Joe Amaro, customizer extraordinaire and Director of Product Development for Jazwares, just sent along the first pics of Jazwares’ upcoming 6″ Mortal Kombat figures.
Pics and info after the jump!
Tag: Jazwares
In a follow-up to his insider’s perspective on the King Hsss-shoulder issue, Jazwares Director of Product Development and all-around toy fan Joe Amaro sent these images from the Jazwares factory in China. It provides an interesting look into how action figures are assembled, and why fixing an error like the shoulders can be so expensive.
Writes Joe:
Attached are pictures of some insert molded parts. This is how MOTUC shoulders are made.
Basically it is taking the joint part, putting it into the tool (mold) and injecting the plastic around it. So when the worker pulls them out of the tool the joints are already assembled.
You can see the different parts in the pictures by color, the lighter parts are the joints.
The parts come out of the tools just like models cars come from the box. They are all attached together and have to be cut out. So you can’t just flip a part, they are all attached.
This is why you can’t interchange joints and why it requires a retool.
And to the issue of mixing parts, again, we [collectors] only think of one figure. They look at thousands and thousands of individual parts.
Look at the pictures of bags and bags of pieces. If they are not careful, it is easy to mix up parts.
(l-r: Poe, H. Eric “Cornboy” Mayse, Joe Amaro, Cornboy’s wife Corinna, and Val “JVS3” Staples)
It’s been over a week now, so I should probably try to wrap up my Toy Fair coverage. We’re getting there!
For this post, I’d like to give you a description of my general experience at Toy Fair. This was my first trip to NYTF, and I thought it might be fun to show you what it’s like.
Robot Chicken Humping Robot by Rayne Creations
- The Dread Axes are almost gone (as in, there’s currently 1 left!), and we will be doing a second run. Thanks to all who helped make this exclusive a success! Sadly, Faker remains unpurchased.
- In even better news, Spy Monkey and I are now discussing the possibility of a new item as the next exclusive. Nothing’s set in stone yet, but it’s an item I’ve wanted for a while now, and I think a lot of fans will like it too.
- I’m impressed to see Mer-Man has, as of right now, overtaken Hordak in the “Least Popular Real Name” contest. I guess that’s what comes of having your name refer to a completely different-looking species–like if my real name were “Fox King.” Wait–that’d be awesome. Never mind.
- Entertainment Earth has teamed up with Toys R’ Us’s website to create a “Collector Store,” and they’ll even be offering their SDCC exclusives (starting July 21). I’m not sure how this partnership came about, but clearly the fans win.
- On a related note, Jazwares is offering their first Robot Chicken figure as an SDCC exclusive: the Convention Nerd. I decided I need to have him to hang out with Mo-Larr. He’ll also be available on Toys R’ Us.com on 7/21.
- Does anyone else find it vaguely surreal we’re getting new Futurama episodes every week?
Jazwares announced their A-Team movie toys the other day, and the 3¾” line looks pretty good. I’ll say this–their product looks a lot better than what Playmates did for Terminator and Star Trek last year. If the new A-Team‘s a success, Jazwares may just have a hit on their hands.
Of course, I think the question on all our minds is: is there any chance of a vintage A-Team line as well?
More pics at TNI.