TBT! Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Ok lets deal with the Matt and Chuck coming in to tell it like it is, firstly today is a Monday and the thread was created on a Friday so before we get all riled up we are being ignored... did anyone stop to think that DST dont work weekends? I'd like to reiterate that they dont owe us anything, they come here occasionally to drop off gossip or tidbits of info and thats great but in some minds that has evolved into they owe us something, which is not true. Also as pointed out for any official comment they are using the AA Q&A as their mouth piece I would look there for answers. They are a company and have to be carefull what is said publically, yeah we might think that we are pals with DST but at the end of the day they are not going to publish here or anywhere something that might be seen as putting themselves in a negative light that's not how succesful businesses work. The word used in previews where stores etc buy from is solicitation. They are checking to see if they would get enough orders to make them worth producing. I'm sure DST has a pretty good experience by now of what percentage of stock they should see preordered to make a series or set worth producing and where the line is that makes it untenable. Doesn't it make some sense to ask who would buy these before making a wave that could tank and take minimates or even in this climate possibly DST with them? Please dont forget this is DST we are talking about here not the giants of the toy world like Mattel or Hasbro. Seriously people are getting way too worked up about this, yes its sad if BSG did get cancelled but it's getting to be an angry mob mentality where someone says something and the next person takes it a step forward. Take a step back and breath people! T. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 I don't think BSG was a visual enough license for Minimates. It was always going to end up like 24. Sad times for the fans of the Minimates, no-one likes to see a license die but I think you really were into diminishing returns once you'd done the headliner/more visual characters. FWIW I bought the first wave but didn't even get to open them. I just thought they were dull - and I *liked* the show! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drgnrbrn316 Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 I've always been of the opinion that the colorful characters usually reserved for comic books are far more appealing than normal people in the Minimate form. If BSG does not survive to see a 4th or 5th wave, I cannot say that I'm surprised. Look at the initial line ups of the first few waves and you see that many of the characters are simple head swaps. As far as what the future holds for these little guys, I'm reasonably sure that the next Q&A will shed some light on things. It's far too big a story to let sit too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobsterman Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 The Stuckakid preorder banner for the New Caprica set just popped up on the homepage. That made me sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karamazov80 Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 (edited) I've always been of the opinion that the colorful characters usually reserved for comic books are far more appealing than normal people in the Minimate form. This, and Danny's comment, kind of sums up my feelings toward these. I think that humans can work in Minimate form, but it is more difficult than comic characters because the generic human, as a Minimate, looks too bland to catch the eye of the casual fan. They need really distinctive, iconic outfits and/or faces to really work for that purpose (and for me), in my opinion. For BSG fans, maybe the BSG Minimates fulfill these requirements, but to me (a fan of the show, not so much of the Minimates), they don't really. Neither do the 24 Minimates. The "Man with No Name," Back to the Future, Rocky, and even Chef Duff/Desperately Seeking Susan Mates are better at this, because they don't look quite as bland, and generally are more colorful (which matters). They might or might not sell, but to me, these are more desirable because their looks are distinctive and jump out. The BSG and 24 figures in my collection are easy to miss, because they just don't look quite as interesting or distinctive as most of the others. Edited January 5, 2009 by karamazov80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murderofcrows Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 my six year old nephew said it best when he saw my collection...wow spiderman, superman, and uhhh army men? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drgnrbrn316 Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 So, if this line does come to a close, who wants to place a bet on how long the BSG section can stay alive with "Save BSG" posts? I think Street Fighter held the record, though Lord of the Rings put up its fair share of fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jatta Pake Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 I echo Danny, Dragon, and Karamazov. I think Minimates need a visual appeal to sell well. I remember the New X-Men TRU pack warming pegs back in the day, and I'm sure it is because the costume colors were muted blacks and grays. Suncoast was a big retailer for BSG and other movie Minimates, so I sort of expected these to end. The big retailers drive the lines so with TRU back in the mix I expect a bit more frequent waves of Marvel Minimates. It would be a wonderful new year if DST could also release DC Minimates through TRU but I don't have high hopes. The only other line I could think of for TRU would be Star Wars Minimates. Street Fighter was a massive fail so don't look for any videogame 'mates. This probably isn't the year to experiment with new licenses and lines. If I was running DST I would scale down to Marvel and Star Trek Minimates and hold on for dear life. If something can be worked out with DC Direct for DC Minimates, maybe try it. TRU would have to be onboard for these though. The only silver lining would be reduced factory production costs, but I have no idea if DST can swing that. I suggest fans significantly lower expectations for New York Toy Fair 2009. We've enjoyed the boom. Now prepare for the bust. Like the old Clinton adage, "It's the economy, stupid." Repeat after me: Spider-man, Wolverine, Spider-man, Wolverine, Spider-man, Wolverine, Iron Man, Spider-man, Wolverine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttheadsmate Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Here's a bandwagon I'll jump on because I've said very much the same myself but more generally aimed at the obvious candidate '24' but also Star Trek . Star Trek .....to be brutally honest why didn't they go for half- a- dozen figures with a further range of different heads & torsos ,adding a Borg & various aliens later.To be fair muchthe same could be said about the BSG pilots . I am generalising however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murderofcrows Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Not trying to piss off anyone but Trek has to be in the same boat as BSG star trek has it's core fans (no doubt about it) and a stronger fan base is MAYBE only rivaled by Star Wars...but having said that... Star Trek does not have the KIDDIE appeal of Star Wars. I do not see these selling to kids since all trek crew members look virtually the same? some dude in a yellow shirt or red shirt or blue etc.... and seriously 3 or 4 kirks in as many waves....PAAAASSSS. If they wanted to hard court press to kids, i would think they would have gone for tons of aliens and robots...try to lure them in on the coolness factor. Of course that would cost more to sell. I think it was summed up best by DST when asked if they would fill out the other bridge crews, and the answer was like I wouldnt get my hopes up, and then threw a bone that said hey buy em and maybe we can. Trek is a short runner.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Oh yeah. I agree with moc definitely. The possible problems with the distinctiveness/visual appeal of Star Trek Minimates has only just been addressed by mixing up the generations. Apart from that it's just been a mix of people in red, blue or yellow shirts. Not really a wow factor for the kiddies. It's another Minimates line I never bought into purely because I didn't think the designs were strong enough for the 2" Minimates. I'd definitely say ST Minimates are next to go the way of licences past. Marvel will hang in there because the mass market will always take a risk with the well-known superhero stuff - it's a perennial seller for them which is why places like TRU and Target always come back to Minimates (I'm not disregarding DST's push to get them there, of course. Good job fellas). We grumble about the many Spider-Men, Wolverines and Iron Men but they really have kept the line afloat, both in the specialty market and for mass market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttheadsmate Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Not trying to piss off anyone but Trek has to be in the same boat as BSG star trek has it's core fans (no doubt about it) and a stronger fan base is MAYBE only rivaled by Star Wars...but having said that... Star Trek does not have the KIDDIE appeal of Star Wars. I do not see these selling to kids since all trek crew members look virtually the same? some dude in a yellow shirt or red shirt or blue etc.... and seriously 3 or 4 kirks in as many waves....PAAAASSSS. If they wanted to hard court press to kids, i would think they would have gone for tons of aliens and robots...try to lure them in on the coolness factor. Of course that would cost more to sell. I think it was summed up best by DST when asked if they would fill out the other bridge crews, and the answer was like I wouldnt get my hopes up, and then threw a bone that said hey buy em and maybe we can. Trek is a short runner.... So there we have it ...in a few hours you & I were 'the angry mob' ,albeit on supposed opposite sides ,but what you have posted here(there?) is ,in its entirety , something I completely agree with. I said somewhere that the ST McCoy Variant ,for example,was little more than a joke....well it ain't so funny anymore because if BSG has gone I know what's next. Stretch these lines too far & they'll snap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stack32 Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Who are these kids that are buying Minimates? Does this actually happen? I started picking up BSG because I thought the Cylons were some of the best 'mates DST has produced and now have practically all of them. I think the criticisms of the line are fair, but I can't say I have a problem with mulitple Sixes or having both Apollo and Starbuck in a flight suit. I'll be sorry to see these go, especially being so close to having everything I would have wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jatta Pake Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 I'm not as gloomy on Star Trek but several signs point to bad news for the brand. 1. No currently airing series. Nothing in the pipeline. 2. Most recent series, Enterprise, sucked despite headlining fan favorite Scott Bakula and stunningly hot Jolene Blalock. By-the-way: Where did she disappear to? 3. The Las Vegas Hilton cancelled "Star Trek: The Experience" back in September due to declining interest. 4. Rumors that the 2009 Star Trek movie is a huge flop. So much so they had to re-shoot scenes. 5. William Shatner is feuding with George Takei. The reason I'm not so gloomy is that pop culture tends to rotate things in and out of popularity. Space sci-fi isn't as popular right now as Super-Hero sci-fi. It will change. What I don't know is if Star Trek will be able to take part in the change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain_cbecker Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Repeat after me: Spider-man, Wolverine, Spider-man, Wolverine, Spider-man, Wolverine, Iron Man, Spider-man, Wolverine. If that's all we have to look forward to, then it looks like I'll be saving a lot of money in 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murderofcrows Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Repeat after me: Spider-man, Wolverine, Spider-man, Wolverine, Spider-man, Wolverine, Iron Man, Spider-man, Wolverine. If that's all we have to look forward to, then it looks like I'll be saving a lot of money in 2009 sweet, can i borrow some money for wave 25 and 26? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trekker 42 Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 4. Rumors that the 2009 Star Trek movie is a huge flop. So much so they had to re-shoot scenes. Really? Damn... And it looked so promising. I'm still seeing it though. Well, Trek has declined somewhat since series 4 when they decided to not focus on one series in particular and instead go for movies and some series. This made it hard to want every single one. They honestly should have either stuck with TOS or gone full-fleged movies or full-fleged TNG. What they decided to do, in my mind, killed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobsterman Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 (edited) Their killen teh lien!!!1!1 Sorry, I couldn't resist. I disagree on the mixing it up strategy; for those interested in getting some of the modern characters, and not necessarily into getting every single possible shirt Kirk ever wore on the show, I think it was the best possible gambit to extend the life of the line. I think adding more aliens would have been the fuel that kept it going, though, rather than the core crew variants. A humble request: if Trek is going to go down the tubes with everything else (my, we are onto a lot of rampant speculation at this point), we need One More Wave with the following – Geordi in modern TNG uniform/Ferengi Worf in classic TNG uniform/Crusher in classic TNG uniform Kirk in... crap, I don't know, a clown suit/salt vampire Chase Worf in modern klingon uniform/Dax in classic DS9 uniform This gives us one buck body for almost every uniform variation from the newer series, so we customizers who care can make quick customs of most of the rest of the TNG, DS9 and Voyager crews. It also gets more aliens into the mix, and yes, an obligatory Kirk in there, too. Edited January 6, 2009 by Lobsterman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twisted Two-Face Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Just a quick thing: Entertainment Earht also removed them on Tuesday. This whole "mistake" scenario is starting to fizzle down; i have a bad felling, guys. Buh-bye, chance for Natalie and Aaron (my favs), the other Models, and Wave 6. You will be missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pickle Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I am sad to see BSG end early without the waves that would complete the main characters. Plus they also heard my moans and groans for Racetrack. But to be honest, I am glad to see an end to this line. Having to buy a whole case and two more sets of each to get extra variants was crazy. Fun, but crazy on the $$$. I wanted that New Caprica set so bad, Starbuck looked so Sexy for a minimate. I hope they still release that. They did this already with their bust line. Anybody else remember the Adama, Helo and Boomer busts? DST and BSG don't mix well in my opinion. Wave three of the action figures is Razor, and how long ago did that movie come out? Wave three has not even hit the stores yet. This thread is a fine good example as to why there are no Stargate mates! There, I said it! So say we all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TITAN Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 This absolutely sucks donkey balls! My feelings on this are still overshadowed however, by the continual delay of DST's 6" Star Trek TNG Wave 5, which is now about 18 months late..and counting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain_cbecker Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 (edited) This absolutely sucks donkey balls! My feelings on this are still overshadowed however, by the continual delay of DST's 6" Star Trek TNG Wave 5, which is now about 18 months late..and counting I thought I was the only one here waiting for this... I am so unimpressed that they mismanaged that wave so badly... and the recent news is that the Nemesis Crusher that is included in the wave, got the wrong head sculpt. Was supposed to be out today as a matter of fact (like the 15th release date??), but I haven't heard or seen anything Finally got the ship notice on these today - I think this was the longest pre-order I've endured.... almost 2 years, considering that they were originally due in AUg or Set of 2007 Edited January 9, 2009 by captain_cbecker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stack32 Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Amazon just canceled my order for the New Capica box set, so if there was any doubt, I'd say these are pretty much dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttheadsmate Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 (edited) This is post #99 * & I still haven't mentioned the thread title still needs another 'l' in it before we all accept that the line is actually cancelled. In the meantime "Fill your boots" with this deal on Season 4 BSG from BBTS http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product...amp;mode=retail If anything was going to help confirm that there will be no resurrection of this line then 8 Minimates for $7.80 including one Variant set ,then I reckon this will just about seal it. I have never, ever, seen a retailer sell a wave,any wave ,including bloody Street Fighter, for less. Edited January 9, 2009 by buttheadsmate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twisted Two-Face Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 This is post #99 * & I still haven't mentioned the thread title still needs another 'l' in it before we all accept that the line is actually cancelled. In the meantime "Fill your boots" with this deal on Season 4 BSG from BBTS http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product...amp;mode=retail If anything was going to help confirm that there will be no resurrection of this line then 8 Minimates for $7.80 including one Variant set ,then I reckon this will just about seal it. I have never, ever, seen a retailer sell a wave,any wave ,including bloody Street Fighter, for less. If that didn't make it official, i don't know what will. The ENTIRE wave, and miniseries Baltar, for 7.80...That is sad...Of course, now i want to buy three sets of the wave, and now i feel bad for supporting the end of a great line. I also posted the Q&A a few days ago, and i'm sure others will have too. Chuck may have a few "see aboves" to post this time around; let's hope it says "Delayed for production for a month" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.