arnim zola

I was about to say I would only want a boom boom from next wave.

The raptor Jesus online only wave is a great set too, if not obnoxiously hard to find.

This is kind of weird, I've read a few reviews from KH super fans who loved the previous merch and were super high on the select figures. They also loved the variant purchases bringing them more and more army characters. The Walgreens Mickey is the first select figure I have EVER bought since minimates started.

Those do all look great.

The jungle demon predator and the water exposure predator are the true gems of the line, followed by the "pushing too many pencils" ultimate editions.

I've bought every animated pack so far, even ones I didn't like or care for up until wave 7. I just didn't like anything but Carol and zemo, with Carol being the dar better of the two for me. This wave has a lot of stuff that I really like and can work with. Fixing a jackel up yourself to fit in w/ 616 mates is waaaaay better than not having one to fix up at all. MODOK design not for you? There's a perfect 616 one already. Use this one to make more 616 variants! 5 new animated characters/designs not in the 616 line, without any ridiculous variants way too similar to existing mates. This wave is fantastic overall, I'm happy about it.

You know that one director from district nine and Sigorney Weaver had a cool script that continued aliens and sidestepped the downsides of 3. Could have been super cool with Ripley, Hicks and Newt but Ridley Scott decided to keep the Prometheus series goinag with a covenant trilogy and said no. Now we are at the same point as when Prometheus ended, underwhelming box office and uncertainty about continuing the story.

I have a few ideas up my sleeve, I'll let you know if anything sticks.

I went a local ThinkGeek/GameStop combo store that had almost all toys on a fifty percent clearance. I found the new Beetlejuice tux vini and the wicked smile jack and they both had another clearance sticker with a lower base price. Jack ended up ringing up at $3 so I checked a Sally and Oogie Boogie and they both rang up at $4. I got all three for me and my toddler has been playing with them too!

Zach I remember reading someone asking about a Black Hand vini, please tell me you.have more black lanterns planned as the are easily my favorites so far. Are there any plans for a yellow lantern sinestro of an atrocious? I am enjoying a lot of these so far!

OK so I'm back up to a full set. I think I counted it out, between two waves of mates shared between 2 retailers, we got 14 new and uniquely sculpted characters. This is a ridiculously great amount for DST and a significant improvement on how waves have been presented before, including the first few waves constant reuse if the same jack and Sally. These have been so great they led me to buying my first select figures ever. The Walgreens Jack and KH Mickey Mouse. I even looked into more selects from NBXM with serious consideration for the first time. This set of waves is also a breath of fresh air for me compared to the last few years of frustration with lines full of potential being hindered and canceled by treading too carefully. Maybe I'm in a niche but I think of minimates like Funko fans think of Pops. A consistent style I love, a variety of characters, and a deep roster. I did the same thing with marvel legends and DC classics back in the day. I don't like incomplete lines or lines cancelled after questionable character lineups and missed opportunities. These mates have turned around from cautious optimism to damn I am loving these and can't wait to see what's next! Cautiously of course. Now as to these two waves, holy crap we have gotten a ton of parts for potential customs! These vampires are incredible, the Mer-woman, everyone has some new innovative part. The Cyclops is a personal favorite, his design is just awesome. Just have to add a peg hole of some kind. I've been buying extras of the Tru exclusives for a while to stock up on parts and I will continue to do so. These are freaking great!

I hadn't gotten any of wave three out of disappointment on finding a full set and finding out they were cancelled. Thanks for the heads up as my muppets are now complete! I do really wish we could get some Sesame Street mates next.

Awesome! These haven't hit my TRU's at all but a fellow on a facebook group is sending me the 2 unique sets so hopefully Ill be back to complete this week.

Zach, is DST stopping with the league or are we going to get a Steppenwolf?

I found these at Tru today and was trying to pick up the Otho set and they were all gone. Then I see one and the card was ripped off the plastic. Just the blister and the mates, the card and other Otho sets nowhere to be found. Just so I'm sure, are there supposed to be any accessories in the Otho set? It doesn't look like it in mine but can't tell.

Did you see the Cyclops set at your Tru?

I gave the article a read and it ended up putting blame on TRU for a lot of things out of their hands. When I walk into TRU I see all kinds of diversity in customers, signage, marketing material, everything. Complaining about the lack of ethnic action figures (less of a problem in the girls/dolls section from what Iv'e seen, but maybe I'm wrong) and saying its the retailers fault is ridiculous. Falcon is your only black action figure you can find? Blame the toy companies that don't offer that diversity. Limited diversity of licensed products falls to the source material. Most of the movie based product lacking diverse products is more a result of Hollywood money not diversifying their products. Hasbro made a few Finn figures from star wars and on multiple occasions now have been hit by backlash for their exclusion of women products based off the idea that kids wont buy female (or ethnic) action figures as much as white male figures. Mattel spent a long time not diversifying their dolls for girls, and their Barbie dolls are still bad at doing so. Referring to a toy store as having been a "horrific bombardment of white supremacy and exclusion for black children, and the sooner folks take their shopping online and to other outlets, the better off and healthier we’ll all be." is ridiculous. The whitest thing about any TRU is the tile and the walls. But maybe can restructure and attract more black kids.

That Hal situation, the memories... I remember how goth girl played out but I'm drawing a blank on your mention of "fanboy," was that "The Hunt" promo from SDCC?

The first 2 months these were out I was constantly calling local store (I have many) with the specific item number and the DC never got them. Multiple conversations with managers at the stores concluded that the region wasn't getting them since the DC never got them on order. When I asked how many stores the nearest DC stocked, they said over 200. Even a road trip wouldn't solve that problem. Having so many tru's available to me within 30-45 means I've been fortunate to catch tru waves pretty consistently without hitting every location, at the least 1 or 2 have shared the newst thing is. So I would say significant sums it up.

My Dutch and Dillon will forever be on display, bro handing through eternity. ?

Its too bad tru didn't send these to entire regions of stores across the country, then based their decision on the sales that followed their madness.

There really shouldn't be SO many obvious missed opportunities but its been like that with toy companies for a long time. Almost as if people involved don't think about certain aspects of the end product. Like how some video game programmers dont play games and have game testers since they can't wrap their mind about why a feature or mechanic would be a terrible idea or useless in a certain type of gameplay. Jack barely ever smiled, much less like his minimate expression. He always had a suspicious and puzzled look because that's how he always was. Lack of alternate hair and accessories always sucks too.

My overwhelming negativity every time a promising line is canceled has kept me from logging in since these waves were canceled... Zach, Please try to comment on this with some helpful insight. You frequently mention that if it weren't for TRU we would get so many other lines. Such as Dark Tower in the last example I remember you listing. And one way for a line to get canceled is when TRU pulls out and LCS orders are low. At this point when TRU pulls out or decides not to carry a line from the start, has DST noticed a trend of comic shop orders getting lower and lower to the point where we are now really relying on the big retailers to help make items possible? It feels like we have had a lot fewer boxsets and popular licenses falling through out of nowhere. What is DST's current opinion on the trends related to comic and specialty orders? I know specialty applies to everything that's not big box retailers, it just happens includes comic shops. I live in Dallas, one of the fastest growing cities in the nation and has tons of retail variety, I used to spread my excitement about shop availability (SOOOO many comic shops across this sprawling city/county) and their minimate selection here in Dallas. Now I'm down to one shop that used to order tons, and now may order 1 case for certain things here and there with minimal boxsets. They have been voted best in Dallas several times, and are a super popular shop. They've had so many toy sales where mates end up on clearance and they can't sell them for whatever reason, crappy location maybe? Lack of nearby shoppers,? Lack of noses? Or just no more interest? Then I had one shop that stopped years ago and didn't order anything again until the blind bags came out, ordered a few boxsets, then they gave up again, and all the rest of our shops just don't stock them at all no matter how much I try to sell them on it. It really feels on my end at least that comic and LCS are past the point of caring about the majority of releases, and I get all of my local releases from TRU and Walgreens, the exact opposite of what I used to do. Has DST seen anything that supports this? Is there any sort of strategy in place to combat this kind of thing or is DST also relying on TRU and other big retailers to keep us afloat? What if any problems have any retailers voiced to DST about why they aren't ordering or why are they dropping support?

Uh oh. What happened to people that had pics posted there? Pay to get them back or lose them?

Matt your links are broken!