SALES EXTREMISTS JAKKS TO TAKE X GAMES INTO TOY, COLLECTOR MARKETS.Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer MALIBU - They're hip, they're cool and they're 3 inches tall. Jakks Pacific JAKKS Pacific, Inc. NASDAQ: JAKK is is a multi-brand company that designs and markets a broad range of toys and consumer products and is based in Malibu, California. Its product categories include action figures, art activity kits, stationery, writing instruments, performance has signed on with ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network to produce a licensed brand of toys with an X Games X Games Sports medicine The official Olympics of 'extreme sports' sponsored by ESPN, held annually during the summer. See Extreme sports. theme aimed at children and collectors. The extreme sports extreme sports Sports events characterized by high speed or high risk. Such sports include aggressive inline skating, wakeboarding, street luge, skateboarding, and freestyle bicycle events (wherein tricks such as back flips are performed on a bicycle). line of action figures and toy vehicles is expected to be a mainstay of Jakks' merchandising for a while, said president and co-founder Stephen Berman. ``It'll be an evergreen forest An evergreen forest is a forest consisting entirely or mainly of evergreens, trees that retain green foliage all year round. Such forests exist in the tropics primarily as broadleaf evergreens, and in temperate and boreal latitudes primarily as coniferous evergreens. ,'' he said. ``We're not sure whether it's a single, double, triple or home run, but we know it's here to stay.'' The toy line, revolving around BMX BMX abbr. bicycle motocross BMX Noun 1. bicycle motocross: stunt riding over an obstacle course on a bicycle 2. biking, skateboarding, snowboarding and other action sports, targets the youth market. The X Games, to be held Feb. 3 this year, attract an outlandish crowd, said J.C. Collins, an account executive for ESPN Games, which licenses X Games products for video games. ``It definitely appeals to people with dynamic personalities,'' he said. ``It's full of expression.'' This is the bread and butter of Jakks, which also licenses World Wrestling Federation action figures and toys based on other extreme sports, Berman said. ``X Games started out the media interest in action sports, so it was a really natural fit,'' he said. Jakks expects to cover the gamut of X Games merchandise - from trading cards to accurately rendered scale figures of skateboarding and biking stars. Berman said he expects buyers to range from 6 to 60 in age. The company will also produce die-cast bikes, using its Road Champs BXS BXS Brussels Stock Exchange BXS Bronx X-Ray Server division to manufacture the vehicles seen in the X Games in 3-inch height. Though small in size, the hand-manipulated toys are intended to reproduce the thrill of actual competition. ``They're authentic. They're cool. They're extreme,'' Berman said. ``They play like the real superstars compete.'' In spring, the toys are scheduled to reach major retailers and smaller shops catering to collectors. Similar action products are a hot commodity in the youth market, said Damon Richards, manager of Val Surf and Sport in North Hollywood. ``They're incredibly popular,'' he said. ``If the kids would be stoked stoked adj. Slang 1. Exhilarated or excited. 2. Being or feeling high or intoxicated, especially from a drug. on it, then of course we'd stock `em.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) This Kick Flip series action figure is among toys in the new XS Adrenalin Athlete line scheduled to hit the market in spring. Photo illustration/Daily News (2 -- color) The new Malcolm McCassy figure is 3 inches tall. A 3-inch Travis Pastrana will explode into toy stores. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer |
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