Valo487 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Hilarious in the "you either laugh or you cry" sort of way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSTZach Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Yep it's me again . So according to you ...not everyone "needs" a Kraang & not everyone is a completist ,not everyone knows who he is or that he even exists . Why the fuck is he even featured on the packaging then ? My point was that existence ≠"need." (I use quotes because nobody truly needs toys to survive, so I take "need" to mean extreme, non-negotiable want.) It's on the package to let people know what exists: who they might get, and who they may have just gotten in their bag. It's what pretty much every toy line does. Some toy lines do NOT say who every figure is. Some have big grey outlines of characters with question marks in them. Those figures are like Schrodinger's cat, they don't exist until you see them. Not a huge fan of that. A person who doesn't know who Kraang is (they exist, or did, here in this forum), and only knows the Turtles, MAY not need or want him or try to get him. A person who buys a bag or three and doesn't get him, may not care because they aren't necessarily trying to get them all. A person who buys their toys at Toys"R"Us (or a comic shop) and doesn't go searching online to see what else they can get, may not know there is a Kraang. 9We don't cross-promote the stores, in this case.) Not saying there AREN'T people who know he exists, know who he is, and want him, just saying it is not some sort of universal condition that applies to everyone who has bought a TMNT Minimate. I never said people shouldn't want to buy every figure in the line, because they're all great, but I can't control what people want. Unless I hammered Kraang in every post I did, and every ad I ran, brilliantly convincing everyone who saw him that he was indispensible, the customer's "need" for Kraang is not dictated by me, and not predictable by any one collector. Unfortunately, "Collect them all" is not a nationally enforced mandate. Mnemosis, Kraang may be a "highly desirable character" to some, but I don't know the official data; there is actual research data for characters and past toy sales stretching back years which probably paints an accurate picture. Obviously, some collectors (not all, necessarily) want him. Some army-builders (not everyone is one) want multiples of him. Some kids may want one or more to fight their turtles, possibly even more than a Foot Soldier. But the reason there are fewer of him than of other characters at Kmart is because we thought the other characters would be more pleasing to a casual buyer or child than a Kraang, and we wanted first-time buyers -- a high likelihood at Kmart -- to get someone they wanted right off the bat. We weren't going to put more Kraangs in than Shredder or the Turtles just because there are more of him in the show. For what it's worth, it's also probably the most expensive figure to produce in the line. I said we would revisit the Kraang in the future. Blue Kraang is in Series 2. I'll wait to give full details. We'll see if Series 1 version of Kraang returns, or just a version of it -- I'll certainly push for it. I don;t know why they were tested for Europe, it may be a Nick requirement, but Ask DST. http://www.artasylum.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mnemosis Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Love you Zach! Thanks for that. I'll say this: I once watched parents absolutely befuddled by a child trying to buy two Playmates Kraangs because he wanted to troop build. He was, like, five. It was awesome. I tried to explain it to them. They weren't having it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mysterious Stranger Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Okay maybe I missed it mentioned here before today but I just watched a couple episodes of the new cartoon and saw that the Krang is an armybuilder. Now my compulsion to have at least 2 of each armybuilder is pushing me to be okay with paying for an overpriced Krang on ebay. BTW I'm impressed with the cartoon. It didn't look like something that would appeal to me at first but I was wrong. It's pretty entertaining and fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valo487 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Okay maybe I missed it mentioned here before today but I just watched a couple episodes of the new cartoon and saw that the Krang is an armybuilder. Now my compulsion to have at least 2 of each armybuilder is pushing me to be okay with paying for an overpriced Krang on ebay. BTW I'm impressed with the cartoon. It didn't look like something that would appeal to me at first but I was wrong. It's pretty entertaining and fun. Just wait for the blue Kraang, hopefully it won't be as big a hassle to get as the first one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toy showdown Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 In series 2, Bradford or the Norman are good Kmart fodder. Bradford was a cool human character when he debuted, but he's been mutated twice since. Norman's a bit off - no stripes on the tie, no pinstripes on the jacket, - so I'd probably stop at one. The Kraang mind-control or impersonate a lot of people, though, so he can just be random undercover corporate dude. Kmart should have gotten the Footbot as their exclusive. He looks good with the extra pieces but a lot of them are going to get dressed down into a regular Foot Soldier anyway. He'd be worth the hunt, but for the pieces. The basic Playmates Kraang is terrible. The Half Shell Heroes Kraang is terrible. The Lego one is just okay. This is the first Kraang toy that is actually worth buying multiples of. It's not just Kraang. It's good Kraang. Also, it's a little disturbing to see a marketing supervisor who doesn't seem to understand what the fundamentals of marketing are. DST is paying you to make people want things they don't need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mnemosis Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Agreed on the Footbot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke314pi Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 BTW I'm impressed with the cartoon. It didn't look like something that would appeal to me at first but I was wrong. It's pretty entertaining and fun. I am almost to the end of the first season, and it seems to get better with every episode. I am really enjoying this show, and I keep seeing new characters that I am hoping to see as Minimates someday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCW Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 The show is the best turtles show ever. And I say this as a die hard Mirage fan. 2003 had some higher moments, but got lost due to Playmates and Laird having such different visions. Fred Wolf was tons of fun for the time, but the Nick show is the best of everything that's great about the turtles. It's able to hit all the familiar notes, while still freshening things up. Perhaps the only weakness is too much reliance on monster of the week throw away episodes, but you're always going to get that on a TV show like this. Also, the figures rock. The Hero Half Shell Kraang is awesome too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta chameleon Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 BTW I'm impressed with the cartoon. It didn't look like something that would appeal to me at first but I was wrong. It's pretty entertaining and fun. I am almost to the end of the first season, and it seems to get better with every episode. I am really enjoying this show, and I keep seeing new characters that I am hoping to see as Minimates someday. Agreed! I have been so incredibly impressed by the show. I love how it takes some of the best elements from the variety of different Ninja Turtles releases (comics, original cartoon, etc...) and combines it into a near perfect interpretation of the turtles. It kind of reminds me of Batman the Animated Series from the early 90's. That show took some of the best elements of multiple eras of the comics, the movies, etc... and created a near perfect iteration of Batman and his world. This ninja turtles show is fun, fast, funny at moments, serious with some good character drama in others. And I love the way they talk about and demonstrate martial arts as well. Brings up a lot of the best moments of classic kung fu movies. There are so many characters I want from this show. So many. Newtralizer is top on my list. I would love to see a minimate made of him. Of all the "new" characters created for this show, he is my favorite. Leatherhead would also be fantastic.They have shown already that they can make some really nice, bulked up minimates that end up a bit larger than normal minimates. I feel like Leatherhead could be the same way. And Fishface, I don't know how exactly they would do him, but Fishface would be a lot of fun. Slash/Spike is a character that needs to be made at some point. Tiger Claw seems like he could easily be made into minimate without too much trouble. I also think Metalhead would work really nicely. The turtle shell slip on works really well for the regular turtles, so I could imagine something similar for Metalhead, but a metal/manhole cover shell for him. And I know that people have asked for classic turtles or comic turtles or anything like that quite a bit. And I don't want to beat a dead horse or anything, but....the classic 80's cartoon turtles are in one episode of this series... So excited about this line. Really hope it goes well so that we can get more figures. I like series 2, but for my own personal tastes, I would prefer a couple more mutants per wave. I know the mutants are going to be the most expensive to make since they require larger sculpted pieces, but I often feel that the mutants are the real draw of the Ninja Turtles franchise anyways. On the note about Kraang. When I went and visited my wife out of state and went to a K-mart and found the blind packs, I did come across two Kraangs. (He's really easy to spot with the seperate Kraang head with tentacles) However, I didn't get him. I didn't know how hard he was to get, and to be honest, I am really only going to pick up figures of the mutants in the series. I am going back this coming weekend, so I will take a look at those two Kmarts and see if they still have them. If they do, I will pick them up for the people here on the board. Delta The show is the best turtles show ever. And I say this as a die hard Mirage fan. 2003 had some higher moments, but got lost due to Playmates and Laird having such different visions. Fred Wolf was tons of fun for the time, but the Nick show is the best of everything that's great about the turtles. It's able to hit all the familiar notes, while still freshening things up. Perhaps the only weakness is too much reliance on monster of the week throw away episodes, but you're always going to get that on a TV show like this. Also, the figures rock. The Hero Half Shell Kraang is awesome too. I have been really liking the Half Shell Heroes line of minifigures as well from Playmates. For the longest time, I have wanted a really fun, durable ninja turtles mini-figure line. And this line has fit that bill for me. Having a lot of fun with both the Half Shell Heroes and the Minimates. Those are going to be my two go-to ninja turtles lines as long as they both prove to be successful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valo487 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I just think it's ironic that the Normans are going to be more readily available than the Kraang themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttheadsmate Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I may have to go back & have another go at watching the TMNT cartoon ....I tried but it wasn't really 'doing it' for me . Perhaps it'll be better watching it with my 18 month old G'son ......it'll get the average viewing age down at least TMNT Minimates...............everbody who I show these little buggers to ....loves them . I don't usually show off my Minimate stuff to 'non-believers' but the reception they get is remarkable ......I get far more genuine interest about this particular licence than anything I've previously shown . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tones Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 (edited) I'd still like to know why K-Mart (assuming it's them it could be DST) would spend good money paying for CE safety tests to make sure they're safe to sell in Europe...... to then not sell them in Europe!, the same goes for the comic shop wave, every comic shop I've spoken to says the same thing "they're not available in the UK" who's wasting all this money safety testing these things to then not sell them in that area!! (edit) off-topic but I wanted to address winkerbean's comment on CE marks. First off, I'm not even remotely saying that this happens with any particular product or by any specific company. I work as an EMC Engineer and can say with certainty, that the CE mark you see on products can be put on any product without said product having ever been tested. Yes, it can be misleading, but standards allow a company to self-certify products that are deemed as "minimal risk" by creating a Declaration of Conformity and simply affixing a CE mark to their product. There are obviously certain criteria that are supposed to be met, but this is at the discretion of the manufacturer. Obviously, in my line of work at least, there are numerous ways around regulations as well. Sometimes products sent in for testing are "one-offs" specifically produced to pass any required tests and drastically differ from the actual final product. Which is why we document as much as we can about every product that enters the test lab, from photographs to detailed descriptions of any modifications made to the EUT during testing necessary to pass a given test. This information is all included in our test reports, but there is absolutely nothing to stop a company from reverting back to the original, failing design for mass production. Often, the only way a company is caught is if a consumer or a competing company files a complaint. Rival companies can even purchase a product off the shelf and submit it for testing themselves if they are willing to pay the cost, and since that could potentially rid them of a competitor, it happens quite a bit. There are consequences involved; fines and imprisonment of course, but the most damaging to a company is if a given country refuses to allow the company to import their products. However, if the product is not deemed to be a serious risk to consumers, the company is given the opportunity to prove the product is in compliance before it is taken off the market. Often, a company will forgo the expense of testing until they are caught and forced to, if their product is "low-risk". The (sad but true) moral of the story is, don't assume a product is safe just because it has a label that says it is. Edited January 26, 2015 by tones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttheadsmate Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Best news I've ever heard, that is a completely 180 from everything I had been led to believe . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh2382 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Hey everyone, this is somewhat off topic from the current discussion, but it's turtle-related. I haven't messed with many of the turtle mates since getting them a couple months ago due to busy life, but I started playing around with them this morning. I had a foot soldier's leg break cleanly at the joint and it was way too easy of a break to make me feel comfortable. I just replaced it with one on Luke's site, but I wanted to let everyone know. It may be just my foot solider, but who knows. This one was from Toys R Sometimes Us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttheadsmate Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 (edited) I had trouble with the joints on both my KMart Footguy versions & Shredder . I'm not sure how widespread the problem was . http://www.minimatemultiverse.com/index.php?showtopic=13083&hl=tmnt Edited January 26, 2015 by buttheadsmate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mysterious Stranger Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I was swapping parts on a Shredder and broke the knee peg on one of his legs pretty easily. So easily in fact that I didn't realize it was broken until I went to put it on the leg I was swapping it to. Sheared right in half. The joint was kind of sticking so I was being careful but thought it just popped loose like they do sometimes. Now I need to buy another Shredder to make the custom I was working on. And find a way to use the broken Shredder leg. Maybe a peg leg for a pirate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh2382 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 My foot sounds very similar to all of the Shredder issues. It was a very clean break and was just caused by moving the leg. My turtles, however, are more than likely thrilled about this seeing as they have zero problems. Shredder is still in great condition, however, as is my foot-bot-thing. I need to watch the show, still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSTZach Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Also, it's a little disturbing to see a marketing supervisor who doesn't seem to understand what the fundamentals of marketing are. DST is paying you to make people want things they don't need. Just FYI, because I don't know you or your age or what you were doing before January 13, but I've actually been publicizing and promoting toys for 16 years. Not all of it in marketing, technically, but I was basically co-writing and editing 100+ pages of toy ads a month from 1999-2008. If anyone here was introduced to Minimates through ToyFare magazine, I probably wrote it or shot it. But the product (ALL DST product) sells itself. I mostly just need to get it in front of as many eyes as possible, or the right eyes, and accurately explain what it does. I have not excessively pushed Kraang very much at all. I've promoted the main line, and the main characters, but I have not pushed him. Because from the day he hit stores, I have heard nothing but how well the line is selling at Kmart, and how hard that guy is to find. I've never done a photo shoot with him, because I do not have one myself, and any online website review I've ever sponsored has used the specialty assortment, because that's the one I have been able to send them. Kmart has all of their strips, and they're selling them just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystery Man Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Beginning desperate-like here: I'm in neeeed of Kraang. Anybody please, please, please?I got back into my hometown a few days ago and checked the only K-Mart I've had an opportunity to. No nothin' no-time, no-body. While I think I can pick up the rest of the line on eBay, I'm desperate to get Kraang. End whine-plea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roccothegreat Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 (edited) I had 2 strips of these at my kmarts if I knew they'd be so hard to get I would have picked them all up. I do get the willies when I step inside a k mart tho. Haha Edited January 27, 2015 by Roccothegreat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TENIME_art Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 No worse than your Craigslist encounter, though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterMiracle Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 I've seen a grand total of 6 strips (only 2 of which were 100% intact). Usually it was just the Turtles leftover (probably because they were all at the bottom and people were just grabbing whatever was on top. Also, I'm not sure if anyone has pointed this out yet...the second wave of strips had a different breakdown of who's who. They did not match up with the original list that we all had memorized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zak Katz Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Make sure you vote for The Best Minimates of 2014 Show!!! Voting ends soon so go place those votes!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterPL Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 After seeing this art, I'm holding out for comic book Turtles: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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