Star Trek - Reincarnated from the Genesis Planet!

[monkeycrumb]

He reminds me of Scorpius from Farscape (and yes, I'd buy the hell outta Farscape Minimates!)

[Liney]

Yeah, from a collector's POV, I would love to see extra heads to make extra characters. Otherwise we clearly aren't gonna get some of those characters. Not sure I see DST doing it, but. . .

I'm not trying to be a pain, but even from a collectors POV, you would still buy two sets in order to display both characters. So wouldn't that be the same as having a variant really?

[monkeycrumb]

Yeah, from a collector's POV, I would love to see extra heads to make extra characters. Otherwise we clearly aren't gonna get some of those characters. Not sure I see DST doing it, but. . .

I'm not trying to be a pain, but even from a collectors POV, you would still buy two sets in order to display both characters. So wouldn't that be the same as having a variant really?

No, because they would be equally available in case assortments.

Besides, you could use the extra heads with more packs if you choose to. Worf can be used with the wave 1 Picard *and* Sisko to create his DS9 and his First Contact uniform (Same for Geordi). So, you ask, what to do with the extra body if you bought three? There are still a bunch of head-swap QC's to be made, and if all else fails, lots of folks want extras for background security officers, etc. There are the extra heads that came with other releases like SHIELD agents or the MAX line.

It's far better to get extra parts. If you bought 2 packs, you then have an extra Geordi & Worf head to make other customs with, whereas if you wanted to make them you'd need to buy 4 packs instead of two.

Look at the math:

TNG 7 main crew, 2 main looks = 14 figures (remember, we're talking *minimum*)

DS9 9 main crew, 2 main looks = 18 figures

YOY 10 main crew

ENT 7 main crew

TOS 7 main crew, 2 main looks (incl. movies)

Total for *just* the main cast, not counting any of the cool aliens or supporting characters, and you have 56 unique characters. Then, there's the supporting characters I've mentioned (Ro, Shelby, Barclay, etc), the unique sculpted characters, the alien army builders and the "fun" unique character designs like Locutus, episode-specific variants like QPid, Mirror Universe, etc, etc.

Not everyone wants them all. But some people prefer one uniform variant over the other. This isn't Marvel. I hope they go for a long time, but even Zach was not sure we'd get all the crews completed. So packing extra heads makes a ton of sense.

No matter how far this line goes, there's going to be a ton of unmade designs. For those using quick-customs, this is actually the cheapest method possible while getting more unique designs out there. A lot of these characters are difficult to customize from scratch as it is.

[Turtle]

Yeah, from a collector's POV, I would love to see extra heads to make extra characters. Otherwise we clearly aren't gonna get some of those characters. Not sure I see DST doing it, but. . .

I'm not trying to be a pain, but even from a collectors POV, you would still buy two sets in order to display both characters. So wouldn't that be the same as having a variant really?

I think the idea is that you would buy multiple sets. If there are only a certain number of slots available, and there are popular-ish characters in excess of that number, I would gladly buy two of the same set to get those extra characters. It's what DST is doing with the Nick Fury, Jr./SHIELD soldier set by including the head, hands, and shield as accessories to create Commander Rogers. I'll buy two of that set.

[groundhog7s]

If anything, offering two heads in a pack would make more sense from a sales standpoint. DST could get more money early from multiple sales of each wave without having to design, tool and market more product later on. Then if the line ends early, you've already made more money overall with every person that buys more of each pack. It's really a great plan that I hoped they were going to do if Trek had gone past the initial five waves it did. The two faced Cardassian was a great idea, but it was just too late.

Edited May 22, 2013 by groundhog7s

[monkeycrumb]

Also, DST has been very up front about their desire NOT to do variants. It actually hurt wave 3 with 2 Sareks to 1 Spock & Variant Spock, most buyers didn't want two Sareks.

Extra Heads Scenario: Worf & Geordi, Crusher & Troi by buying 2 packs

Variants Scenario: Worf or Geordi with 2 Crushers, for example. If you did both figures as variants, then thats an entirely new pack and messes up the case ratio alltogether.

[groundhog7s]

A better scenario is a main character with a background character head (Data with Barclay head, Riker with Wesley, etc) and then pack them with an alien that could be troop built. You can't convince me that wouldn't sell the line better and extend it's longevity.

[stack32]

How many aliens are there that people will actually want to army build though? Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, maybe Ferengi? After that you start getting into bland forehead makeup territory and I know I wouldn't be crazy about buying two of those to get the characters I actually want.

[MisterPL]

The Borg
Klingons
Romulans
The Hirogen
Tholians

The Breen

Ferengi

Species 8472

Remans

Andorians

Then there are Federation army builders like Starfleet Security in its myriad uniforms and Section 31.

Characters like The Suliban and Tellarites could benefit from the multi-head offering, too.

[stack32]

Well, I think you've made my point: half of those are going to be less-than-appealing to even serious fans. I would take the Breen though. And I'm not sure Borg work as a traditional army builder since drones all look a little different. With the right accessories you can probably make 2 or 3 different looks from one figure, but more would seem pretty repetitive.

[MisterPL]

I'm just trying to justify buying two of the same set to get characters like Data and Barclay.

Borg need a boxed set with different looks for drones and swappable parts. Bonus points for extra faces on the heads. You could build a hive with a set like that.

As for appeal, that's subjective. I'm a pretty serious fan who's also a collector and that's a truncated list of what I found appealing. Everyone's mileage will vary.

[stack32]

Appeal for an individual is certainly subjective, but I think we can make some pretty definitive judgements about the overall appeal of at least some characters or army builders to those who are likely to buy them. I'd love for the line to make it to the point where they need to use aliens like the Hirogen or Suliban, but they're unlikely to add a lot of appeal for many (most?) collectors.

[karamazov80]

The Breen[/url].

Ha! I just saw the episode a couple weeks ago with that guy in the Jem Hadar prison or whatever. That guy's actions made no sense, after he sits there ignoring everyone for the whole two episodes Looks like a race of Princess Leia ROJ disguised folks. Edited May 23, 2013 by karamazov80

[DSTZach]

If the first series does well, I would expect to see Series 2 follow the same structure. Key crew members, with key aliens. Not sure we'd give two heads with each body, though. Seems like a way to shorten the line, not make it last longer. All hypothetical, though. For now.

[groundhog7s]

If the extra head wasn't a main cast member I don't think it would be shortening the line, just being realistic. I'm optimistic, but I don't see this line lasting long enough to give us a Lt. Barclay, yet a Barclay head would go well with a Data and would make me buy 2 sets. Hypothetically. For now.

[UK Collector]

How many aliens are there that people will actually want to army build though? Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, maybe Ferengi? After that you start getting into bland forehead makeup territory and I know I wouldn't be crazy about buying two of those to get the characters I actually want.

One word....Tribbles

[DSTZach]

The Trouble With Tribbles Ent will supposedly come with a LOT of tribbles. We'll see.

[tones]

If the extra head wasn't a main cast member I don't think it would be shortening the line, just being realistic. I'm optimistic, but I don't see this line lasting long enough to give us a Lt. Barclay, yet a Barclay head would go well with a Data and would make me buy 2 sets. Hypothetically. For now.

I'll need at least 3 Barclay heads; TNG, First Contact and the A-Team

[karamazov80]

Not sure we'd give two heads with each body, though. Seems like a way to shorten the line, not make it last longer. All hypothetical, though. For now.

I figured that would be DST's stance. If you have multiple heads, then you close off potential sales options down the road. Having said that, considering that you have to release Star Trek stuff one wave at a time due to fears of low sales, I think the better move would be using multiple heads. For example, what are the real chances that you'll do O'Brien, Worf, Data, and Geordi figures in their tan suits considering that none of them are even on the radar yet? At least you could really boost sales in the short run, considering the apparently low expectations that the line would last. There are loads and loads of Star Trek characters yet to be released of course. Edited May 23, 2013 by karamazov80

[cylonchaney]

If we don't get a Worf and Data because we didn't buy enough Left-Handed-Battle-Ravaged-Mirror-Universe-Bread&Circuses-Kirk, please don't say it's because we didn't support the line.

[winkerbean]

More packaging pics up

http://www.artasylum.com/2013/05/star-trek-legacy-minimates-series-1-is-now-mint-on-picard/

[monkeycrumb]

Is it me, or did DST miss out by not having the screaming second Kirk head visible from the package? There will be people not aware of this series at all that will come across them and this I feel is a huge tipping-point for anyone on the fence about buying it.

Also: No tray shots of the TRU wave?? And only Janeway/Seven has the silver TRU sticker?

Edited May 23, 2013 by monkeycrumb

[Turtle]

Not sure we'd give two heads with each body, though. Seems like a way to shorten the line, not make it last longer. All hypothetical, though. For now.

I figured that would be DST's stance. If you have multiple heads, then you close off potential sales options down the road. Having said that, considering that you have to release Star Trek stuff one wave at a time due to fears of low sales, I think the better move would be using multiple heads. For example, what are the real chances that you'll do O'Brien, Worf, Data, and Geordi figures in their tan suits considering that none of them are even on the radar yet? At least you could really boost sales in the short run, considering the apparently low expectations that the line would last. There are loads and loads of Star Trek characters yet to be released of course.

My thoughts as well.

[monkeycrumb]

I figured it was a long shot asking for main crew. But with Zach not hopeful we'd get to the entire Enterprise or Voyager crew (DS9 too?), then this is a great idea. It would definitely help sales!

But I think I'd asked in a AskDST (maybe I'm remembering from MMMV instead) about lesser crew second heads, like Ro & Shelby or Barclay and that was met pretty well.

Honestly, the thought that rushing the main crews out might HURT future sales makes as much sense (to me) as saying the same about releasing Wolverine, Spiderman, Cap & Hulk too soon - look at how many refreshes we have!

One easy variation to do in the future is Yesterdays Enterprise crew - it's the same outfit mainly with a new belt. A good way to get future refreshes of core looks with removable parts for alternate looks. And the shows are full of them!

As I've said before, *whatever* is best for sales! I'm down for whatever they sell us. But I know I'm not enough to carry the full line. I hope they plan on giving us multiple waves, and I'll be there to buy a case or more of each one. As long as the TNG crew gets made in their season 3-ish iconic TV uniforms, I'm happy. And I really hope DS9 gets completed too. As a completionist, I also want to see the full Voyager & Enterprise crew too, but again, Zach seemed less than optimistic.

Even after the crews, there's tons of aliens and characters I want to see. So we really have a ways to go to see everything on most people's wishlists get made. IF Worf has a removable baldric, then how many people are army-building Jem Hadar? That Sisko would then be qc'ed into First Contact Worf, which frees up a slot for another character. So, if they do a main character pack of say Worf & Data, then extra Barclay & maybe O'Brien heads would be great! Because what's Barclay's chances of a standalone pack?

Plus, I really want to get the hardest to customize pieces made before the line ends. That includes (besides aliens) Troi's hairpiece, Worf's head & sash, Geordi's Visor, Data, Quark's Ferengi ears, Jadzia's hairpiece, O'Brien's hairpiece, Tuvok & T'Pol's hairpieces, and lower on my list but not others - Neelix & Phlox. Anything else, while I'd always prefer a production piece, can be customized with a decal and a pre-made part (Riker, Wesley, other crewmembers). In fact, I've mentioned Merriweather before, and seeing the new pics of Archer, I don't even see the captains "bars" on the chest, so he's an easy QC with IM3's Rhodey (since, you know, it came with an extra head!)

Extra pieces really help sales. And I hope all this doom & gloom is for nothing - I'd love to hear at SDCC that DST has more long-term goals for Star Trek Minimates!

[DSTZach]

If we don't get a Worf and Data because we didn't buy enough Left-Handed-Battle-Ravaged-Mirror-Universe-Bread&Circuses-Kirk, please don't say it's because we didn't support the line.

No, it would be because Trek fans in general didn't support the line. Remember, we need new collectors to make this work. The old collectors clearly weren't enough.

Kirk in a yellow shirt will be with absolutely zero doubt in my mind the most attractive Star Trek Minimate to a new collector, given the current film buzz. We probably should have done a Spock, but I imagine he'd anchor Series 2. And TWoK Kirk is from what is widely recognized as the greatest Trek movie, is a distinctively different look, and has his own ties to the current film (no spoilers). I honestly expect those two sets to sell the best.

The Captains are the stars of their respective shows, and aliens are the most visually interesting characters on the shows, so both are theoretically the most appealing to casual fans of the shows. Focus on one crew and you only get that show's fans. Touch on all crews and you get everybody's attention. Hypothetically.

Obviously, doing all the captains here leads to concerns over Series 2. Would we need a BD (or, preferably, Motion Picture or Tholian Web) Kirk to anchor the wave, Heaven forbid? Or is the second tier -- Spock, T'Pol, Tuvok, Data, Riker, Worf and Odo -- enough to support it? Do you do more aliens? Ferengi, Andorian, Klingon, Chiron, Talosian, Species 8472, another Borg? I have no idea. I look forward to finding out, and to seeing how the series sells overall.

Edited May 23, 2013 by DSTZach