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SDCC 2018


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1 hour ago, MisterPL said:

I agree about character variety but for me that goes well beyond Marvel. It extends to "niche" properties like Elf and Beetlejuice and Alien and Predator and Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek, etc. Dioramas and "generic product" can fill holes in collections that license agreements forbid and offer retailers higher price points with better margins.

That’s the challenge I have. I love the classic comic book characters but we have to accept the fact that comics are a small and dying audience. They literally gave us what we claimed to want with Most Wanted (Tigra etc) and the fan vote waves and both didn’t do great. Look at the challenges Luke had with the Deadly Foes wave and how long that took to sell. I agree that the nice properties are a definite unexplored area and with things like Buffy, Hunger Games, etc there are in roads that could be made. Every time I see those retro figures I just get a little more angry especially when there are Arrow-verse characters. 

For innovation I also love the strike force multiple head concept and that’s probably why I own a dozen Blobs...

As for subscriptions, sorry some of you have had issues touch wood I’m not one. 

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A few new marvel waves aren’t going to solve the issue that all the other major minimate lines (NBX, Aliens, Predator) are at their end and the buyer that made most minimate lines possible is gone.

Kingdom Hearts is the only other minimate line with a possible long life left but it doesn’t appear to be generating much interest. Although that probably has some to do w KH3 being pushed back so much. 

Sonic is coming but that’s a short lived line  if it even gets enough orders to be made.

Minimates needs new licenses and new ideas. Hopefully, DST has a lot in the works and is just waiting until SDCC.

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I've been speculating on the end of  Minimates  for awhile now, with diminishing amounts of different lines, some major ones like POTC, and Aliens reaching their ends  and distribution issues plaguing it,

mostly i was met with jeers, and cries that "the sky is falling" type comments.

And all that was before the Major retailer(Toys Were Us) for MM went belly up.

now no convention exclusives and more issues with Walgreens which we are being told could be our Savior  next large retailer.

I think DST has mostly written off MMs in favor of Vinimates anyway

Id be surprised if we see many more releases.

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Most of the lines that have ended, did so because they ran their course. We have seen more NBX characters than I honestly thought feasible. I'll admit that we could have seen more Street Fighter minimates (I'll always want a Blanka and a Dhalsim), but most of the other universes that DST has Minimated didn't have the depth of characters that Marvel had. Nor did they have a new film coming out every year the way Marvel does. I feel reasonably safe that Marvel Minimates will continue for a little while, and that DST will keep investigating and adding new properties as they arise. 

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8 hours ago, thereasonsy said:

They literally gave us what we claimed to want with Most Wanted (Tigra etc)...

Most Wanted was a nice collection of characters that made an awful wave. The minimates are all good but none of them are great. Putting two Blizzards in the wave was a mistake and that should have been obvious to everyone involved ahead of time. The army builder was a great choice that ended up mediocre because it's a cobbled together mess of existing parts, the best thing about it was the Coulson head and SHIELD mug. Maybe a comic wave like this wouldn't succeed anyway but it definitely won't if DST doesn't bring their "A" game.

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Sometimes I'm on here seeing myself stoutly defending DST's honor and other times I'm blasting them out of the ejector seat over things that just don't make any sense. I do agree that the downturn in "risks"  and the steady play it safe method may be the root of the current pattern. Underutilizing great ideas, over utilizing bad ideas that REPEATEDLY do not pay off the way they do during the line pitch. Then we get rich licenses with tons of opportunity abruptly cancelled after a single wave or boxset. 

 

I've read "The sales aren't there" so many times I can't believe it. I understand business, I understand toys, and I understand collectors. Consider this:

If you have comic shops (the equivalent to mom and pop stores) and you offer them a product they consistently order and sell, then that's good for your business. Then one day you sign a big box retail store with deep pockets, more locations, longer hours, and wide distribution network that helps you get more opportunities to expand your business. Then you decide to share product among your customers, though the one with deeper pockets will offer them at a significantly lower price. On top of that even if it's just for a year or two you are going to blind package your product for the mom and pop store, but the same product with be easier to aquire, complete a set of, and again be cheaper at the big box store.

This is not hindsight. It was discussed, here, and often, proceeding all of these things happening. I used to be able to say I had 20+ comic shops in my area all carrying minimates. I officially have gone back to none. The the trust just isn't there.

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6 hours ago, arnim zola said:

 I used to be able to say I had 20+ comic shops in my area all carrying minimates. I officially have gone back to none. The the trust just isn't there.

 My LCS owner couldn't understand why he suddenly had trouble selling Minimates. When I pointed out that TRU was selling many of the same ones for $2 less, he cut back on what he was ordering. Some lines, like TWD, he stopped selling entirely.

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On 7/10/2018 at 10:20 AM, thereasonsy said:

That’s the challenge I have. I love the classic comic book characters but we have to accept the fact that comics are a small and dying audience. They literally gave us what we claimed to want with Most Wanted (Tigra etc) and the fan vote waves and both didn’t do great.

Anecdotally speaking, it always seems like the comic stuff sells through faster than the movie stuff.  My TRU had pegs full of boring civilians from Dark Tower, PoTC, and whatever Marvel movie was new, while the weird colorful stuff always sold through pretty quickly (like Beetlejuice, Nightmare, or Marvel comic stuff [except for Maestro/Old Man Logan for some reason]).  Also, at the comic store I go to the most, they were always burning through comic mates while their little spinner rack was choked with random civilian movie figures (I'm looking at you, Howard Stark).

Call me crazy, but I think the issues with minimates comes from both making too many non-toyetic characters (Like the aforementioned howard stark) or not being varied enough in their character selection.  I know I get bored when a new wave is announced and it's just another twist on the Iron Man, Spider-Man, Cap staples we always get.  IN a perfect world, DST would take a page from Hasbro and lean into the fandom that wants the obscure and couple it with kids or whatever that want something that looks fun and they can put into action scenarios.

Basically: more fun, less suits, and more variety seem like they would help the excitement level of the line/figures.  And honestly, it seems like they're doing this with Kingdom Hearts and Sonic, I just hope it extends into their other/future lines.

 

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16 minutes ago, funkguerilla said:

Anecdotally speaking, it always seems like the comic stuff sells through faster than the movie stuff.  My TRU had pegs full of boring civilians from Dark Tower, PoTC, and whatever Marvel movie was new, while the weird colorful stuff always sold through pretty quickly (like Beetlejuice, Nightmare, or Marvel comic stuff [except for Maestro/Old Man Logan for some reason]).  Also, at the comic store I go to the most, they were always burning through comic mates while their little spinner rack was choked with random civilian movie figures (I'm looking at you, Howard Stark).

 

The last Minimates at my nearest three TRUs were POTC, Marvel Series 23, NBC, Black Panther, Alien, and Dark Tower.

My LCS still has TWD (one shared with TRU), Predator (one shared with TRU), Marvel Series 74 and 75, and Doctor Strange (one shared with TRU).

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Doctor Who does seem like a property that would do well for this format. So long as it wasn't current Who, but classic. But it seems like that ship has sailed.

I wish Minimates could get into Target. Boggles my mind the stuff they sell there but Minimates can't get a foot in with something. 

Hopefully we'll get some kinda good news coming out of SDCC. 

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17 minutes ago, Mystery Man said:

I’m worried about Minimates. Hastings and TRU being gone scared me.

And Borders and AFX and Suncoast and Tower Records...

Minimates has always seemed to find a home somewhere. I'm hopeful they'll show up at Kay-Bee in time for this holiday season.

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Well some retailers are figuring it out. It may even mean that dst has to do more to promote their amazon store. If Nike had to it’s pretty much a safe bet everyone will have to. https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/12/news/companies/nike-snkrs-app-nikeplus/index.html

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Bit late but i just wanted to point out that the only lcs within an hour of me has the minimate stock of well over 20 black and white dale twd sets, atleast 3-4 full sets of the  dofp movie series, one or two best of sets and multiple universal monsters sets, and seemingly hasn’t gotten any new stock of minimates in 3-4 years excluding the aou blindbags

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21 hours ago, MisterPL said:

 

Why not both? Is the Who fandom as fractured as Trekkies seem to be?

I think the problem with NuWho merchandise is that is a lot of it is some random character from one episode that is long since forgotten about, or ever cared about by the time they hit the shelf, or they are a concept that is really stupid like the war doctor that is suddenly supposed to be a big deal.

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14 hours ago, FightTheDead118 said:

Bit late but i just wanted to point out that the only lcs within an hour of me has the minimate stock of well over 20 black and white dale twd sets, atleast 3-4 full sets of the  dofp movie series, one or two best of sets and multiple universal monsters sets, and seemingly hasn’t gotten any new stock of minimates in 3-4 years excluding the aou blindbags

I know someone looking for Mummy Minimates. Does this place have a website?

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