We recently connected with Bryan Fulk and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Bryan, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The basic goal of Last Resort Toys is to produce toys that, as both an artist and collector, I would like to have on my shelves. I am truly a one-person business, which allows me to cut out the bureaucracy of larger companies and create high-quality products with little friction and fairly quick turnaround. I produce both licensed and original art toys, overseeing every aspect, while striving to provide direct customer interactions and to have fun and feel creatively fulfilled while doing my best to cover new ground in the world of collectibles and art toys.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’ve been a lifelong fan of toys and, as a teenager, I began to appreciate them as an art form. When I started pursuing a career in the film industry I met some fellow artisans who were also talented toymakers in the generation before me. It had not really occurred to me that this might be an option, but I decided I should give it a try. I was lucky to meet many people in the industry over several years and the skillset I had started to build in the film industry as a makeup artist and propmaker translated perfectly into toymaking. It has been a winding path with ups, downs, and some false starts. I have had friends and mentors along the way providing advice and sharing knowledge. I have also learned a few hard lessons and lost some of those friends, however, persistence with support and encouragement from family and peers have seen me through.

Last Resort Toys was born out of a desire to have creative control over my passion. After working on a few dream projects involving well-known toy properties with well-known companies, I became very frustrated with the workflow and projects getting cancelled due to internal company reasons seldom explained to me, the freelance sculptor. I would get paid, but as a creative, a large part of the reward is seeing one’s work fully executed and sent out into the world. After a string of frustrating toy jobs I was thinking to myself, “If I want to do this, starting my own company might be my last resort.” And I suddenly had a company name and a mission.

Since starting out on my own in 2017, I have tried to produce unique collectibles aimed at fans who enjoy a certain playful aesthetic of toys from the eighties and nineties. I try to push the medium in which I work by using traditional methods of sculpting and toymaking and working with the talented teams in the factories to come to unique solutions for creating some tricky aspects within the designs of my toys. This often relies on my own background as a fabricator to help the factory come up with different approaches to molding certain parts, but also trusting the factory to help me troubleshoot in figuring out technical aspects like using combinations of different materials to achieve the desired result of my toys. Since there is no one else calling the shots, I’m free to make decisions about my products that larger companies would avoid in order to save a little time, money, or a whole board meeting. And I’m able to also save time and money by not needing to run decisions through a team. This is, of course, a lot of work for one person and I have certainly learned a lot in the past several years and I try to continue learning and bettering my approach to the business-side of things. I strive to make very high quality toys priced within an expected range of high-end collectibles and I am grateful to the growing community of people who support and enjoy my work.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I try to be very engaged with my customers. When you deal with Last Resort Toys—you are dealing directly with me. I try to share a lot of content on social media, from process videos and photos to information about releases or special sales. Much of my audience has been along for the ride as I have grown—and this means they’ve also been around for some speed bumps like a delayed order or unexpected snag with the factory. I always try to be straight forward and timely when communicating with customers and when issues occasionally and inevitably arise, it’s how those issues are handled that fosters trust and brand loyalty.

This might mean shipping out a replacement item if something breaks or throwing in a little something extra to thank someone for their patience if there was an unforeseen delay. Most of my interactions happen on Instagram, but I’m active with customers through Kickstarter, email, Facebook, and in person at conventions and industry events. And perhaps most important, I try to keep it fun! They’re just toys at the end of the day—if I’m not having fun or not providing fun for others, then there’s little point to any of this.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

My toys are manufactured in a couple different factories in China. It is not hard to find a factory—the tricky part is finding a factory that meets your specific needs. It can be a bit of a black box, but the best advice I can give is to get to know people in your industry and build good relationships. Ask around for information from people you respect and trust, but also do your research. Everyone who is manufacturing has taken the time to navigate and learn the system. Many people will therefore be reticent to share hard-won information if it is obvious that you haven’t done any of that legwork yourself and appear to simply want to benefit from the efforts of others.

Have an idea of your costs before asking for a quote. Factory representatives are often hesitant to spend too much time discussing your goals and pulling together quotes until they know that you understand the costs so that their time is not wasted. You can often ask for a sample of a similar product from a factory to get an idea of material, quality, paint, etc. Don’t be afraid to ask for and compare prices from multiple manufacturers—it’s not personal, it’s business. When you are about to enter into a manufacturing relationship and make that investment, it is not a time to cut corners or to be shy.

Already having a background in design and fabrication made my communication with factories more smooth. There is often jargon that must be learned and it’s a two-way street in communicating needs, expectations, and problems that may arise. Remember, you are the client purchasing a service, so make sure you are getting what you want. That said, respect and kindness are never a waste of time and it is important to also recognize and understand certain limitations and to know where you are willing to compromise and where you are not.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lastresorttoys.com
• Instagram: @LastResortToys
• Facebook: @LastResortToys
• Other: lastresorttoys@gmail.com