Pirates of the Caribbean

[MisterPL]

A young Jack Sparrow TV series (based on the books?) might be another way to draw folks to Disney's streaming service. I'm sure they've already considered it. It's far more likely than a John Carter miniseries, I'm afraid.

[The Scarlet Spider]

35 minutes ago, MisterPL said:

He and Captain Jack run the risk of turning into the next Charlie Sheen and Charlie Harper.

I'd actually watch a well done Pirates show through something like Netflix or I guess Disney. If they could have a decent overarching story with at least some good backing Characters like Gibbs I'd for sure watch it. 

[MisterPL]

[RedTiger95]

I really was really looking forward to characters from other films in future waves. Davy Jones, Blackbeard, some British soldiers, rest of Jack's crew etc. Maybe a deluxe set with the Kraken. I know it's wishful thinking.

[MisterPL]

Same here. Too bad DST is reluctant to go backward.

[DSTZach]

Not from an unsuccessful present, no. Especially since our non-Minimates products stalled in development.

[MisterPL]

I'm just glad the Alien line isn't suffering from its own "unsuccessful present." Or were you just referring to Minimates sales and not box office receipts?

[DSTZach]

Both. Although if TRU wanted more pirates, we'd probably make them.

[The Scarlet Spider]

2 hours ago, DSTZach said:

if TRU wanted more pirates, we'd probably make them.

It's too bad it's not up to the people actually buying em, like yknow... us. 

[arnim zola]

Its too bad tru didn't send these to entire regions of stores across the country, then based their decision on the sales that followed their madness.

[The Scarlet Spider]

15 minutes ago, arnim zola said:

Its too bad tru didn't send these to entire regions of stores across the country, then based their decision on the sales that followed their madness.

Ye these never appeared in my state.  

[DSTZach]

1 hour ago, The Scarlet Spider said:

It's too bad it's not up to the people actually buying em, like yknow... us. 

I mean, it is. If there are enough of those people. If only a few buy them, and I"m not sure the movie motivated a lot of people to go buy them, then TRU will not order more.

[DSTZach]

1 hour ago, arnim zola said:

Its too bad tru didn't send these to entire regions of stores across the country, then based their decision on the sales that followed their madness.

Are you guys saying there were a significant number of TRU stores that did not stock these/ More than usual? I know there are stores that do not seem to get all Minimates, or any, but I thought they were the exception, not the rule.

[The Scarlet Spider]

23 minutes ago, DSTZach said:

Are you guys saying there were a significant number of TRU stores that did not stock these/ More than usual? I know there are stores that do not seem to get all Minimates, or any, but I thought they were the exception, not the rule.

I checked most TRUS from Louisville to Nashville and didn't see the Pirates wave. I got some online and would have thought about going through the trouble to get more if there were more accessories. There's not a gun in any of the packs I got. It was basically one sword per character. No compass, gun, or hair without a hat for jack was a puzzling choice if you wanted me to pursue multiples.  

[arnim zola]

1 hour ago, DSTZach said:

Are you guys saying there were a significant number of TRU stores that did not stock these/ More than usual? I know there are stores that do not seem to get all Minimates, or any, but I thought they were the exception, not the rule.

The first 2 months these were out I was constantly calling local store (I have many) with the specific item number and the DC never got them. Multiple conversations with managers at the stores concluded that the region wasn't getting them since the DC never got them on order.

When I asked how many stores the nearest DC stocked, they said over 200. Even a road trip wouldn't solve that problem.

Having so many tru's available to me within 30-45 means I've been fortunate to catch tru waves pretty consistently without hitting every location, at the least 1 or 2 have shared the newst thing is. So I would say significant sums it up.

[MisterPL]

I don't remember seeing this series at all at my nearest TRU. It wasn't until weeks after the film debuted that it showed up on pegs at the second nearest store 20 minutes away.

 

I understand DST wanting to jump on the Pirates property while a mass market retailer like TRU is buying product based on a recent movie but timing is everything. This was like if DST had launched the Alien line with Minimates from Prometheus. I'm pretty confident there's demand from collectors for more product from previous films. The tricky part is getting retailers interested.

 

Which means we should be nagging TRU, not DST.

[DSTZach]

12 hours ago, The Scarlet Spider said:

I checked most TRUS from Louisville to Nashville and didn't see the Pirates wave. I got some online and would have thought about going through the trouble to get more if there were more accessories. There's not a gun in any of the packs I got. It was basically one sword per character. No compass, gun, or hair without a hat for jack was a puzzling choice if you wanted me to pursue multiples.  

I didn't want you to pursue multiples. None of these sets were designed for army-building except maybe the shark set. Although Luke was able to make a lot of customs with decals he offered, so clearly multiples have their uses.

And I don't KNOW why there were no guns, for sure, but I can GUESS as to why there were no guns, and it wasn't tooling. Although tooling may have accounted for the lack of interchangeable hair pieces. There was a hatless hair in the young Jack set. And a compass is a pretty small accessory. It would be impossible to paint, so I would have to wonder what the point was. 

11 hours ago, arnim zola said:

Multiple conversations with managers at the stores concluded that the region wasn't getting them since the DC never got them on order.

When I asked how many stores the nearest DC stocked, they said over 200. Even a road trip wouldn't solve that problem.

That is surprising to me, unless they ordered far less than I thought.

1 hour ago, MisterPL said:

I don't remember seeing this series at all at my nearest TRU. It wasn't until weeks after the film debuted that it showed up on pegs at the second nearest store 20 minutes away.

Obviously, we wanted them to be out before the film, but approvals sometimes take longer than anticipated. I'm sure TRU would have liked them sooner, that may be why they reduced their order. If we'd known, maybe we would have started with older items, but Disney may have wanted us to start with the new movie to support that release. No one knew how it would perform, of course.

[The Scarlet Spider]

47 minutes ago, DSTZach said:

I didn't want you to pursue multiples. None of these sets were designed for army-building

Now it may just be me but if I was A toy company and someone shows interest in buying multiples of a figure for accessories I would definitely encourage it because even if it's a few people buying multiples it still increases profit. The last thing I'd do is tell them I don't want them to buy more of my toys than they already do. 

Then again what do I know, it's not like I'm trying to throw hundreds of dollars a month of my money at the company or anything. 

47 minutes ago, DSTZach said:

A compass is a pretty small accessory. It would be impossible to paint, so I would have to wonder what the point was. 

I'd say the point is a cool accessory like the bro hands in the upcoming Predator line make me buy multiples of one set. Not to mention his compass and pistol are KEY items for Jacob Sparrow. Even if a set isn't "designed" to sell multiples I'm just saying that as a customer I will buy multiples for cool accessories and I would think that's just good for everyone. 

Edited September 19, 2017 by The Scarlet Spider

[MisterPL]

DST would probably get a bit of mileage out of a hand holding that compass across the life of the line, assuming they choose to pursue it further. There have been smaller props.

[DSTZach]

On 9/19/2017 at 11:10 AM, The Scarlet Spider said:

Now it may just be me but if I was A toy company and someone shows interest in buying multiples of a figure for accessories I would definitely encourage it because even if it's a few people buying multiples it still increases profit. The last thing I'd do is tell them I don't want them to buy more of my toys than they already do. 

You implied I wanted you to buy multiples, and while I of course want you to buy a set, multiples was not something I was pushing in any way. Obviously, tons of accessories may cause people to buy one when they would not have, and MAYBE buy more if they were already buying one and wanted MORE pirate accessories. BUT if the cost of the set goes too high, then we are not making ANY profit on the set, so we have to draw the line somewhere. There was a lot of new costume details on these. The costumes are pretty detailed and character-specific.

Quote

I'd say the point is a cool accessory like the bro hands in the upcoming Predator line make me buy multiples of one set. Not to mention his compass and pistol are KEY items for Jacob Sparrow. Even if a set isn't "designed" to sell multiples I'm just saying that as a customer I will buy multiples for cool accessories and I would think that's just good for everyone. 

Not every customer thinks like you, but I agree to a point, as mentioned above. It's possible the pistol was not allowed as an accessory. I honestly don't know. I'm not sure how much he used the pistol (or the compass) in this film, but toys at mass are a different beast than a movie. There are sometimes different rules.

And a couple of us insisted on the bro hands, but they were tooling we had.

Edited September 20, 2017 by DSTZach

[MrClean]

On September 18, 2017 at 9:44 PM, DSTZach said:

Are you guys saying there were a significant number of TRU stores that did not stock these/ More than usual? I know there are stores that do not seem to get all Minimates, or any, but I thought they were the exception, not the rule.

My store had maybe a case of these, but they were never with the DST stuff or minimates endcap. They were up front with the other PoTC stuff first, then they moved them to the generic Pirates/Soldier Force Aisle where they still remain buried/unseen to the world.

[Captain Paco]

My local TRU had them with the other PotC merchandise and I walked past them several times when I went looking for them as they had every other MiniMate back in the "Collectors" section behind all the Nintendo games and such.  I think I checked my store out four times before I found them and that was only because I went to get a Fast8 car for my nephew and saw the PotC MiniMates in that section.  I would have purchased more sets but was going to get two sets from Luke's to get the decals.  However, I would have liked to see a pistol or some other accessories included.

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by Captain Paco

[SCW]

Wasn't the compass like the whole central part of the plotline of one of the Pirates movies?

[MisterPL]

Yes, and if DST ever gets around to making 'mates based on that installment, maybe then they'll include the compass.

[Onyx_6]

I was thinking the compass could just be a reuse of the cosmic cube hand. Paint the cube black with a gold circle on top. Not perfect, but it would be better than nothing.