Spike Dudley Signed
According to Jakks’ Jeremy Padawar, Jakks has signed Spike Dudley to a Classic SuperStars deal. No word on when he will appear. This one is a bit odd to me, however with TNA releasing Raven, and the Dudley Boyz’ contract being up this summer, I am hoping for some serious ECW-era figures.
The end of a Jakks Era
It has been noted lately that Jakks contract with WWE ends on December 31, 2008. Historically, Toy Fair is the time when companies announce new signings for the following year. For instance, 2 years ago at the 2006 Toy Fair, Hasbro announced that they obtained the rights to the whole Marvel Universe from Toybiz/Marvel Toys (yup, wrap your head around that one).
Point of this is, if WWE is going to no re-sign with Jakks, then it is very possible that we find out this year who is going to take over at the start of the year. As of right now Hasbro & Marvel Toys (odd, huh) are the frontrunners. Hasbro currently owns almost every major male action line in the universe (Marvel, Transformers, GI Joe, & Star Wars), while all Marvel Toys has is TNA, which I am sure they would dump in 1/2 a second to get WWE.
If I can go on a personal rant here, I would HATE it if Jakks does not fork out however much money they need to so they can keep the WWE license. Just from a collector’s standpoint, Hasbro is awful about sending out news to the media. Example, Iron Man figures should hit in the next few weeks, have we seen one little bit of info on them? Also, Marvel Toys, while the TNA figures they do are really good, now that they are finally getting a scale down, they are historically terrible with distribution, which was their downfall in keeping their own Marvel license. Jakks has a great business model, good figures, and is great to the collector’s. Do it Jakks, pay whatever you need, this is your bread & butter, you need to keep this line!!!
News on Wal-Mart Exclusives
It’s been a long time since anyone has really seen the Wal-Mart exclusive Classic SuperStars 3-Packs. Well they are making their way back into the Wal-Mart toy aisles.
Series 8, due out in early March, will have Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, ‘The British Bulldog’ Davey Boy Smith & KoKo B. Ware (all of which with their respective animals) all in one pack, and the other having Ric Flair, Bobby Heenan, and Mr. Perfect all in suits.
Series 9, due out in June, will have a Generations themed pack with The Rock, Rocky Johnson, & ‘High Chief’ Peter Miavia in one set, and the other a Rhythm & Blues pack with Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine, The Honky Tonk Man, and Jimmy Hart.
There are images of all 4 of these sets out there somewhere, however I can not find them to save my life.
Again, a slow week. Toy Fair starts on Sunday, and while I will not be there, I should have images and news as soon as Jakks sends it out.
~Pk
