For the FigWiz, it truly is starting anew. If you hadn’t seen on my LinkedIn yet, I am now a Sr. Brand & Product Manager of Loot Crate, a new subsidiary of Loot Company! What do I do exactly? I’m setting the business direction and product curation of the Anime, Wizarding World (Harry Potter), Sanrio, Rick & Morty, Freight, and Sci-Fi crates. Not to mention a few of the specialty crates including the My Hero Acadamia and the Batman 80th Anniversary one-offs.
Not only is it a fresh start for me getting back into the hobby industry professionally, but also for my company which had some, shall we say, speed bumps earlier in the year. Having filed for bankruptcy in mid 2019, the company had gotten acquired by the owner of NECA toys. This is a marriage of hobby industry heavyweights that couldn’t have been better.
What’s happened so far? The infusion of money gave Loot Crate the financial leverage to play catch up on all the crates that have dropped in the last few months insuring looters will get all their crates originally ordered. It’s still taking some time due to making sure all is proper with curation and licensing. Having learned from the company’s past mistakes, its my job to make sure everyone plays by the book and strictly within budget. Looter’s first.
In addition, the funding has allowed our offices to move out from the awkwardly settled warehouse HQ in Lincoln Heights to the strategically centered pit of all business action in So Cal, downtown LA. Minutes away from the Convention Center, Staples Center, Little Tokyo and countless massage parlors, our new HQ will bring the nerdy hipness long needed in the area.
There’s a lot of data, and the Brand group is needing to read, digest, interpret, report, analyse and decide on it all. Thankfully, my time cracking away at my Bellwether portion to FigWiz came in handy as trendline study over time is going to be a big part of our daily conversation. It also helps that my system reads new, upcoming licenses about to make splash in the figure scene.
My new company has an amazing stable of talent, and although I sense I just might be able to outnerd a greater portion of them, I feel their sense of spirit firm and dedicated to putting smiles on hobby fans’ faces. I’m glad to be a part of it.
Here’s to the new year: may it be joyful, safe, fun, prosperous and full of success!