New Q&A stuff from AA's site

[Nessex]

I am 99% sure i had submitted a question about them too. Admittedly, the line-up i asked for was a little different to what you guys listed, but i'm sure i did email them.

I would have said i was 100% sure - except that my question didn't appear.

Perhaps I left it go a bit too late and didn't make the cut-off. It may appear in the next minimates AskDST that they do.

Or - maybe they had too many similar questions and thought mine was a double post.

[Mirymate]

Nice try, Pete. But in what may be a better sign of impending apocalypse than any Mayan calendar, Dinobutt didn't bite. The mind boggles.

[TM2 Dinobot]

I think the Black Cat from the F&F set was ideal.

A poor Minimate for a poor, poor character.

Does anyone even care about this z-lister!?

I'm waiting...

Edited January 10, 2013 by TM2 Dinobot

[Mirymate]

Aaaaaaand the natural order of the universe is restored.

[Trekker 42]

I think the Black Cat from the F&F set was ideal.

A poor Minimate for a poor, poor character.

Does anyone even care about this z-lister!?

I'm waiting...

Each in your season returns and returns... And is always the same.

[groundhog7s]

http://www.artasylum.com/2013/01/ask-dst-195-time-enough-for-minimates/

New Q&A for the month.

[MisterPL]

They're still being coy about the inevitable DC Comics license I see. You just know there's a warehouse somewhere in Maryland packed with series upon series of DC Minimates from every era just waiting to be unleashed to the masses like a tsunami of multi-hued plastic crack!

But, yeah; Dale's RV is totally possible! Probably have to get clearance from Winnebago but in all honesty I'm not that picky about super-deformed vehicles.

Glad Chuck liked my barn idea for a Walking Dead carrying case. It could even come with a little zombified Robert Kirkman if The Creator allows it.

[pappymojo]

http://www.artasylum.com/2013/02/ask-dst-197-time-to-play-catch-up/

A new Ask DST. Some Marvel. Some Walking Dead. Mostly Star Trek. Nothing about The Wrecking Crew.

[groundhog7s]

http://www.artasylum.com/2013/03/ask-dst-200-can-you-believe-weve-made-it-this-far-minimates/

Ask DST #200

It's all about the Miniamtes...

[youbastards]

It's official....R.I.P. Universal Monsters Minimates.

[hellpop]

Don't tell Mystery Man.

Boy, #200 was a bit of a downer, wasn't it? Lots of "we're not pursuing that" and "we're not making any more of those". I think the most interesting bit is that MAX isn't dead, but hibernating, I guess? They sold well for TRU, but they didn't have room for a new series this year, so they might be back. That would be nice.

BTW... Wal-Mart carries Minimates on their website? Is this news to anyone else?

[Jeff]

I used to get excited about the ASK DST's. Now I avoid them since the answers always seem to fall under the:

"we can neither confirm nor deny" response. Meh.

[Lobsterman]

It's official....R.I.P. Universal Monsters Minimates.

You know... thinking back on Street Fighter and Star Trek, both were lines like UM – a smaller-than-Marvel, but vocal following; ended before people were really satisfied – and DST found a way to push out a few more characters eventually. We got years of the same kind of "not planning anything right now" answer, then were pleasantly surprised when they popped back up.

I know it's more likely than not that UM has been put in the ground, but after ten years of Minimates, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that DST's sales team always keeps these licenses on the back burner, just biding time until there's an opportunity to sneak out a few more characters for us fans. As long as DST hold the license for UM, I wouldn't give up hope completely.

[youbastards]

I would be good with that, let the line hibernate for a few years, then re-launch it with ONLY monsters as 1 or 2 waves. I would re-buy the same monsters if they were different enough and it meant getting new monsters. Ditch the civilians completely though, that would be the key to a cool re-launch.

[dr baghead]

^^^^ I can’t figure out how quoting works with this new system, but I 110% agree with Youbastard’s idea for a UM relaunch.

well if you read between the lines it sounds like Munsters and more Street Fighter aren’t off the table (when asked if more Universal Monster or Munsters were coming only UM was shut down, and when asked about Poison’s riding crock the response was “no more Tekken Vs...” minimates, which is odd since the game is called STREET FIGHTER *CROSS* Tekken which means effort was made to avoid saying Street Fighter)

I’m probably wrong, but that’s... interesting? maybe?

Edited March 18, 2013 by dr baghead

[Kostisfire]

Well,that was a bit dissapointing.No dragonball.No MAX.No Who.No UM.No Tekken ( all i wanted from the line was a Jin).No DC (that goes without saying though).

[Shogi]

Yeah but I was a little surprised that there was a possibility for future MAX (I was under the assumption the line was done, buried and never to return)

Edited March 18, 2013 by Shogi

[DSTZach]

Well,that was a bit dissapointing.No dragonball.No MAX.No Who.No UM.No Tekken ( all i wanted from the line was a Jin).No DC (that goes without saying though).

Doesn't "No Dragonball" also go without saying, since that's a line we've never expressed interest in or even mentioned?

The other No's aren't really surprising, either.

Doctor Who was never our license -- it was a for-hire gig.

UM was discussed as ending (by Chuck) a while back.

SF x Tekken is twelve deep in every TRU.

MAX is an "eventually" -- we can start making MAX again whenever the support is there.

And think of all the "Yes" lines that nobody asked about. Aliens, Lost in Space, Ghostbusters, the two or three that we haven't even told anybody about yet... The new stuff will amaze, I promise.

Sorry some current lines are not continuing. But UM and SFxT had a good run. SFxT got 24 figures, which certainly isn't bad. UM got 30!

[hellpop]

SFvT's death really shouldn't surprise anyone; as Zach said, they're twelve deep (or, at one of my local TRUs 59 deep... though I think the sale has cleared that out a bit). I'm no fan of video games, so I'm not upset, but I feel bad for you guys that like these. Particularly because they rereleased a few characters from the first SF line, and did multiple Ryus, but STILL didn't make Blanka. I'd be pretty peeved about that.

Putting UM aside for a year or so and then bringing it back with just the monsters is a good idea. But, of course, they could also just start their own monsters line without the Universal license. Most of the monsters are public domain, after all, and I bet the DST design team would do a much better job designing their own Dracula, Wolf Man, ect.

Edited March 18, 2013 by hellpop

[DSTZach]

^^^^ I can’t figure out how quoting works with this new system, but I 110% agree with Youbastard’s idea for a UM relaunch.

well if you read between the lines it sounds like Munsters and more Street Fighter aren’t off the table (when asked if more Universal Monster or Munsters were coming only UM was shut down, and when asked about Poison’s riding crock the response was “no more Tekken Vs...” minimates, which is odd since the game is called STREET FIGHTER *CROSS* Tekken which means effort was made to avoid saying Street Fighter)

I’m probably wrong, but that’s... interesting? maybe?

I think it was less an effort to avoid mentioning Street Fighter than an effort not to have to write it out. Plus, we were hazy on the name of the game from Day 1. "Street Fighter VS. Tekken? Street Fighter EX Tekken? Tekken Vs. Street Fighter?"

[Kostisfire]

I was meaning that Dc goes without saying since dc is not interested.I used the phrase wrong it seems.Dragonball is one of the properties that could sell as much as marvel.I'm not a big anime fun but the characters are quite intersesting,flashy and it has a cult following.As for Who i talked to the licencing(or marketing) supervisor a couple of weeks ago and he seemed really inrigued by the idea.He said that they were looking into new toy lines and that he would pass it along on BBC.As for MAX,thank god there still is hope!I still am excited about the new lines and curious about the non anounced ones it's just that there were a lot of no answers.Of course not everyhting can be a yes but a lot of nos all in once is kinda hard to shallow.

Actually the game was called SF X Tekken since there was another game named TEKKEN X SF which will be using the tekken graphics.

SFvT's death really shouldn't surprise anyone; as Zach said, they're twelve deep (or, at one of my local TRUs 59 deep... though I think the sale has cleared that out a bit). I'm no fan of video games, so I'm not upset, but I feel bad for you guys that like these. Particularly because they rereleased a few characters from the first SF line, and did multiple Ryus, but STILL didn't make Blanka. I'd be pretty peeved about that.

Putting UM aside for a year or so and then bringing it back with just the monsters is a good idea. But, of course, they could also just start their own monsters line without the Universal license. Most of the monsters are public domain, after all, and I bet the DST design team would do a much better job designing their own Dracula, Wolf Man, ect.

I'd be all over an in house monsters line.I never saw the UM films so the way the characters looked never appealed to me,so i wasn't excited about the um line (the mummy rocked though).A werewolf with more sculpted parts,with more details,a dracula with a more animalistic face and such would be great.They should throw in some max zombies too.Man i LOVED what i saw back then.I hope some day they release them.

[youbastards]

I've been saying for years, my BIGGEST Minimate want from DST, beyond licensed properties like Star Wars, Army of Darkness, even ALIENS, is a line dedicated to Monsters. Things like Sasquatch, Jersey Devil, Chupacabra, endless variations of Ghosts, Skeletons, Mer-Men, etc. The imagination is the limit with a line like that, plus they could easily interact with other properties like Marvel, Battle Beasts, etc.

Keep it kid-friendly (no blood or gore), but with a serious design aesthetic and DST would have a hit with both collectors and casual buyers.

Edited March 18, 2013 by youbastards

[DSTZach]

I was meaning that Dc goes without saying since dc is not interested.I used the phrase wrong it seems.Dragonball is one of the properties that could sell as much as marvel.I'm not a big anime fun but the characters are quite intersesting,flashy and it has a cult following.As for Who i talked to the licencing(or marketing) supervisor a couple of weeks ago and he seemed really inrigued by the idea.He said that they were looking into new toy lines and that he would pass it along on BBC.As for MAX,thank god there still is hope!I still am excited about the new lines and curious about the non anounced ones it's just that there were a lot of no answers.Of course not everyhting can be a yes but a lot of nos all in once is kinda hard to shallow.

Actually the game was called SF X Tekken since there was another game named TEKKEN X SF which will be using the tekken graphics.

We eventually figured out the name, I was just saying that there was confusion for a while.

Sadly, in the U.S, at least, DBZ peaked several years ago. Yes, cool toys are still being made, but I think that has more to do with more cool toy techniques being developed that could work for it, rather than new interest in the brand. And while it's a classic, widely known brand in Japan, there simply isn't enough of a nostalgia base in the U.S. to carry the line without any sort of current heat. (Or the nostalgia base is centered in a generation that we don't quite have an accurate reading on, I will admit.) This is all just my opinion, but I also speak from my general knowledge of how these things work.

[Shogi]

I've been saying for years, my BIGGEST Minimate want from DST, beyond licensed properties like Star Wars, Army of Darkness, even ALIENS, is a line dedicated to Monsters. Things like Sasquatch, Jersey Devil, Chupacabra, endless variations of Ghosts, Skeletons, Mer-Men, etc. The imagination is the limit with a line like that, plus they could easily interact with other properties like Marvel, Battle Beasts, etc.

Keep it kid-friendly (no blood or gore), but with a serious design aesthetic and DST would have a hit with both collectors and casual buyers.

I would be all over this as well. You could even possibly do generic figures that could go unsaid as "inspired by" like say a werewolf in a high school letterman jacket ALA: I was a teenage werewolf

[groundhog7s]

Thanks for the insight Zach. Chuck mentioned how the Trek Legends line was just one wave so far, can you say whether a second wave for that (or BB mates) has even been planned out in case the sales are there for them?