Making your own Action Figure (Is it even possible?)…Part 02

Well here it is almost 3 months later and I’m getting to part 02 of my blog on ”Making your own Action Figure (Is it even possible?)”….ugh how time flies. 

You can read the last update HERE.

So where are we at now…well before I get into that I want to talk about all the cool free tools that are out there to help promote your project.

Making your own Action Figure (Is it even possible?)…Part 01

 
Welcome to the 1st of what I hope to be a series of articles on what I hope will end in the creation of my own action figure. Crazy right? Well one can only hope.
As many of you know I started Spy Monkey Creations with fellow AFI “Man of Action” Jeremy Sung a few years ago. Feel free to check us out at www.spymonkeycreations.com.. Jeremy and I, along with our new partner in crime Brian Stevenson, specialize in creating weapons and accessories for 6 inch action figures. Over the last few years we have been fortunate enough to produce a small line of niche products that many folks seem to enjoy. Like most toy fans I have dreams of producing my own line of action figures…but I got to tell you it’s tough to try to pull this off. Not only is it very expensive to manufacture a physical figure, but it’s hard to establish a fan base of folks who are interested in something that is not a licensed property. That’s why most of the figures we see nowadays are licensed, cause without a fan base it’s hard to bring in the sales. And I’m sure if you ask fellow AFI “Man of Action” Jason “Plastic Soul” Lenzi he’ll tell ya sometimes even licensed properties can be a tough sell.
So that’s the challenge of this series of blogs, try to establish a small, yet loyal, fan base for an original property, design a low cost figure and find the funding to produce some fun toys without losing your shirt.
 

G.I. Joe Hall of Heroes Review

Hey Folks!!!! Your pal Fresh Monkey here. It’s time for another installment of : “A Discussion that looks Inside the Mind of the Insane Ramblings of Spy Magician & the Fresh Monkey!!!” Spy Magician and I haven’t had the time to tag-team a review in a long while cause we’ve been busy.  He got married, I had a baby, etc.  However Julius called and said he got in a set of the Hall of Heroes (HOH) G.I. Joes and he asked us if we’d review them for the site. How could we say “no” to Mr. Marx? Well you can’t.

Now you too can smell like Kirk!!!!

This just made me laugh today. Now available at BBTS.  

Hello Marvel Universe, Goodbye Marvel Legends.

Hello Marvel Universe, Goodbye Marvel Legends, it was fun while it lasted.   *  Well I fear the end of Marvel Legends is almost here. Even though I’ve heard from a few industry insiders that Hasbro is still gonna support ML, I think the end is near. Here are the signs:

Well Indy it was fun while it lasted.

So as many of you can tell by looking at the toy shelves the Indian Jones figures have not sold as well as Hasbro anticipated. Initially Hasbro said that they had BIG plans for the future of this line. Well I think those plans have bit the dust. From what …

Missing the hunt while managing the costs…

So after reading Scott’s reviews of the new Indy toys I decided to go out over my lunch hour and pick some of them up. Being that I had a $40.00 TRU gift card eating a hole in my wallet I thought that’d be the best place to go. Well to my surprise there was NOT 1 single carded Indy figure left on the shelf. Not that they had that much shelf space for them to even begin with. I hope that TRU decides to give Indy some more room as we get closer to the movies release. So I made my way back to work and thought I’d check out my online options. 

Spectacular Spiderman is Spectacular

It’s not everyday that you catch a really great cartoon. Let’s face it Saturdays morning cartoons are made for kids, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have great characters and tell good stories. Unfortunately these days, those are few and far between. Bruce Timm and company really raised the bar with Batman the animated series and JLU, but since then everything I’ve see on Saturday mornings has been rather blah. Ever since JLU went off the air I’ve been looking for a new cartoon series that could take it’s place. I thought The Batman might have been it, but it never really reached it’s full potential. It got good the last couple of seasons but it never really "took off" in my eyes. Then out of nowhere came The Spectacular Spiderman. 

Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining…

  Well it’s post Toy Fair time. As this is my 1st blog here at AFI I thought not only would it be appropriate to discuss Toy Fair, but also for those who don’t know me to take this opportunity to look into the inter-workings of my brain.    Toy Fair is not only the time of year that I get really excited about the new toys for 2008, but it’s also the time of year for the yearly ritual that I swiped from Judge Judy, called "Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining"