DSTZach

Okay!

Pre-orders open on Friday:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzoYvk8OI9L/

11 hours ago, spidermatt said:

Are the megazord/Dragonzord vinimates on the dst site preorder? Or in the warehouse ready to ship out?

They are in the warehouse, so they should be getting shut off soon on the site as they prep all of the pre-orders to ship. Then it will come back as an in-stock. 

I am not aware of more plans for more MMPR product. We had a few Gallery Dioramas in the works, but I am not even sure of the status of the license at this point. I'll keep everyone posted. 

Not sure if orders on Series 1 and 2 were high enough to warrant all of the new tooling that would have been needed for a Series 3. 100% new, bulky parts, no re-use, unless we just made a box of Putties. 

Vinimates 2-Pack ships to stores next Wednesday!

At a good price, too! I am not aware of another run, sadly.

YEs, they were supposed to have been delivered in late September, and I have no idea where they are. I'll keep an eye out, but they are not in the warehouse YET. 

1 hour ago, buttheadsmate said:

Can I please ask if anybody has a spare- TMNT Nickelodeon translucent Donatello SDCC 2017 - & ask if they would trade for it or sell it ? PMs please.

Thank you

I myself only have a loose one with no bo staff. I wish I'd taken more before I delivered the remainder to Nick, then everyone here would have had a chance to get one. I take full responsibility. 

On 10/15/2023 at 6:41 PM, HellfireSamurai said:

@DSTZach Any info on when the Last Ronin sets will release? I know sites with pre-orders available state a Fall 2023 release but was wondering if there was more specific info on the timeframe. 

Late November, I believe!

The show actually came up at the panel, so who knows?

Yes, the Leo we had was an old prototype, with the wrong head and no weapons, so I just put it away. And I could not find Baxter or a second Foot soldier, sadly. Really, these are ALL old protos, so we're lucky to still have any of them. 

Nemesis' swords, from what I have seen, heat up, so they go from a cool metal to a red-hot look. So they will not be translucent that I am aware of. 

I got to know Joe a little when I asked him to contribute some shots to an "Art of DST" show in Baltimore a few years back. If I recall correctly, he was ultimately not able to provide big files because he shot everything on his phone, for Instagram, but his artwork was amazing. I was sorry to hear about his passing. 

Touche! 

It's being discussed!

I understood some of that. 

Chuck had kept the line going for 20 years. He's certainly figured something out. If he's walked away from any license, it's because it was not making money. Blame me for that if you like, blame the sales department, but don't make any "observations" about Chuck. 

No one can change the 2-inch rule on Marvel Minimates. If you do know who sets the rule, then you know it's not us.

If Puck and Howard the Duck are taller than Captain Britain, I would be surprised to learn that. Wish I had more than one of those to check. 

I wish! No, a heavy tooling investment without a major retailer is unlikely. 

I honestly think it's okay that every MM license has different production requirements and target audiences -- if every set was made for the same audience at the same level of complexity, I am not sure that would move more units or get us into larger retailers. 

One line doesn't need paint on its legs and minimal tooling. Sure, we can run that one for a while selling to just specialty and Toys R Us, even though kids are largely disinterested in Star Trek. 

TMNT is new-parts heavy, but appeals to kids, and is able to get into TRU AND KMart, which was at one point a large chain with large orders. That line lasted a while. 

PvZ was kind of in-between. Heavy tooling, mixed appeal kids and adults -- picked up by TRU. We did four different sets of four figures plus micro-Mates -- the first Deluxe box sets? It didn't last that long,  and I don't know how sales did, but there weren't a TON of characters, and there was some behind-the-scenes stuff.

(Not every MM line ending is due to sales -- remember, MM licensing is rarely done on its own. It's part of a larger license, and if sales on another line like action figures or statues doesn't do well, or the license is not renewed by either party, it can affect the MM line.)

Getting licenses with universal kids AND adult appeal is tough. While most MM sets are for older collectors, those that get picked up by large retailers are largely animation based, with kid appeal. To rule out collector lines in favor of only licenses that have a chance at Walmart takes some of the fun out of it, I think. Besides, the last line to almost reach Walmart was decidedly adult. 

In short, blaming the head of DST for keeping a diverse and largely enjoyable line of figures going for 20 years seems misdirected.

And not sure what you mean by the 2-inch rule. Starting in 2003, we couldn't make Marvel bigger than 2 inches. Using a 2-inch base body,  some can be a little bigger than 2". They can be as short as we want,  but at some point they are not very poseable (even kid legs and arms are highly restricted, but some characters get one-piece leg stubs). So if they are a smaller character, and not a MAIN character like Rocket Raccoon (who got a poseable figure AND A micro-Mate) then they get a micro-Mate now.

To be fair, both the Legends and Select Spider-Ham Figures are non- poseable. 

Army builders is not an initiative, it's just character selection. The initiative involves a completely different approach to the line, utilizing some added elements that may broaden the appeal. 

Making an army builder set isn't going to broaden the audience for the Minimates. We'll sell a few more sets, sure, but the number of people who bought the Cobra box set is VERY low, and even if we assumed every one of those customers would buy two army-builder packs, it would still be low. 

10 hours ago, buttheadsmate said:

In a nutshell Peter Porker deserves better than being a 'micro-Mate' . 

".......a micro-figure in pretty much every deluxe box set... "  By quoting you ,my intention is not to 'bait' but that is simply not reality . I know we have a 'Herbie' & no issues with that ... Scott Lang's head is Scott Lang's head , they're not micro-Mates .

Walgreens ....yeah Walgreens.... wave 3, had an *Itsy Bitsy Spider-Man . I know the Deadpool/Spidey story where Itsy Bitsy is featured but Itsy Bitsy Spider-Man is based on ........who actually ???  Anybody, please show me an image of who this character is based on ?

That said ,that obscure *Minimate , was surely the obvious base for a Peter Porker Minimate.  Peter Parker is 5'10" whilst Peter Porker is 5'2" .....according to 'Marvel database' . There are several Marvel Minimates that portray Marvel characters much smaller than 5'2" so WTF is the issue ?  Please ?

 

-baitheadsmate

Holy crap! I'm sorry, sir, I had no idea you felt so strongly about Spider-Ham. I only had one issue of Spider-Ham at a very young age, but I've been reading the new books to my son and he loves them! I guess I'm used to you being a connoisseur of the figures more than the source material. (Red FF costumes aside.)

As far as height goes, I did the same Google search you must have and found the two sites that said 5'2" -- Marvel.com and Comicvine. The Marvel website is... not 100% accurate in all things. If there is a different unit of foot measurement in his universe, one in which feet are smaller and he is a slightly shortish average adult man, then Spider-Ham may very well be 5'2". But if you put him next to the real Spider-Man, in any universe (including the animated one, I should add) he is only a few human feet tall. 

We went with the smaller size because that seemed to, visually, be the most accurate, and because like I said, we were trying to reduce the price of each set from $50 to $40, which meant one less poseable figure. We still had room for a Micro-mate though, so voila Spider-Ham.

As far as Deluxe Box Sets, we have made three:

1. FF with HERBIE (82)

2. Young Avengers with Lucky (83)

3. Daredevil with nothing (84)

I guess the What If Zombie set AND the Commemorative Avengers Set are technically deluxe boxed sets, so if I were to include them in that list, then yes, only two out of five (now three out of six with Ham) sets will have had micro-Mates. My mistake.

And Itsy Bitsy Spider-Man is also known as Chibi Spider-Man, and was used in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon whenever he was imagining himself in a certain situation, I believe. I'm pretty sure this is a screen grab:

But they ALSO did an episode where everyone on the squad was turned into a chibi, and it looked like this:

Yes, knowledge of their existence would certainly help. I do my best every day, sending samples to influencers, submitting to gift guides, even print advertising. There is a lot of Joe product out there,  and there is about to be more, in addition to McFarlane I just saw an import company (!) Is doing a line.  It's getting ridiculous. 

Pulse was supposed to offer some for Joe June, not sure what happened. They may prefer new items, I'd love for them to take an exclusive, but not sure they're interested to that extent. 

We are looking at a new initiative that may or may not pan out. Could bring some unmade characters to stores, but we'll see. 

8 hours ago, buttheadsmate said:

To clarify that remark ....no articulation or swappable parts .....Minimates are to be known from now on as Inanimates ?

Pathetic ,absolutely pathetic .

I cannot remember ever being "baited" by BHM, so I assume there is some deep sarcasm going on here. We've been doing a micro-figure in pretty much every deluxe box set -- I forgot to mention Lucky! Daredevil did not get one, but I don't know what we would have included. 

Ham is a micro-Mate like HERBIE or Uni. No articulation or swappable parts. Sorry. We went down to five poseable figures to bring the price down to 40.