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SDCC 2018


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6 hours ago, MrClean said:

How are these characters, with no A-list characters, going to get a single non comic collector to go to walgreens to buy these? I can just hear the conversation played out like this "Hey Mom, can I get a Spider-Man toy? Sure son,...oh wait, I don't see any... oh what about this caveman looking guy and the bald woman in a green bikini? No thanks mom...do they have a Black Panther? Yes son, but...he's naked. Oh. Mom,  can I just get a hot wheels?"

Guess you didn't have an imagination as a child? That's why Mattel thrived on a thousand different stupid costumes for batman. A cool looking figure is a cool looking figure no matter the name on the box 

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44 minutes ago, Heinous said:

Guess you didn't have an imagination as a child? That's why Mattel thrived on a thousand different stupid costumes for batman. A cool looking figure is a cool looking figure no matter the name on the box 

My imagination carries through to this day. But times have changed over the last 40+ years. Kids have changed. Without media recognition, a cool figure isn’t necesarily a wanted figure. My own girls might give me a shrug when I show them Battle Beasts, but the TRU Parker/Spidey costume change minimate gets oohs and ahhs and “that’s cool”. And in my house, Chewie and Groot figures wins hand down because when it’s up to my girls, obscurity doesn’t have a chance.

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The big reason companies thrive on ridiculous variants is because people buying them as gifts don't know any better. Personally I've always craved authenticity. None of that Jungle Camo Attack Batman for me. (And Mom would have vetoed the woman in the bikini anyway.)

That said, if designs came from the source material I was fine with it.

But until Walgreens starts carrying comics, the target demographic will be more likely found at a local comic shop.

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24 minutes ago, MisterPL said:

Personally I've always craved authenticity. None of that Jungle Camo Attack Batman for me. (And Mom would have vetoed the woman in the bikini anyway.)

Same. When I was little, I was big into TMNT and had a bunch of the figures.

My core team consisted of Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, and ROCKSTAR GUITARIST LEONARDO. CHECK OUT HIS STUDDED LEATHER JACKET, SUNGLASSES, AND BANDANNA.

For some reason, I was the only one that noticed a difference.

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35 minutes ago, MisterPL said:

 

 

But until Walgreens starts carrying comics, the target demographic will be more likely found at a local comic shop.

DST needs to 'get in bed with' with a major comic distributor , someone big, someone who has connections,someone who distributes comics ,someone who has exclusive distribution agreements with most major US comic publishers .

 

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9 hours ago, MisterPL said:

I certainly had... different expectations from SDCC but given the TRU Effect, I'm sure manufacturers and retailers alike are still trying to sort things out. Maybe we'll know more at NYCC.

As for DST's Minimates offerings, I'm pretty underwhelmed. Anything being sold through Walgreens will be a challenge to acquire at best. Say what you will about TRU's distribution, in my experience it was generally better in-store and certainly superior online to Walgreens. Being three full waves behind doesn't have me brimming with enthusiasm but I'm still cautiously optimistic that we'll start seeing toy inventory at stores formerly known as Rite Aid the fall.

Correct me if I missed something but there were zero new property reveals. I thought we'd at least see some John Wick 'mates. After seeing Kelvin-verse Star Trek action figures (not poseable statues but action figures) I'm a bit more hopeful that DST will be able to offer something to tie into the next feature film.

Otherwise I'm just excited about DC Collectibles continuing the Animated line of 1:12 scale figures after a mysterious hiatus. I've signed up for DCU so I can get the Justice League figures whenever they come out and am looking forward to next spring and the release of Scarecrow, TAS Two-Face, HARDAC, and the Grey Ghost!

More or less how I feel. I think we're going to have to adjust to a new reality in the post-TRU landscape for Minimates. The lack of new licenses is troubling, and outside of Marvel I don't think there were any new figures sold. So that leaves us with, what, three active lines? Marvel (including Animated at Walgreens), Nightmare Before Christmas and Kingdom Hearts. Aliens and Predator too, I guess, but I don't know if we're going to see any more sets from them.

Without TRU to support them, it's hard to see how any minor license gets made. What would be the home for John Wick Minimates, just as an example? They won't get enough orders at specialty to produces them, I would bet, and Walgreens sure isn't going to carry them. A lot of the sets that we've seen (Dark Tower, Beetlejuice, probably even Watchmen) were only possible because TRU wanted them. Just look at how quickly Walking Dead and TMNT died once TRU decided the didn't want them any more.

But I think we have to give DST a mulligan on this show. Losing their biggest retail partner is a terrible blow, and they will need at least a few months to regroup. Hopefully Minimates will find their way into another home; I think that the collectibles aisle in Target would be perfect. And also hopefully there will be some cool new licenses to inject the shot in the arm that Minimates need right now.

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Predator will have an MM box set, but it's still being finalized.

The first Sonic box set was on display -- as we just finalized the first offering, I still consider that a new license.

John Wick was discussed in the panel. Some VM and MM are designed, but they will happen after we've done some realistic product first, as our licensing partnership develops.

KH has a vehicle and figures from Tron, so it's kind of a two-fer.

We have some new licenses, and we'll see how MM develop in the future along those lines.

But yes, the small profit margin on Minimates gets smaller the fewer you make, and losing TRU means we're making less. We're also making less action figures, as any articulated figure requires a fairly large minimum order. We'd love for Target to get them in, but we'll see.

The new Walgreens waves, including TRU 26, may end up on their website, so we'll see if it makes them easier for you to acquire.

 

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8 hours ago, RedTiger95 said:

I actually thought they'd show the The Predator or Antman & Wasp boxsets. Guess they aren't ready yet. Bit underwhelming but hopefully things will be better near NYCC.

Pics of the  AM&W set are out there, it's ready,  but we couldn't show everything, and brought a few more first looks instead.

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I believe Walgreens was excited about Avengers 1MBC as well, so it's not solely our bet. Obviously collectors go to Walgreens, so hopefully they'll be down with it. Could it have been a comic shop wave? Sure. But I think it was big a risk there as anywhere, since low retailer interest and orders might have kept it from even getting made.

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On 7/22/2018 at 12:00 PM, RedTiger95 said:

Did they announce what retailer the Sonic minimates will have? Also no new license reveals?

We can't announce a new license at every show. But Sonic set shown is for specialty.

On 7/22/2018 at 12:22 PM, Onyx_6 said:

@DSTZach - If the TRU wave is now at Walgreens, do you know how they will be distributed? Walgreens has been getting 4 2-packs. TRU was getting 3. Will Walgreens get 6 for this set? Or will different Walgreens get a second of different packs?

we are aiming for online sets, but we'll see.

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On 7/21/2018 at 7:39 PM, fwoosheyman said:

Considering DST hasn’t been able to get minimates in Walmart/Target for years and the one time GameStop had them they were a huge flop, I wouldn’t be too optimistic. 

DST Kingdom Hearts figures are also flopping everywhere and that doesn’t help convince stores to buy more product from you.

Where are they flopping, besides Gamestop where they are drastically overpriced?

On 7/21/2018 at 7:39 PM, fwoosheyman said:

As others have said DST needs to get creative and offer some new formats, etc for minimates in order to get in these stores and win back speciality. I also think they need to embrace online more, revamp their own store and start one on Amazon. 

We have box sets on our site, and cases, but two-packs are tough with our current setup (a warehouse), and our shipping options are also limited. Suggestions for new formats that are not four-packs, two-packs, single packs or blind bags would be appreciated.

On 7/21/2018 at 7:39 PM, fwoosheyman said:

Putting all your eggs in one basket again is just one Walgreens buyer change away from complete oblivion. 

We have  been trying to sell our tiny eggs all over town for years, but only one shopkeeper with a good-sized egg basket is interested. The others get their jumbo eggs from big chicken farms, and have no time for our tiny eggs. But we keep asking. 

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@DSTZach  Kingdom hearts select figures are on clearance at Walgreens along w GameStop and the ones I’ve seen at Targets/Walmarts have never moved. I take no joy in this as Kingdom Hearts is something I want to have a NBX-type run in both Select and Minimates it just doesn’t look like it’s going well at all.

I find the DST store difficult to navigate,  it’s dated looking, dark, dull with small pictures of the items. There’s no advertising on what’s new in stock and new to pre-order and it’s just kinda hidden away. I believe it needs an visual/interface overall along w more advertising on the main website and social media. The new BBTS site is something I find very appealing both visually and using it. I realize it would take additional employees to have a fully functional store and amazon store. (Or Chuck can just dump it all on you ?).

As for a new format to get minimates into store I think bringing back the bigger boxset would be worth a try. I find minimates in both 2 and 4-packs get lost on the pegs/shelves and something bigger with a more eye-catching package design would be more appealing. The boxset should aim for a team type lineup that will appeal to casuals but still include new stuff for the collector. Perhaps an Avengers based boxset (classic Vision, classic Black Panther, Wasp variant, Iron Man/Cap/Hulk variants or some selection of other avengers). Or a comic style Guardians or X-men pack. I see a lot of these team/group sets of small figures at Target/Disney Store and it’s defintely something minimates can do and be a much better product then what’s currently out there.

Whatever format you guys select going forward I would echo what others have said and please stop with overlapping minimate releases. It killed minimates off at most comic shops when they overlapped w TRU. Each store should have their own selection no overlap w Walgreens and comic shops going forward.

Walgreens as the home of minimates scares me. Drug stores are where toys go to collect dust and be on the shelves for years. We all see them while looking for minimates at Walgreens. There’s already well documented issues with distribution and having them be the one store that carries minimates makes me fear they’ll drop minimates cause they aren’t moving and that will be the end. 

Minimates are the main line I collect and they are my favorite. The loss of TRU has put them in danger of ending. Also it’s quite obvious DST is moving away from minimates/select figures and becoming more of a statue/bust company. 

Ok so that’s the end of my rant/thesis/short book. Thanks for reading.

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We aren't moving away from Minimates and action figures. Action figures in particular we have plenty in the works, and we had 20 releases (including multi -packs) on display, plus a few we have not shown yet. But Marvel PVCs will always outpace figures because Marvel figures are limited; and we've been doing Marvel resin since before MM existed. We can't even do DC figures, so PVCs are the focus there.

Minimates have fewer opportunities now, regardless of what we pitch to Target and Walmart, so there are less in the works right now, but we had 11 2-Packs, a box set and a vehicle on display, plus four two-packs and two box sets not present.

Walgreens is a chain with thousands of locations, which SHOULD make what they carry easy to find. I realize it doesn't necessarily work that way, but hopefully online sales make things a little easier. Don't fear the Walgreens!

We have a couple of returning licenses, and those will have PVC Dioramas and action figures, and I believe Vinimates. I will cross my fingers for Minimates, but without TRU, they are a harder sell, so no promises.

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I like Fwoosheyman's team box set idea. Small figurines with little to no articulation pop up at various retailers all the time, Disney store among them. A set of mostly re-releases anchored - for collectors - by a few new figures could absolutely kill. For example: Cable, Domino, Deadpool, Cannonball, Warpath, Feral, Sunspot, and Stryfe. Do new facial expressions for the retreads. Warpath and Stryfe get newly sculpted parts while Feral and Sunspot work with existing tooling and new designs. You cash in on Deadpool 2 AND complete a team.

There's a handful of rosters you could present this way, from the 90s X-men to the West Coast Avengers

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Yeah, but those non-articulated Disney Store Boxsets are what, $19.99, or even buy-1-get-1 free a lot of the time.

A Minimates boxset like you just described would retail for at least $40.00.

Sure, collectors won't mind, but at that price point, Moms are instantly going to reach for the non-articulated boxsets instead.

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