hellpop

I can tell you for a fact that DST has been told by the Star Wars people in the past that they won't do Minimates because of Legos. Whether that's because of a licensing restriction or them deciding that they don't want to dilute their (very profitable) LSW line is not for me to say. But DST has tried, and was rebuffed, and that's why.

Your skills are really top notch. Painting is my least favorite part of the process, so I never do it unless I have to, and certainly not detailing unless there's no way around it.

LOL I just bought it from BBTS too! It should be here shortly. I'll let you know how it works, but I saw someone post a picture with a Mega Construx figure and it looked pretty good, so I think it will fit a Minimate just about perfectly.

Apparently Castle Greyskull is available from Wal Mart now, and will be everywhere else in a month. I'm gonna hold out for a discount, personally.

Not a bad list. Indiana Jones and Rocky though don't really fit though; no matter how many movies they have to draw from you'll still have people that will only want the title characters (you can also throw James Bond into that category). The other one I'd add is Harry Potter; I really wish DST had tried to lock that up before Lego brought HP back. And maybe they did! I remember Chuck saying that he thought Harry Potter's time had passed in an AskDST a few years ago, and I thought he was crazy, but maybe that was just a smokescreen.

Jerry Lawler was who I was referring to as well. If and when Luke does tag teams, I'd love a Midnight Express with Jim Cornette figure. For Bobby Eaton, you'd need a bunch of those Invisible Woman mullets.

There's one thing you didn't mention with a tentpole license, though: library of characters. There's really only a few things that have a wide enough pool of characters to pull from to sustain a line basically indefinitely. DST has one, Marvel, and had one, DC, but that's it. Lines like Aliens, NBX, and Ghostbusters are always going to be limited because there's only so many figures you can make before you start repeating them. But I think YB's right, the bigger problem is that there's not something ready to jump in and take its' spot.

Can I assume he comes with a crown?

I guess I'm kind of the one that started all this with my offhand comment in the other thread, so...you're welcome? Anyway, this has been a thoughtful discussion so far, so thanks to everyone for that. I personally think that Minimates, if not dying, are in decline. I don't think they will ever fully go away, if only because DST owns it as an intellectual property, so it's in their best interest to keep it alive in some fashion. But the signs have been there, from the dwindling of the direct market to the disappearance of convention exclusives to recent cancellations. None of these things are good. I know that a lot of people want to lay these changes at the feet of DST as mistakes, but the realities of the market make Minimates a tough sell. They are a niche of a niche of a niche (collectible action figures> minifigures> Minimates) that peaked in popularity a decade ago. More than anything, it's pretty amazing that DST has been able to sustain Minimates while nearly every other minifigure has disappeared. I think YB is right that the lack of tentpole properties is huge. It's been basically Marvel and only Marvel for years now, with a couple others (Walking Dead, TMNT, and Kingdom Hearts) all looking like potential compliments, but all petering out. DST needs something other than Marvel to keep the line afloat, because (let's face it) they've more or less exhausted the Marvel character library. TRU's closing has had a drastic effect on Minimates, which I think we all could have predicted. It was clear years ago that the direct market wasn't going to be enough to sustain Minimates, and the failures of the classic animated TMNT and Kingdom Hearts lines to generate enough orders to go into production is the last word on that. Walgreens has been a nice complimentary partner, but as the primary retail outlet they have been lacking. Of course, it's easy to say "DST should just sell Star Wars Minimates to Target, problem solved!" Of course they know that. It's easy to second guess and make assumptions from the outside, but we're not privy to all the information that goes behind DST's decisionmaking. I don't always agree with the choices they make, but I do know that they always have the wellbeing of the line in mind. Anyway, I think this is a challenging time, probably the biggest since DC Direct cancelled DC Minimates. I don't know if DST can sustain it, frankly, but I'll be happy to get as many releases as we have left.

I think Hellcat and Paladin are good guesses!

None of these clues fit Speedball! I guess I need to bite the bullet and make him myself. Not making any guesses myself yet, but I look forward to seeing everyone else's.

They are tremendous. My Pop buying has been rather limited recently, but I'll be getting these.

This is a perfectly reasonable point, and you expressed it well. I went too far in saying something about Minimates dying, but I was grumpy. So I take that back. Yes, that's basically my point. I dunno, I've certainly become more sensitive to this kind of stuff as I've gotten older and online discourse has gotten worse and worse. Furthermore, because I've gotten to know several of the DST staff and designers over the years I tend to want to defend them in a way I don't, say, Mezco. I guess I just think it's cool that we have a community here devoted to an obscure brand of minifigure, and it just bums me out when we're overly negative. I do feel that Minimates is on the decline, and that if TRU's closure wasn't the nail in the coffin the looming trade war will be, so every release is something to celebrate, even if it's not exactly how we'd like it to be.

Wow dude, you sure put me in my place. Saying things like "I don't like these pairings so I'm not buying them" adds nothing to the conversation. But sure, if you want Minimates to die, keep nitpicking.

Ugh, the complaining.... Very cool sets. Glad you were able to get an exclusive Luke!