***** ZST Wrestling's HEELS AND FACES Retro Fig Thread *****

If reasonably priced, I would purchase Dino Bravo. Sabu is a maybe. The other figures are cool for what they are but nothing I need in my collection.

Probably not on Sullivan. Just not feeling it.

I can promise these will be over 20. These aren’t mass produced.

I don’t see them selling as quickly as some people would assume then. $20 is more than reasonable for Elites, and certainly AEW Unrivaled figures but more than that for a retro? I don’t see it. Especially with the names listed so far. It’s not like it’s a huge lineup of main event names.

Damn that's a bummer even though I understand it. Was gonna do Bravo, Sabu, Bruiser, and R&R but likely will have to go with just Bravo. Just too many things coming out these days.

I think we should just calm down on the speculation -- and wait until there are full reveals for how the figs look and on pricing...

Hi everyone,

Zombie Sailor here,
Just wanted to chime in as there seems to be many people here in this message forum that don’t know the process of making action figures and the cost associated with manufacturing them (something new to me as well)

The price to make each figure is far more than you could ever possibly imagine:
For starters, JUST to make the steel master molds in the factory, EACH mold is between $8-9k.

We are using high quality artists in the toy industry to hand sculpt each figure, that is several thousand dollars per figure.

To get the initial resin prototypes cast, then painted are several thousand per character

If a character has a soft goods coat or something, that’s $1000 to make a few copies plus the pattern copy for the factory to replicate

Fees paid to the designer/blueprint layouts which is to Ron Rudat, who happens to be the man responsible for the overwhelming majority of all the WWF Hasbros figures look...coming out of toy designing retirement to continue the Hasbro legacy...Ron is paid very well and deserves every penny

Graphic Design for ads, package design, safety testing, shipping containers from overseas to us here in the U.S., import fees, lawyers, etc. several thousand

Then, the factory still has to charge us per piece whatever it is they charge us...

Finally, royalties are paid out to every wrestler to give you officially licensed merchandise. The talent are getting paid a nice flat fee and a percentage of each figure sold, much more than the WWE would pay out for mass market releases and a much more hands on approach for talent to decide how they want their figure to look.

Mattel for example, it might cost them $25k to make a steel master mold for an elite....but that’s being spread out over what, 30-50k figures made ? That cost becomes pennies per figure, though our molds cost less to make compared to a said elite figure, we are probably only making 1-2,000 of each character which factors into the cost per unit. These will definitely be on par with the best retail figures available and in most cases, way better...but these are being made(as of right now) in small batches, something unheard of to make this sort of investment with so few units being made.

So we have a high cost to make each figure, then, we would like to make a little bit of profit afterall.

The costs are huge, the risk is high, but no one else was doing it...or doing it good for that matter, so here we are.

The Brian Myers Figure looks insane and is just about finished, series 1’s lineup has internally been made official with names not even shown yet and already sculpted.

Nearly 20 names already signed, and I cannot stress enough...Dino Bravo’s FIRST figure.

It’s going to be a fun ride. If you want mainstream figures of “main event” guys, there’s a Target 10 minutes down the road.
If you want retro style figures done better than anyone with crazy attention to detail based on the majority of wrestlers who weren’t given their due, who might have very little merchandise out there or haven’t had merch in decades - then Zombie Sailor has got you covered.

I appreciate the interest from everyone, thank you anyone who will support this line and I hope this helps clarify as to why these figures won’t be 10 bucks each.

I’m sorry if my earlier post came across as insulting as I do see some of the points I’d made addressed here.

I really like hearing the process straight from the manufacturer as it’s awesome getting to hear how these figures are made, and just how much work (honestly it’s more work than I would have ever dreamed of) goes into getting the figures produced.

I also understand, and I did when I made my original post why they won’t be in the $10-15 range per figure. I should have made my point better that if the figures end up costing let’s say $45 as that’s the highest current price for any speciality figures we’ve seen that I won’t be buying any of these figures myself. There’s names on the list that’s been released that I’d be interested in (Sabu and The Rock N Roll Express in particular), but I can’t justify spending that much. That’s how I feel about any companies figures though.

thanks for clarifying what you have here ZST - can you please elaborate on what (if any) international availability will look like?

will people out of the US/Canada (i.e. UK/Europe/Australia etc) be able to buy single versions of the figures they want e.g. Sabu/Dino/Sullivan/R&R Express, without having to commit to figures they're not interested in, such as Myers for example?