Star Trek - Reincarnated from the Genesis Planet!

[DSTZach]

There was also some fan questioning of the need for more TOS looks, to be fair. But I think the proposed line-up made the most sense for this calendar year. Other past Trek lines have hurt Trek toy sales across the board.

[cylonchaney]

I wonder how many of us hoarded Scotty for red shirt army building (like I did) and if that affects his availability now?

I likely wouldn't buy more TOS mates just because of how few new characters I'd get and how many re-dos I'd have to buy. Next-Gen on the other hand ...

[Mystery Man]

I hoarded all the crew members and am still buying 'em to this day. I'd be happy to buy more of the same crew members if we also got some neat aliens we didn't get before. 

[Captain Paco]

I wish I could find some Scotty minimates, I would like to get the red shirts.  I got three Scotty mates and I made one into a Mirror Scotty and one into a Dress Uniform Scotty with a kilt.  I somehow (TM2 Dinobot helped me it think) got two other Scotty Torsos and I made Lt. Kyle and Khan in the red uniform from Space Seed.  I would like to get a few more red TOS torsos to have a few more red shirts in my display.  Also wish I had another Janice Rand or two for some customs.  I wish they made Uhura in her gold uniform from the Pilot episode.  I could not afford to get lots of the Star Trek Minimates when they first came out in the 3" or 2" sizes.  And now I can't afford them for the after market prices.  I hoarded as many as I could get my hands on over the years but that was not very many.

Edited September 27, 2016 by Captain Paco

[MisterPL]

Retailer response was poor, as far as I am aware. And that was TOS crew in the TOS anniversary wearing the uniforms of the current movie crew. Not sure what interest there is in trying again with a whole new line-up for a different era and anniversary.

Maybe this will help:

 

Imagine only offering X-Men Minimates based on their first appearance. I'd expect retailers to get a little tired of those being solicited, even in an anniversary year. Now imagine a manufacturer reluctant to offer Minimates based on the Giant-Sized issue or the Jim Lee era or the All-New modern looks and characters. Don't blame X-Men when fans are clamoring for Wolverine and you keep offering Cyclops.

 

I personally don't need an anniversary to get jazzed about buying Minimates based on TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, or even TAS and TOS films since they're eras DST has barely touched, if at all. But I suspect retailers favor anniversaries because there's usually some kind of push from marketing in the form of promotions in publishing, home video, and merchandise. Maybe instead of offering the same Kirk for the fourth time, DST might want to try a crew-completing series for a show other than TOS. 

 

In short, there might be more "interest" if you try offering something different instead. After all, 2016 was the anniversary of Star Trek, not just TOS. And if you disagree, you can take that up with the studio.

 

 

[MisterPL]

18 minutes ago, Mystery Man said:

I hoarded all the crew members and am still buying 'em to this day. I'd be happy to buy more of the same crew members if we also got some neat aliens we didn't get before. 

 

I'd be down with TOS crew members if they came with alternate parts to make other crew members. Swap the heads and the rank stripes on the sleeves and your Scotty becomes a Lt. Leslie, a guy who appeared in 60 episodes! Pair that with an alien like the Salt Vampire and you've got an instant Red Shirt snack pack!

[fwoosheyman]

20 minutes ago, MisterPL said: Maybe this will help: Imagine only offering X-Men Minimates based on their first appearance. I'd expect retailers to get a little tired of those being solicited, even in an anniversary year. Now imagine a manufacturer reluctant to offer Minimates based on the Giant-Sized issue or the Jim Lee era or the All-New modern looks and characters. Don't blame X-Men when fans are clamoring for Wolverine and you keep offering Cyclops. I personally don't need an anniversary to get jazzed about buying Minimates based on TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, or even TAS and TOS films since they're eras DST has barely touched, if at all. But I suspect retailers favor anniversaries because there's usually some kind of push from marketing in the form of promotions in publishing, home video, and merchandise. Maybe instead of offering the same Kirk for the fourth time, DST might want to try a crew-completing series for a show other than TOS.  In short, there might be more "interest" if you try offering something different instead. After all, 2016 was the anniversary of Star Trek, not just TOS. And if you disagree, you can take that up with the studio. +1000!

[TENIME_art]

I...didn't even think about army building Scotties. D@mn it.

[MisterPL]

I think Scotty was meant to be an army builder. He was released twice in the first series, once with McCoy and again with Dress Uniform McCoy as a chase figure.

[Mystery Man]

2 hours ago, MisterPL said:

 

I'd be down with TOS crew members if they came with alternate parts to make other crew members. Swap the heads and the rank stripes on the sleeves and your Scotty becomes a Lt. Leslie, a guy who appeared in 60 episodes! Pair that with an alien like the Salt Vampire and you've got an instant Red Shirt snack pack!

 

YES! That idea is the best ever. And a head for Lt. Kyle as well!

[DSTZach]

Nobody needs to tell me that it's the anniversary of the whole series. Our 2016 Trek releases are/were movie Khan Select, Counselor Troi and Borg Queen Femme Fatales, a re-engineered NX-01 ship and a new TOS Romulan Bird of Prey ship. That spans the franchise pretty well.

And I personally think a TNG MM series would do great, as that is where the nostalgia is now for your average consumer, but I by no means think TOS has been saturated, if we had one TOS Scotty release in the 2"scale 7 years ago and no one can find it. Kirk is the only one who's been repeated 4-5-6 times, with the ships and the Captains line. Can people also not find Chekov, Sulu, Uhura? Everyone else, it seems like there is still demand, except maybe Spock, who got hit hard in the previous MM series.

If we had the new movie license, I am sure you would have gotten a new wave for each movie, no problem, but we don't, and TOS is the closest thing.

 

[Mystery Man]

The original Sulu/Chekov is hard to come by, just as Scotty is. On Amazon seller I just splurged ($40) for a Sulu/Chekov... only to get the variant from them instead and now be embroiled in a discussion about their false advertising and my refund. 

[SCW]

Does "retailers" include places like Entertainment Earth? They seem like the perfect place for a set like this. I mean, they're selling 50th anniversary Weeble Wobbles and crap, you mean to say they wouldn't bite on a Minimate set?!

[MisterPL]

On June 18, 2015 at 1:04 PM, DSTZach said:

Next year is the 50th of TOS.

 

 

 

On June 18, 2015 at 1:33 PM, MisterPL said:

Next year is the 50th anniversary of the entire Star Trek franchise.

 

 

Glad you agree on the Next Generation sets. I'll go ahead and Ask DST for a more comprehensive shot at that era. I suggest others do the same.

[DSTZach]

That was a long time ago, before the full range of promotions had been revealed, and our actual range of products had been finalized. BUT regardless of what eras they are celebrating, and we are manufacturing, the emphasis is on 1966, based on the Spock profiles and ship restorations and vault releases. You go to TrekToy, PL, you know Trek fans still want TOS stuff just as much as they want Voyager stuff. But retailer are cagey, and sales is cagey, and I do not know what we will get as far as Minimates go.

 

[youbastards]

15 minutes ago, DSTZach said:

That was a long time ago, before the full range of promotions had been revealed, and our actual range of products had been finalized. BUT regardless of what eras they are celebrating, and we are manufacturing, the emphasis is on 1966, based on the Spock profiles and ship restorations and vault releases. You go to TrekToy, PL, you know Trek fans still want TOS stuff just as much as they want Voyager stuff. But retailer are cagey, and sales is cagey, and I do not know what we will get as far as Minimates go.

 

Minimates box set of 'The Cage' confirmed!

[MisterPL]

14 minutes ago, DSTZach said:

...you know Trek fans still want TOS stuff just as much as they want Voyager stuff.

 

That's my point. DST has offered a great deal of TOS Minimates to collectors who may be just as interested in buying stuff from other eras. And when it comes to action figures of any style, it seems like one of the first things skeptical Trek fans want to know is if the entire bridge crew will be offered. It was true with Art Asylum's Enterprise line, it was true with Playmates' most recent Star Trek movie figures, and it appears to be true with Minimates. While the last assortment certainly delivered an entire crew, ultimately is was a lack of interest from retailers that sunk that ship.

 

But I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir. What collectors need to do, as always, is let retailers know there's demand for product based on the rest of the franchise. I'm sure if just one key retailer came to DST and said, "Hey, maybe it's time for a TNG assortment," it'd be more likely to at least be solicited even if it ends up being cancelled.

 

By the way, what's the deal with Previews? It's my understanding that DST could solicit a TNG-based assortment through the catalog and it'd essentially be up to consumer pre-orders to determine if it's actually viable. Is the relationship with Diamond Comics Distributors that difficult?

 

8 minutes ago, youbastards said:

Minimates box set of 'The Cage' confirmed!

 

You beat me to it. 

[DSTZach]

Previews is for retailers. Consumers CAN use a form to order through their local store, but I do not believe Diamond actually processes individual consumer orders. So it still relies on retailer orders, including a small number of consumers who take pre-orders into their own hands rather than using an online retailer. I'm always telling people to get their box sets that way. Assortments are tricky if you only want one set.

Neither DST nor Diamond Comics want to list products that they think won't sell a lot of items. If it sells okay, you maybe break even. If it sells poorly, you have to cancel it because it's unproduceable. No one wants to be in a habit of offering things and then not making them. We already have that reputation with Trek fans. TOS Minimates never even made it into the catalog, because in-person response was poor. And that was a full crew! (Quiet, Chapel/Rand fans. You too, M'Bengaphiles.)

 

Edited September 30, 2016 by DSTZach

[DSTZach]

Only because I'm fairly certain it will not happen any time soon, I'll just leave this here:

Oh, and this is supposedly out, or soon will be:

Edited December 9, 2016 by DSTZach

[Mysterious Stranger]

Its been mentioned, but the Mega Bloks Trek stuff works well with Minimates too.

[DSTZach]

Those had been discussed extensively, and fairly recently, but I hadn't seen the Trivial Pursuit shuttle mentioned, and it looks like a good scale, with a possibly fun play pattern.

The Pin Mates set may have been discussed (although I never really thought long and hard about that line name before), but I saw someone post that it was available.

[youbastards]

Yeah, i always wondered if DST legal was concerned about that name, same with these:

 

[Mysterious Stranger]

I've seen that Trivial Pursuit shuttle. Its a good scale for Minimates I think. There doesn't appear to be anything going on on the inside but for a dio prop it would make for a fun background piece.

The Pin Mates bridge has been discussed before too, though not as much as the Mega Bloks stuff. Personally I think the Pin Mates bridge is a little too simple in its design to be used with Minimates. But its a great option especially for younger kids who might not do so well with the complicated construction of the Mega Bloks bridge but still need a bridge for their Minimates.

[MisterPL]

I watched For the Love of Spock on Netflix and not only were DST's Select and cloth goods figures shown but a Minimate appeared as well.

 

If you're a fan of Leonard Nimoy, be sure to check it out.

 

 

[hellpop]

Mega Bloks, including Star Trek, are on sale on Amazon today.  Transporter set is 10 bucks.  Unfortunately, the Bridge set doesn't seem to be included, as it's still about $50.