It's a superhero with a nervous tick. It's a villain as yes man. It's a super-bobblehead.
Monogram International, a Pinellas Park maker and marketer of giftware, says it has a contract with DC Comics to produce novelty items, starting in February with bobblehead figures of Batman, Robin, the Joker and Catwoman in action poses. Superman and Wonder Woman will begin hitting specialty comic book and gift stores in March.
Going for a more realistic look, Monogram is making the heads 250 percent bigger than the bodies (compared with heads that are 400 percent bigger on bobbleheads given away at the ballpark). The Headstrong Heroes and Villains, their spring-mounted heads bobbing up and down, will feature poseable capes and accessories and will retail for $12.99.
By April, the company plans to sell plush toys, figurines, banks, keychains and drinkware. The products, which are mostly manufactured overseas, will cost from $1.25 for 3-inch interlocking figurines to $14.99 for plush superheroes with wire skeletons that can be posed.
The company has created a new division, Monogram Masterworks, to handle the line. Michael Norman, Monogram's executive vice president of sales and marketing, said the novelty items are being targeted to children as well as collectors who would use the pieces as room decor. Now if they could just figure out how to make the bobbleheads a bit less agreeable.
