3PoA has posted a long interview with Luke from Wrestling Trader about the whole story of the takeover of Chella:
Audio isn't brilliant from Luke's side, but does the job.
Finally got a better chance to watch the interview properly and try to better decipher what Luke is saying - if anyone thinks I misheard any of the following then please correct me:
-They were just as frustrated as the rest of us with the lack of communication from Chella; they got weekly updates saying that there was no stock, etc.
-Luke then approached Chella and said to them that the state of affairs was affecting his business (Wrestling Trader) and he couldn't have that, so he asked if he could buy them out. Turned-out that Chella were already in talks to sell, so Trader and FC got together to buy Chella 50-50.
-Some apparent difficulties related to a US company buying-out a UK company led to Trader buying Chella alone. Sounds like there was a falling-out between Trader and FC over something, but they have smoothed things over now. Praises Jack from FC.
-Luke says that it was he who contacted Al Snow and brought him to Chella to make the Wrestling Trader exclusive figure.
-Improving communications was a priority when they took-over. Kate runs 99.9% of Wrestling Trader, including social media so constant updates helps her as much as us the customers.
-They are staggering distribution of each figure as otherwise they'd be dealing with 4,000+ figures all at once between the two of them.
-Swoggle is on his way to them now.
-Shows Big Daddy; both laugh about the suggestion that was made that Big Daddy was 3D-printed.
-Chella are manufacturing the Impact figures; Impact approached Asylum, and they suggested Chella during the previous ownership to make the figures.
-The Impact figures have separate parts from the Uncensored line; aim is always to try to have unique parts as far possible.
-Impact probably decided the line-up for series 1, but that was decided before Trader took-over.
-Impact will sell the figures solely themselves, but Luke is trying to make it happen that Trader can sell them for the UK market.
-The BCW line was always really FC's project; their baby, so Trader and FC agreed that FC would take it forward alone without Chella. FC have an arrangement now with Pablo (I remember that name was mentioned around Chella before) to distribute the figures in the UK. Luke is very positive about the line.
-The Wrestle Dudez Demolition figures have been all ready to go into production for ages but got lost in the shuffle as the factory hadn't heard from Chella for a while. Now they are going ahead and Trader are planning series 2.
-Uncensored: Dynamite is boxed in the factory ready to be sent-over, once the backlog of the Megastars figures is under control.
-To speed things up they are now paying express prices to get stock over in FOUR DAYS from the factory to their door. Expensive but they want to get on with it and move forward with the line.
-Impact figures are in scale with the Elites, though they're a little bit chunkier than the Elites.
-Once they bought Chella then they contacted the factory to discuss the bubbles issue (which have been sorted) and arrange two-packs for the future. Samples have been brilliant with no issues so confident realising them.
-New artist doing the card art; starts working on the Bulldogs card in the next week or so. Will be like the other series 3 guys we've seen so far (Andre and Greg).
-They had Powers of Pain re-done as Luke wasn't happy with the sample he got; didn't feel big enough to reflect the actual size of the guys. The render shown over the weekend is the new version. Speaks about their entrance accessories as well.
-Puts-over dealing with Demolition.
-Shows the old sample of Ax, and explains that he felt the samples fell short of what he wanted the figures to be, so they have been re-done as well.
-Says he wants their figures to be absolutely perfect, notes the scaling issues with previous Chella releases. Aware of how high the standards of collectors are.
-They contact wrestlers now largely through agencies. Tells stories about how he'd go about contacting wrestlers in the past.
-Puts-over Tippy's incredible artwork. Notes that he'd also gotten disillusioned with the way things were developing with Chella before, but Luke explains that they see him as a massive part of the brand going forward. Points-out that the pre-orders previously were basically sold on the basis of his artwork.
-Talks about the difficulties in the past with taking the magic from Tippy's designs into the actual figure, and how focused they are on achieving that in series 3 onwards.
-Talks about the history of Wrestling Trader as a shop, before the Chella acquisition. Puts-over Rock And Roll Collectibles; has a good relationship with the owner. Supports having good relations between the independent Retros companies.
-Hasn't heard from CWF Retros since they took-over Chella, but they're on his list of people to contact. Not sure of the details of the partnership between the companies that was announced before they took-over Chella.
-Explains the situation with Al Snow: the variant cards are delayed because the previous ownership forgot to send the factory the artwork for those cards. The standard cards have gone-out except for those ordered with the variant cards or with Jay White as well.
-The artistic cards concept (as seen with Al Snow and Greg Valentine) will not be going forward with other figures - lesson learned that the customers prefer the standard uniform cards.
-Luna came through FC; FC had sole input on everything including the factory process with her figure, so she's a FC figure that will be handled here by Pablo.
-The British Icons of Wrestling series as a separate line from the Megastars is under review as opposed to having that talent mixed-in with the main line (references what AEW do with the Luminaries in the Unmatched line). Notes that the artwork for the independent line looked great, talks about posting that one day.
-Speaks about using fan votes at times going forward.
-They will be changing the name; series 2 will be Chella but series 3 will be under the new name. Plan to put an update out soon on that.
-Talks about the excitement putting-out designs and things for new signings, but notes that this eventually frustrates customers when the figures are still ages away. Going forward the pre-order time will be much shorter with closer releases of figures.
-Haya-blusa sold-out in less than a minute (the UK stock, that is).
-Factory is firing on all cylinders now after Covid; speaks to them daily and hopes to visit soon.
-They will be putting-up more money sooner to make things move faster - aims for a maximum of 40-60 days between pre-order and receiving a figure(!!).
-Points-out that the previous ownership managed to release a lot of figures before they ran into problems, which people might not really appreciate given the issues that happened are in more recent memory.
-He's open to re-doing previous figures that weren't so good; points-out Dynamite will be all new in the tag set.
-4,500 orders to get out when they took-over; already processed a chunk of them out.
-Biggest regret is missing-out on Ric Flair under the previous ownership.
-Not sure about re-releasing the rare purple Nick Aldis as some have paid big money for that figure already. Another Aldis could happen in the future though.
-Dream signing would be Bret Hart. Luke's favourite growing-up; his absolute dream would be to be able to message Tippy to design Bret. Talks about Owen as well.
-Would be happy to work with another figure company if it would benefit the collectors.
-Shows Eddie Guerrero and Killer Bees.
-Discusses WWE Legends deals coming-in all types, with many bigger names not being tied-down. They contacted Vicky Guerrero directly and got Eddie into the line.
-Says that Demolition will no longer come with removable masks; instead they will have alternative heads with the masks on, same as with the Killer Bees.
-Demolition, Killer Bees and Powers of Pain will all be in TWO-PACKS.
-Changeable parts will be a feature going forward, like the DDP arms.
-They only have one shot with DDP as he has gone onto other things since they made the deal with him (Power Town maybe?), so they're pulling-out all the stops to make his figure special.
-Might do Eddie as a limited release rather than a series release to get him out sooner.
-They've re-done the Greg as well; now bulkier with a bigger head. Talks about the Mattel announcement for RnB Greg clashing with their pre-order. Puts-over what he likes about the Mattel version. Repeats that he and Kate don't see any sort of "war" between the Retro companies.
-Says they've inherited a lot of stock from Chella, but they won't list any excess until the pre-orders are all sent-out.
-The Haku and other series 2 figures weren't as far as long as they'd hoped when they took-over. Notes that Blue Meanie from that series is done, but the full lot looks more like February. Says definitely quarter 1.
-The Joey Knight figures are 30-40 days from finishing, so January seems likely for the latest Joey exclusives.
-Talks about the butterfly hooks returning.
-Al Snow is shown; there will be a few hundred figures left after the pre-orders go out so he'll be put-up for sale again.
-Luke speaks about how the Al Snow figure could be better but still likes it.
All very positive I think; hope it works-out for them, especially since he seems to take so much care with the final product.
Brilliant future hopefully!
