Mezco Brings bayani TV ipakita To A Toy Store Near You
sa pamamagitan ng John Charles
Queens NY has many claims to fame; it was saluted sa pamamagitan ng Astronaut Charles Camarda while he was onboard the puwang shuttle Discovery, it was the setting of the indie film Maria Full Of Grace not to mention TV’s King Of Queens and Eddie Murphy’s Coming To America, The Sopranos were filmed in Queen’s own Silvercup studios, in the very same building where the film Highlander had its climactic rooftop finale (set, naturally, to the music of Queen), but since November of 2007 Queens has had a new resident, Mezco Toyz. Collectors and toy geeks around the globe know Mezco Toyz as the makers of the Living Dead mga manika (which were once banned in Greece) as well as the company that immortalized Hellboy, Scarface, The Warriors, South Park, Family Guy, and many others in plastic. Recently, however, Mezco has become the focus of intense scrutiny. Since mid January their resident PR guru has been handling up to two hundred calls a araw about a single line of toys; Heroes. Based on NBC’s award winning
series, the bayani action figures have thrust Mezco into the center of a tagahanga feeding frenzy. Simply put, everybody wants to know about Heroes. On my elevator ride up to their offices some staffers filled me in; “Although it was common knowledge within the industry that Mezco was going to make the bayani action figures, there wasn’t a great deal of media interest. Until the magazine cover, then it all went crazy’ says Damien Glonek, one of Mezco’s Project Managers (who is better known to the Hot Topic crowd as one of the creators of the immensely popular Living Dead Dolls).
The cover he refers to is that of ToyFare magazine, a kind of toy collector’s touchstone. “The ToyFare cover was the first time the general public had seen authorized larawan of the bayani action figures,” sinabi Glonek, “and they went nuts”. “ToyfFare had an “embargo agreement” with us,” says resident Mezco designer Mike “Gorilla” Pasquale “They kept the pictures under lock and key and off the internet until the magazine came out. But once the magazine hit the newsstands, there was an explosion of interest.” Finally we reached our floor and I was greeted sa pamamagitan ng Mezco Toyz’s jolly madala of a PR guy, who began to give me a tour of the offices. “Welcome to Mezco Toys!” he sinabi with an enthusiasm that matched the playful gleam in his eyes, “Please, call me Drake”. Upon further questioning I discovered that his name is actually Michael Drake, but with three other Mikes in the office, he simply goes sa pamamagitan ng his last name to avoid confusion, “It’s much like Cher,” explained Drake, “but without a
wardrobe done sa pamamagitan ng Bob Mackie”.
Comprised of an entire floor in an industrial building, Mezco’s décor is minimalist and modern yet has a warm feeling of tahanan despite the soaring twenty foot ceilings. In the lounge area, a bituin Wars Trivial Pursuit game sits on the coffee mesa center between two sofas that look cleanly modern yet inviting, “We have a continuing game of trivial pursuit” explained Gorilla. Action figures are everywhere, displayed on custom-made shelves. “We’ve literally made hundreds and hundreds of different toys. We keep around 90 on display at any time and rotate the collection in and out of the archives several times a year. Except for favorites like our 18 inch tall Peter from the Family Guy and our 18 inch Hellboy, they are permanently on display” explained Drake. The phones ring constantly. “Hello, Mezco Toyz” was repeated over and over, like Sisyphus pushing the boulder, it seemed like the calls could never all be answered.
After a quick tour of a few workstations, patong lalaki led me to Mezco’s meeting room, where the bayani action figures were sitting on the table. As I went to pick one up Drake’s eyes widened “Do be careful” he urged “these are the prototypes, the actual figures are still in production”. Having seen the pictures in ToyFare I was surprised how different the figures looked in person. Instantly, patong lalaki picked up on my surprise “They look much better in person than they did in those pictures” he explained. Indeed, as I held the figures in my hands, the likenesses were uncanny. It was then that patong lalaki explained that each actor and actress on bayani has likeness approvals and that not only must NBC and Universal approve the figurers, but each actor and actress must as well. “They were a great bunch to work with” sinabi Drake, “they only asked for minor tweaks and what they requested really did make an improvement”. My tanong of “What made Mezco interested in bayani as an action figure line?”
brought a barrage of information from patong lalaki that included graphs and pie charts. To boil it down to bullet points:
*#1 rated ipakita for males between 18-35.
*Heroes box set was the #2 selling DVD on birago for 3 months in a row.
* Desire for bayani action figures rated “extremely high” in a kamakailan survey.
* This is the 1st time action figures of these characters have ever been available.
patong lalaki then went on to explain how between the time the figures were revealed on the ToyFare magazine cover and January 17th, there had been over 240,000 artikulo written about bayani and Mezco. A quick paghahanap on Google confirmed this claim (Note: a paghahanap of “Heroes Mezco on 1/24/08 brought up 794,133 articles). The bayani cover made that issue one of the best selling in the history of ToyFare magazine. patong lalaki explained Mezco gets dozens of calls each araw from people who simply want to know where to buy that issue (go to www.ToyFare.com). The araw the magazine hit newsstands Mezco Toyz world headquarters was flooded with phone calls from media outlets “I took calls from British TV Guide, newspapers in Germany, magazines in Australia, madami than I can remember. Look over here” sinabi patong lalaki as he gestured across the room towards a large world map. Each of these pins represents a phone call. It started to get a bit full so now we don’t put a segundo pin in if there is already one in that
country or state”. Truly, the map was covered with red pins and it begged the question, who hasn’t called? “We’re waiting for Uganda and Iraq, Turkey came through yesterday,” laughed Drake. When asked if bayani action figures sa pamamagitan ng Mezco will be the hot item of pasko 2008 patong lalaki laughed, “I can’t see the future, but if I were a Magic 8 Ball, I would probably read All Indications Point To Yes. Right now its January, our bayani action figures don’t hit stores until June. When was the last time you can remember pagbaba about an action figure in the mainstream press 5 months before it was released?” Then of course, there is the NBC tour. Because of the volume of inquirues about the bayani action figures, in February the prototypes will find a temporary tahanan at NBC’s legendary New York headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Place (the real life “30 Rock”) where, displayed in a special showcase designed for precious gems, they will become part of the NBC Studios tour for several months until
they are auctioned for charity (for tour information, visit www.ShopNBC.com).
Focusing on the action figures themselves; the 1st series or set of 7-inch figures will be in stores around the segundo week of June and will include Peter the flying empathic mimic, Mohinder the scientist, Hiro the time and puwang bending salaryman, Claire the virtually indestructible cheerleader, and Sylar the gentle watchmaker turned into a brain collecting villain. patong lalaki indicated that interest in the Mohinder character is especially high, noting that the Indian community seems enamored with the character; he has even fielded calls from newspapers in India wanting to buy the prototype of the character and put it on “tour”.
The segundo series of 7-inch figures, which will include characters that cannot yet be revealed, will be available in mid September. A set of ultra collectable 9-inch figures featuring hyper articulated bodies will be available in early October. Beyond that, Damien Glonek explained that the third and fourth series of 7-inch figures along with a segundo set of 9-inch figures will be available in 2009. “Of course there are other surprises for 2008 that we can’t talk about” sinabi Gloneck. “Heroes collectors and fans will be very happy with the extra treats we have planned for them,” added Drake, “very happy”.
It was then I was introduced to Michael “Mez” Markowitz, the President of Mezco Toyz. “We are extremely excited about the opportunity to work on Heroes, it\'s an amazing property” explained Mez, “we’re doing all we can to make bayani fans happy with this line of figures and from the reaction we’ve gotten so far, we’ve succeeded!’ Mez began to tell me the details of his trip to the bayani soundstage when an aide came to remind him of a conference call. “There are never enough hours in a day, perhaps Hiro could help me with that…” sinabi Mez, referring to the bayani character’s ability to bend time. As patong lalaki walked me to the elevator, Gorilla ran over, “Drake, you’ve got to take line 5” he laughed, “its Uganda!”
You can learn madami about Mezco Toyz at link
# # #
sa pamamagitan ng John Charles
Queens NY has many claims to fame; it was saluted sa pamamagitan ng Astronaut Charles Camarda while he was onboard the puwang shuttle Discovery, it was the setting of the indie film Maria Full Of Grace not to mention TV’s King Of Queens and Eddie Murphy’s Coming To America, The Sopranos were filmed in Queen’s own Silvercup studios, in the very same building where the film Highlander had its climactic rooftop finale (set, naturally, to the music of Queen), but since November of 2007 Queens has had a new resident, Mezco Toyz. Collectors and toy geeks around the globe know Mezco Toyz as the makers of the Living Dead mga manika (which were once banned in Greece) as well as the company that immortalized Hellboy, Scarface, The Warriors, South Park, Family Guy, and many others in plastic. Recently, however, Mezco has become the focus of intense scrutiny. Since mid January their resident PR guru has been handling up to two hundred calls a araw about a single line of toys; Heroes. Based on NBC’s award winning
series, the bayani action figures have thrust Mezco into the center of a tagahanga feeding frenzy. Simply put, everybody wants to know about Heroes. On my elevator ride up to their offices some staffers filled me in; “Although it was common knowledge within the industry that Mezco was going to make the bayani action figures, there wasn’t a great deal of media interest. Until the magazine cover, then it all went crazy’ says Damien Glonek, one of Mezco’s Project Managers (who is better known to the Hot Topic crowd as one of the creators of the immensely popular Living Dead Dolls).
The cover he refers to is that of ToyFare magazine, a kind of toy collector’s touchstone. “The ToyFare cover was the first time the general public had seen authorized larawan of the bayani action figures,” sinabi Glonek, “and they went nuts”. “ToyfFare had an “embargo agreement” with us,” says resident Mezco designer Mike “Gorilla” Pasquale “They kept the pictures under lock and key and off the internet until the magazine came out. But once the magazine hit the newsstands, there was an explosion of interest.” Finally we reached our floor and I was greeted sa pamamagitan ng Mezco Toyz’s jolly madala of a PR guy, who began to give me a tour of the offices. “Welcome to Mezco Toys!” he sinabi with an enthusiasm that matched the playful gleam in his eyes, “Please, call me Drake”. Upon further questioning I discovered that his name is actually Michael Drake, but with three other Mikes in the office, he simply goes sa pamamagitan ng his last name to avoid confusion, “It’s much like Cher,” explained Drake, “but without a
wardrobe done sa pamamagitan ng Bob Mackie”.
Comprised of an entire floor in an industrial building, Mezco’s décor is minimalist and modern yet has a warm feeling of tahanan despite the soaring twenty foot ceilings. In the lounge area, a bituin Wars Trivial Pursuit game sits on the coffee mesa center between two sofas that look cleanly modern yet inviting, “We have a continuing game of trivial pursuit” explained Gorilla. Action figures are everywhere, displayed on custom-made shelves. “We’ve literally made hundreds and hundreds of different toys. We keep around 90 on display at any time and rotate the collection in and out of the archives several times a year. Except for favorites like our 18 inch tall Peter from the Family Guy and our 18 inch Hellboy, they are permanently on display” explained Drake. The phones ring constantly. “Hello, Mezco Toyz” was repeated over and over, like Sisyphus pushing the boulder, it seemed like the calls could never all be answered.
After a quick tour of a few workstations, patong lalaki led me to Mezco’s meeting room, where the bayani action figures were sitting on the table. As I went to pick one up Drake’s eyes widened “Do be careful” he urged “these are the prototypes, the actual figures are still in production”. Having seen the pictures in ToyFare I was surprised how different the figures looked in person. Instantly, patong lalaki picked up on my surprise “They look much better in person than they did in those pictures” he explained. Indeed, as I held the figures in my hands, the likenesses were uncanny. It was then that patong lalaki explained that each actor and actress on bayani has likeness approvals and that not only must NBC and Universal approve the figurers, but each actor and actress must as well. “They were a great bunch to work with” sinabi Drake, “they only asked for minor tweaks and what they requested really did make an improvement”. My tanong of “What made Mezco interested in bayani as an action figure line?”
brought a barrage of information from patong lalaki that included graphs and pie charts. To boil it down to bullet points:
*#1 rated ipakita for males between 18-35.
*Heroes box set was the #2 selling DVD on birago for 3 months in a row.
* Desire for bayani action figures rated “extremely high” in a kamakailan survey.
* This is the 1st time action figures of these characters have ever been available.
patong lalaki then went on to explain how between the time the figures were revealed on the ToyFare magazine cover and January 17th, there had been over 240,000 artikulo written about bayani and Mezco. A quick paghahanap on Google confirmed this claim (Note: a paghahanap of “Heroes Mezco on 1/24/08 brought up 794,133 articles). The bayani cover made that issue one of the best selling in the history of ToyFare magazine. patong lalaki explained Mezco gets dozens of calls each araw from people who simply want to know where to buy that issue (go to www.ToyFare.com). The araw the magazine hit newsstands Mezco Toyz world headquarters was flooded with phone calls from media outlets “I took calls from British TV Guide, newspapers in Germany, magazines in Australia, madami than I can remember. Look over here” sinabi patong lalaki as he gestured across the room towards a large world map. Each of these pins represents a phone call. It started to get a bit full so now we don’t put a segundo pin in if there is already one in that
country or state”. Truly, the map was covered with red pins and it begged the question, who hasn’t called? “We’re waiting for Uganda and Iraq, Turkey came through yesterday,” laughed Drake. When asked if bayani action figures sa pamamagitan ng Mezco will be the hot item of pasko 2008 patong lalaki laughed, “I can’t see the future, but if I were a Magic 8 Ball, I would probably read All Indications Point To Yes. Right now its January, our bayani action figures don’t hit stores until June. When was the last time you can remember pagbaba about an action figure in the mainstream press 5 months before it was released?” Then of course, there is the NBC tour. Because of the volume of inquirues about the bayani action figures, in February the prototypes will find a temporary tahanan at NBC’s legendary New York headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Place (the real life “30 Rock”) where, displayed in a special showcase designed for precious gems, they will become part of the NBC Studios tour for several months until
they are auctioned for charity (for tour information, visit www.ShopNBC.com).
Focusing on the action figures themselves; the 1st series or set of 7-inch figures will be in stores around the segundo week of June and will include Peter the flying empathic mimic, Mohinder the scientist, Hiro the time and puwang bending salaryman, Claire the virtually indestructible cheerleader, and Sylar the gentle watchmaker turned into a brain collecting villain. patong lalaki indicated that interest in the Mohinder character is especially high, noting that the Indian community seems enamored with the character; he has even fielded calls from newspapers in India wanting to buy the prototype of the character and put it on “tour”.
The segundo series of 7-inch figures, which will include characters that cannot yet be revealed, will be available in mid September. A set of ultra collectable 9-inch figures featuring hyper articulated bodies will be available in early October. Beyond that, Damien Glonek explained that the third and fourth series of 7-inch figures along with a segundo set of 9-inch figures will be available in 2009. “Of course there are other surprises for 2008 that we can’t talk about” sinabi Gloneck. “Heroes collectors and fans will be very happy with the extra treats we have planned for them,” added Drake, “very happy”.
It was then I was introduced to Michael “Mez” Markowitz, the President of Mezco Toyz. “We are extremely excited about the opportunity to work on Heroes, it\'s an amazing property” explained Mez, “we’re doing all we can to make bayani fans happy with this line of figures and from the reaction we’ve gotten so far, we’ve succeeded!’ Mez began to tell me the details of his trip to the bayani soundstage when an aide came to remind him of a conference call. “There are never enough hours in a day, perhaps Hiro could help me with that…” sinabi Mez, referring to the bayani character’s ability to bend time. As patong lalaki walked me to the elevator, Gorilla ran over, “Drake, you’ve got to take line 5” he laughed, “its Uganda!”
You can learn madami about Mezco Toyz at link
# # #
2)Claire finds help from an unlikely pinagmulan in smuggling Alex (guest bituin Justin Baldoni) out of the city.
3)Alex will return and will share a halik with Claire
4)As Sylar and Luke continue their road trip, Sylar begins to have memories of his father that lead him to the truth about his mother.
5) We will see a Young Sylar
6)"The Hunter" puts his own agenda into action with an explosive surprise for one of our heroes.
7)HRG and Sandra might be heading towards a divorce.
8)The Puppetmaster Eric Doyle will return