SDCC Exclusive Speculation

[Ninja Mate]

Why is that?

You can't tell me your not a Star Wars fan... can you?

oh, I love star wars, and that's the problem. Have you seen Star Wars Kubricks? NO WAY can I keep up with that. I'm a completist. If Star Wars became a Minimate License, I may have to commit myself. I had a mind explosion when they released Thundercats minimates LOL.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Ninja Mate

[Additup]

I'm wondering if the blind bag license is TMNT. That line isn't released yet, and will be available at multiple stores.

[DSTZach]

oh, I love star wars, and that's the problem. Have you seen Star Wars Kubricks? NO WAY can I keep up with that. I'm a completist. If Star Wars became a Minimate License, I may have to commit myself. I had a mind explosion when they released Thundercats minimates LOL.

ThunderCats may have been the easiest Minimates line to collect next to Lost in Space.

[whywing]

Why is that?

You can't tell me your not a Star Wars fan... can you?

oh, I love star wars, and that's the problem. Have you seen Star Wars Kubricks? NO WAY can I keep up with that. I'm a completist. If Star Wars became a Minimate License, I may have to commit myself. I had a mind explosion when they released Thundercats minimates LOL.

If it is Star Wars committing yourself won't help anything, it's like driving on ice, steer into the skid and buy them all! That will be my plan anyway

[Ninja Mate]

oh, I love star wars, and that's the problem. Have you seen Star Wars Kubricks? NO WAY can I keep up with that. I'm a completist. If Star Wars became a Minimate License, I may have to commit myself. I had a mind explosion when they released Thundercats minimates LOL.

ThunderCats may have been the easiest Minimates line to collect next to Lost in Space.

no, it wasn't hard to get them....but Thundercats are my all time favorite, next to minimates. When they were combined, it was like Super Christmas.

Why is that?

You can't tell me your not a Star Wars fan... can you?

oh, I love star wars, and that's the problem. Have you seen Star Wars Kubricks? NO WAY can I keep up with that. I'm a completist. If Star Wars became a Minimate License, I may have to commit myself. I had a mind explosion when they released Thundercats minimates LOL.

If it is Star Wars committing yourself won't help anything, it's like driving on ice, steer into the skid and buy them all! That will be my plan anyway

Ha. thats a good plan.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Ninja Mate

[youbastards]

The Minimate Multiverse, from zero to Star Wars faster than Han Solo can make the Kessel Run.

[DSTZach]

So Blindbag packaging will be initially for the as of yet unannounced license, or are other announced licenses (TMNT) being considered too? Since this was announced at the Diamond retailer summit, I'm assuming this means that consumers will be able to just order a full case right through their specialty store if they want?

Are blind bags going to be hitting the other larger retailers (TRU, Wal-Mart, etc...), and if so, will it be the same assortment offered to Specialty, or unique to the store?

I never said it was for an unannounced license, just an unreleased license. (It's not Star Wars.) And this is for specialty. It will be at other retailers, so we'll see who wants what.

LOL guess that selling off collection line was a swipe to me... nice

Were you the only one who said anything about selling off your collection? I didn't note who said it, and I wasn't trying to single anyone out, or "swipe" anybody, but if you were honestly the only one, then my apologies, and don't take it personally.

[Jatta Pake]

Looks like I took the right day off! This thread would have destroyed me.

No, the line we're blind-bagging is going to be blind-bagged from the start, it will be in far more outlets, and each case will contain a full set plus multiples of the main characters. There will be one-per-case figures, but they will be variants on main characters who are already in the assortment. So they'll be hard to detect, and we are looking into how to further disguise each pack's contents to prevent cherry-picking.

Like Lobsterman and Youbastards, I have very mixed feelings about this announcement. For the purposes detailing my concerns, I'm going to assume the blind bags will be for TMNT and the expanded outlets will include Wal-Mart and Target.

• As a completist collector who has all but only a handful of produced Minimates, the one-per-case figure bothers me. I tolerated it with the previous Army Builder case dumps, because owning multiples of a single army builder was acceptable. I generally like multiple army builders and these army dumps were infrequent. But this will be one variant per case with the rest of the case fleshed out with multiple non-army builders of which I don't care to have duplicates.
• The one-per-case also bothers me because it seems unnecessary. If the items are blind bagged, why not offer an even distribution of figures? I like the fact that the LEGO Simpsons figures are evenly distributed. I don't think I'd have bothered with collecting the entire line if there was a one figure per case chase figure that I'd likely never find.
• You cannot prevent cherry picking. Someone will hack a method for finding the chase making it harder for the average person to get.

I don't think the one-variant-figure-per-case method will be successful long term. You will get the initial success of people buying multiple bags trying to find the chase figure. You will also get initial success from hard-core collectors who buy an entire case for the lone variant. But you will also get: 1) Bags opened in big box stores, 2) Comic retailers opening all bags and re-pricing the figures for individual sale, and 3) Scalpers who will inevitably figure out a way to cherry pick the chase.

The result will be the following:

1. Characters of which there are multiples will eventually drop below retail at comic stores, depressing blind bag sales at big box retailers (if you just want the main four turtles, why risk blind bags? Go to a comic shop and pick up the four you want for a discount).
2. The variant will be priced out for soft-core completist collectors. These are collectors who would collect an entire line but shy away from paying anything beyond retail for the figures.

In my humble opinion, a better strategy for increased sales would be turning casual/impulse buyers into soft-core completionist collectors. Few people transform from grabbing a few Minimates as an impulse purchase at the retail counter to throwing $75 bucks at a hard to find variant. More likely, they get a few figures, like them and go searching for more. Eventually they discover there is a super rare hard to find variant going for $75 on eBay. After a few failed attempts to find one resulting in 7 duplicate Leonardos, the potential completist collector will either 1) give up or 2) drop big bucks on eBay to continue being a completist. If they give up, they will lose interest in collecting further waves of figures. Who wants another 7 duplicate Leonardos from Wave 2?

Frankly, I think LEGO Simpsons has the right approach for blind bags. The announced plan is a copy of the Kubrick method, and I don't think it will be successful long term.

[youbastards]

So Blindbag packaging will be initially for the as of yet unannounced license, or are other announced licenses (TMNT) being considered too? Since this was announced at the Diamond retailer summit, I'm assuming this means that consumers will be able to just order a full case right through their specialty store if they want?

Are blind bags going to be hitting the other larger retailers (TRU, Wal-Mart, etc...), and if so, will it be the same assortment offered to Specialty, or unique to the store?

I never said it was for an unannounced license, just an unreleased license. (It's not Star Wars.) And this is for specialty. It will be at other retailers, so we'll see who wants what.

My bad, I misread. So, was there a new license announcement at the summit as well, or just the new distribution method for the announced but as of yet unreleased line?

[Valo487]

If the new license is blind bag from the start, then I'm cool with it, especially if I can just buy a case and cover them all. I hope Marvel never goes the blind bag route, unless it's just big name rereleases. If I can throw out a suggestion, I think to prevent damage to the figure blind boxes would be better, like the army dump cases without the windows.

[DSTZach]

No one is trying to create more completists, we're trying to create more casual purchasers. If a casual purchaser buying blind bags gets an obscure character and a variant and a nameless grunt before they get one of the main characters, then they may give up (my feeling with G.I. Joe). If they're more likely to get the main characters they want, as in at least 50% of the time, then they're more likely to keep buying and tolerate the intermittent supporting characters.

Lego has rares, as well -- granted, their rares are 2 or three per case, not one, but they're all generic characters to a degree, and their cases are huge. Ours will be smaller. 18 per case, not 32 or however many Lego has.

youbastards, on 22 May 2014 - 15:16, said:

My bad, I misread. So, was there a new license announcement at the summit as well, or just the new distribution method for the announced but as of yet unreleased line?

There was supposed to be, I'm not entirely sure it was made. We're starting it off with a Halloween ComicFest single-boxed figure. Should be fun. We've been working on it for years. Edited May 22, 2014 by DSTZach

[Ninja Mate]

All I know is, when I go to the store with my kids, they dont care the brand on blind bags...Kree-O, Lego, Knex, whatever. If its a line they like, they want it. If the license is at all popular, I'm sure it will do well. And for us completists, this is nothing new for us, maybe we like the hunt, maybe we like burning holes in our pockets. Either way, I'm in. Actually I've gotten pretty good at "fingering" bags. As one such lady so eloquently said when I was looking for an Emmit for my son.

*thank god it's not Star Wars.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Ninja Mate

[MisterPL]

If it is TMNT being blind-bagged, I'm guessing that was the only way to get the license; to make sure it didn't step on Playmates' toes.

(Glad it's not Planet of the Apes after all.)

[hellpop]

No one is trying to create more completists, we're trying to create more casual purchasers. If a casual purchaser buying blind bags gets an obscure character and a variant and a nameless grunt before they get one of the main characters, then they may give up (my feeling with G.I. Joe). If they're more likely to get the main characters they want, as in at least 50% of the time, then they're more likely to keep buying and tolerate the intermittent supporting characters.

Lego has rares, as well -- granted, their rares are 2 or three per case, not one, but they're all generic characters to a degree, and their cases are huge. Ours will be smaller. 18 per case, not 32 or however many Lego has.

youbastards, on 22 May 2014 - 15:16, said:

My bad, I misread. So, was there a new license announcement at the summit as well, or just the new distribution method for the announced but as of yet unreleased line?

There was supposed to be, I'm not entirely sure it was made. We're starting it off with a Halloween ComicFest single-boxed figure. Should be fun. We've been working on it for years.

OH MY GOD IS IS NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS!?

[buttheadsmate]

I've been up the pub since my last post [disclaimer] but it is my opinion that all collectors of Minimates aspire to 'completism' .

If that comment appears to be pretentious,arrogant,completely wrong,way off,arrogant ,ridiculous or otherwise........ then tell me I've got it wrong .

I haven't got it wrong ,I may have said the wrong thing but I know I haven't got it wrong...................

Make of my post what you will.

[Mnemosis]

I love the idea. If it's a brand I want, I'll find a way to make it work. If it isn't, I made buy the odd ones just to try to get some interesting parts. Either way, if it's good for Minimates, its cool with me. Mazel tov Zach!

[MisterPL]

I'm with BHM.

These unsuspecting children might not think they're going to be completists, but once they get a taste of that plastic crack, there's no going back. There's just no way that DST can, in good conscience, insist that they're not "trying to create more completists" when they know damned well how this hobby works. A blind-bagged impulse buy at checkout is just a gateway drug to ordering full cases at Luke's and tracking down past convention exclusives on the secondary market!

(That reminds me. I really have to order those Deadly Foes of Spider-Man sets... DAMN IT!)

[TBT!]

I've been up the pub since my last post [disclaimer] but it is my opinion that all collectors of Minimates aspire to 'completism' at some point...

Not sure I agree as originally posted. I've added 'at some point' to the above.

Given I've been a completest and have fallen off that wagon it seems more accurate.

T.

[Kostisfire]

I come back from XM: DOFP to see this and the Infinity box set. Damn DST, you made my day even better! Now, since each case will contain all of the characters I'm good. If the license is Star Wars (which i both doubt and think is possible) then I guess i'll have to start saving from now if i want to keep up with both this, Marvel and the occassional new license. If it's TNBC well, it's my duty to buy at least two cases. NBC was the film that sparked my interest in stop-motion and one of my favorite movies ever! I scoured half of Greece to find a Jack Skellington bag (i didn't know about Ebay back then) so you can see how much i love this film.

[MisterPL]

If the license is Star Wars (which i both doubt and think is possible) then I guess i'll have to start saving from now if i want to keep up with both this, Marvel and the occassional new license. If it's TNBC well, it's my duty to buy at least two cases.

I never said it was for an unannounced license, just an unreleased license. (It's not Star Wars.) And this is for specialty. It will be at other retailers, so we'll see who wants what.

[Shanester]

Make of my post what you will.

This is what I made of your post...

I hope you like it!

[karamazov80]

I've been up the pub since my last post [disclaimer] but it is my opinion that all collectors of Minimates aspire to 'completism' .

If that comment appears to be pretentious,arrogant,completely wrong,way off,arrogant ,ridiculous or otherwise........ then tell me I've got it wrong .

I'm a completist of a sort. With Marvel, I want all characters and designs I really dug from the comic, particularly those that I think would translate into great Minimates. So for now, I'm not satisfied missing some key figures, designs, and updates that I want in my collection. But there are scores of Minimates I've passed over without a second thought, and have no interest in getting. And I guess that would apply to any collector--we all want to get a full collection of the things that appeals to us, even if that's just one figure.

[Kostisfire]

If the license is Star Wars (which i both doubt and think is possible) then I guess i'll have to start saving from now if i want to keep up with both this, Marvel and the occassional new license. If it's TNBC well, it's my duty to buy at least two cases.

>I never said it was for an unannounced license, just an unreleased license. (It's not Star Wars.) And this is for specialty. It will be at other retailers, so we'll see who wants what.

I missed that. When there are so many posts i get kinda lost. Anyway, yeah, it was to be expected. Still, it'll debut in the Halloween ComicFest so it could be something unannounced (NBC fits the bill since Zach did say that they've been working on whatever this is for years and they did make some designs for NBC a while back) or could just be TMNT.

[Shogi]

I never said it was for an unannounced license, just an unreleased license. (It's not Star Wars.) And this is for specialty. It will be at other retailers, so we'll see who wants what.

Is it just me or does the second half of that quote sound like the license will be blind bagged at specialty stores but in a different package for other retailers?

[hellpop]

I'm a completest in that I want all the ones I want. But the ones I don't want, I don't want them.