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An Interview with Diamond Select Toys' Zach Oat
384 Plays4 years ago
On this episode, Dave and Erik chat with Diamond Select Toys' Marketing Superviso Zach Oat to discuss all things Diamond Select Toys – from statues and busts, to their incredible action figure offerings – and Zach's long history with toys.
Keep up-to-date with Diamond Select Toys' latest offerings at diamondselecttoys.com and follow them @collectdst on Instagram and Twitter.
Follow Zach on Instagram and Twitter @zachoat
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
Thanks to Danhausen for the introhausen.
Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction to Adventures in Collecting Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, Danhausen here. Very nice, very even, very famous. You are listening to Adventures in Collecting. Yes, your podcast of some sort about toys, but you already know that because you are listening right now. But if you did not know, then, well, what are you doing here? Anyways, have a nice time. Enjoy your listening. Love that, Danhausen.
00:00:20
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and halls, along with our journeys as collectors.
00:00:44
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. We're back. We are. Hi, everyone. And as
Correcting McFarland Gold Editions
00:00:53
Speaker
usual, when we have a special guest on board, we are not going to bury the lead, Dave. No, we're not. I actually, I do need to issue one correction from last episode before we get into it with our special guest today. What was the correction?
00:01:12
Speaker
So we were talking last episode about the, uh, the McFarland gold additions of the, uh, for those, those gold label figures that are coming out. And we were talking about the, um, the red death one, the, uh, the all gold dark knight's metal flash variant. Yeah. Turns out that is actually not a, um, just repainted gold figure that is actually cannon. It is comic accurate. Oh, cool.
00:01:39
Speaker
And it was pointed out to me that he has turned exactly that color scheme by the Flash in the comics in order to make him a good guy and fight alongside the Flash in Batman. So that is not just a random gold repainted figure.
00:01:59
Speaker
And it is canonical. So yeah. So there's a little correction from last episode. But that being said,
Interview with Zach Oat: Toy Industry Insights
00:02:07
Speaker
joining us today on the Pod, Dave, we have a very special guest. Formerly the editor of Toy Fair magazine, Zach Oat has been overseeing the marketing for Diamond Select Toys for nearly a decade now, showcasing toys and collectibles from brands like Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, Disney, John Wick, Lord of the Rings, and so many more.
00:02:28
Speaker
Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, Zach. Hey, thank you for having me. I'm excited. We are also excited to have you. Yes, very much so. So before we kind of jump into your history with toys and everything that's going on with Diamond Select, we'd like to ask all of our guests first, what are you currently collecting?
00:02:52
Speaker
On one level I collect everything diamonds like toys puts out. I get so much stuff from them for photography and just reviews and all sorts of stuff that I don't have a lot of time for anything else, but in addition to BST stuff, I do collect a lot of Matchbox and Hot Wheels actually, which is something I don't really talk about too much, but I'm a big fan of the little cars.
00:03:20
Speaker
Oh, that's awesome. That's one of those things where, and I don't know, Dave, if your Target and Walmart experiences are like mine, but almost every time I'm there, there's somebody sifting through the pegs or like the giant bins of Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. I've seen it a couple times, yeah. The only small car that I've picked up recently was, I think it's Johnny Lightning did Christine, like the movie car? Yes. Oh, wow, that's cool. I haven't even seen that one.
00:03:50
Speaker
Yeah, I saw it once, and I was like, all right, I passed on the Nightmare on Elm Street car, so I'm gonna get this one. Yeah, the other diecast, Jada does some interesting stuff with cars. I mean, they're a little bit bigger, but... Yeah, I think the Nightmare on Elm Street one was Jada. Yeah, they have like the Fast and the Furious, what the Taco Trucker did. Boy, I think that's all them. Yeah, I know, I do most of the little ones, the 164s, but...
00:04:19
Speaker
But Hot Wheels still does some great stuff. They do Star Wars and I just got the Ninja Turtles party wagon. Nice. And they have like a chase system too, like a chase variant system? Yes, they do. I don't keep track of it too much. I'm more of a casual guy, but I've come across a couple of them where they were the rare variants.
00:04:44
Speaker
It's so interesting. We actually get questions about Hot Wheels and Matchbox all the time, and I feel bad because I don't know how to answer. It's something that I've never... I mean, when we were kids, we had Hot Wheels and Matchbox, but we played with them. I had lunch, yeah. We set them up on the tracks and actually played with them, so I don't know
Diamond Select's Toy Releases & Strategy
00:05:03
Speaker
the value system or the collecting system for those cars at all. I think my favorite ones was when...
00:05:15
Speaker
There was ones where it was almost like Battle Armor, He-Man, and Skeletor, where when they hit each other, it flipped and there was a little dent. Or like the hood would pop up or something like that. They were pretty cool. Yeah, I think I had one or two of those too.
00:05:29
Speaker
I always liked when, you know, again, when I was a kid, you know, some of those cars like the Plymouth Prowler and like the PT Cruiser, those like weird kind of retro inspired cars before they came out in real life. A lot of times like there would be a matchbox or Hot Wheels version of that car. And it was always cool to see that or like the new beetle, like when the new beetle came out.
00:05:52
Speaker
I remember getting those and thinking it was cool. That's one of those things where those cars and collecting die-cast cars has been a thing for so long. Oh, yeah, absolutely. So speaking of what you're collecting and a history of toys, if you will, how did you originally find your way into the toy industry?
00:06:22
Speaker
I was a big comic book fan. I read Wizard magazine and I started getting back into toys in college, picking up the occasional piece or stack of pieces at KB Toys and just buying stuff on sale there or pretend sale. I think it eventually revealed that nothing at KB was actually on sale. So I'll just mark like it's on sale. And so I started reading Toy Fair magazine and
00:06:51
Speaker
by the same publisher and when it came time to graduate and I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do for a career. I applied for an internship at Wizard and they didn't get back to me for a while. By the time they got back to me, I was looking for a job and they asked if I was interested in a job at Toy Fair magazine and I applied for a copy editor position. I got it and I was there for gosh, eight or nine years.
00:07:19
Speaker
Uh, worked my way up from copy editor to editor and, uh, got to know a lot of people in the industry in that time. And, uh, yeah, that, that eventually led to me, um, uh, hooking up with diamonds like toys and, uh, you know, so people had known for a while and, uh, they had a opening for marketing supervisor. And that was when I came on board with them. That was back in. Gosh, you're right. It was back in the 2011.
00:07:45
Speaker
Yeah, I totally looked you up on LinkedIn to make sure I had all the dates and everything right. You're stalking me. Toy Fair was such a huge deal. I remember back early internet, pre-internet days, those Toy Fair exclusives, even the Jax wrestling figures and everything, there was always a fun Toy Fair exclusive. Was it an exciting time to be there with the magazine?
00:08:15
Speaker
Oh yeah. Yeah. I came on a border like around, uh, actually shoot 27 or so. Uh, so they'd already gotten a good start and they'd already done a lot of really cool exclusives. Um, uh, but they, they definitely, the whole program really ramped up while I was there. Um, they started doing really, uh, really popular ones, like some of the Simpsons line. Um, that was, that was really some of the most popular ones we did. Uh, there was a lot of, um, a lot of interest in, you know, like glow in the dark Homer Simpson and you know, Ken Powell's figures and stuff like that.
00:08:44
Speaker
And yeah, no, we did some really great stuff. We did like a 12-inch figure for the Final Fantasy movie with Palisades. I'm trying to think of what we did. We did, I think, an exclusive two-pack of Mini-Mates with Diamond Select Toys. Gosh, there were just so many great figures that came out. And I definitely had
Innovative Packaging and Exclusive Releases
00:09:05
Speaker
a few where I started working.
00:09:08
Speaker
So Diamond Select produces action figures and standard waves and sets, but there are a bunch of uniquely one-off releases. How do opportunities like Bruce Lee or the Crow or Jay and Silent Bob come to be? Jay and Silent Bob was interesting. It was a license that there hadn't really been a lot of product for us. We looked into
00:09:31
Speaker
Looked into it with the studio and that actually hooked us up with Kevin Smith he was doing you know, he had to approve a lot of stuff that was being done and we started working with him directly on a lot of things we ended up going after the clerk's license and the The mall rats licensed and then eventually we're doing stuff just based on his you know, the characters, you know, not you know separate from the movies characters like movie and and Buddy Christ things like that
00:09:59
Speaker
And eventually we started working on the new movie reboot. And those were the last victories we did. Bruce Lee, I'm not sure how it got started exactly, but there's another character who had not had a lot of merchandise for him. And we ended up working directly with the Lee family on that. And once we were working with them, then it was going to be made a lot of sense to go after the Crow license because we'd be handling the same
00:10:28
Speaker
same approvals with the same family or brandedly. So it's really one thing leads to another with us. You know, if something works out with one studio, then we look and see what other studios, what the studio offers, what other licenses. And it's sort of, it's very often it's a chain of events just like that. But it usually starts with the president, Director Sarah, looking after, looking at different licenses and seeing what makes sense and what's available.
00:10:57
Speaker
It's so interesting, I didn't even think, like, duh, that's Bruce Lee's son, but it's one of those things where, especially now with the way that toy photography has taken off and companies out there producing figures that are, if not the same scale, very similar scale, you can have these amazing, we talk about it all the time, but
00:11:21
Speaker
You can add these amazing mashups and this amazing iconography mixing with each other and that's one of the things that makes having a character like Bruce Lee or the Crow on your shelf because
00:11:36
Speaker
First of all that the quality of what you know you're putting out at diamond select is incredible I mean if the figures look amazing your nail in the likenesses You know the ability to pose the amount of accessories they come with like it is just it's the full package and what we'll get into some fun packages a little later on but you know I think those one-off releases I
00:12:00
Speaker
it makes it almost easier to collect, right? Because you don't have to make a commitment to a wave. Like, you know, if I get, you know, if I get Marty McFly, I need Biff and I need Doc and I need whatever else ends up coming out because I can't just have Marty. But like characters like the Crow, like Bruce Lee, like the Rocketeer, like they kind of are these one and done, you know,
00:12:28
Speaker
Like labors of love and it's, it's obvious that they are. So I think that's one of the things that makes diamond so unique. And I love that you guys are thinking that way kind of like that out of the box thinking really. Yeah. It's, um, I mean, it makes, in some ways it's, um, you know, making more product for a license makes it, it makes it more realistic to get that license. You know, if you're, if you're going to be making a lot of different types of product and, you know, for, for sets like, um,
00:12:57
Speaker
No for like the Disney series that we did because rocketeer was technically part of the way we did with black hole so so and and Jack Sparrow wasn't necessarily part of that assortment but you know sort of another continuation of that Disney licensing along with Tron so.
00:13:14
Speaker
It's like with Disney figures, it's like we're doing a whole series of figures, but they're not necessarily, you know, people can pick and choose which ones they like. They don't need to get invested. But that said, we're going to go back and do more for Black Hole for sure. And who knows if Jack Sparrow does well, maybe we can go back and revisit some other characters. We had previously developed our poster figure. I'd love it if we went back and revisited that one.
00:13:38
Speaker
For sure. That would be awesome. Barbosa or even
Design Team and Future Plans at Diamond Select
00:13:42
Speaker
Davy Jones. That would be a fun one. That would be awesome. Maybe do a deluxe with the organ. It's cool to see things that you wouldn't normally expect to see figures of like Tron, like Black Hole get made.
00:14:01
Speaker
Just because it's, it's, you know, as, as much as I love Tron, I know there's a bit, it's a bit niche. So it's, it's really cool to kind of see that. Yeah. Tron is, um, I mean, it's definitely an iconic movie and, uh, I, I'd certainly love it if we, um, went back and revisited, uh, you know, like the new movie. I'm a big, I'm a big fan of the new movie. Um, but, uh, the, um, the black hole stuff really took me by surprise. I was, um,
00:14:30
Speaker
I was born in 77, so I was a little too young to see it the first time. I don't think I saw it in full until the last few years. I think basically when I found out we were getting the license. I saw what people really liked about it. There were a lot of great designs. It's a really interesting movie. Nobody's made any product for that since the original movie came out with, I guess, I think, Ego back in the day.
00:15:01
Speaker
The fact that there had been this pent up demand for product over the course of, gosh, what are we talking about? We're talking about 40 years almost. That really has led to a major interest in product. And we've actually gone back and done a couple of different runs of those figures. Yeah. And it's just a movie that I feel like over time, I've learned to appreciate more or I've come to appreciate more.
00:15:28
Speaker
And it's Toyetic. Yeah, very much so. There's a lot of design in it that's Toyetic, which, you know, easily lends itself. Yeah, the human characters are a little bit more, they're not as, you know, elaborate and interesting. The uniforms are a little flat, but the robots for sure are, there's a lot of really great designs there.
00:15:49
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So speaking of buzz, there is a lot of buzz about the recent invaders and then the invincible figures. Can you tell us more about what we can expect from those IPs this year? Invisible, we're going to start off with the two figures. We'll see how those do and move on from there. We're going to be offering
00:16:12
Speaker
more bare bones versions at Walgreens. It's just going to be a straight up figure with I think a couple alternate hands, but there will be some, the deluxe version especially stores will come with additional pieces, alternate heads, some accessories, and gosh the invaders in figures. I don't know if they're going to be offered anywhere else, but we are doing
00:16:36
Speaker
pretty deluxe versions for specialty. They come with a lot of accessories, some interchangeable parts. I think a couple of them have interchangeable heads. And they look just based on the accessories that we're offering, they look really, really crazy.
00:16:53
Speaker
Yeah, I know a lot of people are super pumped for those invincible figures that the trailer is out for the new animated series. I think it's coming to Prime. And they look spot on to the animated likenesses. So A, I'm excited to see the show. And I love that there are more superhero action figures. But I know, Dave, you're very excited for those invaders and figures.
00:17:19
Speaker
Yeah, it's a series that I've loved for a long time. And then kind of reloved once that the new movie had come out. But yeah, I mean, just based off of the amount, even just accessories in there, it's just, it's an amazing looking kind of set. Cool. Thank you. That's great to hear. And you've got like, you know, the main kind of characters that you'd want in this first wave.
00:17:48
Speaker
Yeah, hopefully if they do well, we'll go back and revisit some of their different looks. And I know there are some other characters people have been asking for already.
00:17:58
Speaker
So speaking of the design process and all the things that come with these figures, between all of the busts and statues, which we could spend an entire episode talking just about that end of the spectrum of what Diamond Select offers, and of course the action figures we've been talking about, it's clear that you guys work with an insanely talented roster of designers.
00:18:25
Speaker
How do you guys go about finding, uh, you know, finding these designers, like the, the Jean St. Jean's and Paul Hartings to, uh, to work with? You know, so many of the people that we work with, um, we've been working with for decades. Um, uh, let me just think about, uh, Claiborne Moore, uh, has been working with diamond select toys for a very long time. Um, Jean St. Jean as well. Uh,
00:18:52
Speaker
Altherton, I didn't even realize how long Altherton had been working with BST, but he was working on some of our back in the original round of Marvel statues that we did over 10 years ago. Because I think by the time I came on, we pretty much wrapped up a lot of the Marvel busts and statues. It was only in the last few years that they started working on them again.
00:19:14
Speaker
And yeah, we do get a lot of submissions from people and I always forward them on when I get them social media and email and I forward them on to our president. He takes a look at them. I don't know who the last person he hired from there was, but I know that he has taken on some new sculptors that we've never worked with in the past couple of years.
00:19:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's just, it's one of those things where, um, you know, back, I want to say, man, time is like super weird right now, but I think it was originally supposed to be last summer. We were supposed to have our, our first ever live recorded, uh, podcast and, and Jean was actually going to be our, one of our special guests for the, uh, you know, for the show. And you know that in preparation for
00:20:04
Speaker
the episode that kind of never was and hopefully will be at some point. I started looking at all the different designers and started kind of combing through the press release blogs that you guys put out every time, those monthly updates. And I started to look through all the individual names and just kind of noticed that just the
00:20:28
Speaker
you know, ocean of talent that you guys use for the, you know, for whether it's the sculpts or the designs, and of course, like the work that you guys do with Gentle Giant. It's just, it really is amazing. It is amazing the
00:20:46
Speaker
the different textures and the different kind of styles of all the different artists that you use. And I, you know, it's incredible. It's incredible to see them and now to be able to follow them on social media and interact with them as well. Um, you know, it really is just great. Yeah. In addition to the sculptures, we do work with some amazing designers. Um, Nelson Asensio has been working with the company since, um, it's back in the art asylum days, um, before art asylum was partially acquired by diamonds like boys.
00:21:16
Speaker
And Caesar is a great artist. He used to draw comic books, and now he does a lot of the designs for our gallery dioramas, our Marvel ones, and some of our TC ones. And Dr. Uriel Catone has done a lot of our mini-made designs, but also a lot of our gallery designs as well. And David Forrest from Kinetic Underground, I think, designed the Vader Zimfigures that we were talking about.
00:21:44
Speaker
And I always see what's, what's the other name? Uh, Yuri. Yes.
Zach's Personal Collection and Social Media Presence
00:21:48
Speaker
Yuri to me. Uh, even I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing his last name right, but yeah, he does a lot of our action figure designs. He does some really great work.
00:21:55
Speaker
Yes, I saw that name. I've seen that name, you know, a ton of times on the action figures and it's one of those, one of those ones where I always try to find, uh, I always try to find them to tag them on social media and I can't find them anywhere. Amen. Amen O'Donohue is, um, is big on social media. He's always sharing design, some of his action figure designs he does for us. Yeah, he's fantastic too. Fantastic. And, and yeah, if you're listening to this, he's an amazing follow. It's some of the work that he does is just, it's out of this world.
00:22:25
Speaker
Definitely check out Caesar Antometti. He is a pretty great channel as well. A little more adult, but he does a lot of different kinds of work. Very cool. Speaking of design, some of the deluxe packaging announced and released last year, specifically on the John Wick figure or one of my favorite things that I've received
00:22:50
Speaker
Ever and like have struggled with not opening which was the San Diego comic-con Tron package with that looked like the cassette clamshell Just incredible stuff. How do ideas like that get off the ground? You know, we um this this past year in 2020 we really made an effort to to
00:23:12
Speaker
to up our game with San Diego exclusives. People have always liked what we've done, but for the most part we've done pieces in our regular line that would fit in with our regular line in terms of packaging. So it would be pretty standard action figure packaging or gallery packaging with the window box. So this past year in 2020, we really wanted to do something
00:23:37
Speaker
something special for a lot of our releases. So that was how we ended up doing
Podcast Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:23:42
Speaker
it, like the Tron box set in the VHS, the Nightmare Before Christmas for the built-in blacklight. There were a couple other ones that I was thinking of. And that's kind of where the John Wick figure came, the poster set. I think we were originally going to do that for San Diego, but we didn't get the timing to work out. So we ended up making that a regular release. But the poster set for John Wick is a really great set. We had an accessory, the
00:24:08
Speaker
the chest that he digs up from under his garage. That piece we had designed for the action figure line, but it turned out to be too much to do for the regular line to fit into our regular price point. So that was when we said, let's do a deluxe box set. And that was how the big movie poster set came about with the opening door and the cutout.
00:24:32
Speaker
When I first got my hands on that box and saw how big it was, I was giddy because I was like, I don't know what's in here. You can't see anything because the design looks like the poster, but it's such a large box. I'm like, there's got to be goodies in here. Full disclosure, I didn't look up the listing to see what was in there.
00:24:57
Speaker
It was an experiential thing, like sliding off the translucent band with the John Lick logo on it, and the Velcro box, and then unpacking all of the various little pieces, the coins, the weapons, the way that they nest into the different shelves.
00:25:18
Speaker
Into the trunk we actually did an unboxing of it on our on our YouTube channel and it is still one of my favorite packaged Figures and and I personally like I love like the windblown tie too. I Thought that was a really nice touch. Yeah absolutely It's awesome and like it's one of those things where especially like for photography like he is perfectly frozen in motion with that it's
00:25:46
Speaker
It is awesome. And we talked about Tron. I really like, too, the arcade cabinet. Yeah, I'm not sure if that was originally scheduled for something else, but it looks like it's going to be a really amazing set. I think that one, again, was designed by David Forrest from Kinetic packaging. But it uses, obviously, the Series 1 figures. And I'm looking forward to seeing how big it is. I think I've seen the measurements, but it's hard to really
00:26:15
Speaker
I'm not another dimensions guy so when i think when i see the number they don't necessarily think about how big it's going to be but i'm curious to see it first. Well that was too like me when i saw the the vhs toy i was like i'm or i immediately ordered it it was one of those things i was like no hesitation like.
00:26:35
Speaker
you know, I'm going to order this right now. And when I got it, I was just so like, I want to say giddy opening it because of how much I was like, this is a Disney VHS box. This is
00:26:51
Speaker
beyond cool down to like the silver sticker and everything like that. I was like, the amount of attention to detail for this package and just the figure being the movie poster, I was like, I don't know how I want to like display this either open or just close like this, but it's this is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. That's great to hear. And I will say this, it was very well received.
00:27:21
Speaker
more VHS tape packaging in the future. Hey, you have that amazing, amazing, amazing Hercules figure that you guys put out for that Kingdom Hearts set? That is a great Hercules. Throw that Hercules figure right in one of those VHS packages, man. That would be pretty awesome. That would definitely be awesome.
00:27:44
Speaker
Yeah, and you already have the figure. That is a perfect repurposing of a figure because, yeah, that would be awesome. And I have to say, obviously, we co-host a podcast about toys, so we're passionate about it.
00:28:02
Speaker
um but covid has you know kept us apart so like we've been you know just kind of sharing things remotely but even so like you know we get toys regularly and kind of just send each other pictures i got an actual phone call when when dave got that because he was like no you don't understand it's it's actually like a disney vhs and i was like no i i saw the pictures and he's like no
00:28:25
Speaker
It is actually like, it feels like the plastic is the same. And I was like, okay, so switch to FaceTime. He was like, I don't know if I can open this. I don't know if I want to open it because it's so pretty. That's awesome.
00:28:40
Speaker
Yeah. And that kind of stuff, like, I mean, that's that's the thing, right? Like, so it's that harnessing that kind of emotional connection to the thing that these toys are based on. And clearly, like, you know, you guys hit the nail on the head on that one. I mean, that that's you buried it. Oh, yeah. Absolute home run. That's good to hear. Thank you so much, you guys.
00:29:02
Speaker
I'm happy to share that feedback. We're big fans of what you guys do. Like I said, it's great to finally have you on after having our hands on so many of the products and going through them. What I wanted to do was, I actually want to take a moment and turn the interview over to our audience. Anytime we have a guest on, we post an Instagram story.
00:29:29
Speaker
Which, by the way, if you are listening to this and you are not following us on Instagram, it is at AIC underscore podcast. We're on Instagram and Twitter. Follow us because when we have guests on, we put up opportunities to ask them questions. So we have a couple of questions from our audience. And if you're game, we'll throw them your way.
00:29:51
Speaker
Yeah, sure. Absolutely. Bring them on. All right. So first up, so late 2020 saw the introduction of Star Wars action figures to Diamond Select with Boba Fett and Darth Maul as Disney Store exclusives. So can we expect more characters in that line?
00:30:13
Speaker
Absolutely, absolutely. We're definitely going to be doing more for the Disney Store. But I can't talk about who they're going to be, but hopefully we're going to be revealing those in the next few months. I'm not sure exactly what the release schedule is for that. I know we've been working on the packaging. And if we're working on the packaging, that's usually a few months out. So yeah, they have their own schedule. But we'll announce that as soon as they're ready to start offering them.
00:30:42
Speaker
Awesome, and they're gonna stay so far as Disney Store exclusives, like the first two? Yes, yes, they will be Disney Store exclusives. We may change up the packaging a little bit, just because, you know, we love the select packaging, we've been using it for decades, and for the larger figures, it makes a lot of sense, and for the figures with dioramas, it makes a lot of sense, but for, you know, figures that don't necessarily have those big, big pieces,
00:31:10
Speaker
where we started to move to a more of a deluxe packaging. So you may see the packaging change, but still great quality and there'll be seven inch scale. So you think is it going to be more in line to like the Walgreens versions of the packaging for some of the figures or similar? Yes, similar window box. Absolutely. OK, cool. Dave, you want to do the next one?
00:31:36
Speaker
Yeah. So we have lots of questions and requests for the avatar line. Are there any plans at the moment to grow that offer? Yes. Yes. We solicited series three and four. Not sure when series three will be hitting exactly, but as far as I know, series five and six are in development.
00:31:59
Speaker
So we'll see what there's a lot of people who a lot of characters people want to see everybody everybody wants to see uncle euro But we'll have to see if we get to him But a lot of a lot of great characters to do sure for sure that that one came up several times Everybody loves him
00:32:19
Speaker
That and so I'm gonna get flayed by our listeners. I'm not I actually have not never seen Avatar the show I've honestly been waiting for my daughter to be at the right age, which apparently five six is a good time to dig in I want to experience it with her so we're gonna start watching it but people also want there's a lot of requests for the
00:32:43
Speaker
I can't remember its name, I should have written it down, but Aang's animal friend. Oh, Appa, yeah. Yeah, Appa. Yeah, he's really big. But who knows, the line's doing really well, so never say never is what the truck always says. Cool. People are going to be excited to hear that answer because there is...
00:33:05
Speaker
When I put that question question up the first three that I got were avatar based With requests for characters and for just like we need more Which I guess is a good thing because you guys they I mean that they're great-looking figures and you know, I can't wait to watch the show So yeah, it's another line where they didn't do a lot of products back when the show was on the air I think they only did like a few figures maybe maybe more than a series, but I'm not sure and I
00:33:33
Speaker
And just there's a lot of built up demand for it. And also with an airing on Netflix that just, you know, intensified that demand. Yep. And it's, it's reintroducing it to the whole new generation of, of, you know, uh, of viewers. So, um, all right. So legends in 3d, uh, people are looking for more Batman, the animated series busts. Are there more in the works?
00:34:00
Speaker
We have Harley Quinn coming out real soon, and then Wonder Woman is going to come out after that. I don't know for sure what's going to be coming up beyond that. You know, we may come back to it in the future, but I think that those might be what we're doing for the time being. But I'm looking forward to seeing the Harley in person. People have been really, really positive about the Batman and the Joker. A lot of great responses to those.
00:34:29
Speaker
We even sent one to Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy. So I'm looking forward to seeing what they think of that as well. Nice. Yeah. I mean, that was one of the things for me going all the way back to Toy Fair where we actually met, kind of wandering through the booth. I was excited to see all of the action figures and the things that kind of I was familiar with, but I didn't realize kind of the breadth of
00:34:57
Speaker
display pieces that you guys made in statue and bust form and like they're they pop they're they're unbelievable whether it's those like uh those those pvc diorama pieces the marvel ones like the ones based on like spider-man the animated series or you know the ones that we're just talking about those legends in 3d from batman the animated series um you know they really are incredible and i it's
00:35:21
Speaker
I'm almost at the point where when we get the regular release schedule stuff, I'm super curious to see what busts you guys are putting out in statues. The work is incredible there. We just announced a really good looking one from the Miles Morales video game.
00:35:39
Speaker
Yeah, it's really cool. He's on top of a building and the electricity from his electric shocks is kind of coursing up the side of the building. Came out really great. There's one designer for the entire Legends of 3D line and that's Joe Allard. And he's done some other stuff. He's signed some of our Godzilla PBCs as well. But right now he's designing all of those Legends of 3D dimensions busts. And he just does a great job.
00:36:04
Speaker
Let's actually let's spend a couple minutes talking about the bus because we've been very action figure focused and I feel like, you know, that's just a kind of a drop in the bucket to what you guys what you guys do. Is there a different process to kind of the statues and busts than the figures or kind of are they approached with the same mindset where it's just kind of, you know, looking to see what needs coverage?
00:36:29
Speaker
Um, I mean, you certainly want to look at the iconic characters, uh, for the L3Ds. Um, you know, the, the legends three denture benches line isn't really one where you're going to see a lot of, you know, um, secondary tertiary characters. Um, like you would be the, maybe a smaller bus line, uh, the, like the general giant, um, Star Wars line that we do the one six scale busts, you know, we, um, after all these years, you know, Star Wars line and start to get into some, some, um,
00:36:58
Speaker
some of the more obscure characters, but also, you know, major characters as new media pops up, obviously the Mandalorian. But in the original trilogy line, we're starting to get to get really cool Cantina characters like Black Sivirak, the Wolfman, and, and Tessic from the court of Jabba the Hutt, the squid-headed guy. And so, I mean, that's a line where, you know, where you're going to get into some
00:37:24
Speaker
to more obscure characters. We just recently relaunched standard size Marvel busts, like one seventh scale. And we started off with Iron Man, no, we started off with Dr. Doom and we did Iron Man and now we've offered Deadpool. So, we're sticking with the A-list there, but I think hopefully eventually we'll get into some more secondary characters.
00:37:52
Speaker
Because they're really great looking pieces that designed by nelson and sculpted by a relatively new sculptor for us want it look again i'm not sure if i'm pronouncing that i only see it in writing. I really like to the busts like the one you did recently of i want to say it was it was rex with like the swappable pieces to them too.
00:38:13
Speaker
Yes. For the Star Wars, we started doing a lot of, um, a lot of swappable pieces. Uh, I'm sure that, uh, before we acquired channel giant, they were doing it as well. But, uh, lately we've offered, um, like interchangeable heads for, um, for Rex command, the commander Rex, um, or, uh, we did removable arms for Ponda Baba. Uh, we, I think we have an interchangeable head for, um, gosh, I'm blanking on her name from rebels Sabine Ren.
00:38:42
Speaker
So she's got an interchangeable arms and interchangeable unmasked head. We just announced an unmasked, well interchangeable mass and unmasked fin from Force Awakens for the 10th, I think it's the 10th anniversary of Force Awakens. And we're, so he's got the blood streak helmet, then he's got the unmasked fin head.
00:39:02
Speaker
Yeah. And that's one of those things with like, you know, statues and busts. Typically, you know, you think of them as static pieces, right? Like something that's, you know, you take it out of the box and that's what it is. And I think the, the ability to kind of customize the look of it a little bit and, you know, change it up and make it a little more dynamic is more makes those, um, you know, those, those statues, uh, or busts more attractive to action figure collectors, right? Cause action figures are all about,
00:39:32
Speaker
You know the people that open them at least are all about posing them and putting them on a shelf and taking pictures of them and I love that dynamic feature to some of those busts that to me that's like Yeah, it's the most attractive thing about it next to the design. I've never really thought about it like that Have it how it's like making them poseable, which is very cool the we just did a
00:39:56
Speaker
A deluxe First-order trooper who came with a couple different interchangeable arms and we did an officer and then for our premier guild we did a deluxe set where it came with all the different arms and you could have officers or troopers and But between the different shields and the gun arms and it's almost like it has accessories really Because you can have it holding the shield have it holding a blaster having holding a pistol. It's a very cool set and
00:40:22
Speaker
It's like somewhere between a an action figure and a model kit and a statue. Yeah, absolutely. And even even like the variety and styles like if you hit the which the ones I think are. A lot of fun or the the Marvel animated ones like there's the more that just went up.
00:40:42
Speaker
Yes, yes, the animated style statue. Those have a really cool, yeah, just the stylized look is just so cool. And it's just very, like Eric was saying before, it pops. There's a lot of, you know, cool color usage and just character design that make those stand out. No, they're really awesome based on the Scottie Young designs. Yeah, no, the Gamora that we just offered is, it's one of my favorites in recent years.
00:41:10
Speaker
because that line has been going on for a while under General Giant and now under us. And yeah, I think we have coming up, I think we just shipped Dr. Strange, Logan. It's coming up, the Hulk, the thing. There's a lot of different characters coming up, but the Gamora really, she pops and she's got a great facial expression and it's just a great pose.
00:41:36
Speaker
And there was the Scotty Young Deadpool, like, Peanuts mashup too, right? Where he was in the Merc for Hire booth? Yes, Merc for Hire. Yeah, what was it? One million, one million of Merc. And it was just the weapons, the weapons display on that piece is amazing. Yeah, I think you guys had that one out at Toy Fair, and I got a good laugh. That was, yeah, I'm laughing just thinking about it, actually. No, Scotty Young is the great illustrator. He does some really great work.
00:42:05
Speaker
So, our last question, going back to the questions from our audience, or our followers, excuse me. So, and this is something too that I am also extremely excited about because I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan. So, the Lord of the Rings figures that are coming, are there additional plans outside of the first wave with the
00:42:31
Speaker
with the Sauron build a figure. Are there any additional waves planned or build a few figures planned? I'm not sure about our next build a figure. We definitely have at least four waves planned. Each wave has two figures. So the first three waves, first is Legolas, Gimli. Second one is Frodo and the Ringwraith. And then the third one is, I believe, at this point, Aragorn and an Orc.
00:43:01
Speaker
Um, so those three waves will have the buildable sauron and then we do have a fourth wave plan and we've also got um An in-scale gallery diorama that we're working on which hopefully we're going to be revealing In february, i'm pretty sure. Uh, so i'm very excited to i haven't even seen a picture of that one I'm very excited to see it and uh, and hopefully people will go nuts for it
00:43:24
Speaker
So a diorama that is in scale with the fig- I'm literally like, I'm making fists right now. So a diorama that's going to be in scale with the figures? Well, a gallery diorama, which is what we call the PVC line. So it's not necessarily an environment, but a larger character.
00:43:42
Speaker
Gotcha. Oh, that's so cool. I'm so excited. Yeah, that again, that's another one where when I walked into the booth at a toy fair and saw those back. God, I can't believe that was last February already. Jeez. And saw those. I was blown away by, you know, by how they looked, you know, standing there next to the John Wick figures.
00:44:09
Speaker
Yeah, I'm super excited to get my hands on those. Yeah, that is one, especially with all of kind of the new buzz around Lord of the Rings. Obviously, it has a very big built-in fan base, but with the show eventually coming out on Amazon Prime, and it's, yeah. Yeah, the new show's been so mysterious. It's got such a big cast they've announced, and the description is very,
00:44:36
Speaker
It tells you what's going on, but it's not necessarily real specific. So I'm very much looking forward to seeing footage from that. And obviously that was part of the big reason for us going after the license work, because we knew there was going to be more content coming to get people really reinvested. And I think that's one of the big pieces of, I don't want to say necessarily criticism or feedback, but I think every time a company has attempted to make Lord of the Rings figures,
00:45:05
Speaker
it hasn't lasted long enough to satiate people right so like it hasn't lasted long enough to give them the characters that they wanted or the the quality of the characters that they wanted so i think the big question surrounding the lord of the rings figures is like are we going to get this bountiful um array of figures that kind of represent the the material and
00:45:27
Speaker
I know that's a tough ask, but especially considering the ocean of characters that there are in all of Tolkien's work.
00:45:40
Speaker
I know people are really excited to see what you guys have in store for Lord of the Rings. So hearing that you guys already have a future plan is exciting. Yeah, I can't promise that we're going to go as deep as ToyBiz did with their line. Obviously, they made a lot of characters, including some very, very minor characters and characters that didn't have a lot of screen time.
00:46:08
Speaker
Hopefully the line will go for a while. They're definitely a deluxe release. I think if we can do the whole fellowship, I think that's the start of it. And then there's just so many other great characters. So we'll have to see. We'll have to see. So everyone has a wish list. If you could have the opportunity to work with one IP or character, what would it be?
00:46:37
Speaker
Gosh, I'm a big fan of an old Hasbro toy line called Cops. So at one point I had a complete collection of everything that they released and even some of the artwork that they did for series two. And the designs on that are still some of my favorite toy designs ever. So I'd love to see them updated for
00:47:04
Speaker
for a new era. I can't say that that's realistic in any way, shape, or form, but that would be a whole lot of fun. In fact, when I was even thinking that I might like to get into the design side of toys, I actually applied to Hasbro and had worked up my own. This is when I was much younger. I had worked up some of my own
00:47:29
Speaker
designs for cops. So I was redesigning some of the original characters and doing, you know, drawing them. I was an art major, but I'm still, you know, not a fine artist by any stretch of the imagination. So I was thinking that maybe that was something that I might like to do. But I think it's, I think I ended up landing where I wanted to, which is writing about toys, which is something I've been doing for a long time.
00:47:56
Speaker
Yeah, we've actually talked about that line several times recently, off air. The designs were just, they were killer. They were really good design toys. And I mean, unfortunately, right now is not the best time to launch a toy brand.
00:48:17
Speaker
or a toy theme based around law enforcement. But going back in time and looking at toys from just an aesthetic point of view and design, those were some fun toys. Yeah, absolutely. I hadn't actually thought about the whole law enforcement thing, considering that one of them's a ninja and one of them's a cowboy.
00:48:43
Speaker
Exactly. It's definitely not your traditional law enforcement agency, but it's some great designs and the vehicle designs were incredible. Even just the futuristic, what would a futuristic riot officer look like? It was just some really cool stuff. For me, we mentioned it
00:49:12
Speaker
I mentioned it a little bit earlier, but kind of like one of the unique aspects to Diamond Select's offering is kind of those one-off experiences and like my mind just starts going to like all of these kind of like Iconic characters that would be fun like one-off figures like, you know your robo cops and
00:49:32
Speaker
you know even like some some more kind of like cinematic classic figures like that go kind of with you know the the realm of like Bruce Lee right what about like an Elvis series you know like Elvis Presley has had so many different fun you know
00:49:52
Speaker
not only cinematic roles, but just kind of like his, his outfits over the years, you know, his, his stage personas, you know, like, whether it's like the, you know, the, um, you know, Hawaiian kind of vibe or, you know, even like, just kind of like the Vegas vibe. Like I can imagine those as being fun figures with accessories and stuff like that.
00:50:13
Speaker
And it really makes me wonder, especially now having actually spoken to you about this and the way that you guys kind of approach licenses, it just really makes me excited to see what else Diamond has in store for us going forward. Yeah, we've got some really interesting licenses coming up. We're going to be announcing at least one of them in the next month or so.
00:50:36
Speaker
No, there's a lot of great stuff that we're going to be doing with different movies, both classic movies and modern movies and TV shows. There's definitely a lot of really great stuff in the pipeline, but Elvis would be very cool. There have been some cool Elvis collectibles over the years, but no, he'd be a great character to tackle.
00:50:58
Speaker
I think of things like, um, like the Crip Keeper or like, you know, Furiosa from Mad Max, Fury Road, some, something like those ones. Mad Max figures. Yes. No, Mad Max. I think Mad Max is something we've actually looked into, um, a while ago. I don't think we could make it work for different reasons, but, uh, no, Furiosa would be awesome. All of those characters though, Mad Max. Oh man, you could do, you could do like a wave per movie and like bang out like four figures per movie. That would be amazing.
00:51:29
Speaker
Yeah, I think I had a lot of that line when they, I think it was, was it N2? N2 Toys? I can't remember. They put out a couple of waves of figures. I'm trying to remember if they did. They did a lot of characters, but I definitely had Humongous and I think I had the Feral Boy, I'm not sure. Just walk away. Walk away from the gasoline.
00:51:55
Speaker
Okay, so before we let you go, our last question goes back to your relationship with toys. What piece in your collection is your weirdest, most cherished piece or both? My most cherished is probably the farewell gift that they gave me when I left Toy Fair magazine, which was
00:52:19
Speaker
an Iron Man movie figure with my own head off. I think I'm trying to remember who they got to do it. I want to say it was Iron Cow. I didn't want to say it was Nat Paulie, but I could be wrong about that. But it's got my own head sculpt and it's kind of battle weathered. Very, very... I have it right in front of me whenever I do work. But also
00:52:46
Speaker
I have, I have a mini mate for a couple of different mini mate versions of myself. Um, one of them was done when I was at toy fair. Um, me and my coworker, Justin Ackland each got one from, um, from iron cow. And, uh, uh, I have, uh, a little one that a friend of that, uh, friend of mine who's, um, on the mini mate multiverse message boards, uh, and, uh, so I'm a, I'm a, I, my favorite toys are the ones with me. I don't know what that says.
00:53:14
Speaker
In other words, I'm an egotist, but they have a very special place in my heart, all of them, just because they were made for me for different reasons. But I definitely have some weird pieces in my collection. One of my most prized weird pieces in my collection is not an action figure, but it's a
00:53:38
Speaker
wind up, not a wind up police car, but, uh, again, getting back to law enforcement, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's, uh, you know, it's one of those, uh, you know, I don't want to say dollar store, but one of those, um, imports that, uh, you turn on a switch and it's just a police car that drives around at circles and makes siren noises, you know? Um, but it's driven by ninjas and the box says ninja patrol. Um, so it's in their ninja police officers and they just drive around with their hanging out the windows with, you know, waving nunchucks and swords.
00:54:07
Speaker
and it always makes me laugh whenever I see it. Amazing. You got to send us pictures of the toys of yourself so that way we can share them. Oh, absolutely. I'll take some pictures. So Zach, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us tonight and be on Adventures in Collecting. Before we let you go, where can we find you on social media? Is there anything from Diamond Select or personally that you'd like to plug?
00:54:39
Speaker
Definitely check out the new Diamond Select Toys website. We've just recently overhauled it. We ship internationally now, but other than that, it's just a really great new design. The old site definitely needed an update and they did a great job with it. So definitely check out diamondselectoys.com, generalgiantlimited.com also for all our Star Wars stuff and some of our Marvel stuff, including those Scottie Young episodes.
00:55:05
Speaker
We collect DST on Instagram and Twitter, and General Giant Limited on Instagram and Twitter. We have Facebook pages. I'm on Instagram and Twitter under Zach Oat, Z-A-C-H-O-A-T. And yeah, there's definitely plenty of places to find us online.
00:55:26
Speaker
Yeah, that new website, big props. You guys definitely needed a refresh, and that new website is awesome. Oh, that's great. That's good to hear. That's very, very cool looking. The search function on it especially, awesome. Very well done. Very, very well done.
00:55:44
Speaker
Thank you, thank you. Yeah, so Zach, thank you again so much for joining us on Adventures Collecting. It has been amazing talking to you, and we cannot wait to see what Diamond Select Toys has in store for us in 2021 and onward. Yeah, very much so. Hey, thank you for having me. Thank you, Zach.
00:56:08
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
00:56:25
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
00:56:48
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Franca Blaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial no derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.