Huge Surprise planned for ToyFair 2011 - What is it?

[Ivan]

You guys aren't thinking BIG enough. Star Wars? Pshaw.

Obviously all Chuck's hints point at Silver Spoons Minimates. This world needs a Ricky Schroeder Minimate now more than ever. Of course there will be an Alfonso Ribeiro Minimate. Which will lead to Fresh Prince of Bel Air Minimates. Which of course means Will Smith. Once we have Will Smith we have to have his kids. So there will be Minimates for the upcoming Annie musical remake and the smash blockbuster Karate Kid remake. Can't have a modern Karate Kid without the classic Karate Kid. Not only will we get the long awaited Ralph Macchio but the inimitable Pat F'in Morita! Then I will know all is right with the world.

The heavens will open and we will all be witnesses to the Second Renaissance, where truth, justice and Way Of The Minimate will be a path to enlightenment. No more shall men wallow in the morass of license restrictions. Ecto-1s shall flow like Jell-O from a firehose. No more shall we be confined by artificial height limitations. No more shall we envy the licenses of others. All Minimates shall be as one!

And in the midst of all of this, one website shall lead the Minimate revolution. One website shall guide those who do not know any better. One website shall grow beyond the need for shared hosting. One website shall eclipse all others. It shall grow so large as to overthrow the Grand Inquisitor Zuckerberg. Casting him into a pit of hellfire so feverish its likes have not seen before. For all eternity he shall be mildly uncomfortable. Unable to take a short walk without sweating. His flesh won't be burned off or anything like that. It will just be unseasonably warm in the pit. And it will be a big pit, don't worry about that. He'll have room to walk around, stretch his legs, maybe even go for a jog. Of course the scenery won't be very interesting, being in a pit and all. Maybe he could put up some posters. Yeah definitely, we'll have to make sure he has a selection of posters so he can choose what he wants to put up on the Pit Walls. Eighties hair bands, exotic cars, starships, Justin Beiber, whatever, we won't judge.

He can have a lamp too.

[fwoosheyman]

It was just wishful thinking on my part about the huge news being DC when I first posted in this thread but now I think it might actually happen.

why? Because it has been confirmed Georg Brewer is no longer in charge of DC Direct.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/georgbrewer

minimates of the DC Universe....RISE!!!

[TM2 Dinobot]

I'm going to lay money on the table and bet five Minimates that the big announcement is NOT DC Minimates. You heard me. Any takers?

Also, what if it's the Hobbit? New movie coming out? Expand the license?

[Twisted Two-Face]

I'm going to lay money on the table and bet five Minimates that the big announcement is NOT DC Minimates. You heard me. Any takers?

Also, what if it's the Hobbit? New movie coming out? Expand the license?

Yea...DC is more unlikely than Star Wars at this point.

I think a Hobbit question was asked on the Q&A a while back, and they said LOTR's license was dead, but i could be wrong.

[buttheadsmate]

Five of the most expensive Minimates that sell on ebay are Green Lantern, The Joker,Harley Quinn, Batman & The Penguin ,closely followed by Robin. I'm not wagering anything but it won't be long

[murderofcrows]

Five of the most expensive Minimates that sell on ebay are Green Lantern, The Joker,Harley Quinn, Batman & The Penguin ,closely followed by Robin. I'm not wagering anything but it won't be long

define expensive?

[TM2 Dinobot]

Five of the most expensive Minimates that sell on ebay are Green Lantern, The Joker,Harley Quinn, Batman & The Penguin ,closely followed by Robin. I'm not wagering anything but it won't be long

Are you saying you want to bet Green Lantern, The Joker, Harley Quinn, Batman and The Penguin? Cause I'll take you up on that.

[buttheadsmate]

I ,personally,would class any retail Minimate 2 pack priced over $30, expensive. Any box set over $50,expensive. Any loose figure over $20 .....definitely expensive & the six minimates I mentioned have all exceeded that in the last month.

I can only think of BTTF,Westerns & Ghostbusters 'mates as items that would get anywhere near the price of Series One DC Minimates & apart from the latter none were produced in the numbers that DC 'mates were produced in.

I do however concede that 'expensive' was not a good choice of word .

[Lobsterman]

It was just wishful thinking on my part about the huge news being DC when I first posted in this thread but now I think it might actually happen.

why? Because it has been confirmed Georg Brewer is no longer in charge of DC Direct.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/georgbrewer

I'm honestly not sure Georg in and of himself was the brick wall that was stopping DC mates. Certainly it sounded like there were some personality conflicts there, but dollars have a way of smoothing those kinds of things over.

It seems to me that the real issue was that the strategic direction of DC Direct was more to keep things in house and have total control of design and production rather than farming it out. Georg may have helped set that policy and was enforcing it, but I don't think it started and stopped with him.

Now it does sound like Warner is starting to lean more heavily on DC, and in turn DCD, to loosen the reins a bit and allow for more opportunities to license out their very profitable brands. That, if anything, is what will open the door back up for Minimates. Georg leaving may have simply provided the pretense for another "get to know you" meeting with different licensing people. In that respect, I don't think the notion of DC mates making a comeback at some point is totally absurd.

[mav-man]

Wasn't there something said about Pirates of the Caribbean before somewhere?

[Jatta Pake]

I agree that Star Wars is unlikely but what else would be considered HUGE? Maybe they got the Toho license and are going to start doing Godzilla mates? In a time where I'm seriously cutting back on my Minimate purchases, it would take Star Wars to get me to pick up another line. I know a healthy dose of showmanship is always part of these announcements so when they announce something lackluster I wont be surprised. I remember being disappointed last year with the (YAWN) Sony mates announcement. I'm guessing this year will be much the same.

As Rheul points out, you aren't a real Minimates collector until you've tasted the bitter sourness of disappointment.

I never recovered from the Napster Minimates debacle. So blue...so wonderful...

It probably doesn't help things that Chuck says it would be most profitable to make ONLY Spider-Man and Wolverine figures in the latest Q&A.

[Trekker 42]

Wasn't there something said about Pirates of the Caribbean before somewhere?

That was me. No official guess or anything (And seriously doubt it'll happen with DST's pirates already roaming the high seas), but I thought if DST was partnering with Disney on Minimates then the most logical Disney license would be Pirates.

[chocolatebarnsystem]

Long-time lurker, first-time poster, but very interested in this outcome. It *should* be Star Wars. Here's my rationale...

1. DST has been bragging up that Marvel Minimates are the longest running collector line in toy history. The jealous George Lucas in me thinks he would want to beat that with a Star Wars line of 'mates.

2. I believe the MAX vehicles were a test to see if DST could sell vehicles, another thing that needs to be part of a Star Wars line.

3. It looks like Galactic Heroes are over. It faded last year and now I see they are on clearance AFTER Christmas...why the wait? So, there's a spot on pegs for SW mini-figures.

With Marvel slowing down to "profitable" packs, Minimates needs another flagship brand to keep it afloat. If it works like Hollywood, a successful Star Wars line will allow them to crank out not as profitable packs (like Golden Girls) without breaking the bank. A win for both camps. So, if not now for Mini-Mon Mothma, then never I imagine...

[NorthRaider]

Five of the most expensive Minimates that sell on ebay are Green Lantern, The Joker,Harley Quinn, Batman & The Penguin ,closely followed by Robin. I'm not wagering anything but it won't be long

Just curious, BHM, but are you referring to the C3 Robin or the DC Direct one?

Admittedly I'm not surprised at the high demand of Green Lantern (thanks to the upcoming movie) and Batman and rogues (because come on, it's Batman). I am a bit intrigued at Harley Quinn being a big seller though, it appears she's been building up quite the geek following for a while now.

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search....omi+mini+figure

You see that? I figure there must be some peculiar appeal to her. I'd ramble on about my possible hypotheses as to why, but let's just say the words "cute", "female", and "goth" might be involved somehow.

Wasn't there something said about Pirates of the Caribbean before somewhere?

Not so sure about the chances for this one, but we already have the Calico Jack line coming soon so DST didn't leave that niche uncovered.

With Marvel slowing down to "profitable" packs, Minimates needs another flagship brand to keep it afloat. If it works like Hollywood, a successful Star Wars line will allow them to crank out not as profitable packs (like Golden Girls) without breaking the bank. A win for both camps. So, if not now for Mini-Mon Mothma, then never I imagine...

Even if Star Wars would look like the perfect Minimate follow-up license on paper, I think the problem is still that DST simply can't afford to release them as Minimates. The've released other Star Wars stuff, sure, but the Premium Format figures must be a different contract/deal/whatever and DST can't risk breaching that. Plus I imagine that Hasbro's still got a stranglehold on the license and won't let any other companies release the official toys (and I specifically refer to the ones you can play with, not display) besides them.

[MinnesotaIceman]

C'mon Mortal Kombat!

I wish.

[Nessex]

Could it be a new line of Marvel Minimates: Max?

Now that marvel has picked up momentum, maybe aa/dst think that they can make some money from the statues again?

(this really is just a stab in the dark. I'm kind of allowing myself to be lead on by the word 'Big' in Chucks post).

[buttheadsmate]

Five of the most expensive Minimates that sell on ebay are Green Lantern, The Joker,Harley Quinn, Batman & The Penguin ,closely followed by Robin. I'm not wagering anything but it won't be long

Just curious, BHM, but are you referring to the C3 Robin or the DC Direct one?

I was tired & it was late when I posted that & I should have been more specific despite the fact it was just a throw away remark. I was actually referring to the specific DC figures & it should be emphasised that although DC Joker & Harley are packed together ,sellers are canny enough to sell them separately . The Robin I was alluding to was therefore the DC version which again was packed with the Penguin....same scenario. The C3 Robin is IMO the superior figure of the two we have had & he appears to be very desirable as is the Mini-Batmobile set which in my recollection never was but now seems to be snapped up as soon as they appear.

My comment originally was to emphasise the demand for DC Minimates 'on the ground' . Check out the recent sales of DC 'customs' on ebay as well .....there's more there than meets the eye

[undeadpool]

i would have a heart attack from joy and then another from sudden loss of funds if it was starwars, but luckily for my savings account, lego starwars is still the biggest merchandising franchise of the series, and one of the big reasons for now SW mates (if i recall correctly) is that the smilarites between the two block figures, outways the differances, same with indiana jones. i would be thrilled to see G1 transformers (even with no vehicle forms) but that may never happen. i would be pleased as punch to see GI joe, the return of DC or max statues(with possibility) to be the news. whatever it is i hope its something that will be steady for atleast more then 4 specialty waves and boxsets, etc. not something that could be completed by 1 boxset and a TRU wave

[pickle]

Could it be a new line of Marvel Minimates: Max?

Now that marvel has picked up momentum, maybe aa/dst think that they can make some money from the statues again?

(this really is just a stab in the dark. I'm kind of allowing myself to be lead on by the word 'Big' in Chucks post).

When DST lost the license to make Statues and Busts for Marvel, would this have included the Minimates Max series of statues? I don't believe they would count as minimates because minimates have to stay in the 2" size. I am not sure though, but I think DST would have to be able to make statues again before we see more of the awesome Max line.

That would be cool though. I still have my Galactus from a few years back and he could use some friends.

[hellpop]

Five of the most expensive Minimates that sell on ebay are Green Lantern, The Joker,Harley Quinn, Batman & The Penguin ,closely followed by Robin. I'm not wagering anything but it won't be long

Just curious, BHM, but are you referring to the C3 Robin or the DC Direct one?

I was tired & it was late when I posted that & I should have been more specific despite the fact it was just a throw away remark. I was actually referring to the specific DC figures & it should be emphasised that although DC Joker & Harley are packed together ,sellers are canny enough to sell them separately . The Robin I was alluding to was therefore the DC version which again was packed with the Penguin....same scenario. The C3 Robin is IMO the superior figure of the two we have had & he appears to be very desirable as is the Mini-Batmobile set which in my recollection never was but now seems to be snapped up as soon as they appear.

My comment originally was to emphasise the demand for DC Minimates 'on the ground' . Check out the recent sales of DC 'customs' on ebay as well .....there's more there than meets the eye

I'm always a little dubious when it comes to equating eBay or Amazon prices with demand (especially after I saw the Amazon prices for this GI Joe Classics book, which I just saw at my local Barnes & Noble), but BHM is definitely correct about the back market demand for DC Minimates. Green Lantern in particular is very high; you can't buy one for under $20. The core DC characters at this point all seem to have significant demand. It's also pretty much impossible at this point to find any retailer with A-list DC character Minimates in stock; if your local comic book store happens to have them, I strongly urge you to pick them up.

This is not to say that the announcement at Toy Fare will be DC Minimates, but it should be. The demand is definitely there. I do think that Brewer was a big obstacle; under him, DC Direct was notorious for starting up lines and then abandoning them, leaving collectors frustrated with half-completed lineups. Minimates ending for no particular reason (remember, he said that Minimates had sold well enough to justify continuing) is just one example of head-scratching, schizophrenic direction.

[MisterPL]

Considering the state of DC Direct lately and the consolidation of consumer products to the west coast, I'm hopeful that DC Minimates will make a huge comeback. If WBCP can license these things, they can license the DCU to DST/AA.

[Shanester]

MisterPL! Don't be such a stranger pal! (and I agree with you totally)

[Nessex]

If DC make a comeback - i'm gonna have to seriously limit myself and be selective on the figures i buy. I only collected the DC line once it had been cancelled because i knew there was an end-point in sight.

With the amount of money i'm spending just on Marvel - i couldn't handle doubling that amount. . .

If they get announced, i think i'll limit myself to Batmans rogues gallery. I'd love to see Ivy, Freeze & Dent get made into minimates.

Edited February 1, 2011 by Nessex

[TM2 Dinobot]

♪ It's not gona be DC... ♫

[murderofcrows]

♪ It's not gona be DC... ♫

you sing like you know something. so hum a few more bars and spill.