Future of AEW line

[Jim Cornette’s Wendy’s Order🍔]

Hey guys, just wanted to get your thoughts on the future of the AEW figure line. I’m heavily contemplating starting and completing a collection from the line, but I have an uncertainty in my gut about the future of the line.

It seems like the line started off white hot, which was expected considering it was a new brand and new product of figures hitting shelves. I fully anticipated the initial Hype to die off some, while there still remaining continuous rollout of new product and reveals. It seems as if the line has gone cold and stagnet though.

I vaguely remember their being promises and new two packs and new figures to be released, but it just seems as if everything on Jazwares/JP’s end has gone silent. We haven’t been given many reveals as of late (yes I’m aware we saw dark order, but it was a series we already saw renders for), no new line up with the addition of the unmatched series and seeing two packs (slowly) roll out even if they were re-releases/repaints. I know they can’t show all their cards at once, but it’s almost like they have just let the hype fizzle out almost completely. It went from appearing like this was going to be a huge project for JP and now all I see him posting about are cards, capitalizing on market values of NTF, high dollar trading cards and crazy priced collectible items. It seems like his passion for the AEW line is few and far between. My fear is this becoming an deluxe impact 2.0 line and dying after a few releases.

Maybe my hopes are too high and I’ve just had higher expectations? I don’t know. It just seemed like all the communication we were getting at the start had great promise of a bunch of different product and, in my opinion, we haven’t seen that as of late. I really just want this to be an open discussion about the future of the line/everyone’s opinions.

I want to see this line thrive and take off so this is in no way meant to be a bashing of the product, just a general perspective of how I have viewed the line since it’s launch.

Let me hear your guys opinions!

[LK3]

There were 3 two-packs released on Amazon. Two of them are still available for retail price. And the Mox/Kenny set just recently went up on RSC.

[jimfriend]

I mean, we know Unrivaled 8 and Unmatched 3, 3 2 packs on amazon, 3 new exclusives coming to Ringside, an exclusive coming to shopAEW, just got another full scale ring. Shoot the entirety of Unmatched 3 is newcomers to the line, 4 new in Unrivaled 8. Tons of excitement for this line, gotta remember that AEW is a very new company competing for space on toy shelves next to very established IPs. What they’ve managed to achieve in such little time is kind of incredible to me.

[Midnight: Dark Knight]

I would suggest you just dont have a connection or investment in the product if youve drawn these conclusions. It almost sounds like you want to be told not to collect them, because if it was something you wanted why should strangers have to talk you into it

With the line so new and we are already 8 sets in, have a subset 3 sets in, many exclusives through multiple retailers, accessories packs, im not sure what more you want.

We still have owen, punk, danielson coming which will be anchor talent pushing sets forward. I think they have done great and the future will too

[Deleted]

What is the uncertainty in your gut?

1. Price increases
2. Minimal quantity
3. Lower quality as line progresses
4. The line will end
5. No ROI

It’s still early. They had the worst opening day in toy history but have cleaned it up since.

[Deep Figure Value]

Most action figure lines will eventually end. I'll never understand why uncertainties like that play into people's decision to purchase the product, unless you're buying for the purpose of some future ROI, in which case, you could do better than action figures.

The AEW line is producing quality action figures portraying wrestlers whose work I enjoy, so I buy them.
If the line ends tomorrow, all I'm going to lose out on is the opportunity to spend money.

[LA Knight Yeah!]

I know we haven’t had many reveals and we don’t know unmatched 5 or Unrivalled 10 but they like to show stuff off at the fan fests don’t think it’s still an early line I’m confident the line will be around for a long time

But I would also like to see pics of unrivalled 9 and unmatched 4 soon and hopefully found out who’s in unrivalled 10 and unmatched 5 I expect to see a few reveals at fan fest in March for revolution

[WCWThunderRosa]

If Unmatched 3 is anything to go off of, I’m hopeful the line is entering a renaissance period, they’ve gone back to proper skin colors and hopefully the parts as well. The addition of the trading cards seems to suggest the line is doing well and they have plans going forward.

And AEW is so popular and white hot right now that even if Jazwares fumble the ball I would imagine AEW would immediately look for a new company to make more figures

[stc13]

For the age of the brand and line, I'd say it's doing very, very well. They've gone from having a limited presence at Walmart and RSC to having figures at the other major retailers (Target, Amazon) and there seems to be a pretty good balance now between supply and demand. Figures are available for at or close to retail, but we aren't seeing the kind of shelf warming that can kill a line. And they've done a pretty good job of balancing top talent with bringing many first-time ever figures.

The line is pretty robust - two packs, exclusives through RSC, Amazon, ShopAEW, and Walmart, accessory packs, pop up stage, multiple rings. And they should be hitting a stride later this year once figures of Punk, Cole, Danielson, etc start hitting. And there is still a TON of untapped potential in the legends they have under contract, especially Owen and Sting.

If you're gauging the health of the line off of Jeremy's social media posts, he's always been all over the place. Marketing for the line could be a lot better, and there continue to be areas that they can improve in terms of quality and consistency on the line. That can probably be said of every figure line. But I don't see the line going anywhere.

[newgenandy]

I think the fact there’s a good percentage of fans who are so anti wwe they’re obsessively pro aew and that alone is big enough to help the line

Then there’s the knock out of the park figures like luchasaurus who I’m impressed with.

They already have accessory packs and the stand scene coming so I think they haves good few years without even having to worry

I would say that budget / basic line is what’s missing to really flourish imo. Not many parents are going to pay £20 a figure - for Christmas my eldest got jungle boy, luchasaurus, Cody and penta and that’s £80 which would’ve done 8 basics and has it not been Christmas he wouldn’t have got them. Basics at £10 or even elites reduced to £15 id buy andvput away a well done / reward or a random adhoc purchase but the £20 price tag makes me think twice about it

[azraelms]

……. Don’t forget one big figure coming. Owen Hart. That alone will be a kick start to any perceived drop in the line.

[Ruthless Attitude]

One thing I agree with is the lack of decent PR for this line. Reveals are scattered about on various random social media. There is no single place to find out about current or upcoming products. I didn't even know that Upper Deck and Jazwares were collaborating until reading it on this thread. I didn't know about the belt pack until stumbling across a thread here.

Jazwares could learn a lot from Mattel's use of the Elite Squad and WWE.com to hype its upcoming releases. There is no reason why AEW/Jazwares could not do something similar.

[OTC Waxbender]

imagine thinking that a company that produces toys for the masses has to keep a line of communication open with you

[viper412]

Jan 5, 2022 23:39:04 GMT -5 Ruthless Attitude said:

One thing I agree with is the lack of decent PR for this line. Reveals are scattered about on various random social media. There is no single place to find out about current or upcoming products. I didn't even know that Upper Deck and Jazwares were collaborating until reading it on this thread. I didn't know about the belt pack until stumbling across a thread here.

Jazwares could learn a lot from Mattel's use of the Elite Squad and WWE.com to hype its upcoming releases. There is no reason why AEW/Jazwares could not do something similar.

only reason anyone knows about Upper Deck is because it leaked

[SmithyPlayz]

even if it did, the best thing about these figures to me is that they're usable with WWE figures. It's not hard to commit to figures of characters you like when they work with every figure

[secondwhiteline]

Jan 5, 2022 23:39:04 GMT -5 Ruthless Attitude said:

One thing I agree with is the lack of decent PR for this line. Reveals are scattered about on various random social media. There is no single place to find out about current or upcoming products. I didn't even know that Upper Deck and Jazwares were collaborating until reading it on this thread. I didn't know about the belt pack until stumbling across a thread here.

Jazwares could learn a lot from Mattel's use of the Elite Squad and WWE.com to hype its upcoming releases. There is no reason why AEW/Jazwares could not do something similar.

Oh, their communication has absolutely dropped off a cliff. My company would fire me if I ran our marketing like they do. Fan goodwill is doing so much for this line.

[newworldoz]

I guess I just really don't care about the PR. It's fun, I enjoy it but Jazwares could literally say nothing about the next set until the pre-orders went up on Ringside and I would still buy exactly the same figures I would have if I had known about them 3 months prior.

For me the survival of this line is dependent on the quality of the figures. If they maintain their current standard then this line will last as long as AEW does. I hope they improve but so far this is good enough.

I think AEW fans have a lot of passion for all AEW products. In terms of figures, the AEW roster has barely been touched. We are still waiting on guys who were there on Day 1 like Christopher Daniels and Shawn Spears. We are still waiting for more tag teams like TH2 and Chaos Project. We are waiting on more figures from the women's division like Red Velvet and Leyla Hirsch. Then there's the Dark roster. Yes, people want to buy Shawn Dean and Kilynn King figures.

So that's where I see the future of this line. I think it lasts for 5 years easy. 10 years? Probably.

[newgenandy]

I agree a major line in major stores will be seen and the PR isn’t the be all and end all. When your in Walmart in the US, smyths here in the uk you get seen.

[crush]

I mean, honestly I think they're doing fine. The issue of reveals is interesting though. For starters, anyone expecting the level of reveals we get from Mattel isn't actually paying attention to the size and scale of this line vs the size and scale of Mattel's. Beyond that, it becomes a catch-22 IMO. If they release renders one month, then prototype shots 2 months later, then final production shots months after that, the critique becomes "they're showing us the same thing over and over" but if they don't sow anything until the series is ready, it's "AEW never shows anything" or "AEW is only showing us things we've seen before" because of the copious amounts of leaks. As for PR, again, not to sound like a tool, but these things are all over social media on PPV weekends, which seems to be how Jazzwares has chosen to time reveals. Again, there isn't enough product to get monthly reveals like Mattel. Now that said, I do think some better photography of finished prototypes and maybe some Youtube stuff corresponding with the PPOV-timed releases would be beneficial.

[stc13]

Jan 6, 2022 12:46:40 GMT -5 crush said:

I mean, honestly I think they're doing fine. The issue of reveals is interesting though. For starters, anyone expecting the level of reveals we get from Mattel isn't actually paying attention to the size and scale of this line vs the size and scale of Mattel's. Beyond that, it becomes a catch-22 IMO. If they release renders one month, then prototype shots 2 months later, then final production shots months after that, the critique becomes "they're showing us the same thing over and over" but if they don't sow anything until the series is ready, it's "AEW never shows anything" or "AEW is only showing us things we've seen before" because of the copious amounts of leaks. As for PR, again, not to sound like a tool, but these things are all over social media on PPV weekends, which seems to be how Jazzwares has chosen to time reveals. Again, there isn't enough product to get monthly reveals like Mattel. Now that said, I do think some better photography of finished prototypes and maybe some Youtube stuff corresponding with the PPOV-timed releases would be beneficial.

It's also worth mentioning that the decision isn't entirely theirs.  Clearly AEW likes having the reveals as part of their fan experience on PPV weekends.  And AEW was driving the boat with the wrestler tweeting the figure reveals, which went poorly.

That said, I do think there could be a better or more visible marketing campaign.  Even if not reveals, they could do more around collector community engagement, social media, etc.  It's been an area where I was kind of surprised how low key they've been for how much Jeremy loves flash.  But you're totally right about output.  Jazwares line is going to be in the dozens of figures per year while Mattel puts out hundreds.