MrClean Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I can already see the argument against a 4-pack of army builders, so my alternative would be a Battle Box mini-case. Two random character blind bags (any series) and four random army builder blind bags (any series). That way each case would be highly likely to contain at least one Turtle, which would make retailer happy. But there are four guaranteed army builders, which would make fans happy and more willing to buy more than one case. Selling six blind bags in one more expensive randomized "set" loses the impulse purchase model and also loses the completist collector buyer. I can see that being highly unpopular. Unpopular compared to what? It's not always about the best, you know. It's about maximizing options. Finding a middle ground between hunting all over the US for one figure and buying an entire case for one figure. And I may not even get a Kraang out of four of those cases. But you know what? Each of them added to my collection somehow. And it can't be that unpopular, because it's the method card games use. Sure, I can buy one pack for $3. I could buy a booster box for $100. Or I can buy a fat pack for $30, which I know contains certain things I want but also a few surprises. Never underestimate the middle ground. It's the point where beginners and the more experienced meet. My point is that a blind bag is an impulse purchase for a casual fan, or a small gamble for a collector -- unless you're buying a case of them, in which case you know what is inside. Your six-pack is still a mystery, which makes it less impulsive for fans AND more of a gamble for collectors. It's a tough middle ground. I don't know how card games decide their fat packs, and I'm a little hazy on how most card games work (it's been a while) -- my memory is you might want to have a few of certain cards to build a deck. So doubles are not an issue, and every card has value, or at least the value you paid (30 cents?). But if you buy four boxes of six blind bagged Minimates, then you've bought 24 Minimates, at $6 a pop, and maybe you got three of one Turtle and none of the army-builder you want. If you only care about getting more army builders of any type, then yeah, I can see that being popular-ish. BUT if you buy a counter display of 18 Minimates, you get every figure in that series (that's at that retailer) and in most cases, there are multiples of the army-builders. Even if you then have to pay a premium for a retailer exclusive or two, you're still saving money. (We haven't even talked about where these sets would be exclusive to, or the fact that OTHER retailer exclusives would still not be in them.) Sounds like the main issue is getting more access to certain army-builders, particularly limited-release ones, but I'm not sure that should be at the expense of the main characters, who are the reason people WANT the army-builders. Isn’t the impulse purchase model for blind bags only effective in traditional brick and mortar stores? How many have invested in these? K-Mart, Gamestop, and the random “order 1-case” comic shop. I have yet to see any in big retailers like TRU and Walmart, or even smaller shops like Hot Topic or FYE, or even bookstores like B&N or Books a Million. Where are they? It looks like the majority of blind bags are sold online as either cases (which negates the impulse buy purchase model) individually opened (also negating the impulse buy model) or blind unopened (which likely has already been identified by the seller and stacks the odds against the buyer). Not really sure how the blind bag impulse purchase model is being vetted out without being in the environment it was designed for. I’d honestly love some input on this, as it’s seemingly become detrimental to a lot of minimate collectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trekker 42 Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Moviestop. They are in Moviestop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterMiracle Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 My local TRU FINALLY restocked TMNT Series 2 after being sold out for about two weeks. They had 11 out of the 12 sets there and of course Mutagen Donatello was the one missing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttheadsmate Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 I am wondering what requirements are needed for a Diamond account. Naivety must be high up on the list . K-Mart released their TMNT Minimates blind bags October 3 2014 TRU released their TMNT Minimates non blind bagged November 30 2014 ................ & then the Diamond retailers got their blind bags on December 3 2014 . Regards the K-Mart TMNT 'left-overs' ............... I don't think they are going to dry up anytime soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TENIME_art Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Great scene, though: Man, had this been the new cartoon...the elevator music would have been the old TMNT intro song without the lyrics and "MC Mikey" would've busted out the lyrics with all of the turtles providing their sound bites. Well, this needs to happen now. The finale where they showed the other dimension was the 80's cartoon was so fricking amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregio Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 In the past, the Minimates Menagerie was a good option, before I met Luke´ Store. I bought a hundred times with the Menagerie, half of my collection I got with him but I think that has been about 2 years I never got anything with here. His prices got insanelly high! Luke is always the first option now. For older mates, generally I look for ebay lots and split the figures with some friends, but Menagerie never again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanester Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Both closest TRU locations (to me) have NEVER stocked these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSTZach Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Isn’t the impulse purchase model for blind bags only effective in traditional brick and mortar stores? How many have invested in these? K-Mart, Gamestop, and the random “order 1-case” comic shop. I have yet to see any in big retailers like TRU and Walmart, or even smaller shops like Hot Topic or FYE, or even bookstores like B&N or Books a Million. Where are they? It looks like the majority of blind bags are sold online as either cases (which negates the impulse buy purchase model) individually opened (also negating the impulse buy model) or blind unopened (which likely has already been identified by the seller and stacks the odds against the buyer). Not really sure how the blind bag impulse purchase model is being vetted out without being in the environment it was designed for. I’d honestly love some input on this, as it’s seemingly become detrimental to a lot of minimate collectors. ...When you say "it looks like," I have to wonder how far you;re looking. This thread? eBay? Do you have access to some crazy store-by-store breakdown that I don't? Blind bags were planned and offered to comic shops, yes, as well as some smaller chain stores that order the same way as comic shops, like Hastings. Even if a store only takes one counter display, Diamond sells to over 3,000 specialty stores worldwide, and I believe at least 2,000 of those are in the US, which I think is where we have the TMNT rights, and more than half of those are brick-and-mortar. So just because you or or a handful of people on this thread didn't see them in their local comic shop, doesn't mean they weren't in a thousand others. I'm sure if sales were poor to retail, we would have changed things up for Series 2. And if orders for Series 2 had been poor, based on sell-through, we would have changed it for Series 3. We have not. And the line was offered to big retailers, too, and one chose blind bags, while the other chose two-packs. Those other retailers are not carrying TMNT MM or Marvel Movie MM in any format, so they can't be said to prefer one format to another. But one of those retailers will have blind bags very soon. So we'll see how that does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shogi Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 We may revisit the Kraang, at least the blue one. Make the blue one as abundant as Norman is and I'll be happy. I kinda wish I had bought more of the silver Kraang-Droid when they were out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youbastards Posted July 31, 2015 Author Share Posted July 31, 2015 Looks like TRU.com finally updated the description of Mikey/Casey....but still left the picture of Mutagen Donnie on the listing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mysterious Stranger Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Got Mutagen Donatello yesterday. I really like all of the Mutagen figures but there's something about Donnie's purple mask that just makes the figure "pop" visually. I think its a subconscious Hulk thing in my brain or something. Raph is my favorite Turtle but Donnie might be my favorites of the Mutagen figures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WookieFodder Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 I agree, the Donnie Mutagen does seem to pop more. I hope everyone looking for him finds the pack. I watched an episode of this new tmnt show and it was pretty cool. Really excited about the future of these minimates. Does the license include the older characters like Ace Duck? Groundchuck the bull. All those old animal characters could be similar to Battle Beasts. I vividly remember the King Lionheart and the Panda figures. And Yojimbo, is that a possibility? Please don't tell me to Ask DST Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSTZach Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 I do not know who from the old series is in our license, but if they are not in the new series, we would not get to them until a hypothetical classic TV line, which I do not know our intentions toward. That would be an Ask DST question, absolutely. Although Usagi Yojimbo was a guest star created by Stan Sakai, so probably not him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterMiracle Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Now TRU is saying that my Mutagen Donnie was shipped after they just told me that it wasn't available. Fingers crossed that it's actually Donnie! Also, a lot of those old TMNT characters are on the new Nick cartoon so I'm sure we'll get the newer versions if them soon enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heinous Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 So after seeing so many pics of these I decided I need to start collecting another franchise besides marvel. Idk where to start with them, is series 2 only blind bags? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mysterious Stranger Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Both series 1 and 2 have had TRU 2-packs but there are exclusives to both TRU and blind bag assortments. The MMDB Turtles entries (HAIL IVAN!) are up to date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heinous Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Are the blind bags disassembled like Lego blind bags? Do you have to feel them to figure it out or are there bump codes or something similar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSTZach Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 They come assembled, for the most part, but you have to feel them. No code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heinous Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Thanks! Gonna see if I can find any still hanging around before I resort to the Internet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heinous Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 So I found some Unfortunately got another Leo, these are harder to feel for with the turtles But overall I like them as much I thought I would, only complaint would be how the gummy the weapons are Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joemoneyjoeproblem Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 Hopefully the LARP turtles are next!! :-D Raph could even come with an interchangeable turkey head!!! I am excited about series 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystery Man Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Re: blind bags series 2, What's the ratio of Raph, Spinter and that bearded fella? I ended up with 3 of the ninja lady and 3 Krang in a suits... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zak Katz Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 One Bradford, three Norman, two of everyone else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Paco Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 In the Series Two blind bags, I also got two of each of the turtles, two Splinters, two Caseys, two Karai, one Bradford and three Norman/Krang. However, I am curious what the mix will be in series three. I know it is supposed to be one General and one Splinter Spirit per case but what is the mix for the case to make eighteen. I also must have missed what series three will be at TRU, has that been announced yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onyx_6 Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 (edited) Unmasked Shredder will be at TRU. Spirit Splinter and General will be one per at Specialty. And then these will all be in the other 7 spots in 2-packs at TRU and two per case at specialty: Mystic Raph Mystic Don Mystic Mikey Mystic Leo Bebop Rocksteady Slash ... I would assume EDIT: I realize that is only 16 at specialty, hmmmmm? Edited August 5, 2015 by Onyx_6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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