JAKKS PACIFIC FIGURE CATEGORIES
(Credit goes to ActionFigs.com, thanks for letting me use the photo!)
Merchandise Revival
After Hasbro's drop of the Pokemon license in 2006, merchandise (in America, at least) was at a standstill. The TCG was still in stores as always, but really there was little else to keep us die-hard Pokemon fans satisfied.
But sometime after this emptiness, Jakks Pacific, a little-known company at the time, brought the Pokemon license back in full swing by 2007. Suddenly new waves of action figures were hitting the market, and the Diamond and Pearl games re-surged the Pokemon hype, though notably not nearly as much as the original games had brought. But regardless, the franchise was big again, and Jakks Pacific, oddly enough, produced not only the popular Pikachu and starters into action figures, but many obscure Pokemon as well! A lot of these unpopular Pokemon were having their first action figure counterparts, and while some were excited to see their favorite Pokemon have its own figure, this was a bad tactic for the company profit-wise.
After a few years, the unpopular Pokemon were warming the shelves for long periods of time. People were starting to get annoyed with Jakks Pacific's terrible distribution of the merchandise, and downward spiral of quality.
Sometime in late 2013 Jakks eventually gave up the license to Pokemon as well, supposedly to focus more on what they called "the next Pokemon", Monsuno.
Monsuno flopped, but nonetheless TOMY now holds license to Pokemon in America.
Merchandise Revival
After Hasbro's drop of the Pokemon license in 2006, merchandise (in America, at least) was at a standstill. The TCG was still in stores as always, but really there was little else to keep us die-hard Pokemon fans satisfied.
But sometime after this emptiness, Jakks Pacific, a little-known company at the time, brought the Pokemon license back in full swing by 2007. Suddenly new waves of action figures were hitting the market, and the Diamond and Pearl games re-surged the Pokemon hype, though notably not nearly as much as the original games had brought. But regardless, the franchise was big again, and Jakks Pacific, oddly enough, produced not only the popular Pikachu and starters into action figures, but many obscure Pokemon as well! A lot of these unpopular Pokemon were having their first action figure counterparts, and while some were excited to see their favorite Pokemon have its own figure, this was a bad tactic for the company profit-wise.
After a few years, the unpopular Pokemon were warming the shelves for long periods of time. People were starting to get annoyed with Jakks Pacific's terrible distribution of the merchandise, and downward spiral of quality.
Sometime in late 2013 Jakks eventually gave up the license to Pokemon as well, supposedly to focus more on what they called "the next Pokemon", Monsuno.
Monsuno flopped, but nonetheless TOMY now holds license to Pokemon in America.