Earlier this month, Diamond Comics and all its subsidiaries were sold, with the sale becoming finalized last week. The company was bought by a mix of Ad Populum (owner of NECA and others) and Universal Distribution. The majority of the business was sold to Ad Populum, who took over Diamond Comic Distributors, Diamond Book Distributors, Diamond Select Toys & Collectibles, Collectible Grading Authority, and others. Both the comic and toy worlds were holding their breath, waiting for the first moves to be made.
This past weekend, the first series of changes were implemented by Ad Populum. First, a large portion of Diamond Comics was laid off including those is sales, service, and support (via Bleeding Cool). On Bluesky, it was confirmed that the Diamond Previews Catalog was still in production, at least for the time being. Diamond’s ComicSuite and Pullbox software, however, aren’t so lucky, as their entire tech support teams have been laid off as well. Right now, the future of Diamond Comics, and how they will be distributing comics, toys, and other merchandise, remain unclear. Restructuring is still ongoing, and chances are more changes are on the horizon.
For toy collectors, the news isn’t so good. Diamond Select Toys has effectively been shut down. It seems the entire team at Diamond Select Toys has been let go, and operations have completely ended (via Comics Beat). DST has been around since 1999, and was home to a ton of licenses and a wide array of product. Their “Select” line of action figures has included brands such as Marvel, Ghostbusters, The Muppets, Tron, Kingdom Hearts, Nightmare Before Christmas, Bruce Lee, Star Wars, and many more. They also had a long running series of mini figures with their Minimates action figures. Other product types included statues, busts, collectible banks, kitchen gadgets, and more. Also lost is Gentle Giant, who was acquired by Diamond in 2019, and ran side-bu-side with DST. Gentle Giant was home to the long-running Jumbo Kenner Star Wars line, as well as their assortment of statues and busts featuring the likes of Marvel and Star Wars.
At this time, it’s unclear what the plan is for the DST and Gentle Giant properties and licenses. Some may be able to be folded into Ad Populum’s other brands (such as NECA), but licensing is tricky, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some limit the ability to transfer from one division to another. Only time will tell what’s in store. The staff at Toyark want to send well wishes to all those affected by these layoffs. We look forward to seeing where the talented folks in the toy division land.
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