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An open plea to everyone


Danny

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I've been thinking about this for a while. Despite running MMC I don't get as much of a chance to put across my thoughts as often as, say, JattaPake or Fujis at MMHQ, or Ady on here, because reviews aren't really the place for it, so I'll post my thoughts here and see what you think.

The Marvel license is the Minimates crowning achievement. It put Minimates on the map. Before, the 3" Minimates suffered cancellation after cancellation. AA did not get any licenses that were sustainable.

Then they worked with DST and got the Marvel license. Due to that license the Minimates went truly mini - the 2" scale that we all know and love.

11 waves have hit retail (specialty). Some of those waves had some bizarre choices for characters, and overall selection was weighted towards 3 or 4 "heavy hitters" who appeared in the line time and again despite being marketed to comic fans at comic stores etc rather than mass market. As time went on, it appeared that the character selection was being driven by what pieces were available to be reused and that has sullied the later waves.

There has been an unforgivable delay between wave 11 and waves 12/13, and with the anticipation at fever pitch, the assortmant looks like a similar cop-out. On the one hand, focussing the waves on specific comics/relaunches is a sound idea, but no-one can argue that the characters chosen have been chosen mainly because they could be done with the currently available parts.

And so we wait, and wait, and wait. Months since the last waves, and yet my craving for Marvel Minimates is still massive.

Put simply, I want these figures. I am not totally happy with the way the line has gone, in fact I think it's been bodged quite spectacularly, but I am here because I love Marvel Minimates. First and foremost, that's what brought me in to the Minimates and that's what I want to collect.

Please, despite any misgivings we have, we as the collectors and fans of Minimates must make sure this wave is a success. We must ensure that when the bean-counters at DST are looking at waves 14 and beyond that they see that the interest in Marvel Minimates is still high.

That's the way we can get Abomination for Shanester, or an Angel for Fujis, or Tim's modern Iron Man.

If waves 12 and 13 fail, we risk losing the line. And I for one do not want that to happen.

Please don't let it happen. Support the line.

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I will suport the waves, Danny! the avengers wave looks dissappointing, so i wasn't gonna get much of it, but I never thought of it that, the more we buy 12/13, the more varied marvelmates we will get! mabye even Classic beast!!(blue furred, not human...i don't like the coustme he's wearimg in 13... but i still can't wait!!!)

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I get what you're saying Danny, and you know I'll be buying 12 & 13 regardless. But I do feel that if there is a wave 14 and beyond, we're just going to see more of the same. More Spiderman, More Wolverine and more repaints and part re-use. Don't get me wrong it (part re-use) has its place, and if it was one character per wave I'd not be bothered but to continually issue variants of Spider-Man and Wolverine is a bit of an insult to fans old and new.

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I agree with Danny as well and while I wouldn't mind an Abomination or Modern Iron-Man, I think you guys should support these waves, as Danny said, to get me an Angel minimate! :P

There is a way to convince the "bean-counters" that the Marvel wave, and all other Minimate licenses, are still viable: Pre-orders.

I got mine from CornerStoreComics and AFX has them for the same price...

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Nicely put Danny,

I'd also like to add that we should be out there spreading the word on how great minimates are!

I know 11&12 aren't super exciting and we think the parts and character reuse is a bit of a let down, but they have come back with waves of 2 of Marvels biggest comic books after a year away, that is a smart move if you ask me.

However we've not seen 14 & beyond... 12&13 were in Chucks words 'done that way to get something out after such a long gap'

Keep the faith guys and lets make sure this line is a success.

T.

p.s. Yep pimping Darktide to the masses is something we should be doing too, go on tell your neighbour to buy it for their kid!

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Yes Danny well said and I agree.

DST imo has not managed the line as best as they could. There have been enough releases where they could have corrected mistakes or changed there approach/philosophy. As time has gone on they remain on there mission of rehashes, reused parts, lack of good villains, and lack of creativity/diversity. Marvel minimates got me hooked, especially cause I'm a Marl fan. The announced line-up of waves 12/13 has me bummed out. I collect something I love but I can only be taken for a fool for only so long. If it weren’t for BSG and DC lines, minimates could be dead for me right now. Yeah we are getting SF and Speed Racer and love them, but not with the same intensity as the other lines. I was a SF crazed fan but this was in my past life.

I’ll easily have more than 1,000 minimates by year end with the new releases. (This includes promos) How much my collection grows may hinder on DST. I buy extras all the time, but will not buy as many I used to if DST continues to give me crap.

The DCD line is coming out guns blazing and is not afraid to put all their chips in like DST. Maybe this will hinder some of DSTs sales and they wake up and smell the coffee.

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I agree with what has been said and it reflects my own feelings on the line. I get upset with AA/DST for what I consider lack of fan appreciation, but I have no plans to stop my support as a collector.

I buy two cases of each wave. My sons really profit as they get full sets of each wave and Dad gets two full sets and 2 sets of variants. I open a set of each and keep a set boxed/carded. Any leftovers go to trades.

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As I said I just preordered SF wave 2 and Marvel waves 12/13 from Corner Store Comics but BigBadToyStore has the waves (including chases) available for preorder for $2 cheaper...

Not sure if that's the cheapest but $34.99 is a pretty good price for a wave including a chase.

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I agree with what has been said and it reflects my own feelings on the line. I get upset with AA/DST for what I consider lack of fan appreciation, but I have no plans to stop my support as a collector..

I feel exactly the same way. Sure the promos are great but the line has been lacking.

========================================================

On a side note, Cornerstorecomics is on my s-list just barely. I can go into detail, but I had to harrass them to get my order of $150-$200 which was prepaid and I'm still missing one piece.

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I have to agree with this as well. These two waves need to hit big in terms of sales... but that having been said, the future waves after 12 & 13 need to be a hit in terms of quality, charascter selection, and new parts, or else DCD is going to seriously steal DST's thunder. And consdering how hot these things came out the gates, up to the waves with the Fantastic Four and Lady Deathstrike, it would be a shame to see the original 2" mega-mini line go by the wayside.

I'm excited for the new Colossus (since I don't have the previous one), Sentry, Beast, Ronin, Shadowcat... but there is so much more Marvel dying to be mini'd. Just the X-Men characters I can think of alone (Angel, Psylocke, Gambit, Jubilee, Banshee, Toad, Pyro, Callisto, "modern" Storm, Mr Sinister, Cannonball, Deadpool, and that's just off the top of my head) could support the next five waves and still have interesting characters to go.

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AMEN Danny!

I am in this for the long haul, and am looking forward to these lines, I ordered a case of each as my support, and bought two copies of Darktide too lol...I am a minimate addict and want these to continue so I will buy it.....DCD is gonna force some rethinking of DSTs ideas and we should see some good stuff......Make Mine Minimates!

Jeff of the Minis

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I've had my order in for a case of each wave since they were solicited.

But these really need to be in more than just comic shops and specialty stores for the line to keep going. Since Suncoast & Sam Goody are now gone (Granted, my local stores never got anything after wave 2!) and I haven't got a Tower within 3 hours of me (I know their on-line store is severely lacking lately, how's the actual brick and mortar stores for stock?), TRU, Target and Wal-Mart need to start selling these. I know that Target's been testing the waters with them, but they seem to just be sitting there. I haven't seen a Minimate in a TRU since the 10-pack came out. Wal-Mart stopped carrying them pretty early on too.

The thing with the next two waves, are that, if they're in Target stores, they're GOING TO SELL. These waves are some of Marvel's heavy hitters. What Marvel Legends collector could pass up a Captain America or an ass-kicking Astonishing Wolverine (Yes, I think it is an ass-kicking figure. My favorite Wolvie yet, and we've got plenty of them to choose from) if they saw them setting there? Same goes for TRU. I feel the line-ups that they've gone with were specifically chosen to get the more common, browsing shopper interested in the line at the retail level.

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Mine's a pint Ricky!

You know it's wrong to make him drink alone righ t Ricky? So mines a pint too :)

on a slightly mor serious note, Antacost has good point about what stores carry these, I also think the packaging and where they are placed is hugely important..

I never thought I'd hear myself say it but they should go back to the hanging peg packaging as that gives then a much better chance to be seen than crammed in a small box on a lower shelf.

Do the big stores specify how they want things packaged?

T.

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I never thought I'd hear myself say it but they should go back to the hanging peg packaging as that gives then a much better chance to be seen than crammed in a small box on a lower shelf.

I have maintained that the packaging is part of the problem with these. Face it, if this line is going to survive or even do half as well as a line like Marvel Legends, they must get sales support from mass market kids. Kids want to see what they are buying and not a box. Mego figured this out right away back in the 70's and switched from a solid box packaging to a window box where kids could see the figures.

I just don't understand why the box is so good for Marvel, but the SF minis are sporting clear bubbled cards. You want better sales DST/AA? Show the folks what they are buying!

...steps off soap box...

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