RINGSIDE COLLECTIBLES - TOY FAIR 2000 COVERAGE: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, Transcript

Gina Lannen
Vice President of Product Development
Jakks Pacific, Inc.

(Ringside): How has Toy Fair been going so far?

(Gina): Toy Fair has been excellent. We have gotten a lot of positive responses to the new technologies we are introducing in the line. We have some very exciting figures and Tron Ready Playsets that I think our fans are really going to enjoy. The feedback has just been tremendous.

(Ringside): We know that fans have been flooding you guys with e-mail suggestions. How helpful have fan suggestions been in determining which new products to produce?

(Gina): Incredibly helpful. I just want to say to all of our fans out there, keep it coming because we are reading them, we're listening to you. It get's a little tough though when I get the fans requesting some of the newer WWF wrestlers that are in programming today. That is only because I want to make sure that we don't jeopardize the WWF category in any way by putting product on the shelves that won't move as quick as we have in the past.

(Ringside): Can you tell us about Jakks Main WWF product lines for the upcoming year?

(Gina): Yes, I am extremely excited about our Tron-Ready line. We will continue to offer Tron-Ready action figures but what's more exciting this year are the Tron-Ready playsets that we will be launching by the end of this year. We've got Backstage Mayhem which gives all the fans the excitement of Backstage. We've got sound effects, fans can turn the power switch on themselves, you hear fire alarms, you hear lockers ripping off walls, TV's ripping off walls, and the best part of the Backstage Mayhem is that on the package itself there will be a try-me where kids will actually stick their finger in the toilet of the backstage playset and hear someone's head guzzling down. That's one of my favorite playsets.

(Gina): We have a follow up to Titan Tron Live and what's exciting here is Titan Tron Live was voted best accessory by Lee's Action Figure Toys News and Review. It was the number one accessory selling item according to Trist data in December of last year. So we are following it up with Smackdown Live!. We will be offering ten new entrance themes, it will recognize fifteen Tron-Ready figures and it will have the opening to Smackdown playing on what looks like a jumbo video screen.

(Ringside): Will there be actual video on the Smackdown screen?

(Gina): It's actually 16mm film. I have yet to find anybody who can give me video technology at the scale of the 6 1/2" figures. But it looks so cool and the response to Smackdown Live! has been tremendous.

(Gina): The Trash Talkin' Stage should be on shelves in May. We've got over 100 actual voice recordings of our favorite nine Tron-Ready figures. So we've got The Rock talking to the millions and millions of the peoples fans. We've got Chris Jericho, Big Show, Undertaker, Stone Cold, you name it. We've got everyone programmed into the Trash Talkin' Stage.

(Gina): The last playset we have is the Real Sounds Arena. This ring is the new Tron-Ready ring and will blow away any ring our fans have ever seen. Not only do we have Body-To-Mat Slammin' Sounds rigged in the entire mat of the ring floor, but we have dialogue taking place between Jerry The King Lawler and Jim Ross so when your Tron-Ready action figure is entered into the ring we've got Jerry The King Lawler who will announce that superstar and their challenger. It will dialogue a part of the match. We've got a scoreboard above the ring that will show off fireworks, we've got sound effects. You are going to have tremendous play here. It's going to feel like you're actually staging Monday Night Raw or Smackdown Live!. It's by far the best ring I have seen to date.

(Ringside): Can you tell us about the new realistic face technology that we saw today?

(Gina): We are implementing a technology called Real Scan. First of all, our fans have continued to ask for these figures to be the best that they could possibly be. Every year it's my job to improve the figures that we did last year. To make them look even more realistic and more close to what we see in programming. Real Scan is very cool. We actually have all of our favorite talent sit in a chair where a live scan rotates 360 degrees around a Superstars head. All of this data is fed into a computer. And out of this huge STL machine comes a three dimensional wax output which is a 100% likeness of the actual Superstar themselves. There is just no missing any of the likenesses we may not have not have captured in the past, we have nailed this year. I am really looking forward to this technology.

(Ringside): I will name a few figures for you. Tell me when we can expect to see them or if we can expect to see them at all.

(Gina): -Stephanie McMahon: Definitely, I believe Stephanie is going to be in Double Slam Series 4

-Ivory: You'll see her before the end of the year

-The Kat: I've got to get her scanned. We don't have her scheduled. February 15th we've got a whole new line-up of Superstars to be scanned and I don't believe she's on that list. I'll push for her.

-BB: Not at this point

-Tori: Definitely, she's right up there with The Kat.

-Hardy Boyz: Done deal, you'll see them before the end of the year.

-Rikishi: I've got him lined up to be scanned.

-Tazz: For sure

-Benoit, Malenko, Saturn & Guerrero: They're fairly new to programming. I really like what I'm seeing so far. I want to give them a couple of more shows and make sure that they will stick around with us for awhile.

-Too Cool: How has the fan mail been for Too Cool? (Very Highly requested) Alright, we'll put them on the list

-Dudleyz: Put them on the list

-Kurt Angle: Definitely

-Acolytes: Definitely

-Mean Street Possey: Yes

-Prince Albert: I want to give him some time

-Crash Holly: I've got to do the new Bob Holly before I do Crash

-Howard Finkel: Keep the fan mail coming on that one

(Ringside): This year's Fan Fest is right in your backyard in Southern California. What do you have planned for the event?

(Gina): The Fan Fest is going to be great. We are going to set up a booth where we'll display some of the product that our favorite fans don't get to see at Toy Fair. You'll get to see hopefully the Real Sounds Arena and Smackdown Live!. So if you've got plans to goto Fan Fest please stop by and check us out. We'll also be showing our Real Scan Technology. We might even have the Scan-Van there so that fans can walk through and see how we're doing action figures this year.

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