Michael McGowan

I've got a question for some of you more experienced E-bayers... I recently sold a pack of Minimates on E-bay and noticed I was getting a lot of hits from people overseas, asking me what shipping cost would be to Hong Kong and Vietnam and such, the reason being is the pack I sold was a TRU exclusive and they don't have TRU there (that's my guess). So the people that had asked those questions didn't win, but another person did, and I when I sent him an invoice he sent me a message asking me if I would insure the package, and if the cost of the insurance was included in the shipping price, if it wasn't than could I send him a new invoice with that included, and he would pay right away. He's also repeatedly asked me to contact him outside of E-bay, when I write him. (a e-mail address through Concerta.com) I sent him a new invoice, and he wasn't writing me back or paying me until I threatened to open a case with E-bay. I also told him it wasn't a big deal and if he didn't want them or couldn't pay right away to just let me know... As soon as I mentioned opening a case, he paid. I got insurance on the box, used bubble wrap on the package, and a tracking number. After a multitude of attempts to reach him after the tracking number told me he had received the package, (I wanted my feedback, I'm a new seller) He finally wrote me today telling me the box was damaged and he wanted a refund. I have a 7 day refund guarantee, but the box was in perfect condition when I sent it out, The item itself (the minimates) are in mint condition as well) I packaged them in a box on the outside, and evelope on the inside, and bubble wrap in between that. I really don't want bad feedback, but I don't know what to do, He has 5 days to get them back to me according to my refund status. My guess was that he was just trying to somehow collect on the insurance. Nothing like this has happened so far but again my selling rating is low, but I've tried really hard to make sure everyone I deal with was happy... It just pisses me off because, I gave him 2 chances to not buy them, and the boxes on these things aren't even a collectible item. My guess is that he's in a foriegn country and found a cheaper deal, so he decided to return mine, or he had plain old buyers remorse. If anyone can let me know what I'm obligated to do in a situation like this. I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

It sure is good DST has customers like us that have went to business school, and are currently running companies making toys, to tell them how the should be running their company. You'd think they'd know how to run a successful business by now being a decade (?) into this thing and having put out over 38 series of the Marvel minimates alone. I mean it really sucks big time that DST doesn't play this whole minimate thing out the way this fringe group wants them too instead of thinking about that pesky thing called profit. Seriously, who caters to a corporate franchised store that makes up the majority of profits so they can slip specialty packs that the "True" fans love... Sellouts that's who! You guys name one other major toy retailer that has put up a facebook page, that doesn't treat it like a form of advertisement. i.e. You can actually leave comments and they answer back, they show you early production photo's and even do giveaways for those pieces. If you can name another one, than cool there's more than one large toy company doing it, but I'll say this much, I doubt you'd see Matty Collector up on that list. If DST did everything the way you wish they would, than you'd have no reason to be excited, or buy the next wave of toys they put out... It's not like these things are art pieces or limited collector pieces. They're toys, that we collect because we want a full team of the Comic book heroes we love so much. If they gave us the full X-Force set in the first series, and gave us a full set of The Avengers in the second series, than all those X-Force fans, or Avengers fans wouldn't stick around to see what's next. The way they do things isn't a perfect formula, but when I read the crap some of you continuously spew, it reminds me of that famous Grandpa Simpson line "Bitch, Bitch, Bitch" How bout we get back on point, When is Series 10 coming out?

I'm not saying anything bad about the Wolverine minimates per se, but when they're offer the same character over and over again and the only difference is a puffy jacket, or a Sgt. Rock outfit, it feels a little played. I think the details were great, in fact I just bought a Wolverine/Blob pack about 2 weeks ago. Who doesn't like a big boned minimate with a fat girl tattooed on their arm?

Hopefully I can get the Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw together... For people complaining about these, would you really like it if they revisited the Wolverine origins, and we got the same figure with each pack albeit in a different costume but nonetheless. I think these figs look better than any movie mates they've done in the past, (up till this season). Plus we get Angel, and with a little help from my extra New mutants box set I bought for extra clothes, I'll finally get original Angel for my FA X-Men.

I'm loving the cap movie mates, I would dare say they're the best movie mates yet...

Michael chants repeatedly "M.o.d.o.k, M.o.d.o.k, Super Skrull, and Deadpool. Mega Man, that's the plan, to turn me into a buying fool" Well guess what, it's working!!! I want to make whoopie to that Felicia, right here, right now...

No but wouldn't you be stoked if it was Chew minimates.

These links are great, I'm really excited to have an extra tool to look to for other places I'm interviewing at... Thanks a lot they'll be really handy in the future... @Luke, I'm more of a afraid of the color yellow guy myself, especially if it comes by way of a Lantern, I know I'm in trouble.

I'm applying for a job at good old Toys R Us, I'm just wondering if anyone has experience working for them and if there's anything I should know going into an interview. I love the idea of having an edge on the competition (local scalpers that steal all the toys from collectors)... Is there anything that will give me the upper hand during an interview, and anything I should watch out for, say, or not say... I really need a job and this seems like the perfect fit, the photo work doesn't really par for all the extras I collect (although I do alright, artistry isn't the field to be into if you really care about being rich). Now that my wife is collecting vinyl (dunnys) and I'm amassing pieces of toy art by my favorite artists at 200 a pop (I don't care what you think about vinyl art, Sam Flores "Dragon Boy" was worth the 150 it cost me, the same goes for Buff Monster's "Destroyer"). So I'm hoping TRU will be a good place to supplement some income for me and I hope I get in. Please if any of you have experience with this fine company give me a heads up on the TRU "do and don't" list. Wish me luck, and BTW if any of you know a good online retailer for Kid Robot, Toy2R, or StrangeCo. my wife, and my wallet will be eternally grateful. Love, Michael

On Art Asylum's facebook page they're giving away concept art from the line the big surprise is from... I'd be down for target distribution too but unless he's talking about red minimates with white targets all over em, it's definitely a license.

Why oh why did TRU have to clearance price out the old GB merch. I swore to myself I wasn't going to buy any of the GB stuff, just RGB... Now I'm resigned to a fate worse than death... Set Searching...

Same here, I just don't get WTH they're hiding skull face from us...

Tis! I'm chuffed that they've included it. the art on her packaging shows her with her quiver of teleport rods (or whatever they are). Does anyone know if the finished product has them? Have we seen pics of them on the proto? Anyone else thinking about giving this right to Nightcrawler?? I like the transparent webline Spidey has. Might need a few of those. I'm sure he'll already come with one, besides Nightcrawler's teleportation doesn't usually come off as being a pink color (as this base is). You'd have been much better off using Majik's base... I'd love to see a red color see-through plastic for a Kurt base... Forgot you were new for a sec. Way back in the NYCC thread i mentioned i spoke with Chuck and they didn't have plans to use it for Kurt. No majik style teleport base but there's definitely a white poof of smoke in the box for a base.

O.K. I got some inside info, from a reliable source. Matty (from Matty collector) called up Chuck and said "Hey I really like them minimate thingys, if you make one of me, I might be able to hook you up with a little thing called the Masters of the Universe license." The big problem came when Chuck handed him the pack, QC were sleeping on the job that day, and gave him a pair of Elektra legs. The good news was that Matty really like them... Keeping fingers crossed, and holding my breath for a C3 castle greyskull. P.S. My reliable source wasn't very reliable...

HAHAHAHA that was really funny, uhh wait a minute you weren't kidding were you... Thundercats qualify as gigantic, unless you hate toys from the 80's...

The general rule of thumb is that we can expect to see product in stores 6-8 weeks after they show the final packaged products on the website. Sometimes though, in the case of the Halo Army Builders, they don't reveal the package art on the website and we just have to go by Diamond's shipping dates (for LCS releases) or people finding them in stores (in the case of TRU). In the case of TRU Wave 10, DST hasn't shown the final packaging yet, so we are talking late March/Early April at the earliest. Thanks for the info, I'm loving the Led lit profile pic...

Tis! I'm chuffed that they've included it. the art on her packaging shows her with her quiver of teleport rods (or whatever they are). Does anyone know if the finished product has them? Have we seen pics of them on the proto? Anyone else thinking about giving this right to Nightcrawler?? I like the transparent webline Spidey has. Might need a few of those. I'm sure he'll already come with one, besides Nightcrawler's teleportation doesn't usually come off as being a pink color (as this base is). You'd have been much better off using Majik's base... I'd love to see a red color see-through plastic for a Kurt base...

Maybe I'm totally mistaken, but I thought there was an issue with morph playing the role of wild child...? I'm not positive, regardless I'm just kind of hoping for a morph, that well, morphs...

I wonder what Extra's will come with the Morph/Nem set. I would love an extra Sabertooth head and some lady deathstrike claws to make his "Wild Child" look from AOA x-men 11.

Yeah that was my issue with collecting minimates in the first place, I wasn't sure if I'd really like them... Now I'm totally kicking my own ass for not buying the Silver Surfer/Swordsman... My TRU had a huge selection of older MM up until a month ago when someone in my area started collecting these the same time I did. Now it's buy first ask questions later I know, that nemesis they made got the clear treatment!!! I've noticed most toy collectors like clear toys, regardless of what they know about the actual character, and if you do know about nemesis it just adds fuel to the "I got to have him" fire. I know, that nemesis they made got the clear treatment!!! I've noticed most toy collectors like clear toys, regardless of what they know about the actual character, and if you do know about nemesis it just adds fuel to the "I got to have him" fire.

There's a store in Michigan called Meijer, it's comparable to Walmart or Target. The have a clearance store that sell's their overstock, and right now they have the MegaBlocks warthog, and gremlin #1 on sale for 10 dollars a piece. They also have a bunch of the smaller sets in stock for 4.50 a piece. I'm in the process of building the warthog together right now (brings back memories, of brick clicking). Actually they fit pretty well with the covenant brute chopper I bought the other day, and I'll let you know how they look on the warthog when I finish building it...

As much as I hate mega blocks the halo mates go well with the mega block mates vehicles, I may get some im2 mega block sets now that they're being clearanced out, so I can make dioramas.

I have access to 3 Wolverine/Mag sets and about 7 of the Spidey/Liz sets, if anyone needs them let me know...

Does anyone know if key words are Chucks thing, for instance when he says "BIG" Surprise do y'all think he's being literal?