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TMNT Minimates - it's official!


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Went to the one K-mart that is left anywhere within 30 minutes of my house and of course found no minimates. But I did find two boxes of Iron Man 3 mini mugs. OH JOY! they are only about 2 years old. wallbash.gif

Seriously, next time DST go for a chain like Walgreens, Wegmens, etc not a chain that is now best known for closing stores on a daily basis and being poorly stocked.

Fwoosheyman, does the Fwoosh know that you use their name? Just curious.

If you think we're starting at the bottom and working our way to the top, I assure you that is not the case. I assume the sales team calls Walgreen's and invites them to look at our offerings on a regular basis, just like we do Walmart and Target. A number of chains were interested in the TMNT line initially, but as is often the case, not all interest leads to actual sales. Kmart and TRU said "yes," so those are locations that they would not have been in otherwise. They did not steal spots from larger retailers. I need to see if Hastings is getting in the specialty assortment, as well.

Now, I do NOT know if the sales team called Wegman's. I have lived in (or 15 minutes from) New England almost my entire life, and I have never heard of Wegman's, or it has never made an impression on me if I saw one. Although that William Wegman does certainly take some awesome photos of Weimaraners.

Sorry if you don't like Kmart, but they seem to have gotten their inventory out fairly quickly in this case. We wouldn't walk away from a deal to get Minimates into more locations (and the hands of more present and future Minimates collectors) across the country just because some locations are closing, or a chain is not as arbitrarily "good" as other chains. I don't even know what Kmart's status was when we closed the deal months and months ago.

And the line is not exclusive to there -- only a single variant and an supporting character are. If you guys are chasing the Mutagen Mikey, then I'm sorry for the inconvenience. If you guys are chasing the Kraang, it'll come out in other forms eventually. If you just want TMNT Mates nownownow, then they'll be everywhere fairly shortly. Good luck.

Edited by DSTZach
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Went to the one K-mart that is left anywhere within 30 minutes of my house and of course found no minimates. But I did find two boxes of Iron Man 3 mini mugs. OH JOY! they are only about 2 years old. wallbash.gif

Seriously, next time DST go for a chain like Walgreens, Wegmens, etc not a chain that is now best known for closing stores on a daily basis and being poorly stocked.

Now, I do NOT know if the sales team called Wegman's. I have lived in (or 15 minutes from) New England almost my entire life, and I have never heard of Wegman's, or it has never made an impression on me if I saw one. Although that William Wegman does certainly take some awesome photos of Weimaraners.

Wegmans are known for being in New York (especially the Syracuse/Rochester area). I'm not suprised that so many of you have never heard of it. Great grocery store.

Back on topic...I still haven't found any TMNT Minimates at K-Marts (and there are a ton near me).

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I found these over the weekend and grabbed three packs. I ended up with Shredder, a Foot Soldier, and Don. These are fun little mates; the unique arm and leg sculpts certainly push the envelope on the Minimate aesthetic, but in a not-unpleasant way. Nice work especially on the Shredder design!

Edited by Lobsterman
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I found these this afternoon in Burbank. Two things:

1- Really nice clean figures. I ended up with a foot soldier, Kraang, and Donatello. Very impressed.

2- K-Marts are really weird.

That's all.

Oh! Also, I found them not with the Turtle stuff, but jammed next to the Lego stuff. Just in case anyone's looking.

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I am just baffled by all this anti-KMart stuff. Should DST really be turning down opportunities to get their products into more stores? KMart's not my favorite place either, but I'm thrilled to see 'mates getting back into another big box retailer after so many years. Everyone needs to chill out; these will be available in plenty of places.

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Zach, DST plans to release how many characters per case will be sold? Can you tell us please? Specially for the specialty case (which Luke will receive, for example).

>Blind bag display has 18. I believe a strip does as well. TRU case should be 12 2-packs

I know most KMart stores are getting a strip, but I don't know if that includes stores actively clearing out inventory, if they in fact are closing that soon.

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear enough. I meant how many of each characters per case of 18. For example: 1 mutagen mikey, 2 leos, 2 donnies, 2 mikey, 3 raph, 1 shredder, 2 april, 2 footbot and 3 foot soldier.

Is there a right number or is it random?

So this is a question that will never have an answer?

Sorry to be repetitive but my friends and I don't live in the United States and our only reliable option is Luke's Toy Store , who also didn't know about this. It would be great to know exactly about this, if there is an exact number, so we can buy the right number of sets. Here we can hardly trade with those who live in another country and the minimates market here is practically zero. It's insane to trade an action figure that costs $6 and pay $20 or more for shipping.
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I am just baffled by all this anti-KMart stuff. Should DST really be turning down opportunities to get their products into more stores? KMart's not my favorite place either, but I'm thrilled to see 'mates getting back into another big box retailer after so many years. Everyone needs to chill out; these will be available in plenty of places.

From my own point of view with my own situation it matters not who sells what where . As a member here, I'm out on a limb , geographically & demographically in almost every respect so you'll perhaps forgive the perspective I have on certain subjects .

K-Mart or any-Mart is a great place to sell Minimates IMHO but I guess I am influenced by what I read here about the company & it doesn't sound too good. At this point I should add that my KMart TMNT 'strips' of 'mates are in safe hands ready to be shipped to me ...I'm not bragging..... it's just necessary to say so...otherwise my post may sound like sour-grapes .

My frustration lies elsewhere & revolves around my pre-order for the LCS versions .........I pre-ordered more than one case as soon as I heard they were available . I'm not pointing a finger anywhere but I genuinely don't recall anyone mentioning that TRU would have 'similar' for sale in 2-packs at some later juncture ......2 packs that aren't blindly packaged ,2 packs that will allow me choose the product I'm seeing & pay for it . I personally was unaware of that ....it seems like I might have been the only person in the dark on that one. If I had of known then I perhaps wouldn't have pre-ordered the LCS cases, I'd have just gone up the ebay road for the chases.

I spent hours on here discussing the pitfalls of blind packaging......waste of time wasn't it ? I'm not going to say I was right in every respect but does anybody here truly think that it is a good thing that just about everybody reading this thread knows that the chase figures for the KMart TMNT 'mates are located in the same position on each strip ? It's only a good thing if you get to these items first before everybody else does . Blind means blind ....we come back to my ol' chestnut about a level-playing field for all not just for the 'informed'. How long will it be before these new KMart customers suss out that the chase they are hunting ....the one depicted on the packaging....ain't even in the selection ? Whatever the reason however innocent the mistake......that is just plain wrong .

So...... soon my KMart items will be on their way to me & then sometime in the future my LCS versions will arrive ......by then I'm fairly confident that a method will be disclosed here of how to feel those packs up for chases.

Perhaps I'll sell off the dross sealed in their blind bags ...just like everybody else will . Finally (maybe sooner rather than later) the TRU sets will be available & I know which sets I'll be exclusively buying ,just as everybody else will .

edit :grammar blush.png

Edited by buttheadsmate
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personally, I'm as impatient as the next guy, but in this case I am more than willing to wait for the Toys R Us releases, to make sure I know what I'm getting. Now, if I happen to stumble onto a blind bag Krang sometime before series to make it to Toys R Us, I will probably pick him up. But for everyone that is available at Toys R Us, I am more than happy to just wait for the two packs

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The Mutagen figure was an error, as stated. Wrong or not, I certainly hope that someone searching for a translucent green Raphael is happy with a translucent green Mikey, but we'll probably hear more about that when the specialty assortment hits.

I don't know that TRU was a lock when we solicited the specialty assortment, but we don't usually announce pre-sold retailer exclusives in advance anyway. I do it with Marvel stuff so people can see different characters, but I doubt we would make a formal announcement about a packaging variation.

I let people know about Mutagen Leo a long time ago, but I first said two-packs for sure around NYCC, here and in our panel. I don't know how you missed it, BHM, I was surprised when you expressed confusion.

Edited by DSTZach
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I'm not going to labour the point but when you mention that 2-packs were announced at NYCC ...... you mean October 9th-12th 2014 ? Like ....er....3 weeks ago ? I've had my LCS pre-order in for months .

So I'm the only person here that [prior to that announcement 3 weeks ago] had thought [for months] that TRU was having blind bags as well ??

Amazing ..................

...........................I'm losing it 'big time' aren't I ?

no.gif

Edited by buttheadsmate
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I actually thought tru would have blind bags until Nuffield as well, but I was ok with that since I could take my time feeling up bags and I don't have kmarts.

I also have been under the impression that Kmart and comics shops would have a case of 18, and not a strip of 12. Though I guess specialty could still have 18.

Edit - Zach confirmed in mass effect thread specialty gets a box of 18.

Edited by arnim zola
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