reading in the thread that I posted. Your bogus argument is torn apart. You’re claiming exactly what I said you would claim. It’s pathetic.
Stop whining. Stop threatening people with phony legal action. Stop getting into squabbles on the internet.
Put these toys out and shut me up. Deal?
November 25th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Wow, all of this makes me not want to buy any of these figures. Not that I was really going to anyway mind you.
Sam
November 25th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
scud i have such a bone for you
November 25th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
I agree the SCUD came out great. We had a 1st go at it but it this version is very nice made from a 2-d that Rob drew for us.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:23 am
Don’t bother listening to those guys, domu and SWH. They’ve waged a personal war against Shocker Toys. They’ve dedicated their lives to trying to make Shocker Toys look bad. And their only goal in life is to try to harm the Shocker Toys company, as they have shown time and time again.
I’ve bought action figures from Shocker Toys without any problems at all. The guys who run Shocker Toys are all good people. The company is very professional.
And if you think that these early prototype figures look good, go to the shocker toys website and check out the most current pictures of Indie Spotlight. Each phase that these Action Figures go through, they just get better and better.
December 2nd, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Not asking anyone to take my word for anything.
Google the company. Read through the link I provided. Decide for yourself if this company is professional.
December 5th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Shocker Toys’ latest scam:
http://www.unscrewedcomic.com/article.php?story=20081205105907312
Comic shops have it tough enough without phony customers purposefully ordering product they don’t plan on buying.
This is really a new low.
This is getting posted everywhere.
December 29th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
It’s now almost the end of December and still no photographs of finished product? Strange, they should have had to finalize the backer card art by now. Shipping to the ’states in December, of course you didn’t say which YEAR that would be… It sure leaves it open for another dodge.
Don’t screw with Nancy Drew, chubby-kins.
January 24th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
I was a potential customer of Shocker Toys. I am a huge Gwar fan, and I wanted a Scud figure…but after asking to many questions and stating what I knew about shipping freight I was banned, threatened now both physically and legally, and more importantly completely turned into an enemy of Shocker Toys…BY SHOCKER TOYS.
Domu, SWH or anyone else had ZERO to do with it. It was completely 100% due to Geoff’s obvious lies and his threats to me.
I feel it’s necessary now to announce that I believe what they are doing is wrong.
Anyone who feels like ordering from SHocker Toys I would simply advise you to WAIT. Wait until the toys are released. That’s all, just wait for the toys to be released.
When I say that Geoff gets mad.
I wonder why? lol