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The Art of the Toy-Lectible: An Interview with the Noble Collection's Julian Montoya
396 Plays3 years ago
On this episode, Dave and Erik sit down with The Noble Collection's Senior Vice President, Julian Montoya to discuss everything from the brand's prestigious high-end prop replicas, chess sets, and their brand-new BendyFigs!
Follow the Noble Collection on Instagram @thenoblecollection
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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
00:00:02
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. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. Hey.
00:00:33
Speaker
We're back. We're back in another episode. We are exiting the summer and introducing fall here season-wise at the time of recording. And Dave, do we have another guest this week? Eric, I believe we do. That's right. We do, Dave. We do have another guest.
Noble Collection's Bendy Figs Launch
00:00:55
Speaker
The Noble Collection has been creating high-quality collectibles from beloved film and television franchises like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and DC Comics since 1991. Earlier this year, they launched Bendy Figs, bringing their design expertise to a world of action figures with their retro-inspired Bendable collectibles.
00:01:16
Speaker
That's fun to say, Bendable Collectibles. Joining us today is Senior Vice President of the Noble Collection, Julian Montoya.
Introducing Julian Montoya
00:01:23
Speaker
Julian, welcome to Adventures in Collecting. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here with you guys.
00:01:29
Speaker
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to join us on the show. We're super excited to have you and to talk about all of the fun things that are going on within the Noble Collection. Great. Thank you. I'm looking forward to hopefully sharing some stories that your listeners will enjoy. Before we get started, the first thing that we like to ask all of our guests, since this is a show about action figures and collecting and collectibles, what are you currently collecting?
Julian's Personal Collection
00:01:56
Speaker
Primarily, things I collect are more related to my fandoms in any particular format. So anything from Iron Giant, Firefly, Marvel, Star Wars, those are things I tend to gravitate towards. From a platform perspective, I still have a great collection of pops I'm proud of. I've been building up my Qfig collection.
00:02:18
Speaker
Um, and I've been really enjoying the stuff coming from, um, unruly industries over at sideshow. Their artists vinyl, I think is pretty imaginative. And I, I, I love going over to check what the new releases look like there too. Oh man. You have a wide array of, uh, of, of formats there. I do. I do. So what, which one in particular, you mentioned that the sideshow one, um, what, what, which one in particular is makes up kind of like the bulk of your collection.
00:02:46
Speaker
Well, they work with an artist there, Tracy, who does stylized superheroes. I thought his T'Challa was absolutely phenomenal, and his Miles Morales really got my attention. And it's a stylized artist vinyl that just really looks wonderful on the shelf and really brings the characters to life through the creative vision of the artist. They have a lot of other great stuff.
00:03:15
Speaker
Um, I find that you have to answer one of the primary questions at my age. I have to answer the collector is the one my wife asks, which is, and where is that going? Um, you know, uh, she's not buying the, I'm keeping it in mint condition in the shelf because I've got enough shelf Queens. Um, so I have that.
00:03:36
Speaker
identify the space and be a little bit mindful and careful when I put something. But fortunately, she and I have similar fandoms, so it's rare that she would say, no, that's not happening. And what I thought she was going to blink at was the life size, the child from Sideshow. I thought she would say, no, we don't have room for that. But actually, she helped us make room for that one.
00:04:00
Speaker
It's funny you bring that up. I was looking at that one as well. I don't have any sideshow products yet. It's not a can of worms that I've opened. Dave, I don't think you have any sideshow stuff, do you? I don't know. That's kind of the same thing.
00:04:21
Speaker
It's definitely a deep hole that you can dive into. Yeah, potato chips. But it's funny you mentioned the child because when that came out, when they announced that, we shared the news of it on our Instagram feed and my wife follows our Instagram and she was sitting across the other end of the couch when I shared it and she just looks up at me and she was like, if you want to get that,
00:04:44
Speaker
Right. I'm on board. Right. That's something that the child crossed boundaries and it did plenty of wives, girlfriends and significant others found them adorable enough to give permission to welcome it into the house. Make room for it. Yeah. Like for me, the the large the child pop was was about where I could like. Fair enough. I can get away with this. Fair enough. Yeah, I can get away with putting this somewhere and
00:05:15
Speaker
You know, now if they ever did a Borg, that might be where I'd have to dive in. All right.
Julian's Career Journey
00:05:23
Speaker
So you've been in the entertainment and collectibles industry now for nearly 30 years. Tell us a little bit about your journey to the noble collection and what your role there entails.
00:05:34
Speaker
Well, my career in entertainment collectibles began back in 1997. I started working for Lucas licensing when they were beginning production on, actually they were very begun production on episode one, The Phantom Menace. I had got to know the people, the team at Lucasfilm through the work I was doing at my job right before that, which was at 20th Century Fox. I was their director of marketing and I was responsible for developing
00:06:01
Speaker
The trailers and the video packaging for what was the original was the final release of the original trilogy before the special editions. The tagline was the original one last time because it was the last time that those originals were released before the special editions.
00:06:16
Speaker
And back then it was just VHS and Beta, which probably sounds like Greek to many of your listeners, but it was before DVD. And I had developed the trailers and the packaging for it and got to know the team at Lucasfilm. And I connected with the executive team there, Howard Rothman, the head of licensing, and they were looking to build up the international business. And I had a big background working on the international licensing, the video rights.
00:06:45
Speaker
So I interviewed and was fortunate to get the call to come work up at Lucasfilm. And my wife and I packed up our two daughters, small children, and moved up to San Rafael to begin what was probably one of the most
00:07:04
Speaker
intense but exciting and rewarding times in my career was working on the licensing program for episode one focusing on the international side but a lot of my time ended up being focused working with the toy partners at the time they had just signed galub for people who remember galub and micro machines they had signed galub and hasbro
00:07:27
Speaker
and was working with them. And it was there when we negotiated the deal with LEGO to make the first LEGO Star Wars sets. And I was fortunate to be in the room when that deal was negotiated, to be part of that, to bring the Star Wars franchise into LEGO.
00:07:45
Speaker
So it was quite an experience those three years working on them at Lucasfilm. I went from Lucasfilm to Warner Consumer Products. They were starting production on the Harry Potter films and they thought that my experience in working on something that was so high profile, so much such high expectations could benefit.
00:08:04
Speaker
them on the new Harry Potter films and we had you know we lived in Los Angeles our entire life except for the three years up in San Francisco and our families and a lot of our friends were there so we moved back and that began a 20 roughly 20 year career at Warner Consumer Products where I was really able to
00:08:24
Speaker
focus on building out the toys and collectible business, really expanding it across multiple IPs and with several partners. Some of the things that I'm proudest of that I did while I was there was we did the first POPs with Funko. It was called Funko Force at the time.
00:08:44
Speaker
Everyone had rejected the concept because they thought they looked weird. Back then there was no nose, there were black eyes, and people didn't get it, but I believed in it. A lady I was working with, Daniela Butner, who was overseeing the day-to-day with Funko, also believed in it as well. That was one that I had to
00:09:07
Speaker
really campaign for to get people to sign off on it. And finally, in part because they trusted me and second because I was willing to put my neck on the line, they gave us the okay. And, you know, the Brian Mariotti's credit and the designers at Funko, they delivered what was Funko Force and became
00:09:25
Speaker
pop but we were the first ones and was part of the work we did on that. Then
Approach to Collectibles
00:09:31
Speaker
Noble Collection. I signed the Noble Collection as a licensee early on in my career at Warner Brothers. Loved what they were doing on Lord of the Rings and thought they would be perfect for proper replicas on the Wizarding World on Harry Potter. So I'd signed them.
00:09:48
Speaker
I also worked with QMX on Qfigs. Some of the first Qfigs were based on our characters. I tried to identify companies who did products that I loved that I wanted to collect. I thought they were great. We just had wonderful designers, great products.
00:10:07
Speaker
I identified a couple of partners that the approach was trying never to say no. No matter what they come back up with, no matter how crazy the idea, try not to say no because these guys have a passion for the product and a passion for the IP and they're going to bring it to the market and collectors will respond to it. And I was rewarded with that approach by some phenomenal products that came out from those partners.
00:10:33
Speaker
And then we get this interesting point in my career when they were doing another restructure at Warner Brothers and they had an opportunity to focus more on the collectibles area. But both our daughters were on the East Coast. Our oldest was a second year resident. She's a doctor at Duke University Hospital. And our youngest was graduating from law school in Boston, in Boston College.
00:10:58
Speaker
And they were trying to figure out, my youngest were trying to figure out, does she come out back to California with us and take the bar? Or does she stay out here on the east coast, is it close to her sister? And I got a call from Noble Collection. And they're based here, they're based in Virginia. I'm in Rosin, which is just outside of Georgetown.
00:11:20
Speaker
And when we talked to the girls, they all just said, that's it. That's the perfect answer. We can all be together. We hadn't been in the same time zone for seven years. I knew Noble, knew the company, knew the product, knew the principles, was a huge fan of theirs. And thought after 23, 24 years on the licensing side, you can't really
00:11:44
Speaker
Call yourself a toy guy or a toy person unless you do some work on the manufacturing side. Take everything I learned on the licensing side. I've been to the puppet show, I've seen the strings, and bring it to work on the licensee side. And with the partner that I thought was a good fit for me, and the Noble Collection has
00:12:06
Speaker
proven to be a very good fit. It's been a great move for me, my family, and it's just so much fun to see what goes into the development of the product from this side. So after that whole journey now winding up at the Noble Collection, tell us a little bit about what your role there entails.
Julian's Role at Noble Collection
00:12:31
Speaker
My main role is to work with the team to identify where is the best revenue opportunities for us to grow the company, but grow the company in an organic way that fits who we are as a company. The Noble Collection has gotten a well-earned reputation for their attention to detail and quality and delivering something with a very high perceived value.
00:12:59
Speaker
You can talk to a Wizarding World fan, and they'll tell you that our replicas of the Wands retail in an Ollivander's box for about $45 to $60, depending on the wand. But when you hold it in your hand, it feels like something special, especially if you love that character. That wand helps you make a connection to the character, and it's not
00:13:22
Speaker
It's through the amount of care and attention that goes into it. As we're identifying where we can go, part of it is what is the right fit for us as a company. It has to be something that we think has a broader appeal and that, frankly, that our designers are really going to enjoy working on. It's not just
00:13:45
Speaker
a job. We work on IP and franchises that we're passionate about. One thing that I learned over the years working with and talking to so many collectors is they really don't want to think that and they don't want to believe that just some suit is working at these companies making these
00:14:03
Speaker
And when you hear some of the people in this business, like Jeremy Padour, and you realize, no, these are collectors. These are people who love what they do. I think they can tell it in the product and the product lines that get developed for them. So it's working with the licensors that we work with. We work with a broad range of licensors, putting together the licensing agreements, identifying where the opportunities are within their catalogs.
00:14:32
Speaker
And then overall see how we can just introduce the collectors to the Noble Collection. So before we go back into some of the details of what's going on in the Noble Collection, we have to ask you about some of your time at Lucasfilm. Our very first episode of this podcast, going back two years ago, was us basically fondly recalling
00:15:02
Speaker
the launch of the Phantom Menace and the merchandising that went into it and the fact that there were products everywhere. There were Pepsi machines with Anakin on them, those striking black and red card backs with Hasbro. The first time Hasbro had the line and it wasn't Kenner. What was it like overseeing the merchandise for such a phenomenon?
00:15:25
Speaker
Well, I was part of a small but very busy team that was overseeing different parts of it. I got to touch a lot of the toy piece because of the importance that the toys work within the licensing world. It was, without a doubt, an amazing opportunity in many ways. But one of the things that stayed with me the most was the opportunity that gave me to work with some of the best designers and toy executives.
00:15:51
Speaker
in the industry. Companies like Galou, Hasbro, Lego, and so many others. A chance to meet some of those designers and see how passionate they were about the property, about the IP. Everyone remembers how broad the licensing program was. The expectations were so high. There was so much pressure
00:16:17
Speaker
associated with it. There were plenty of sleepless nights because there were a lot of moving parts, a lot of moving parts. You mentioned Pepsi. That was PepsiCo and the power of one promotion that included Pepsi, Frito-Lay, and the three Pepsi restaurant concepts, KFC, Taco Bell, and
00:16:35
Speaker
Pizza hut or you know cantalco hut as I call it but it was So many moving parts and so many there's so many hands on the wheel. Um, there was just a lot of Of work involved on that one, you know, I it wasn't I mean it was I think during my time at lucasome just right after where I ended up Joining the million mile club on united just based on all the miles. I was logging um between the different regions to
00:17:04
Speaker
in the beginning it was bring people up to speed on the movie and the marketing efforts behind it and then we go back out with the 20th Century Fox distribution partner and with the Pepsi co-executives to meet with our licensees and the agents so it was just
00:17:24
Speaker
I don't know. Sometimes I look back and I wonder how I survived all of that. But it was remarkable to see how much passion people were putting into the IP. There were plenty of people at some of the companies that were focused on how big this thing was going to be. But there were more than enough folks that I would have a chance to interact with that you could tell. And I was one of them that felt
00:17:52
Speaker
Don't take this for granted. You're working on episode one. You're working on episode one. My office was based on Skywalker Ranch behind the main house. And every morning when I drove in, I used to tell myself, don't take this for granted. Don't take this for granted. Never get used to this. Never get used to this. And I never did. And frankly, I don't know how anyone...
00:18:12
Speaker
could take the truth. But it was just an exciting time with a bunch of people working as hard as they could on something that they cared about very much.
Star Wars Merchandising Challenges
00:18:25
Speaker
And it was all compressed into these three years that culminated with the release of the film.
00:18:34
Speaker
that was you know for some people a disappointment for others it was it was exciting but you know without a doubt it was certainly a an experience that people remember and there certainly was a lot of merchandise that was created by it but that was really you know call it um drinking from a fire hose that was really my introduction into the toy world because i hadn't really been been in toys before that but that was like
00:18:59
Speaker
Of all the IPs to cut your teeth out in terms of toys, Star Wars was great because it was everything from the lower end price stuff to the high end replicas. Back then you had Master replicas doing replicas of lightsabers and Thinkway doing some high end lightsabers. It was pretty exciting. Yeah, and I mean, it's really the first time in looking at it, the first time since the original trilogy that
00:19:26
Speaker
people were being introduced to new characters and new designs and kind of these groundbreaking things. And then also, you know, like you said, I can imagine, you know, living up to the hype, right? Like, you know, this is Darth Vader as a kid and now we need to merchandise him.
00:19:42
Speaker
Right. Well, one of the things that as you know, after the film opened, it was Howard Rockman, who was the head of Lucas licensing, who was, you know, he sounded the best for me, you know, in one of our meetings when he said that success is reality divided by expectations. And at the end of the day, the reality of what we delivered, what we achieved was, was absolutely remarkable.
00:20:10
Speaker
The expectations were in many ways unmanageable. I think, you know, George Lucas once said, you know, the fans of Star Wars have been making these movies in their heads for 20 years. For 20 years, they've been waiting for new movies and they've been telling these stories for 20 years. And whatever movie I made was not going to be what they created in the past 20 years.
00:20:34
Speaker
So you're bound to have some disappointment. But at the end of the day, though, there's no denying that it did re-engage new generations of fans. And it created some interesting discussions even with the existing fan base. Love Jar Jar Binks or not. He's great to bring up in conversation from time to time.
00:20:54
Speaker
And there's, you know, there's no denying some of the technical, a lot of technical achievements. And, you know, a lot of the universe expanding that took place, that set up some great opportunities for fans to just get back into that universe. Yeah, for sure.
Authenticity in Collectibles
00:21:14
Speaker
Now, does any of what you learned during your time there inform your decision making at the Noble Collection?
00:21:20
Speaker
Yeah, in many ways, it more informs how I approach the business. You know, one of the things I learned, you know, Howard Ruffin was a true gentleman, always even killed, always managed to keep perspective. No matter how much, how high the pressure was, you could always count on him to just give you some perspective and just rally the team to just focus on the issue or the problem and get it resolved.
00:21:43
Speaker
So, you know, I've learned not to get too worked up when, you know, whatever the license or doesn't return your call or, or, or something's, you know, something's not working out the way we hoped. And also learned that the importance of valuing the contribution of every person who's part of the process regarding of their total, their title or responsibility, because at the end of the day, everyone is playing a part in bringing this product. And, you know, they should all be
00:22:11
Speaker
treated as such. And the importance of focusing on fans and understanding how, yes, this is important to them. For somebody, it's just an action figure, but for somebody, it means a lot more. Either it's part of a collection they've been building or it's something they want to
00:22:31
Speaker
a gift to somebody's gift or maybe to bring their kids into collecting. So the fans have expectations and they're forgiving if you make a mistake, but if you
00:22:46
Speaker
commit an act of betrayal, then that's almost impossible to come from. So you have to be mindful. You know, remember, you know, you dance with them. And you, you always appreciate and respect the fan because we wouldn't be. Honestly, if there weren't Wizarding World fans, who's going to buy a replica of a wand, you know, to the uninitiated, it's a stick. So it's, you know, you have to
00:23:11
Speaker
You have to really just appreciate and respect and listen to the fans and collectors because ultimately they care about the business, about the IP as much more than anybody.
00:23:25
Speaker
So, so we've talked about, you know, IPs and, and, and fandoms so far, some, somewhat, some of which have, you know, really, really strong, very opinionated, very vocal fan bases. And the noble collection is, is most well known, I think for their high end prop replicas from franchises like Harry Potter and, and Lord of the rings and game of thrones. Um, how do you determine which IPs are a good fit for the noble collection?
00:23:52
Speaker
One of the things we like to think of is if you've had a chance to see our catalog, you can see how we present it by IP or franchise. We like to envision what would this look like? What would a one, two, three, four page spread in our catalog look like?
00:24:09
Speaker
If it's an item, that's not something we're really interested in. So we're interested in something that we can really bring our creativity and passion to. We do everything from, yes, we do some high-end figural stuff. We're known for our chess sets, our proper replicas. But we also do some wonderful journals. We do some beautiful puzzles, keychains, bookmarks.
00:24:34
Speaker
So we want to pick an IP that we know has a fandom that really has, they've made it part of their lives. And something that would look, that we could represent in a good spread in our catalog, our key. And then also, is it something that we're passionate about? There's lots of great IPs that
00:25:00
Speaker
you can make money on. But the amount of work and focus that goes into our products and the output, the outcome because of the passion of our designers and our team is important. So we honestly, even if it's a
00:25:18
Speaker
Big IP, but it's something that we don't have a fandom for it or wide enough, wide enough fandom for it. It's probably not a good fit just because it's part of development at the Noble Collection is a very consuming product, is a very consuming effort for us. So we want to get the best results from it.
00:25:39
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't really think about that because, you know, going back to something like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, like, so, so is the conversation like, okay, so Harry Potter, obviously, you know, wands are really accessible. They have kind of a small footprint. They're, you know, something that's, um, you know, obviously speaks to the fandom, but then you start to branch off like, okay, what can we, the time turner, we can make a necklace, we can make bookmarks because it is a book series. Like does, does the brainstorming session really kind of work like that where it's like,
00:26:09
Speaker
What can we do outside of the obvious? Some of the best brainstorming sessions we do are with our licensing partners. They're working with the franchise teams, in many cases, the filmmakers. And as being part of the process, we might get a storytelling, but we might not get to read the script. They've read the script.
00:26:31
Speaker
So there are things that they can't really tell you because they're highly confidential, but they can point you in a direction in terms of saying, you know, this is a part we think you should look at. It plays a big role in the film. One thing that we know that I've learned from my time at Lucasfilm was it doesn't matter how long
00:26:52
Speaker
Something is on screen it matters more what impact it makes an example that Howard Raffanell We used to give was the X-wing starfighter was in the first Star Wars mood for maybe six minutes But it's not it's what happened during those six minutes that people connect with Same thing with you know the time-turner the time-turner Screen time wasn't that much but the role it played and and and what what it helped the characters do was
00:27:18
Speaker
Important and then add to that the fact that the design was so beautiful. It pretty much became that was a no-brainer But oftentimes it's listening to the to the licensors sometimes you get a chance to speak with the the the product the prop the prop designers or the costume makers and hear their perspective on what items work and then we take that and work it through our internal filters to see what things we think are executable what could be a good product, but it's a collaborative process and
00:27:47
Speaker
that you know you can't you can you can't have i suppose you can have too many people were small group so that doesn't happen are in. That you get input from the license or you get the franchise team some cases you get to meet the the filmmakers.
00:28:04
Speaker
and then our own internal themes. And then you balance that against what you know works. I met with a, there was a filmmaker once and they had this idea for this playset that was just a terrible idea. The scene didn't feature the hero creature. It featured the villain. It featured a train that blew up and everyone died. And it's like, no, dude, that's a,
00:28:32
Speaker
Of course, the answer is the stock answer from toy companies sharing a secret is, we'll look into that. So I told him I'd look into that and went back and as soon as he left the room, told the guys from the toy company we're with, I said, we'll not make that playset. No one's going to buy that playset. So you do balance some of that stuff against what you know the market, what will sell.
00:28:53
Speaker
So one of the things that, and just talking about this is something that just popped into my head. I'm of the right age where I was the target when the first Harry Potter book came out, and of course the films and everything. And I can recall sitting with my friends at the time flipping through the Nobel Collection catalog, the physical catalog, because
00:29:19
Speaker
A lot of times there were pictures in there of some of the Wizards wands that really had sometimes zero screen time. Like they were clearly designed for those characters, but you never really got a good look at them. So it was always great flipping through going like, Oh, so that's what Neville's wand looks like. Like, Oh, look at the, you know, like, and pointing out like the different details and everything. How do you select in, in terms of that, like, how do you select a, you know, to produce a product that has sometimes zero screen time?
00:29:49
Speaker
Well, you bring up a good point because the reality is if you ever go to, if you look through our catalog or if you walk into Universal Studios to see the Wizard World of Harry Potter and you walk into either an aloe vander shop or one of the gift shops and you see this wonderful display of 70 of our wands.
00:30:08
Speaker
People love looking at those wands and seeing whose wand was whose, and I didn't know, like I said, Neville's wand looked like that, or I had no idea Luna's wand had that detail. And the reality is, short of either looking at one of the Making of books,
00:30:22
Speaker
There's no other way to really appreciate how much artistry these prop makers are putting into each and every wand. No matter how many wands we've done or looked at, no one is, they're not on autopilot for any of these wands. Every single one is absolutely exquisite. My current favorite one is Dumbledore's from the Fantastic Beasts movie. I think it's absolutely exquisite.
00:30:50
Speaker
And in some cases, it's just how important is the character in the story or how beautiful is the wand. And then listening to the franchise team in terms of what they think might work or might connect with fans. The good news is, you know,
00:31:12
Speaker
The average collector isn't interested in background Death Eater number three, but there is a Wizarding World fan who just loves anything dealing with Death Eaters and they'll collect a one that another collector might not. At the end of the day, it's the more popular ones that sell the best, but I think
00:31:36
Speaker
offering all 70 and giving people that opportunity to see all 71s and to just go into that world is a key part of why people love our ones so much. You know, I don't expect anyone to buy all 71s, but I do know that the fact that we have currently 70 or 81s available is part of what engages people
00:31:58
Speaker
in this collectible. You can be walking by the store, you'll see those 70 ones on the wall on display, and you're gonna want to go in and take a look at them, and then pick up one you like the best. Maybe a character you love, or maybe just a design that connects with you. And now, a word from our sponsors. And now, back to the show.
Expanding Product Range
00:32:24
Speaker
So the Noble Collection has recently introduced more accessible product lines like the themed chess sets and Bendy Fix. So what inspired the introduction of these products?
00:32:36
Speaker
The chess sets was more of a natural evolution for us. We had done some very high-end chess sets, costing hundreds of dollars in high-end materials, die-cast metals, and they were very popular and we became very well known for them. But there was a lot of people who just couldn't afford to play 600, $700 for a chess set, but they loved the work that we were doing.
00:33:03
Speaker
One of our signature pieces being the final challenge chess set, the chess set from the first Harry Potter film that Ron directs the game in towards the climax of the film. And the team just made a more affordable version of it.
00:33:20
Speaker
and at around $45, but still taking the attention to quality and detail so that a fan who bought that $45 chess set didn't feel like they were trading down. They felt like, yes, now I have my own version of my own Wizards chess set.
00:33:40
Speaker
And the response to that chess set was remarkable. It is year in and year out. It's a top seller for us. And it inspired us to develop some other chess sets in that price range. We have a Lord of the Rings one, which has done very well. Our Jurassic Park chess set, which we launched earlier this year, is an absolute beautiful piece with beautiful sculpts of the dinosaurs. And the response to that has been great. I was just going to say,
00:34:11
Speaker
You guys were kind enough to send us out one to take a look at and review. And I was blown away by the level of detail in there for a $45 chest set. I mean, it was, it's gorgeous. There's things that, you know, that one of the things that it was one of the first projects they were working on early when they started. And it was remarkable to see how the team would get together and sweat over every detail of every scope. And one of the things, believe it or not, that you might not think you have to consider is the footprint.
00:34:41
Speaker
the figure. So, I mean, the pterodactyls are in that walking pose for a couple of reasons. One is we do see that in the film when it's stalking the characters away to walk. But second, if you splay out the wings, it doesn't fit on the chessboard. You can't put two pawns next to each other if their wings are sprayed out. So you have to also figure out, you know, things like on the T-Rex, he's turning around
00:35:02
Speaker
because if he's just standing upright, the tail is going to block the rest of any piece behind it. So you have to actually calculate the size of the board, the pieces, how big the piece is, what the footprint is, to ensure that
00:35:17
Speaker
You know, it's beautiful collectible, but it needs to be a great chess set. So you have to make sure the pieces work together. Otherwise, you know, no one's going to take out of the box. And we want people to play with that. And the Jurassic Park chess set, I think, is a great example. We recently announced that with our expanding that partnership with
00:35:35
Speaker
With universal we are going to be unveiling soon a minions chess set that we've developed that You know, all I can say is whatever you think a minions chess set is going to be
00:35:48
Speaker
You're wrong. And when you see what we worked on, and it was our designers working with the team at Universal and Illumination. Illumination worked on every aspect of this with us. And they know these characters by anybody. They love these characters as much more than anybody. And to get Universal Illumination and our designers working on a chess set,
00:36:13
Speaker
When you see it, the first thing you'll think is, he told me this is not what I was going to be expecting. And he was absolutely right. And it couldn't be better. We're super excited about that one. I think you guys are going to get a kick when you see it. Yeah. I mean, it's great too. Like the thing that I think is fantastic about
00:36:32
Speaker
these themed chess assets. So I mean, Dave and I grew up like we know how to play chess, you know, from old school chess boards, right? But like my daughter who I just introduced to the Jurassic Park brand through the Camp Cretaceous cartoon and, you know, something like, obviously, like Harry Potter and Minions, it's introducing kids to chess and like the I like how the pieces, you know, on the back showed you what
00:36:57
Speaker
the classic piece actually looks like and where they go on the board. There's just so many of these thoughtful little touches that I feel like make it more... I had the chess set out and I was taking pictures of it and everything, and she just wanted to learn how to play, wanted to know what it was. Of course, I want to be this dinosaur, and I was like, I haven't even worked that way. But still, it engaged her in a game that's a global classic.
00:37:26
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's one of the things, I think, it marries its classic gameplay. People around the world know and love the game. And if there's a way to celebrate their fandoms while playing a game, or in your case, teaching a child how to play a game that they'll be able to play for the rest of their lives, and Jurassic Park becomes the gateway to introduce it to them, that's part of what we get to do when we're designing these chess sets.
00:37:55
Speaker
So tell us a little bit about how Bendifigs fits into all of this.
Creation of Bendy Figs
00:38:00
Speaker
Bendifigs was more a case of serendipity, where they had designed, the team had designed a Bendifig of Dabi, the house elf.
00:38:13
Speaker
And it was just something our team came up with that was a good fit for the character. That one was more about what's a great way to bring Dobby to life. And this platform seemed perfect. But our team wasn't just going to do a basic bendable figure. If you look at the sculpting and the deco, it was all meant to
00:38:41
Speaker
to make it more, well, the term we've coined that we use is toilectable. So yes, it's a collectible, but it's a toy. It's a toilectable. So that's a term that we use a lot in some of the products that we're working with, with toilectables. And this Dobby Bendy thing was a great toilectable product that quickly got followed up with a Cornish Pixie. But what happened was it
00:39:06
Speaker
It really connected with collectors and fans. You see this thing on Amazon, and the conversion rate was extraordinary. The number of people that would see the figure and then buy it was a really high percentage. And the executive team thought, you know, there's something here. So credit to them, they had started down that path before I had gotten there. They had decided they were going to
00:39:35
Speaker
take this platform and build it out to bring in other IP. And what they've done with Bendifigs, which I love, is the IP is good for anyone from 8 to 80. So whether you're a kid and you like
00:39:54
Speaker
Batman or whether you're an adult and you like, um, Annabelle from the horror series, you know, that's there as well. And it's not, it's obviously very different, but unlike, you know, not unlike pop where, you know, doesn't matter what you like.
00:40:10
Speaker
or how mature or young your fandom is, you can translate the IP into that format. And Beniface gives us an opportunity to create a product range that goes across multiple
00:40:25
Speaker
IPs. It works from a collectible standpoint because we pack it out. It's packed out similar to an action figure and a blister card. But what makes it unique and more on the collectible side is when each one comes with a stand and the stand is bespoke to the character of the franchise. So, for example, our Universal Monsters Bendy Figs are all on a stand that's shaped like a classic movie film strip with the name of the monster printed on it.
00:40:53
Speaker
the ones for Lord of the Rings or have the Elvish writing around the side. So the stand's unique and gives you an opportunity to display the figure and they come with accessories. And if appropriate for the character, it has soft goods. So Gandalf has a robe, the bride of Frankenstein has a dress. It's not really so much about the adding soft goods to add soft goods. It does need to make sense for the character. Dracula has a cape, for example. Batman has a cape.
00:41:22
Speaker
but it gave us a chance to go across multiple IPs and the response so far has been pretty good. One of the comments that we get from collectors is they love it because it's a great way to introduce their kids to collectibles because it looks and feels like
00:41:39
Speaker
an expensive collectible item, but it's, you know, under $15 and it's a benefit. They can't break it. You know, even if they drop it, you're not going to hurt it. So they find, but they can display it on the stand like people display. They're like, you know, mom or dad might collect their display, their action figures.
00:41:57
Speaker
So it's a way to introduce kids to collectibles as well, while giving an adult who wants to build out his collection something that they can really be proud to add to their collection.
00:42:12
Speaker
And I like the idea of that toylectable idea really being a differentiator for action figures. And I think Bendy figs also capture the nostalgia of the retro bendies of the past. What have been some of the challenges that the team faces in designing Bendy figs?
00:42:30
Speaker
You know, some of the challenges are involved in, because we're not going to compromise on the quality and authenticity, the format has some challenges. So if you're doing a character with very thin legs, you have to be mindful of that because you don't want the rubber material to expose the bendy figure, the armature underneath.
00:42:57
Speaker
you know, making sure we hit that price point. Some thicker characters, bigger characters require a lot more creativity in terms of how you're going to design them. But the reality is the same person who, the same team who
Design Challenges of Bendy Figs
00:43:15
Speaker
is designing and sculpting a
00:43:20
Speaker
a $200 piece or a piece of Game of Thrones brass. We have a bronze, a Game of Thrones bronze that retails for hundreds of dollars. That's the same team that's working on bendy figs. We do all our own sculpting, we do our own designing, we don't work with outside vendors, we keep it all in-house. So just as much effort and talent that goes into a Harry Potter wand prop replica
00:43:47
Speaker
or even a time turner park replica goes into a bendy fig. So it's not, believe it or not, in some cases, they're actually even more expensive to tool and some of the items that cost more to manufacture. Wow. Yeah, I got a chance to attend the Toy Insider event, the sweet, sweet at home.
00:44:14
Speaker
We got a chance to to chat a little bit about that and that was one of the things that they had revealed That it was like you guys have a core set of designers. I think they said there's only like seven or eight designers That were sculptors. Yeah that work on like everything, right? Everything everything which is part of what we look at when there's opportunity also to be frank is bandwidth you know, you know, what can we work on, you know the the the the
00:44:39
Speaker
The team at Noble has a great work-life balance, so that's why there's no money grabs. If you can make money doing something just to make it, but it's going to add a lot more work, honestly, they'd rather you focus the attention, time, and passion on getting that gremlin bendy fig right so that a collector of gremlins who's probably been waiting a while for something like this is going to be happy when they get it.
00:45:07
Speaker
So, so speaking of gremlins, um, you know, we got to see a couple of the, the new products that are coming, uh, in the fall, you know, just in time for that, the Halloween season. So, you know, we got, we got to see the gremlins. We got to see the nun and Annabelle, um, you know, all that, that nun bendy figure is just perfectly terrifying by the way. Um, so we got to see a preview of those, uh, you know, what, what do you guys have planned for the line headed into, uh, next year into 2022?
00:45:36
Speaker
We've got some more Universal Monsters coming. Our Wolfman is phenomenal. I love our mummy, the fandom of the opera, and an Invisible Man, which has a unique feature in that the Invisible Man is sculpted from the classic black and white film, sculpted with the bandages around his head, but the head is the removable accessory. So basically you can turn him invisible by removing the head. That's great.
00:46:02
Speaker
which I think is a fun little piece on that one. The Gremlins ones you've seen look great. We're doing some benefits from some great Dreamwork animation characters, Shrek, Poe from Kung Fu Panda and Alex from Madagascar. You may have seen we've got Wizard of Oz, which a lot of people are excited about seeing Dorothy and the Tin Man. We've got Game of Thrones is in development. We've gotten some concepts approved on that one.
00:46:32
Speaker
We're excited. We'll be part of ET's 40th anniversary next year, which Universal is celebrating next year. We'll be doing some bendy figs as part of ET's 40th. And of course, some more Potter characters. We'll continue to work on DC. They've got some films in the works. The new Batman film, we think. We're excited about Black Adam and also the Flash film that is in the works. I think it gives us lots of opportunities.
00:47:00
Speaker
Um, and, but you know, on that one, we don't go deep into the movies because at the end of the day, they have a toy partner doing plenty of toys. Um, we don't want to, we don't want to, uh, get into that. We just want to focus more on the toelectable side of it. So we'll do like a figure. We're not going to do a whole range of characters, but we can, we can do a Batman from the Batman.
00:47:19
Speaker
We're losing our minds over here about ET. Oh, when you say we've got some ET bendies, as a matter of fact, I'm told the first production sample or pre-pro is going to come in tomorrow. So I'm looking forward to seeing ET because we'll be doing ET and some of the other characters.
00:47:39
Speaker
that I think you'll be excited about. And then horror. You saw the nun, but I don't know if you had a chance to see Reagan from The Exorcist or Chucky or Billy, the puppet from Saw is a good looking bendy fake. That one, I'm really happy with how that one looks. So those are fun. And obviously the nun and
00:48:01
Speaker
Michael Myers from Halloween. We're having fun with those as well, and I think collectors have enjoyed the fact that you've got that, yes, it is nostalgic in that it's a Bendy figure, but you wouldn't have bought that Bendy thing when you were a kid. Yeah, now, obvious question, because he is Bendy. Does Billy come with the tricycle?
00:48:23
Speaker
No, Billy doesn't come with a tricycle. One of the things about the range is it is focused on the character. The accessories are more that can pack out with the action figure. The tricycle would be a bit of a stretch for us to do.
00:48:43
Speaker
Our Q&A is brought to you by our friends at Chubsy Wubsy Toys. A traditional mom and pop store in Little Falls, New Jersey, Chubsy Wubsy brings you the best new toys from the brands you love without the hassle of pounding the pavement searching for them at larger retail stores. Visit them in person at 106 Main Street in Little Falls, New Jersey or online at ChubsyWubsy.com. That's C-H-U-B-Z-Z-Y-W-U-B-Z-Z-Y.com.
00:49:11
Speaker
Tell them adventures and collecting sent you.
00:49:15
Speaker
So with that, we're going to head into Q&A here. So we posted a post up on Instagram as well as a story and a tweet. We got a ton of responses back. And believe it or not, a lot of them, like we had a bunch of examples where a couple of people all asked the same thing. So we have four questions for you from this Q&A that are kind of
00:49:42
Speaker
generally combined versions of a lot of things that different people ask. So Dave, why don't we go with the first one? Sure. So lots of people have questions about when items like a certain wizard's wand or a character will be available. Have you considered fan polling for future product availability?
00:50:03
Speaker
We have, we get a lot of input through our website because when people visit our website, they get some real time support. Someone, it's a real person on the other side, pops in and says, can I help you? And as you know, fans aren't shy about saying what they want. So we do get input on that side. The other thing we're looking at doing is we're planning to start participating in the cons starting next year.
00:50:31
Speaker
We think that's a great opportunity for us to get face to face with the fans and collectors and hear their feedback and get their input. But some polling is actually a very good idea that I think Merit's looking into on our side because I think we can use our
00:50:47
Speaker
our website or partners such as yourself to help us run some fan polls. I know the licensors are interested in things like that. They don't generally take our way or the highway. They do value the input from the fans. I know we certainly do.
00:51:03
Speaker
We get pepper from time to time for a couple of ones that people are looking for. Some are in the works, some aren't yet, but the good news is fans aren't shy about telling people what they want and we actually enjoy the feedback.
00:51:21
Speaker
So by far the most popular question that was asked was the fact that Bendy Figs are evenly scaled, making shorter characters like Dobby and Gollum and taller characters like, say, Sauron all the same height. What was the reasoning behind scaling them this way?
00:51:39
Speaker
The approach on the benefits, as I mentioned a little bit earlier, is focusing on the character itself. We're not building out playset worlds, we're not building out accessories or vehicles, which is important to keep everything scaled to each other.
00:51:55
Speaker
There's there's some subtle changes, you know, the Harry Potter, Harry Potter shorter than Dumbledore. So there's subtle differences. So if anything, there's maybe two sizes. But in general, the Bendy Fig is meant to stand alone as its own.
00:52:13
Speaker
thing, you love Dobby and you want Dobby Benefig or you, you know, you just got a kick out of out of the nun. So it's kind of similar to, you know, if you look at pops, they're all pretty much the same size as well. They do do some subtle changes as well. But in our case, it really is more about the character.
00:52:33
Speaker
than the lineup, even though we developed them in waves. So it's the four Harry Potter figures or these four DC characters. And within a wave, you'll see some subtle differences. But ideally, each individual figure should stand on its own as something the collector, the fan wants for that character. So we're celebrating the character on its own versus how it relates to the others.
00:53:03
Speaker
So there were some really great display masks produced for the Dark Knight Rises that Bane won, comes to mind too. Are there plans for more DC film props? There are plans for more DC film props. Like I said, I mentioned earlier, we're looking at the Batman, Black Adam and the Flash, but what we found on our side, because there's lots of partners doing a lot of great toys and collectibles for these IP statues, etc.
00:53:30
Speaker
is whatever that prop replica is, it needs to be pretty iconic to the film and something that we think fans and collectors are going to enjoy either displaying in the collection or the living room or showing off to friends or just getting more details to be able to examine it more closely.
00:53:53
Speaker
So we definitely are looking at this. Fans have enjoyed the collectibles we've done. That Bane mask does get a lot of attention. There was a Batman cowl that people enjoy as well. So we're looking at those films and we think they're going to offer some opportunities to develop some pretty unique prop replicas that fans will enjoy.
Dream Project: Lightsaber Replica
00:54:13
Speaker
And now the last question from our Q&A here is, if you could make one prop replica from any film, what would it be?
00:54:24
Speaker
You know, probably have to go back to, you know, what started me and all this. And although the world doesn't need anyone else to make a lightsaber replica, another lightsaber replica, I would love to see what our designers could do. Because if you think about something as simple as the as a prop one replica, if you look at one of our prop ones,
00:54:43
Speaker
It's not just about the Prop 1. It's the entire experience when you get that box. It's packaged in an Ollivander's box. You open up that box and it's high quality material that goes into that. Paper gets sourced from Japan or other parts of the world to make sure we get the look right. And inside you've got this beautiful cloth that drapes over the wand that you get to peel back to display this wand in the felt.
00:55:09
Speaker
thing that holds it. And it's part of what makes it feel special when you pull it out. I just think our guys, like I say, no one needs another lightsaber replica. But if they were to do one, I think we could do something special that fans would really enjoy. I kind of figured after knowing that that question was coming up, I kind of figured that's where you
00:55:31
Speaker
You were going to know the answer. I know. I wish I could have surprised you. It makes sense, though. I mean, who doesn't want to oversee the creation? I mean, I shouldn't say who. What Star Wars fan doesn't want to oversee the creation of, you know, their favorite lightsaber? Well, I'll tell you, as you know, I grew up a Star Wars fan.
00:55:48
Speaker
And one of my most interesting moments was when I was a twenty century fox doing the marketing program. One of the things we got to do was we got Lucas film with working with ILM, manufactured some authentic stormtrooper costumes that we could use at meet and greets at video events. And as a marketing person, the first one was shipped to my office.
00:56:14
Speaker
And it came to my office in a big, it was this massive crate. And I opened it up and there was a stormtrooper costume inside and I closed the door to my office. Um, and I put on the clamshell that formed the top part, the chest and the bottom part. And it felt, I went, this feels good. And you know what? I may be too short for a stormtrooper, but this fits. And then I said, well, what would it hurt if I put the arm piece on, put the arm piece on one arm piece on.
00:56:43
Speaker
And then I put a leg piece on, and then I was holding the blaster in my hands. And then I put the helmet on, and then there was a knock at my door. And there was a glass frosted frame so I could see the silhouette. It was our head of PR, Susan Rents. And she knocked on the door, and she said, Jolynn, I heard the Stormtrooper costume arrived. And I just took out the helmet, and I said, yeah.
00:57:07
Speaker
And she goes, and then she paused and then I saw her drop her head into her hands and like not look down and not shake her head, no. And she said, you're wearing it, aren't you? I said, yes. She goes, all right, call me when you put it away. But yeah, so if I get a chance to do a lightsaber, I'll do a lightsaber.
00:57:28
Speaker
Yeah, by the way, how do you not put that on? How do you not put that on? That's the natural reaction. Yeah. Yeah. You have to. I learned a lot. I learned a lot how those things work. And it turns out I'm too short for a strong trooper when a person under five at nine or five eight walks in it, the joints between the thigh and the shin armor clank. So you need to be a little bit taller to get the gap in there.
00:57:53
Speaker
Now the only thing that would have made that story better is if you had answered the door and her response was, you're a little short for her story. Yeah. That would have just been icing on the cake. Probably.
00:58:06
Speaker
Well, with that, you have survived the Q&A. Well, thank you. I'm glad. And that brings us to our final question. So Dave asks our final question for each and every episode of Adventures in Collecting. Dave, would you like to fulfill your role as this podcast's James Lipton and bring us on home? Absolutely. So our final question for all of our guests.
00:58:31
Speaker
What is your favorite and or strangest piece in your collection? It can be one thing or it can be one of each. So it's a couple of things. First is my wife and I have a French bulldog named Ollie. And Ollie is a therapy dog who works at Children's Hospital. And he also dresses up for Comic Con. Well, he doesn't, we dress him up. I'll be honest, I make the costumes.
00:58:56
Speaker
So he's been to Comic Con as Shazam, as Oliver Queen, as Nightwing, and he's become a bit of an Instagram sensation for a couple of reasons. His work is a therapy dog. He writes our Harley Davidson with us, and he dresses up for Comic Con.
00:59:15
Speaker
And one year, the good folks at Qfig made an exclusive super Ollie. Ollie is a superhero Qfig that they sold just at San Diego Comic Con. And all the proceeds went to benefit child life at Children's Hospital, Los Angeles.
00:59:33
Speaker
So that piece is special just because the designer Hawk, who's such a gifted designer, wanted to do something special that would, you know, commemorate the good work Ollie does. And he just made an adorable Q-fig of Ollie in as a superhero super Ollie, which is phenomenal.
00:59:49
Speaker
Ollie was also turned into a pop. Brian Murray at Funko made a production run of 80, Ollie Pops. Ollie is a pop that he gave to me. And then the final toy trilogy for Ollie was Matthew Ashton, who's a good friend of mine at Lego, one of their designers, one of their top designers.
01:00:10
Speaker
was charged with doing a new, they wouldn't do a new dog for the Lego set and he decided it was going to be a French Bulldog and it was going to be Ollie. So the Ollie was turned into a Lego minifigure as well. So Ollie was turned into a Qfig, a Pop and a Lego. So I love those. Those are a big part of my collection.
01:00:30
Speaker
And then the other thing is, the year episode one came out, George Lucas gave a gift of Skywalker wine. There's a vineyard on Skywalker Ranch, and every year they bottle some wine called Cello Caminante, which is Italian for Skywalker. And that gets gifted to friends and family. But that year he gave a bottle to each of the employees. So I still have my bottle of Cello Caminante.
01:00:58
Speaker
wine from that was released in the year of episode one and that was a special place in my collection. I'll never be drinking it so it could taste like vinegar for all I know but it's alright. I love having the bottle.
01:01:10
Speaker
That's incredible. Yeah, those are great. First of all, before we go any further, you got to drop the Instagram handle for Ollie. Well, Ollie's Instagram handle is basically just truth in advertising because it is Ollie is handsome. One word, Ollie, O-L-L-I-E is handsome. So Ollie is handsome on Instagram. You can follow his adventures on our motorcycle and through life here in DC.
01:01:39
Speaker
I'm looking at him now. Adorable. He's a good dude. Oh, man. All right. Well, Julian, thank you again so much for taking the time to be on Adventures in Collecting with us and to tell us about your collection, everything that's going on at Noble Collection.
01:01:55
Speaker
Please tell us where we can find, we know where we can find Ali on Instagram. Where can we find out more about you and where can we find out more about the Noble Collection and Bendy Fix? Best place to find out about Noble Collection is visit us at noblecollection.com and it's a chance to look through our entire catalog of products which we hope fans will enjoy adding to their collection. We love making these parks as much as they love
01:02:21
Speaker
is, you know, adding them to the collection. And I think it shows so noble collection.com and then bendy figs.com to see what we're up to with Benny figs. And then a noble collection. Benny figs is also on, on Instagram as is noble collection on Instagram as well. Awesome. Julian, thank you again so much for joining us on adventures in collecting. My pleasure. Always a pleasure to talk about collecting with, uh, with fellow fans.
01:02:48
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.
01:03:04
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.
01:03:28
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.