Notes from the Q&A with John from Queen Studios during the live stream with Justin's Collection:
- Queen has been working on 1/6 scale figures for about 2 years but the pandemic caused some delays, lots of research and development was made before announcing anything.
- Queen Studios lead artist, Viper, was already on board, he worked on some of the 1/6 statues from last year, Viper put together his own team in order to produce the actual 1/6 figures.
- For statues and busts they will collaborate with international artists from time to time but almost everything is done in house.
- Warner Brothers and Disney have a gun ban on their statues but not figures, figures can be packaged with guns but not advertised with them.
- Posability is important for 1/6 figures and the team is working on making the bodies easier to pose such as having interchangeable magnetic arms, more details will be revealed in the Joker video dropping today.
- Queen will include instructions with their products, post videos and have online resources to help collectors preserve longevity of their figures.
- Queen has been more focused on R&D and haven't had the expirience to learn how to expand longevity of their figures but will learn from the mistakes other companies have made in the past.
- Main focus is on likeness and detail.
- Queen will use the best materials for characters that have leather outfits in order to avoid pleather, no confirmation if it will be real leather, premium versions of the figures with real leather may be a possibility.
- John can't answer wether or not wrist pegs will be fragile like those formn other brands, more information on them will be available tomorrow.
- Queen is expecting pushback from other companies, John admits that nobody wants competition but it's also good for the market since everyone has to raise their game now that Queen has made their entrance in the business.
- Everyone at the top of the company are artists and all their decisions regarding which figures get made are based on characters they like and find cool, profit is still a concern so they can't make everything they and collectors want.
- They know they must listen to feedback but can't please everyone, sometimes they must stick to their decisions.
- Base on the new Pattinson Batman statue won't be changed, they can't make everyone happy.
- Queen will start doing more ambitious projects and is willing to make risky side characters when they start gaining more profit.
- Tech like using electro magnets for bases is possible but risky, John once agains says they plan to push boundaries and be the next step in the evolution of 1/6 scale.
- John reaffirms the rooted hair on Joker is the best in the market.
- The bodies used on their 1/6 scale figures should be unique to each character, John doesn't think they're using stock bodies but is not sure.
- Once a protoype is done the CEO and Art directors will play around with it and make the call wether or not it's good enough to go up for pre-order.
- Art boxes are really important for their statues and they'll be as well for 1/6 scale.
- 1/6 scale Pattinson Batman and Batmobile could be announced in the next two months.
- It's difficult to answer wether or not future figures will have different accessories for each version.
- Dioramas like the jail cell from the Joker figure will be considered for other figures but it willd depend on the character.
- There are plans to connect bases/dioramas on 1/6 scale figures like they do for their 1/4 Iron Men.
- If accessory/sperate 1/6 scale packs are possible they'll have to be planned in advance.
- John says communication and fan feedback is important but not everyone can be pleased.
- Social media will be essential going forward, the whole team is involved when it comes to communicating.
- International trade is very complex, everything is more expensive to export and import, international retailers may need to pay royalties to import the figures.
- Variants like nurse Joker could happen.
- Two-Face could also happen, nothing confirmed.
- John thinks the eyes on Joker will be moveable at the same time and accessed from the back of the head.
- No plans for Suicide Squad for this year.
- Rooted hair is glued on top of the sculpt, no confirmation on what material the sculpt will be made of.
- Bale Batman is possible.
- Terminator depends on license availability, Johns ays it's currently not available but everyone at Queen loves the franchise.
- Joaquin Phonin's Joker is possible but needs to be really high level not a standard figure, merchandising demands only premium collectibles be made.
- They will be making a DeLorean, possibly coming this year.
- Batmobile will be priced competitively.
- All the figures from the initial teaser will be showcased by May during WonderFest.
- Queen will produce popular characters first so lines might not be completed until later down the road.
- No smiling Alita busts are coming.
- QC will be taken seriously so all the rooted sculpts match with each other.
- Peacemaker and Riddler are possible, it's all up to the community to ask them directly on their group and social media.
- Queen Studios will be doing posts on their group in order to narrow down which licenses they will pursue to make figures of next year.