Iron Maiden...clix?

WTF. I pop into my local game shop to kill some time this afternoon and saw a box sitting next to the counter for $3 blind-buy Clix figures featuring Iron Maiden mascot Eddie.

Being a big fan of the band, I just couldn't help myself and picked up 4, netting Eddies from the Powerslave, Piece of Mind, Live After Death, and Somewhere in Time [which I promptly traded to the guy at the counter for Iron Maiden--the SIT figure was actually cool looking but I really love the first Maiden record] albums.

Now, I guess I have to ask--where the hell did these come from (and why aren't they dual-based for HorrorClix even if that series is dead?)?

A quick websearch turned up articles about them apparently dating back to 2010 (e.g., here , but I'd never seen these before. Is this old product that my shop simply unearthed or is it something new? The article indicates they were to be released in 2011 with a 2nd series to follow later.

Now I desperately want a Killers figure and, if they did it--and how could they NOT [well, sticking to the album covers only, I guess]--Trooper or Run to the Hills...

And, speaking more generally, WTF?

Edit: They have done a Trooper model and it's pretty great looking (for a Clix paint job; assuming these were actually released models)

Sounds like what happened is that they got the license, made them, and then for whatever reason sat on them for a couple of years. There may not have been enough distributor sales or something. So they likely pushed them out. It looks like a weird product line, only eight figures and they don't really go with any of their existing lines. So likely just something that popped up at Alliance or whatever on the cheap, your shop probably just said what the hell and picked them up.

Complete sets are about $30 on eBay...the Trooper figure looks like the winner.

But yeah, this is definitely a WTF product...like the kind of thing they used to sell at Media PLay or something.

MetalClix. That would have been cool. KISS would get me on board.