dockingbay97 Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Hey guys. Long time no see. If this thread needs to be moved, please do so. Not sure where to post it. I have been lucky enough to see so many first shot minimates they have unfortunately become numb to me. I am talking about countless trips to cons, toy fairs and the NY DST showroom and even the AA office before that. I have become spoiled by most standards. But I have also become curious. As an avid collector of far too many toy lines I appreciate the collectibility of "prototype" toys. I know while all of it is hard to come by and can be rather expensive, some toys lines can be particularly hard to get stuff from. How much minimates prototype stuff is there out there? I have been curious out of all those countless hand painted first shots, how many made it out to collections and how many just hit the trash. I am not asking anyone to out their what they may have in the collection if they don't want to. Just a general idea. But in the spirit of sharing, I have one. A wave 8 Gaijin Wolverine II. Looks pretty much like the final version but has no claws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM2 Dinobot Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 You mean... test shots? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dockingbay97 Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 (edited) Yeah, sure. There are a lot of different names for items from different points in the process. Just trying to make conversation. Edited March 1, 2013 by dockingbay97 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBT! Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Those are usually referred to as paint master Prototypes. Hand painted ( A large number of them by the talented and sadly departed Eddie Wires.) As far as I know 3 of each were usually made, 1 for the factory, 1 for AA/DST offices and 1 for the archives. I have been lucky in that I have perhaps a dozen of them, including wave 5 Capt America. As for how many made it to to collectors, if the stories are true, very few, for starters they'e pretty fragile as the paint will flake or chip. I've also heard stories that range from Chuck was very worried about marvel hearing about unapproved stuff in the wild or that someone once took a bunch of them and pissed him off but it seems DST have been very strict on what has been let loose in the wild. I guess at some point people will talk value, I don't think they're worth much but are a nice rarity or trinket to own. T. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dockingbay97 Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 That's cool. Glad to hear there are some out there. And yes, having an original Eddie Wires paint is a huge upside to having one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttheadsmate Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 I have a few early Minimate pre-production items which are nice to have but I often wonder what the hell I'll actually do with them ? Probably the finest piece I have is the Spidey-Max which is essentially the finished article & is truly beautiful to behold in the flesh .........the trouble is it is way too delicate to display anywhere outside of a museum* Before 'mates there were palZ & I have well over a hundred prototypes of most of the various characters that were made & in some circumstances not made. Ol' Corndog must have thought it was his birthday when I first became aware of palZ & I'm not naive enough (now) to believe that they are uber-special to anybody else these days but they are pretty awesome as a collection. Nice to hear from you dockingbay97 ,you should drop in more *The Minimate Museum ? Now there's an idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdyCarter Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 someone once took a bunch of them and pissed him off but it seems DST have been very strict on what has been let loose in the wild. Wouldn't suprise me if my dozen or so (that have since been spread round the community) that came via Mr White were the ones that upset Chuck. FWIW I believe I still have the early Cable/Bishop ones, everything else ended up with others, including on Black Cat that got stolen by the USPS, thankfully I had 2 and the second one did make it to TM2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youbastards Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 I've got a decent collection of them too, but my favorites are the ones that differ from the final version of the product. We don't see prototypes of any form escape DST's clutches much anymore (except for that FI Iron Man TBT got recently, I still need to get the story behind that score ), so the ones I have are pretty special to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanester Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 The hand painted paint masters are great. I have several that I have gotten from just about every range of source. Very fragile and I'd imagine only worth something to a collector. I was told that there are usually three paint samples created for a figure intended for production, so there should be at least three of each out there somewhere. I have seen some that I own, residing in other collections, so I believe its valid. Rare, but only of interest to certain collectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke314pi Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 This thread has a lot of paint masters pics. The only one I have is Battle Scarred Thing: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM2 Dinobot Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 (edited) someone once took a bunch of them and pissed him off but it seems DST have been very strict on what has been let loose in the wild. Wouldn't suprise me if my dozen or so (that have since been spread round the community) that came via Mr White were the ones that upset Chuck. FWIW I believe I still have the early Cable/Bishop ones, everything else ended up with others, including on Black Cat that got stolen by the USPS, thankfully I had 2 and the second one did make it to TM2 For which I am eternally grateful. Although I'm not sure if it's USPS to blame or the English postal system. Either way it fills me with a slow seething sadness and rage. :/ Plus every package's I've gotten from you has lacked a return address. Why do you do that, anyways? I keep pestering Zach for that Lara Croft paint master... Edited March 1, 2013 by TM2 Dinobot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dockingbay97 Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 Yes, it is a shame someone not be named got well, let's call it a little greedy and dipped, double dipped and triple dipped into the proto pile - or save from the trash - depending on who you listen to. Either way that and some other shady behavior definitely locked down the gate. Shame really because if they are getting trashed, it would be a true crime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdyCarter Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 someone once took a bunch of them and pissed him off but it seems DST have been very strict on what has been let loose in the wild. Wouldn't suprise me if my dozen or so (that have since been spread round the community) that came via Mr White were the ones that upset Chuck. FWIW I believe I still have the early Cable/Bishop ones, everything else ended up with others, including on Black Cat that got stolen by the USPS, thankfully I had 2 and the second one did make it to TM2 For which I am eternally grateful. Although I'm not sure if it's USPS to blame or the English postal system. Either way it fills me with a slow seething sadness and rage. :/Plus every package's I've gotten from you has lacked a return address. Why do you do that, anyways? I keep pestering Zach for that Lara Croft paint master... Pretty sure they had return addresses, to the degree packages ever do from me. Usually on the back there is my house number, postcode and country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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