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Not every store got them, it was based on participation level. Was an edition size publicized?

Mystery, it will be at least an annual thing, but we'll see how the first series does.

Art was very early, and Chuck doesn't like to show art before figures. Not sure how many tiny accessories we'll see, but interchangeable parts and alternate looks like we do will be common.

Thanks for the info, Zach! :)

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So how many are comic shops getting?? So its not available to everyone??

Question 1 : How many ?

Answer : 3000

Was that number publicized? I don't know if I ever heard that, or how accurate it is.

Question 2 : Direct availability to actual Minimate collectors ?

Answer : ? (Clue - name of Jack Skellington's pet ghost dog )

Next year, with the full assortment, or now, if you put in a little bit of effort. Numerous collectors with an interest in the figure have acquired one. Pretty sure UK shops got them as well:

http://www.halloweencomicfest.com/StoreLocator

I've said before that collectors can not expect easy access to promos, and that these were intended for retailers, so forgive us if we do not have immediate plans to distribute these to people's doorsteps. Completism sometimes involves a little legwork.

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My shop got one. The owner was confused because he thought he was getting a lot more to give out. (I explained about the incentive.)

He's hanging onto it for now to see if there's any secondary market value to it. I did get to hold it for a few seconds. That was nice.

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Okay, so not publicized, per se, but put on a slide in a closed breakfast for retailers. If that's the actual number, I don't think all 3K were sent out. Still, more stores probably got them than carry Minimates on the regular.

Edited by DSTZach
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Why are we whispering?

If you think less of me for not remembering that slide from a Powerpoint presentation that I did not give three months ago, I apologize, BHM. I figured I'd just ask where you got your info from. That wasn't an official press release, it was on a screen for ten seconds during a breakfast, and Bleeding Cool releases a lot of information that isn't necessarily for public consumption. I'm not saying the number was secret, or incorrect, but the official announcement to retailers did not mention it.

I have no idea how many stores qualified for one or more, but if we really made that many, that is the most we have made of any "promo," ever, I believe. So this should be the easiest promo to get, right? If you can wait, I'm sure prices will level out, and a year from now a similar figure will be in stores.

Have you contacted a UK store yet?

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Why are we whispering?

If you think less of me for not remembering that slide from a Powerpoint presentation that I did not give three months ago, I apologize, BHM. I figured I'd just ask where you got your info from. That wasn't an official press release, it was on a screen for ten seconds during a breakfast, and Bleeding Cool releases a lot of information that isn't necessarily for public consumption. I'm not saying the number was secret, or incorrect, but the official announcement to retailers did not mention it.

I have no idea how many stores qualified for one or more, but if we really made that many, that is the most we have made of any "promo," ever, I believe. So this should be the easiest promo to get, right? If you can wait, I'm sure prices will level out, and a year from now a similar figure will be in stores.

Have you contacted a UK store yet?

I think a lot of you actually Zach, I make that clear as often as I can ,no need to apologise & accept my apologies please if I have offended you . We're both members of this forum & I do try to engage in discussions here without particularly pointing a finger at you, personally, when I post my feelings regarding my personal opinions about some of the directions that DST take. That might not be fair but that's the way it is

I often talk a lot of crap on here .. but when it comes to 'facts & figures' I rarely just 'speculate' so when a member asks a question I do my best to give an answer based on information I have actually seen or heard , I never say I 'know'. I guess it is unfair of me to think that you,as part of DST, would know more .....I am not being sarcastic BTW.

One thing that I must stress to you is that my continual whinging about 'this' or 'that' promo/rarity isn't based on what I ,personally, have or haven't got ........for the record I have virtually everything you have recently released either in hand , in the hands of helpful fellow-members ready for shipping, or in transit to me from the US already ....that includes Jack Skellingtons ,turtle-promos ,Wow promos blah diddy blah . I am lucky in that I have a network & a core of friends that I can call on to keep my collection up together......in turn I do my utmost to help others .

My 'whinging' revolves around getting a level-playing field (does this translate cross-Atlantic?) for all minimate fans when it comes to getting hold of stuff ......believe it or not I actually care about my fellow-collectors getting stuff for their own collections as much as I care about getting stuff for my own . Many of my comments regarding this beautiful little Jack Skellington minimate are harsh .....they're meant to be because I find it incomprehensible that such a figure is released in the manner it has, I don't like it .....I say so.

I truly hope that helps you or anybody else where I am coming from & I'll end by saying that on each & every label on each & every promo I have in my collection it says ..........Not for resale .........now I'm a realist so I'm well aware of why it's printed on them but aren't many of the supposed retailers being encouraged to sell these ? Can't DST just sell some here to members who struggle ? Again just asking & just saying .

I promise to lighten up a little bit but what's the point of saying that everything's just fine & dandy with minimate collecting when it ain't ?

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BHM, I fully realize that it is not a level playing field when it comes to collecting Minimates. And I certainly respect you for keeping up with the hobby, in spite of your geographical handicap. But I honestly don't know what we can do that would make it a perfectly level playing field for completists and/or international customers.

For starters, not every regular, non-exclusive release is going to be available in all countries, and that's mostly due to licensing fees and the history of participation from retailers in those countries. We've recently launched a lot of lines in the UK, but I don't know when Marvel will be revisited.

There will always be retailer exclusives. I think Luke can tell you the various reasons that a retailer might want an exclusive, and I can tell you that any retailer that gets an exclusive is important to the well-being of the brand. It also allows for more releases per year, which is something people here seem to appreciate. As far as retailers having difficulty with online distribution, hopefully that improves, but obviously I can't fix what has happened in the past.

Convention appearances are important to us, and exclusives are used to offset the high cost of those appearances. Luckily they're rarely hard to get outside of the conventions, because of the numbers they need to be produced in, and the fact that they are labeled for individual sale, which means retailers can stock them.

Promos are trickier. We're constantly trying to bring new collectors to the brand, because that obviously makes more things possible, and we've decided that, besides pursuing new licenses that attract different audiences, putting a Minimate in someone's hands is the best way to do that. You've obviously figured out that we can't tell someone what to do with our products once they have it, which means that "Not for Resale" is shorthand for "Not Intended for Resale," because they are not priced for resale, because they are free. Neither we nor the licensor make any money off of them; in fact, we are spending money on them. And the reason we can make them for a low cost in order to give them away is because we aren't paying for packaging or UPC coding. To do either of those things would raise our cost AND minimum quantity, and at that point we not only can't give them away, we would need to invest more money up front on an item we have no sales estimates for, or get our distributor involved to advance solicit a single under-$5 item. I don't think either is going to happen.

This particular promo is not just a promo, it's also a retailer exclusive (Diamond Comics), an event exclusive (Comicfest) AND another retailer exclusive in that it is only given to retailers. All of those things make it important and necessary and, yes, difficult to get a hold of. But if it gets more retailers to carry the line, I don't see how that is a bad thing for Minimate collecting. I have not seen anything that says Diamond encouraged retailers to sell it, and it actually seems that many are giving it away or keeping it or using it as a showcase item to encourage future orders. But I would not blame them if they used it to offset the cost of putting on Comicfest in their stores.

The ones online seem very reasonably priced to me, and it is also coming out in a regular series next year, if that seems a little steep.

If this represents everything not being fine and dandy with Minimate collecting, then I guess it's not. If we were Lego, we wouldn't have to worry about this stuff, but we do.

Edited by DSTZach
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To throw my two cents in... I'd think there'd be no real fun to bring a completist if EVERYTHING were easy to get. Now, I understand that international distribution may create an artificial challenge, but removing that from the equation:

Retail release Minimates exist in high enough quantities to be available to anyone who wants them, usually only at the added cost of shipping. Occasionally one might have to be tracked down on eBay. But ultimately, you could own every retail release Minimate for just a little over msrp and with only a modicum of legwork.

Convention exclusives are only slightly trickier. Your probably going to HAVE to buy online and pay shipping, unless you're attending or know someone who is. Still though, sufficient quantities for easy access.

The only Minimates that are truly hard to come by are the promos, and those ARE NOT INTENDED FOR SALE. Whatever ends up happening with them, however they get out to the public, they're not being created to sell to the public. Therefore, having one in your collection is privilege and proof of dedication. It's the crown jewel, the bragging rights; "Only a thousand of these were made and given out at secret society meetings, but I got one!"

Would it really be any fun if every time a new 'Mate rolled off the assembly line, Zach had an intern go door to door asking each of us if we wanted one before sending them out to their final destination?

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.

Thankyou Zach for responding in depth which I very much appreciate . We've both said our pieces & I will now let it go but please.... please.....understand that I totally accept that I collect a US based toyed & I have no issue whatsoever about that ....none at all . Whinging about where I live as the reason why I can't get minimates is not my bag ....I leave that to some US members whistling.gif

Since 2008 I have bought every Minimate in my collection from the US , I buy nothing from the UK & I have never ever bought Minimates in a store except once....in San Diego yes.gif

Edited by buttheadsmate
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can someone open this guy up and take some shots from different sides? thanks in advance, I'm dying to see this guy out of his plastic tomb...

Jack_2.jpg

Thanks Myte, I hope I'm able to grab one of these, been something I've wanted for ages. Also, one of the first group of customs I've done (hasnt help up very well at all :-(

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BHM, why do you not buy from the UK? Obviously, Luke has phenomenal service, and TRU.com sometimes gets you stuff, and you have a lot of pals over here, but is there nothing being made available in the UK that is worth tracking down, if only to save on shipping? Or is the markup that bad? I realize that you may very well be nowhere near a comic shop.

As far as US customers who don't live near a retailer who carries these items... I honestly don't know what we can do to increase our distribution. We have two national (or semi-national) chains on board, although people here have issues with one of them, and we just picked up another, although people here are quick to dismiss it. And we are constantly trying to attract comic shops to the brand with every new line we do, and every new assortment of every old line we still make. But it's a big country, and we can only get the product so close to people. Geography may make mail-order a necessity, and as far as that goes, US customers have some very reasonable options.

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The old rule still stands .....what Minimates cost in the US in $$ is equivalent to what they cost in the UK in ££ ............Minimates costing $10 (for example) in the US will cost £10 in the UK .....$20 in US ,£20 in UK etc. etc. This equates to Minimates costing over 60% more in the UK & you still have to pay to get them shipped ! I rarely if ever even buy from UK ebay .

Regards TRU.com I get them to send everything to a surrogate address ( another boardies address) ..........when I get a mountain of 'mates they get shipped on to me in one big mother of a package . This method helps to avoid multiple shipping charges & customs fees .

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The shop that I originally went to said they were doing their comicfest on friday the 31st, well they changed their minds without telling me and did it saturday. When I asked if they still had Jack they were out. Then I called the 2nd store and they were giving them out as part of a raffle. Then I called every other comic store in my county and only one had it and told me to call the manager monday since they were saving their comicfest for friday.

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I went to one place to see if they were going to have jack and it was already going on and they didnt get him. but they did give me a bunch of books for my nieces and they had free candy and cupcakes. I went ahead and bought the DOFP boxset from them and a wolverine brood alien, as a thanks for the cupcakes.

Still no closer to jack skellington though.

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