Street Sharks Figures Are Back For 30th Anniversary, Pre-Orders Are Available Now

Everything '90s is coming back for nostalgic adult fans, and that now includes Street Sharks figures from Mattel. A new wave of figures will arrive in time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1994 animated series. The collection will include 6-inch scale figures of Ripster, Jab, and Slash with modern features that include real feel skin (ewww?), updated articulation, chomping jaws, and shark cage accessories that can be combined together to form larger cages.

Pre-orders for the new Street Sharks lineup launched today, March 15th here on Amazon and here at Entertainment Earth (free US shipping on orders $79+). They are also expected to launch here at Walmart after 10am ET as part of their Collector Con event. The figures are priced at $24.99 each. As you'll see below, Street Sharks might be followed by other nostalgic Mattel relaunches, most notably Mighty Max. 

"I would pay a little bit of extra attention to some of the things we're doing at Mattel Creations," PJ Lewis, VP of Global Marketing and Executive Lead for Action Figures, exclusively told ComicBook's Jim Viscardi about Mattel's fan-driven content platform for creators and collaborators. At San Diego Comic-Con, Mattel Creations polled fans on toys they'd like to see make a comeback — with Street Sharks and Mighty Max leading the votes.

"I think one of the things Mattel has done very well is manage the nostalgia aspect of [collecting], and Street Sharks and Mighty Max, I feel like it fits perfectly," Lewis said. "Mattel has one of the richest IP libraries in pop culture, and I think the retro-nostalgic brands — be it Street Sharks, Mighty Max, and more — have opportunities of being reinvented. And at the same time, have opportunities for fans that grew up with them to relive some of those memories and storylines, and own a piece of that as an adult."

"You have to make sure that the specific characters that we have are delivered in an authentic manner. As we like to say, there's always a modern interpretation of a classic character," Lewis explained. "And that doesn't necessarily mean a new look. [It] could mean enhanced articulation, could mean an improved deco [paint], right? If you have one of these old figures, and you're lucky enough to either have it in [the] package or [haven't] touched it in a long time, great! If you're not holding on to one of those, and want a realistic interpretation of this memory of yours in the nineties, we want to make that available to you in that instance." 

What Was Street Sharks About?

In Street Sharks, a university professor named Dr. Robert Bolton and his partner Dr. Luther Paradigm create a machine known as the "gene-slammer" which is capable of changing aquatic animals into anthropomorphic hybrids by combining their DNA. In his attempt to prevent Paradigm from using this machine for personal power, Bolton is transformed into an unseen monstrosity, but escapes. Later, Paradigm gives Bolton's four sons John, Bobby, Coop, and Clint the likeness of four different sharks. When Dr. Paradigm captures their friend Bends, the resulting "Street Sharks" rescue him and the resulting battle causes Paradigm to be combined with piranha DNA (for which he is often nicknamed "Dr. Piranoid" by other characters). In subsequent episodes, Dr. Paradigm creates a variety of mutant animals to destroy the Street Sharks while attempting to persuade the inhabitants of their native metropolis of Fission City to imprison them. Of these mutant animals, a few sided with the Sharks themselves: namely Rox, Moby Lick, Mantaman, and El Swordo.