TMNT Minimates - it's official!

[DSTZach]

Blue Kraang will be out in Series 2. Didn't say where.

Two of these specialty figures will NOT be available anywhere else. Turtles will be everywhere, the way you see them here.

[Minimate-Maniac]

Hopefully the K-Mart exclusive will be something I don't want. The two I know of are going out of buisness. Fingers crossed for a cool TRU exclusive since there are a litany of those near me.

[nate_studio]

This is so awesome! I can't wait to add Casey and Splinter to my collection. Keep making TMNT minimates, and I'll keep buying them.

I don't even mind getting the four turtles in each wave. I know it's probably unavoidable, so as long as we get different expressions I'm okay with it. I love the white-out eyes as an option (plus Mikey's happy eyes).

[tones]

Blue Kraang will be out in Series 2. Didn't say where.

Two of these specialty figures will NOT be available anywhere else. Turtles will be everywhere, the way you see them here.

I'd say Bradford is one with the other being Karai or Norman. no way Casey and Splinter are excluded. I really can't see it another Kraang army builder but then again Karai will sell to kids at TRU easy.

My guess for TRU pairings:

Leo/Karai

Raph/Casey

Mikey/Splinter

Donnie/blue Kraang

Mutagen Donnie/blue Kraang

Edited January 16, 2015 by tones

[SCW]

Will Bradford have his helmet?

[Romeo]

Hopefully the K-Mart exclusive will be something I don't want. The two I know of are going out of buisness. Fingers crossed for a cool TRU exclusive since there are a litany of those near me.

In 8 to 9 months all kmarts will be out of business. I'm hoping these come out before then.

[toy showdown]

I went hunting today, and I don't want to do that anymore.

Kmart is a store where you can find mid-aisle bowls of MLP, Spongebob, and Call of Duty blind bag figures. With some Lego Simpsons thrown in. But not the toy aisle, the paper goods aisle.

After an hour of hunting around, I asked customer service if they had any idea where I'd find bagged Ninja Turtle figure keychains on a hanging strip display.

"We don't really carry stuff like that."

Fair enough. Done with Kmart.

[Mnemosis]

Hahaha

I THINK your mistake was saying keychains, though. I bet no employee picks up on that detail

[DSTZach]

In 8 to 9 months all kmarts will be out of business. I'm hoping these come out before then.

On October 15, let's all get back together right here and compare notes.

Fair enough. Done with Kmart.

That's unfortunate. More cool Kmart stuff coming. Next time, ask FIRST, and see if they can look it up in their system. THEN look around.

[toy showdown]

There was a girl at customer service, a girl at a register, and a girl at electronics. No manager on-site.

Matt Doughty said in his Toy Break interview that his Kmart in Acton, MA was where he bought his first GI Joe in the 80's but it never has new stuff now. He knows the time is coming when it's going to be gone.

There was a lot of cool stuff on sinking ships back in the day. It's sitting on the ocean floor now.

You're sending us to a retailer that will never be better off tomorrow than it was today and no amount of marketing cheerleading will change that fact.

So have your little Kmart party. Not driving 30 minutes to hunt for one figure at a store that makes Goodwill look like Neiman Marcus.

[MisterMiracle]

Well we'll give you the benefit of the doubt since you're new here. Even with your issues with finding stuff at K-Mart, the members here are very good at helping other people out with hard to find stuff at cost + shipping. I had issues tracking down the Toys R Us exclusive Leo figure (even when the shelves were fully stocked here, it was never there and it was available online whenever I looked) but a bunch of people on here came through and were able to help out people like myself.

p.s. I can assure that no one is throwing a K-Mart party. Everyone knows that "Ain't no party like a Wal-Mart party cuz a Wal-Mart party don't stop!".

[youbastards]

So have your little Kmart party. Not driving 30 minutes to hunt for one figure at a store that makes Goodwill look like Neiman Marcus.

Here's the link to the UPC for the KMart packaging that ZACH posted in this very thread back in October. Simply call the store, give them the UPC and ask them to check stock. They can also tell you if any stores in your area have stock. Don't ever expect store employees to know what you are looking for, especially something that store has never carried before, but if you provide them as much info as you can, they will usually be willing to look for you. But hey, maybe condescension and sarcasm works too.

[Minimate-Maniac]

I understand the guys plight. I was gonna pass on the Kraang since there isn't a Kmart near me, but I passed one on a trip and decided to have a look. After rummaging through an unorganized toy section I was able to find a turtle. I asked three employees before I found one who would check the system without rudly blowing me off. That being said, I am glad minimates are being exposed to a broader audience. I hold no ill will towards DST since it isn't their fault that some Kmart locations are less than satisfactory.

[Valo487]

I agree that it's good to get 'mates into more chains and expose them to a wider audience, but I think sticking up for K-Mart is an uphill struggle. It makes perfect sense for DST to do business with them, more sales are more sales, but to continue to provide them with exclusives is baffling to me. Mine went out of business last year before the 'mate deal ever happened, and others are saying the same thing. Between the Mutagen variant and the Kraang, this partnership is creating unnecessary frustration.

[MisterMiracle]

I'm not sticking up for K-Mart as much as I am the people on here that are generous. I've had issues with finding Minimates at Toys R Us but I'm not slamming them and cursing their name every time a new wave is announced as being a TRU exclusive. People have issues with finding Minimates at K-mart (as well as Toys R Us), I get it. But instead of wasting all your time and money driving all over your state trying to find a K-Mart and hoping they are stocked AND that you can actually FIND the product, just ask politely on here if someone can help. I've only been here for maybe a couple of years now and people have helped me out with hard to find TMNT , Marvel and Walking Dead stuff and I have been able to return the favor too.

Edited January 19, 2015 by MisterMiracle

[Valo487]

I agree with you, we are lucky that we have a network that allows us to do that, the issue I have is that the average person on the street probably doesn't have that option. K-Mart should stay, the K-Mart exclusives not so much.

[winkerbean]

@Zach, do you know if retailers in the UK might be stocking these as on the packaging they have the CE with the Runcorn UK address on it?

[arnim zola]

Kmart exclusive need to/will be sticking around. It's the same as marvel legends chase figures back in the day.

The store chains aren't always confident a product will work for them, so exclusives offer them a chance to draw in New customers who while in the store may spend money in other areas or impulse buys. It was annoying then and it is now but the stores are only concerned with their numbers and not servicing a small piece of their customers with making things easy on them. We have a great network here to counter the machine but it is what it is.

I'm personally happy to have Kmart exclusives. I don't have any kmarts, but we get new mates we might not get otherwise, we get potential new customers to strengthen our lines longevity, and with our network on the verse we ghetto to further interact with great people while getting that satisfying feeling of making a positive difference.

[hailtotheking]

Kmart exclusive need to/will be sticking around. It's the same as marvel legends chase figures back in the day.

The store chains aren't always confident a product will work for them, so exclusives offer them a chance to draw in New customers who while in the store may spend money in other areas or impulse buys. It was annoying then and it is now but the stores are only concerned with their numbers and not servicing a small piece of their customers with making things easy on them. We have a great network here to counter the machine but it is what it is.

I'm personally happy to have Kmart exclusives. I don't have any kmarts, but we get new mates we might not get otherwise, we get potential new customers to strengthen our lines longevity, and with our network on the verse we ghetto to further interact with great people while getting that satisfying feeling of making a positive difference.

Well said, I would very much agree the increased number of characters is a benefit.

[Valo487]

If you guys say so.

[DSTZach]

Is Matt Doughty a retail trend analyst? I thought he was a toy designer, but I don't know what he used to do. If he has inside info on Kmart closings, then we should all be talking to him.

There are still 1000 Kmart locations in the US, give or take. Yes, it gets us more sales in the short term, but it also gets us a broader customer base for the brand, and the financial support needed to make a Series 2. Not every license is priced for just comic shop sales -- bigger deals require more sales, and with a finite number of specialty retailers, that means mass retailers. If they want an exclusive figure as a way to drive collector sales to their stores, which is usually a condition of this kind of deal, it is definitely not some arcane practice, and it is one that companies have done for literally decades at this point.

Impulse shoppers may not know what they're missing at other locations, but they'll certainly enjoy what they get at that one. And if they learn what they're missing, there are places for them to go online.

Many of our products are ONLY available in comic shops, or through online retailers. Is that unfair to people who don't have a comic shop in their town, and don't have a credit card? Kmart and TRU are just two more ways to get Minimates into their hands.

If there was not an Internet, I would feel bad for people, but there is -- whether you're trading with a friend on a forum, or paying shipping and handling instead of gas, or even paying a slight premium (nothing too crazy), there are ways to get whatever you want on the Internet.

@Zach, do you know if retailers in the UK might be stocking these as on the packaging they have the CE with the Runcorn UK address on it?

I do not know for sure, but ask your local retailer if they can order them. They might not.

[Valo487]

Yeah, but the comic store product also has Previews to tell us exactly when they're shipping, and despite the stigma attached to comic shop employees they actually tend to know the products they're selling. I will state again, having K-Mart onboard is a good thing, but giving exclusives to a chain that a lot of people don't have nearby that is also blind bagged makes it twice as difficult. I think the amount of complaining that goes on about Toys "R" Us exclusives is a bit excessive at times, but I will never argue with anybody who has a complaint about the Kmart exclusives.

[hellpop]

I think it's rather silly to make blanket statements about the quality of employee at any one chain. All chains have good and bad employees. The last time I was at KMart, I had an employee helping me that spent about half an hour opening boxes and looking through his stockroom for these. He never found them, but it certainly wasn't through lack of trying.

Minimates are a niche of a niche of a niche. And, great as they are, they have little in the way of public name recognition. Expecting every employee in the chain to know every minute aspect of their inventory is unrealistic. All you can really hope is that whomever you talk to tries their best to help you.

[Mnemosis]

I don't know, man, if I was working at Kmart, I'd have given up by now

[Valo487]

I think it's rather silly to make blanket statements about the quality of employee at any one chain. All chains have good and bad employees. The last time I was at KMart, I had an employee helping me that spent about half an hour opening boxes and looking through his stockroom for these. He never found them, but it certainly wasn't through lack of trying.

Minimates are a niche of a niche of a niche. And, great as they are, they have little in the way of public name recognition. Expecting every employee in the chain to know every minute aspect of their inventory is unrealistic. All you can really hope is that whomever you talk to tries their best to help you.

I'm not saying that K-Mart employees are imbeciles, I'm saying that the average comic shop has 2-4 employees total, and they typically know almost everything they have in the store because it's a smaller location and fewer people handling the product. And I only brought it up because the difficulty of finding 'mates at a K-Mart location and at a comic shop are very different, even though I think the comparison doesn't address the actual problem.