Ask DST Q&A #2 - Questions!

[AdyCarter]

You post your questions here for DST, two weeks from now I'll close this thread and send it into DST. Once I recieve the answers I shall post them and open up the next Q&A.

These Q&As will cover all DST related Minimate products (so not C3, DC, Speed Racer or LOTR), please be polite with your questions.

Many thanks to DST for doing this!

[JIrish780]

Hi, and many thanks for doing this. My question is, do you guys plan on having any other Marvel Minimate products on display at Febuary's Toy Fair besides the X3, Ghost Rider and Avengers lines, or are any waves beyond those too early in development to be shown?

[Shanester]

Is Abomination planned for any of the next couple of waves of Marvel minimates?

[Deadpool]

1. I know there cannot be bigger minimates, but any chance of an even smaller Ant-Man?

2. Why not try for some of the cool Spider-Man variations, such as Iron or Scarlet?

3. With Thor and Loki (and more) Avengers announced for wave 16, is there a good chance of more Avengers waves? There's no way to fit every good Avenger in the one wave.

4. How inventive will you get with Target repaints? Just modifications, new costumes, or even new characters?

5. I hate to sound all fanboyish, but any thought of doing the new Ant-Man? He seems more "cool-looking", and may appeal to a greater market that the original.

6. Thank you! You guys have been AMAZING to us!

[luke314pi]

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions!

In upcoming Target 2-packs do you have any plans for unique figures like the Blue Professor X?

[Amazing.JL]

Thank you DST for answering our questions.

1.) With the eventual release of 24 TV Show minimates, do you have a projected line-up for a first wave? Any Ideas?

2.) With the eventual announcement of Star Trek TOS minimates, do you have a projected number of waves for this year? Will DST also be introducing Star Trek Characters from TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT? This year?

3.) With the release of Marvel wave 16 what are the plans thus far for wave 17?

[TM2 Dinobot]

Thank you guys SO MUCH!!!

1) Stargate license? Check. Minimate production? Check. Stargate Minimates? Check? Also, any chance for Farscape Minimates? These might do really good in Australia.

2) Any more Spiderman villains coming? Maybe in the *cough*Spiderman 3*cough* wave, or beyond?

3) What about a fans choice poll? Pick 20 (Marvel?) characters and let the fans vote each one up or down, in the classic battle royale tournament, and the top 6 get made into a wave! Although you might not want Thor on there cause you know he's gona win.

4) How much inspiration do you guys take from Marvel legends? I know you don't want to seem to be parroting the line, but as they can pump toys and characters out faster then you, it can't be helped. Do you feel that they steal your thunder so to speak?

5) Any chance of Glow-in-the-Dark Minimates?

6) Wolvy has new claws for the X3 wave. Can we expect this new claw/hand style to be the norm, or is this a once only thing?

Once more, thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you!

[Fujis]

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions!

1) Why are the BSG Mini-flyers only possible as of right now? I love the idea of the figure/ship combo. I can't even imagine how cool a fleet of Vipers and Raiders would be.

2) Is there any chance that Ghost Rider, from Wave 15 or beyond, will come with a Motorcycle? And I know you've been asked this before but what are the specific licensing conflicts that prevent it (if you can talk about them of course)?

3) What happened in the process that Sentry made it to the shelves with a tampo error?

4) Where did the 6' Spock Minimate end up?

5) Any plans for vehicles and/or playsets for the Trek line? Or any other line for that matter?

6) Will there be exclusive figures in the Star Trek, 24, and Rocky lines?

[Aapje]

how u guys doing?

thanks for the answers we appreciate it alot dudes

do u guys maybe have some plans for a accesories pack or something for the mates?

are u maybe going to make bigger mates for marvel this year?

[drgnrbrn316]

How conscious are you guys of the major events that affect your lines, such as "universal" comic book events like Civil War, Planet Hulk, World War Hulk, etc? When lining up a potential wave or other release of figures, is current events in the media that you're trying to capture a deciding factor, or does it make little difference?

You said before that capturing real-life people in minimate design is a difficult process. What sort of steps are taken to insure that real-life lines, such as Rocky, BSG, Ghost Rider, 24, etc which are heavy with real-life characters, capture the same luster as the more fantastic lines like Marvel? I myself have never been a big fan of buying "plain-looking" characters, so I guess what I'm trying to ask is what you try to do with these "non-costumes" to make them appealing to someone like me?

Oh, and how do you guys come up with so many variations of Spider-Man and Wolverine? I can't speak much for Wolverine's many variations over the years, but I can tell you Spider-Man has gone through quite a few changes hasn't he? Any chance of seeing the black and red costume from back before the color blue was invented? How about when Spidey lost his mask and was forced to use trashbags, websacks, or even Black Cat's mask as a suitable replacement? I was particularly fond of some of the many civilian costumes he's used over the years, not to mention the light blue and pink "laundry mishap" variant he donned a time or two. Then there's Captain Universe, Spider-Armor, Iron Spidey, Electro-Proof Spidey, 6-Armed Spidey, Octo-Spidey, Spider-Hulk, Spider-Lizard, Spider-Phoenix, Man-Spider (two versions), the Slinger costumes, the list goes on and on. Between all the clones, cross-overs, time traveling tales, What If stories, transformation stories, etc, there's a whole host of Spidey costumes to keep the line moving. And don't get me started on artist-specific variations!

How come you guys never release characters after I've made customs of them? I think only once have I customized a character that later got released as a real figure, but that doesn't really count since I made Ultimate Iceman to your regular and frosted Icemen. Do you have a whole team of people browsing through my website saying things like, "Crap, we can't do Goliath now" or "He's made all the Spider-Men we planned on releasing for the next seven years!?" Obviously, I'm joking this time, but it does make for some interesting coincidences.

Finally, is it true that the prototypes to Wave 16 couldn't be kept in the same room together, because the sheer awesomeness of this wave was too much for mortal eyes to behold?

[Shanester]

drgnrbrn316, you might want to consider trimming that novel you just wrote down to a few one sentence questions.

[Xybot]

1) The Target rolling stock figures are so great ... and the blue suit Professor X is one of the highlights. Do you have any plans for similar variants / repaints in the future? Maybe a non-phasing Kitty Pride, masked Astonishing Wolverine, green costume non-Dark Phoenix, X-Factor Cyclops or any other easy and desirable repaint?

2) One repaint that people have repeatedly asked for is US Agent. Now that Omega Flight is coming out, any chance we'll get to see him in 'mate form? Seems like a perfect 2-pack would be US Agent and Guardian ... since they're both on Omega Flight AND the whole US / Canada thing.

3) Some collectors are MISBers. Which is kind of funny with MiniMates because if you aren't there when they are being taken out of the case, how can you REALLY know what is inside? (Just a comment, not my question ...) Anyway, since people are so fond of the packaging, has DST ever considered doing blurbs or bio-stats on the characters?

4) Were there ever any plans to either release Magnto in an unmasked form OR include a white hairpiece with him (a la Juggernaut)?

5) Were there ever any plans to make a hover-chair for Professor X?

6) I've seen control art for the Days of Future Past Colossus figure ... can you please still release this?

7) Any plans to release more Ultimate figures? (Ultimate Fantastic Four, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Thor, Captain America and Iron Man specifically)

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[XManRCJ]

In looking at series recently, it looks like DST is going more for a unified theme for each series(Astonishing wave, New Avengers Wave, X3, GR Movie). Will future waves continue like this?(For example: "Rise/Fall Shi'ar" X-Men, "Planet Hulk", New F4, "Civil War" Thunderbolts.)

Continuing with the Target exclusive repaints ala Blue Prof X, would you guys ever be able to do a totally new character with previous parts and a new paint job for Target? (Take Phoenix's hair, Dark Phoenix's body, and make Psylocke for example?

Screw Thor! Where's Archangel? And I've seen Hawkman and Hawkgirl, so the wings can't be the holdup....

Stepford Cuckoos at all a possiblity? I'd love to have set of the Three-In-One.

Is there anyone involved in Civil War other than Iron Spidey that you guys feel would be worth crafting into Minimate form?

[Totalus_Kat]

1) How long does it usually take for the designs of the Minimate to become reality?

2) Of all your lines which ones are your favourite to make?

3) Has there been any thought into creating Minimate dioramas? As in the sense of Wolverine Minimate launching himself at Juggernaut? Or Spider-man webbing up Venom, all the statuettes of course in Minimate form.

4) The accessories for the Trek mates are fantastic, is this going to be a new feature of DST/AA to include new accessories?

[XManRCJ]

I thought of more!

1)In reguards to possible Target variants, would a Diamond Astonishing Emma be possible, or does Diamond White Queen kill that? You could package her with Masked Astonishing Wolverine

2)Does Thunderbird I negate us ever seeing Warpath?

3)Any chances of another boxed set ala GSXM? Perhaps Age of Apocalypse? I'd love to see characters from that story, especially ones that have lasted, like X-Man, Dark Beast, Sunfire, etc. And remember, that's a version of Wolverine you haven't done yet

4)Moving on to MU, any thoughts on a T-Bolts set? And would you do a classic or post-Civil War? I'd think it be neat to do the Bolts in a set like Zemo/Citizen V, Screaming Mimi/Songbird....

5)Are there any Marvel Characters you think would make good exclusives vs being part of a mainstream wave?

[Energy-Man]

well...

1) will there be a 2 wave Civil war line (secret avengers) (iron man avengers *ewwww*)?

2) A Hawkeye minimate (w/ accessories)?

[MINI_MYTE]

In the last Q&A you said that there could be a possibility of more boxed sets down the road. Which kind? Repacked mass market type like the ones at TRU or original minimates and packaging like the Giant Sized X-men 6 pack?

[Rad]

1) Will DST/AA make a Captain Britain Minimate?

2) Oh and here's a total no-brainer that'll probably see me lynched.

Scarlet Spider? Considering all the spidey variations we've had I'm amazed we've not seen Ben Reilly in his hoody. Go on Chuck, make a Scarlet Spider minimate. You know it makes sense!

3) With regards to quality control, you stated in the last Q&A that people with quality issues should raise them with DST, and DST will do their best to resolve them. How does that stand with people outside the US? Is there anyone in say the UK or Europe that we can talk to?

(My Sentry variants leg snapped at the T-piece. I wasn't impressed)

Thanks dude.

[newaddict]

Does the "boxed set" format allow for creation of characters which on their own might not make the traditional wave cut? For instance, as a big fan of the Runaways, would we be more likely to see them offered in a box set, or in the more traditional two pack style? Thanks for taking the time to read and respond to our questions and produce such a wonderfully addictive line.

And PS, both Spiderman and Wolverine have been featured in the Runaways. I'm just saying.

[Alpheon]

Is there a "limit" of sorts for the number of Minimates in boxed sets? The Marvel TRU-Exclusive 10-Pack was a daring move, but since then there have pretty much just been 5-Packs, if those count as boxed sets.

Speaking of the 10-Pack, how well did that sell?

Speaking of boxed sets, what constitutes a "boxed-" or "box-set"?

Thank you very much. You've been very generous with your time.

[skull buster]

hi i just wanted to thank you for being incredibly helpful in the last Q&A.

since you said that there was mostly likely going to be only one wave of X3 mates, could there by any chance be an convention exclusive 2-pack of iceman and pyro.

[O.B]

Hi, just like to say thanks for wave 16

- Am a big Rocky fan, and I was just wondering if the first Rocky set was based on Rocky 1, and if any more sets are released will these be based on the other films, like set 2 would feature Apollo Creed, set 3 Clubber Lang, set 4 Ivan Drago etc... (I never got the 3 inch Mr.T, I much rather have a 2 inch version )

[boonimusprime]

Hi

Thank you for your time. Couple questions:

1. Is there a chance we could see the Giant Size X-Men two packs at retail again? The characters seem to be very popular, and they vanished in almost no time at all. Another release of Nightcrawler would be nice.

2. Have you looked into the possibilty of taking on the Doctor Who license? That show has a passionate following, the series has had new life breathed into it much like Battlestar Galactica has, and I bet Who 'mates could sell very well.

[Samwise Gamgee]

Hello,

Have you guys ever considered making both minimates in a variant pack variants? For example, the new movie X-Men wave could have seen Wolverine being disintegrated as well as clear Phoenix. (from the end of the film) I know in the past I have passed on most variant packs due to not wanting a duplicate figure.

Also, I asked this back in November on the AA boards but never got a reply:

Are the post-wave 1 Battlestar minimate faces 'set in stone' or can they be tweaked? (specifically Tyrol and Tigh- to be more like the promo art)

Thanks

[gerg]

A question for my GCSE here: what do you think makes Minimates so popular? And, if you had to choose one deciding factor of their design (including things like price, etc.) as the reason for their popularity, what would it be?

Many thanks,

Greg.