SDCC Exclusive Speculation

[Lurch77]

Kitty can fully transform into her green future jumpsuit.

This one?

[Kostisfire]

I remain indifferent about Wolvie but that Mystique look great in the plastic! As I said before more sentinels are always welcome and Kitty will be used as a civillian. The Senator head though is a great extra and coupled with a JJJ suit adds another character to the roster of X-Villains.

[youbastards]

I'm probably going to use some variation of this one, since I have so many spares from the TRU sale:

Edited June 13, 2014 by youbastards

[DSTZach]

[MisterPL]

As I'd hoped, the accessories in the "Days of Future Past" set are a selling point. I should know better by now. There have been enough announcements that left me wanting until the accessories were revealed and then I was all for it. I'll make a Senator Kelly QC. The alternate Kitty costume is nice but I still wish she had the alternate expression. I'll just have to fudge something.

[Lurch77]

And just to throw this out there: Diorama + this background + DOFP Wolverine & Kitty = Awesome Display!

[luke314pi]

Kitty in the green jump suit looks fantastic! And I love the battle damaged Sentinel head.

So, am I now understanding this correctly...Uncanny X-Men #23 is coming with the DOFP Minimate cover? That's odd, but I want it. Luke, will you have this available?

We will do our best to get the comic. We are definitely going to be carrying the Minimates, and I will have them up for preorder this weekend.

[bzorio]

Thanks for the new photos, Zach. I'm really excited about DOFP pack!

[karamazov80]

Extras are pretty cool. I like the finished product quite a bit aside from the jacket.

[rikfenix]

Glad to finally see the set. Some mixed feelings initially but feel a LOT better about it knowing that Kitty has the alternate look - not a fan of civilian mates. Wolvie looks ok but the coat is an issue.. The Sentinel is cool but hard to top the one from a few yrs ago, those were perfect imo. Always down for more Sentinels though. Glad to get Mystique as I do not have the original, she looks great. The alternate head is cool.

As far as the character selection I think this has a lot to do with that Alpha Flight set from a few years ago, which sold disastrously from what I can tell. Also some of the more obscure mates that have not sold as well. My belief is that it probably hurts the brand when sets linger like that. However we are the most hardcore collectors out there and love to get obscure characters, just look at any of our wishlists! Hopefully DST will throw us some bones in upcoming sets/ waves.. as discussed here many times I think A-listers mixed with our wishlist guys is the way to go.

But hey, on the bright side, its not 4 Deadpools and 10 Iron Men! Hopefully we'll get some cool reveals at SDCC.

[Turtle]

Ok, so now the question becomes "Which released mate has a suit that would be good to use for a quick Senator Kelly?".

JJJ has a perfect blue suit.

I knew that extra JJJ I've got would come in handy one day.

Extras are pretty cool. I like the finished product quite a bit aside from the jacket.

Yeah, aside from the jacket, this set is pretty great imo. The addition of Kitty's green jump suit is pretty great. One of the most famous comics covers/stories of all time and it looks, aside from the jacket (again), to be very well executed. I think it's a great con set. I like it. The jacket is weird though. I mean, the cover is iconic, and the jacket is part of that. Mystique's changing head is pretty cool. I would have liked another, less terrified head for Kitty, but that's me being greedy. I overall like the set very much.

Edited June 13, 2014 by Turtle

[Tetton517]

As far as the character selection I think this has a lot to do with that Alpha Flight set from a few years ago, which sold disastrously from what I can tell. Also some of the more obscure mates that have not sold as well. My belief is that it probably hurts the brand when sets linger like that. However we are the most hardcore collectors out there and love to get obscure characters, just look at any of our wishlists! Hopefully DST will throw us some bones in upcoming sets/ waves.. as discussed here many times I think A-listers mixed with our wishlist guys is the way to go.

This is the story of how I started collecting Minimates. I was in TRU one night with friends and saw the Betsy Braddock/Nightcrawler set and thought "hey, these are cool" and bought it. I thought nothing of the line after that. A few months later, I somehow stumbled across the announcement for the Alpha Flight box set and thought they looked fricking fantastic. Being new to 'Mates and how the SDCC exclusive sets worked, I panicked thinking they'd be sold out after SDCC and that I'd miss out on these awesome toys. When I finally got my set, I was instantly hooked. Hundreds of dollars later, I'm an avid buyer of the Marvel 'Mates. So, while that set may not have sold well, DST gained a loyal customer because of them.

TL/DR: That poorly selling Alpha Flight set is what started my Minimate addiction and collecting.

[rikfenix]

As far as the character selection I think this has a lot to do with that Alpha Flight set from a few years ago, which sold disastrously from what I can tell. Also some of the more obscure mates that have not sold as well. My belief is that it probably hurts the brand when sets linger like that. However we are the most hardcore collectors out there and love to get obscure characters, just look at any of our wishlists! Hopefully DST will throw us some bones in upcoming sets/ waves.. as discussed here many times I think A-listers mixed with our wishlist guys is the way to go.

This is the story of how I started collecting Minimates. I was in TRU one night with friends and saw the Betsy Braddock/Nightcrawler set and thought "hey, these are cool" and bought it. I thought nothing of the line after that. A few months later, I somehow stumbled across the announcement for the Alpha Flight box set and thought they looked fricking fantastic. Being new to 'Mates and how the SDCC exclusive sets worked, I panicked thinking they'd be sold out after SDCC and that I'd miss out on these awesome toys. When I finally got my set, I was instantly hooked. Hundreds of dollars later, I'm an avid buyer of the Marvel 'Mates. So, while that set may not have sold well, DST gained a loyal customer because of them.

TL/DR: That poorly selling Alpha Flight set is what started my Minimate addiction and collecting.

That's very cool, and hardcore Marvel guys like most of us here love getting teams like Alpha Flight. I've gotten characters as Minimates that I never would have imagined.. the character selection blew me away once I started getting serious bout these great little figures. HOWEVER, when a set that comes out is clearanced everywhere years later for as little as six dollars that has to have an effect on the sales strategy, an effect detrimental to collectors like us unfortunately.

[Pete]

Disappointed Wolverines jacket isn't shorter, but will still pick up a couple of sets.

Would rather this than none at all... or the 1st DOFP release.

Thanks for the tray shots Zach... always helps me pull the trigger and figure out how many sets to buy.

[MiniFiend UK]

I have to agree its not deadpool in a hat which is good

but now as a older collector every wave basicy boils down to what is the marvel movie of the month, or how can we now slot Spidey+Wolvie+IM+CA in a wave for the general buyers which is great with toy shops...but its like the camo batman toys with spring stuff in the end they up in toy bins.

[fwoosheyman]

I'm assuming SDCC exclusives don't have the budget for new pieces that is why the parts for wolverine's jacket and mystique's belt were used.

So I understand why we are getting what we are getting but I still don't like how it looks. Both are iconic looks and I'd rather wait and have them done right at a later date.

[Valo487]

The extras have definitely increased my interest.

[AceSimba]

ill pick up a dofp set and maybe twd set for extra parts

[DSTZach]

Unless a single retailer like AFX agrees to take the full run, every assortment or set we do needs to be approved by Diamond Comics, since they're the ones responsible for selling them. And with a con exclusive, which is essentially a set with a very small window in which it can be offered, and a very limited group of people it can be sold to, they (and we) are understandably thinking more and more about how to cast the widest net. I'm not saying Alpha Flight will never happen again without AFX, but it would be very hard to sell that line-up to the people who have to write the check to the factory AND ship the unsold inventory home.

The truth is, movie assortments sell much better than comic assortments. So for us to skip a movie assortment in favor of a comic assortment would, unfortunately, hurt the line unnecessarily. But more movies doesn't necessarily mean that we have the production capability -- or retailers have the budget and display space -- to accommodate more waves overall. Not every year will be like this one, but I think we've done some cool stuff for comic fans this year, starting with 54 (Classic Marvel), plus the three other box sets we have coming up (X-Force, Villain Zombies and Deadly Foes - thanks, Luke!), plus Series 59, which I think will grow on people.

And we have a tooling budget for the year. Some sets/assortments require more tooling, some require less, but it tends to even out... usually. But when you have a bunch of tooling-heavy waves in a year, something has to give -- I get that some people don't like the coat, and I hope those people can either see past it or pass on it in good faith. But given the heat on DOFP, and how long everyone has been waiting for a new Mystique, I don't know that there was ever going to be a "later" that would see these two figures done in a different way. It's how it worked out, and we made the best of it.

I personally think the extra length on Wolverine's coat is just enough to make it slightly more dramatic, and in a good way -- it looks good to me. And while I am hearing people who wanted sculpted skulls on Mystique... I dunno, those would be some tiny skulls. I don't know how they would have read at that scale, or what sort of support structure they would have needed. Curious to see any custom belts anyone has made for the original.

Edited June 14, 2014 by DSTZach

[fwoosheyman]

Feel free to skip making mates from the upcoming Fox Fantastic Four movie and Antman and use the budget for more comic mates. Most of us won't mind.

[DSTZach]

We'll see what the situation is with FF. Ant-Man looks like it'll be fun -- I want a Paul Rudd, and I'm sure I'm not alone -- but to each their own.

[pk13]

So for us to skip a movie assortment in favor of a comic assortment would, unfortunately, hurt the line unnecessarily. But more movies doesn't necessarily mean that we have the production capability -- or retailers have the budget and display space -- to accommodate more waves overall. Not every year will be like this one, but I think we've done some cool stuff for comic fans this year, starting with 54 (Classic Marvel), plus the three other box sets we have coming up (X-Force, Villain Zombies and Deadly Foes - thanks, Luke!), plus Series 59, which I think will grow on people.And we have a tooling budget for the year. Some sets/assortments require more tooling, some require less, but it tends to even out... usually. But when you have a best of it.I personally think the extra length on Wolverine's coat is just enough to make it slightly more dramatic, and in a good way -- it looks good to me.

Thank you for the candor, Zach. But I have to say that my worst fears for the line were pretty much confirmed. The fact that DST took chances on collector driven characters and were committed to a comprehensive execution of the Marvel Universe was what convinced me to get out of all of my other toy collections and be a full time Minimate collector. Now, while I understand that releasing the same stuff over and over and not being as concerned with accuracy is a safer bet financially, it's pretty underwhelming for me as a collector and a customer.

To me, the heart and soul of Minimates as a line was the fact that it catered to the people that read the comics and appreciated the healthy selection of both obscure and mainstream characters. Now it feels like buying from Hasbro or Mattel. To put it in musical terms, DST used to feel like a somewhat mainstream radio channel that had nice late night shows that focused on indie music or world music or other niche areas of interest. Now they've replaced those shows with more of the same Top 40 songs that you can hear on any other station.

[fwoosheyman]

Ok u can make Antman just skip FF. It's Fox you know the designs will be bad, they won't give you guys good info/pics to design from and everyone will be end up frustrated.

[Mnemosis]

We'll see what the situation is with FF. Ant-Man looks like it'll be fun -- I want a Paul Rudd, and I'm sure I'm not alone -- but to each their own.

I, too, want a Paul Rudd.

I, too, would pass on a movie FF line.

I, too, freaking love this box set. Senator Kelly alleviated ANY doubts!

[CBMM1]

While I understand those that are disappointed by both of these, I for one love them!

The DOFP set is a no brainer for me because I never got a Kitty, DOFP Wolverine, or comic Mstique (and who doesn't love Sentinels). I think the 'Mates are beautifully executed, and come with great extra parts. I do agree that the jacket should be shorter, but you all must understand that DST IS a company. They have to make their money somewhere, and parts reuse is the easiest. I have to agree with Zach that the the jacket makes this Wolverine a bit more dynamic, though I wouldn't be opposed to getting a comic-accurate version down the line.

TWD set is EXACTLY what I was hoping for! Given the fact that I just recently got into the line, it would be very hard/expensive to find a Shane and Glenn figure. This way, I get the figures, and those that have the colored ones don't lose value on those. It's a win-win. Although new figures would be nice, I again understand the predicament.

I just found out that I may be able to make the trip to SDCC this year, so I am hoping to be able to pick these up IN PERSON!