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SDCC 2013-Discussion Thread


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Kubricks ARE the closest thing to Minimates on the market today.

I don't disagree with most of what you say, but Kubricks as a line seems pretty dead. Last I checked there wasn't much on the horizon at all, Kubrick-wise, apart from a few re-issues or repaints. So I don't know if we have a Kubrick presence "on the market today" to speak of. We still get a fair amount of Be@rbricks, which are Kubrick-like figures all sharing the same mold with different paint apps. I'm guessing it's an issue of cost-savings on Medicom's part, though the Be@rs may also appeal to "urban/vinyl" type collectors.
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Perhaps next year I will stay home from SDCC , and spend the time with my family, or do what other companies directors do and not spend any time at our booth rather than spend 12 hour days there doing my best in a long week to answer everyones questions. I certainly find that preferable to having 4 minute conversations taken out of context and splashed on forums. Or perhaps the one asking the question could spend more time with me rather than rush off to another booth and have fun speculating. I've been doing this line with my team for over 10 years now, all the others have come and for the most part gone. Absolutely we have a great team and lots of great fans but I must be doing something right. I am not perfect. Isn't it always the companies fault not the lines fault from the fans pov? Next year I will consider long and hard having free discussions with fans and maybe a few of them would prefer to talk at the next SDCC with Mike Horn about Palz or Randy about the NECA block figures. Thanks to all that came to Taste on Wed. all were invited and I was there until 12:30 talking to any fans that came over and thank to anyone that spent time at our booth or panels or took the time out to say Hi...

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Thanks for posting Chuck, but please don't let one bad apple spoil the bunch. I haven't had a chance to meet you yet, but I do appreciate the candor both you and Zach use when interacting with us here, and in person.

Seconded. Even if I don't always like the answer, I love that there is one. DST is one of the few toy companies that seems to really interact with fans in more than a superficial way and there does seem to be an uncommon desire to make each and every offering the best that it can be.

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I agree that what everyone at DST does is greatly appreciated (as always, thanks Chuck!) and I always hope what I say around here doesn't come across as contrary to that. I still have my opinions, but I will always go back to the fact that I don't make my living off of making toys so my opinion of what decisions are made really means nothing. If I didn't agree with most of what was done by DST then I wouldn't be as huge of a supporter of the company as I am. Hopefully I haven't said anything that says differently or seems unappreciative.

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I have met and talked to Chuck a couple times, and hope to again this fall in New York, and he's always been very generous with his time. I've no doubt that will continue. I think some of what Monkeycrumb was saying has been taken out of context a little bit, by myself as much as anyone. I can tell from his posts that he's a passionate guy, and I think that might have come across a bit more critical then he meant. Anyway, I think we're all very happy with where Minimates are; the brand feels really strong and stable, certainly proof that you're doing something right, Chuck.

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Here's my two part post.

Chuck,
It's been a while! - Although Zach is almost filling your shoes admirably. I Hope life is treating you well & you're not too exhausted from San Diego?
Please don't take anything you've read too much to heart, you know SDCC is a crazy house and from what I can tell getting worse every year, people always have short attention spans there and to be on the way to this panel or that giveaway line. I for one always appreciated that the Diamond booth was one of those places where the staff would take time to talk, even if I wasn't some bigwig from TV or Hasbro exec.

Everyone else,
Something must have stung for Chuck to make a post like that, and that makes me a little sad. I like Chuck, He's always been approachable & mostly friendly (when he's not trying to control a line of people who are getting unruly.).
Talking to him at conventions can be interesting, informative and entertaining, you just have to interact in a way that lets him open up a little and actually listen to both what he says and also what he intentionally doesn't say.
(Look for the 'Chuck twinkle' in his eye, it's a dead giveaway)

I don't always agree with him ( I still don't believe that series 4 of Trek killed the line but it was because wave 3 was clogging shelves at retail because of bad character choices & no one wanted to order more with wave 3 still hanging around.) but I do realize & respect that the man has been in charge long enough to put out over 50 waves of a toyline through a recession and that the brand is stronger now than it's ever been. So must know what he's doing even if there is the odd blip.

T.

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Chuck, you're great. You know what you're doing and we don't. Anyone who argues that point is a liar. Are you perfect? No way. Are we? Heavens no. But understand this. You claim you're still here. You're still standing. And rightfully so. But we are still following 10 years later. Because we like what we see. And if we didn't poke and prod and speculate, we wouldn't care. We love you, and we love Minimates. So next time you feel discouraged, don't you dare go anywhere, because we are your biggest fans. smile.png

Edited by TM2 Dinobot
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Chuck! Forget SDCC next year. Come to C2E2! I was really looking forward to meeting you there this year. Zach was great at C2E2, but the other guys were ho hum; your passion was greatly missed at the DST booth.

As far as the info shared from SDCC, a lot of what I read that was supposedly said, seemed more like a way of saying "we don't have the license as much as we might like the license." I am sure that many of the suggested properties have been pursued, but rejected for whatever reason (owner backing out, cost prohibitive, etc.). Depending on the passion behind those properties or the time/effort/money spent investigating them, I could easily see the lack of a license being a sore spot for the folks at DST. And this might translate to some of the reserved comments made by those in charge; while keeping a professional demeanor. It can be very hard to answer the same question 10 or more times in a day and maintain a level composure when you are just as passionate as the fans.

While I do not know what Chuck is thinking when planning lines, I appreciate most of the lineups and offerings DST has. I can imagine that as a fan of the product he produces, he has to walk a very fine line about what he says regarding why certain lines will or will not be viable. He never knows when a property may become available and an offhand comment he might have made at a convention could kill DST's chances of acquiring the line. Is there interest in PotA? Probably. Could DST make a profit with it at this point? Debatable. Is Chuck going to say "we can't make money on this line, so we aren't going to do it"? No, because a year from now, they may be asked to make product and what company will come to someone and say "oh, even though you don't think you can make a profit, we want you to make product of this line." It is better to have an alternate reason as to why a line is not feasible, one that could be turned around it the time is right.

Hopefully I articulated this well enough, and what I said makes some sense. Typing on my iPod means that I don't get my thoughts out as fast as I think them. :)

Thank you Chuck, and Zach, for the open, candid, insight to the product we all love! Please continue to share your thoughts with us , as we share our thoughts with you. Together is the only way the Minimate juggernaut will continue for another ten years! Thanks for listening.

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We're going to bring them to every show, and we're looking into making them available online. I'll keep you posted.

And I went back and read over Monkeycrumb's recounting of his convo with Chuck, and everything Chuck says makes sense. You can add "...But never say never!" onto the end of it, if you like, because things change all the time, but I don't see how anybody can question Chuck's math. The man knows the numbers.

NECA's Pulp Geoms line is not anything to be concerned about, but a broad line-up of PoTA Kubricks absolutely is. And Universal Monsters has a LOT of tooling -- I don't see how anybody could say they don't. Putting completely different characters in both outlets would have increased tooling costs significantly.

If you don't want the answers, don't ask the questions.

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I've often found myself swimming against the tide on this forum but I don't recall there being any rules about offering an opinion that the majority might not agree with .....even if it's a misguided opinion & reported out of context with what may or may not have been said at a Convention between a punter (collector) & the corporate head of DST.

"I'm done with this thread ....." & "perhaps next year I'll stay at home instead "

C'mon fellas no.gif

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