Valo487 Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Every year Lego does their Star Wars Advent calendar, and it sells out before December even hits. I will always will maintain that 'mates are a better toy than Lego figures are, and what is the most successful 'mate license? Marvel. Lego minifigures are the most successful form of block style figures on the market, despite very limited playability. Time to fix that. Steal their ideas and do them better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterPL Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 The Lego Star Wars calendar is $39.99 and includes 24 figures. Individual Marvel Minimates retail for $5.99 making a 24-figure box a $143.76 value. I can see this being offered for around $99.99 if it uses existing figures from all three "Best of" lines. It could be a Marvel fan's introduction to Minimates as a one-time offering through a mass-market retailer like TRU, Walmart, or Target. I'm not sure DST could afford to offer it with any new figures. Otherwise I don't think DST Sales would get behind it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanester Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 I too would love to see this, but those Lego advent calendars sat around at my local TRU for months after Christmas, even on clearance. I wouldn't be surprised if they still had some... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr baghead Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 (edited) but the Lego Advent Calendars aren’t just minifigs, there’s also small ships made up of a couple blocks to pad out the set. A Minimate set would have to have smaller items or else it would cost $100-$140 So I’m going to pitch this idea: -First Day is a basic “Best of” Style mini-figure, each with an ornament hook necklace similar to the turtle keychains -next day, is an alternate Torso that’s a character specific “ugly holiday sweater” (Spidey’s is a bunch of webs, Wolverines X’s, etc) -the third day is an alternate hair piece with Santa hat sculpted on (maybe an alternate laughing/caroling face too) -the forth day is a personalized mug (now that the mold exist) of hot drink to keep them warm (Wolverine’s is a Jean Grey Institute mug, Spidey’s is a Daily Bugle, Thor’s says “If you be worthy may you wield this cocoa and now the power of THOR”, etc) -The fifth day is a few small accessory like a candy cane or a present not themed to the character that they can hold -Repeats every 5 days until Christmas (or course in place of a small item on the 25th you get another minimate, however unlike the other 5 who are iconic big names, this one should something special. Like a Hulkbuster or Deadpool dressed in a sculpted Santa outfit where you just need to switch his face to have a Santa mate... something really cool.) That way you get FIVE great minimates that don’t have to be Christmas themed forever so you can give it to Marvel fans as an introduction to minimates not just as a supplement like the Lego sets, the alternate parts highlight the swapablity, and for long time collectors the sixth figure and the holiday accessories would be the draw. Edited December 16, 2014 by dr baghead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karamazov80 Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 We got a Playmobil one for my daughter last year and this year. I don't think I would get her a Minimates one, unless the parts were nearly glued on as is apparently the case with the Ninja Turtles. In general though, these things seem geared toward kids (for obvious reasons), and I see Minimates as less kid friendly than LEGOs or Playmobil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valo487 Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 I should clarify, I didn't mean a figure everyday. Some days could be accessories and what not. The blind bag Legos are up to 3.99 a piece, the Mass Effect 'mates are only a dollar more by the way. I prefer 'mates to Lego figures on every level, and I think they offer more for your dollar, but where Lego has a leg up is that they have lots of minifigures from all aspects of life and mythology, and 'mates are usually tied to a license. I think the line could begin to expand by following some of their competitors moves. If it were up to me, I'd have the advent calendar a mix of all the current licenses, plus and elf or two and Santa, but I concede that could be a licensing nightmare depending. And previous years they may have hung around, but this year the Star Wars calendar sold out before the first of December, and was selling above retail almost immediately. Just saying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterPL Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 It might be possible to offer a mix of Marvel properties or CBS properties but I don't see Disney alowing Marvel characters to share a package with View Askew or Kill Bill, for example. That's a pretty twisted pretzel from a licensing POV. The alternative is to offer non-licensed Minimates from different genres like firefighters, pirates, or Battle Beasts. I like Dr. Baghead's concept for licensed properties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mnemosis Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 I love this idea but can it work? 6 figures SHOULD cost 20 - 30 bucks. Now, the added components make for an interesting draw on alternate days, but... will the pricing ever make sense? I'd think maybe avoiding the expressly holiday themed elements in favor of "the ultimate Minimate experience." Five themed figures spread out over the days, intermixed with primarily non holiday accessories.... Day 1 is a redecoed 90s Cyclops Day 2 you get his leather jacket Day 3 is his picnic outfit from issue 8 Day 4 is space suit pieces Day 5 can be an ugly sweater Day 6 is Brown costume Wolverine Day 7 is Weapon X body Day 8 is the helmet and wires Day 9 you get a hand holding a six pack missing a beer and a hand with the missing beer Day 10 is a Christmas present that opens to reveal a cowboy hat Day 11 is 90s Jean, with ponytail Day 12 is invisible woman's shield base ... so on... The sixth and final figure could be Santa, but maybe you got enough of the right parts to take off his hat and torso cover and make Sunfire or something Make it fifty bucks, got all the extra parts, and it might work... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElGallo21 Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Wonderful idea! I love to see something like dr baghead's or mnemosis' breakdown. I think a good way to get around the branding issue would be to offer a strictly parts/ accessories calendar. Would be great if any of this were geared to us adult/older collectors and offered as a Luke's toy store exclusive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stack32 Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Does anyone do advent calendars besides Lego and Playmobil? Given that even a lot of the boxsets seem to linger I can't imagine something like this being feasible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcastick Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 I could see this as working pretty well. They could do the following: 9 total minifigures - perhaps 4 main characters, 3 support/army builder characters and 2 Holiday themed characters (Santa Wolverine, Christmas Ornament MODOK, Moloid Elf.......) 10 Micro Vehicles OR 5 Mini Vehicles between 10 days - 2 consecutive days for 1 vehicle. and to finish it up, 5 Accessory stands - could be character weapons, general scene items like dumpsters, computer terminals, or even a decorative display like a brick wall for Spiderman to hang from or the Hulk to crash through. I'd totally buy something similar to this, it's the basic set up for the Star Wars Calendars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystery Man Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 I like bag heads ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nessex Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 It'd be a great idea - but the characters it'd need to have to make it sell would potentially negate my interest. Unless they could include a 'no chance on it's own' type character like Jewel/Thunderbird/Photon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mnemosis Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 That's sort of what I imagine the sixth figure being in each set... Cyclops, Psylocke, Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Maverick Captain America, Wasp, Thor, Ant Man, Iron Man, Jack of Hearts So on. It could get us a couple of needed redos along with some really obscure extras... And with the X-Men set, one day for each character should be picnic attire from Issue 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterMiracle Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Ehhh, I like the idea but I don't think it would work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valo487 Posted December 20, 2014 Author Share Posted December 20, 2014 (edited) I guess I want to see DST get more creative and dip into Lego's ideas. Lego's are the best selling toy in the world, but they are overpriced, and their minifigures are not up to 'mate quality levels in my opinion. But they're doing so well partially because they exploit their licenses and take advantage of non-licensed ideas. The fact that you can have a Lego T-Rex chase Spider-Man is really cool, whereas with 'mates we get so few vehicles or large scale items. The fact that they've alluded to the Alien Queen being built on a 2-inch body is really short-sighted in my opinion. I want to see them think bigger, because their product is already better. Edited December 20, 2014 by Valo487 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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