Everything ’90s is coming back for nostalgic adult fans, and that included Street Sharks figures from Mattel. The first wave of 6-iknch scale figures debuted in March in time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1994 animated series and sold out quickly. However, those figures are back in stock and, what’s more, three new figures are on the way as part of Walmart’s San Diego Comic-Con 2024 / Collector Con event. Here’s what you need to know to add exclusive Streex, Big Slammu, and Dr. Piranoid figures to your collection. UPDATE: As expected, these figures were not exclusive to Walmart and launched a day early here at Entertainment Earth (free U.S. shipping on orders $59+) and here on Amazon.
ORIGINAL: The new Street Sharks figures include modern features like real feel skin, updated articulation, chomping jaws, and shark cage accessories that can be combined together to form larger cages. Pre-orders for the figures below will be available via their respective links starting on July 26th at 7am PT / 10am ET priced at $24.97. Sellouts are expected, so be ready and waiting at the launch time. Note that these figures are listed as Walmart exclusives, though we wouldn’t be surprised to see them turn up at other retailers at a later date.
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- Street Sharks Streex – See at Walmart: “This crime-fighting super-hero has ‘real feel’ skin, modern articulation, chomping jaws, combat claws, fin-line skates and a modular shark cage.”
- Street Sharks Big Slammu – See at Walmart: Includes a signature super-slam fist action.
- Street Sharks Dr. Piranoid – See at Walmart: “This figure of the gene-juggling madman has modern articulation, a spring-fired speargun with projectiles, transformation action, and a modular shark cage.”
The original wave included 6-inch scale figures of Ripster, Jab, and Slash. Tthe figures have now officially been released and are in stock at the time of writing. Currently, you can order the Street Sharks figures right here on Amazon and here at Walmart. 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 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.”
Note that, Funko recently joined in the fun with the launch of a Streex Pop figure that you can pre-order here at Entertainment Earth (free US shipping on orders $79+) and here on Amazon now. Hopefully more Funko Pops in the Street Sharks lineup are on the way.
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.
