Patrick Thomas Parnell is living every kid’s dream: His North Port home doubles as his toy development studio. Parnell is a long-time illustrator who’s worked on comic books like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, published by IDW, and Mega Man and Sonic the Hedgehog, published by Archie Comics. He’s also taught at Ringling College of Art and Design and State College of Florida. Today, he runs his own comic book imprint, Riot Press, where followers can keep up with his characters, among them the gangster demon Johnny Phantasm (star of the eponymous comic book) and The Last of the Seekers (a series about a robot archaeologist who can turn into a spaceship). An ’80s kid who grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons like G.I. Joe and Transformers and buying the accompanying action figures and comic books, Parnell wanted to give people reading his books the same experience and created his own line of toys.

Kickstarter Is Key

Parnell uses the popular crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to fund his projects. “Kickstarter used to be where people would go when [big publishing houses] wouldn’t pick up their projects,” he says. “Now it’s a springboard for people’s careers.”

Plates, Please

To build his toys, Parnell uses a method called injection, in which a metal plate is created for different parts of an action figure and then injected with plastic to form the parts of the toy. “It looks like a VHS tape and opens up like a clam,” he explains. “When it opens up, it looks like a model sheet.” Each model sheet is used to put the toy together. 

$5,000

The injection process is expensive, so toymakers in the U.S. don’t use it anymore, especially as 3D printing technology evolves. But the injection method offers better strength and surface finishes (essential for toys that are being constantly handled). So Parnell works with companies overseas to create his plates. Each one costs $5,000 to make. Johnny Phantasm requires three plates; the robots from Last of the Seekers require 11. You do the math.

Tariff Troubles

Parnell ran into tariff issues when he produced a second run of his Last of the Seekers robots in 2025. “Shipping costs that were originally $1,200 ended up coming to $5,000,” he recalls. He is now working with a new manufacturer that doesn’t have tariffs on American goods and has an open-trade agreement with China. Still, he admits, “Everyone is still scrambling to figure out what to do right now.”

500 Figures

After research, Parnell chose a manufacturer called Toy Pizza for his initial run of Johnny Phantasm action figures. “A lot of companies wanted me to do 5,000 figures,” he says, “but Toy Pizza let me do 500 or 1,000 figures, which is the reason I can make these toys.” 

$20

Cost of a Johnny Phantasm action figure (although first-editions go for around $100 on resale sites)

$40

Cost of the transforming Last of the Seekers robot toy

7 inches

Height of a Last of the Seekers robot