Art Asylum Joins Diamond Select Toys, Minimates now fully controlled by DST! Options

[Fujis]

From TNI:

Art Asylum Joins Diamond Select Toys

Diamond Select Toys and Collectibles, LLC (DST) is excited to announce its acquisition of select assets of New York based Art Asylum Inc. The acquisition, which is effective immediately, comes after a long and prosperous relationship between the two companies.

Art Asylum was founded in 1996 by Digger T. Mesch and Donna Soldano as a development and design house, and quickly became home to some of the most talented designers in the toy industry. Their work has been manufactured by some of the best known companies in the industry, including Toy Biz (Marvel Toys), Playmates, Hasbro, Play Along and a host of other companies. After several years as a development house Art Asylum created Art Asylum, LLC and turned to manufacturing and developed lines for licenses including Batman, Star Trek, Tony Hawk, Bruce Lee and KISS.

The effects of the acquisition will be felt immediately in the toy industry, as the fast growing DST, one of the leading toy and collectible manufactures for the specialty market, now has the added value of an industry leading design house. DST is consistently putting out many new products a month from licenses including Marvel, Spider-man 3, “24,” and Star Trek and now with the added depth that the Art Asylum name and experience brings, DST will look to become a major player in the industry.

DST has contracted Art Asylum in the past for their Star Trek and Marvel lines, but will now have the full breadth of talent in house, and available for upcoming releases – including the new Battlestar Galactica line and future projects.

“Art Asylum made its mark on the toy industry with its unique style and top of the line development. We are excited to have access to all the tools that built the company and utilize them to help grow our business even further,” remarked Chuck Terceira, Director of DST.

Art Asylum’s most notable and longest running brand, Minimates, will now lie in the hands of DST which has utilized the Minimate brand previously with its Street Fighter, Rocky and most notably Marvel licenses. Minimates have become the #1 block figure brand in the world and aside from DST’s lines, there have been successful lines based on DC Comics, Lord of the Rings and KISS. The 2” scale action figures, with 14 points of articulation, are heading into possibly the biggest year ever with DST, which has a full stable of licenses prepared to add to the ever growing Minimate Universe.

Moving over to join the DST team as part of the deal are Donna Soldano and Robert Yee of Art Asylum. Soldano, one of the founding partners of Art Asylum, has vast experience in both product development and overseas production. She brings to DST over 10 years of experience in developing toy lines for both the specialty and mass markets and along with her wide knowledge of the industry. Robert Yee has occupied several posts in the toy industry including serving as Director of Legal Affairs for Toymax Inc. and serving as Director of R&D for Monogram International. More recently Yee, an original member of the Art Asylum, rejoined the company in 2005 to head up product development. Yee’s legal knowledge coupled with his experience in leading development and overseas production teams will be fully utilized by DST.

Adam Unger, who served as a vice president at Art Asylum, will be working with DST on a consulting basis during the transition with a focus on new business development and sales.

Digger T. Mesch recently formed Dig Deep Entertainment in Hong Kong. Dig Deep is focused primarily on developing Digger’s original content for film and television but continues to create high end design and development of 3D product and events. Dig Deep recently developed DST’s Marvel Civil War bust line and Marvel Zombies. Digger will be available for consultancy on the projects that Dig Deep Entertainment develops for DST.

“The acquisition takes DST’s level product development and production departments to new levels, and we are excited on all fronts,” added Terceira.

[Rad]

I hope this doesn't affect the DC direct mates.

[drgnrbrn316]

I hope it has an effect on the AA Message Boards...DST's always shown more interest in communicating with the fans than AA.

But Rad does bring up an interesting thought about the future of the AA licenses with other companies.

[Fujis]

I hope this doesn't affect the DC direct mates.

Yeah, me too! Although I bet that Speed Racer and Kellogg's will be shelved now. And I see that Nick already started a thread on this so maybe this one should be locked or deleted?

[AdyCarter]

It wont affect anything pre-exisiting.

Man I go out for a few drinks and my inbox is swamped, to be honest though this has been on the cards for a LONG time

[Amazing.JL]

Holy Sh*t! I really think it's good news eventhough some have shown concern over DC Minimates. Heard bits from time to time so not really surprised and wondered if it could ever happen.

[The_Donster]

Yep, saw the handwriting on the wall on this one. It's funny that some of you mentioned the DCD Mate line, as that was my first comment in another forum. I know some of you like the strictly 2" line, but I like the versatility of the DCD line myself. The way I see it, this is a win-win situation for both companies. Hopefully this will help AA break out of the design house mold and into the toy company arena they've been trying to be since inception. Good for DST and AA, look forward to seeing what they have in store. Like Ady said, this has been in the works. If you look through certain articles or comments DST has made in the past, you can see the clues they were leaving.

[MisterPL]

I'd better not start seeing chase figures in the DC line.

Are they keeping the NY office open or are people relocating to MD?

[AdyCarter]

I'd better not start seeing chase figures in the DC line.

Are they keeping the NY office open or are people relocating to MD?

AA recently moved NY offices (check the target give-away thread for the new address) so I'd imagine whats left of AA is staying there

[Ivan]

...Hopefully this will help AA break out of the design house mold and into the toy company arena they've been trying to be since inception....

That's odd. I see it as almost the exact opposite. This will allow AA to sculpt and design while leaving DST to actually make the toys. That way AA gets back to their roots, what they were good at, being a design house. I can't think of any AA line that succeeded at mass. (Enterprise, Trek MM, Tony Hawk, C3... uhm... I'm sure I'm forgetting something.)

The only thing AA had that was truly theirs was the basic Minimate design. Now DST owns that. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

[TM2 Dinobot]

Wow, now that's interesting. Though I saw it coming. It never ceases to amaze me how fast these mergers happen.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to DC.

[Amazing.JL]

I see it the same way Ivan, especailly now that DST has aquired AA. I can see that things will be a lot more smoother now, especially in the transition of product approvals/negotiations and such.

[Cloneme]

I'd better not start seeing chase figures in the DC line.

I don't think you will. As DST IS the manufacturer now, DC Direct still place's the order... AA was making them for DC Direct, now DST is making them for DC direct so nothing really changes I'd believe. DC still has creative control of the product.

Anyway, Yeah glad this is out in the open now and this definitely isn't the end for the growth of DST as I see it.

They just moved to somewhere in NY, hope they're not moving again! LOL. They probably made that move knowing of things to come.

-CloneMe

[Steel72]

I wonder if those of us that sent in our Target receipts will still be getting a free mini

[MINI_MYTE]

Does anybody here think that DST or DCD will make a statement concerning the DC / Minimates license's future after this big announcement?

[TBT!]

Well I'm glad that rumor has been laid to rest I've been hearing 'grapevine stories' from various people for a while.

As Ivan said I see this as a good move cos AA can concentrate on what they do best, designing stuff and leave the production side to Chuck and his Elves...

T.

[TM2 Dinobot]

I'd better not start seeing chase figures in the DC line.

I don't think you will. As DST IS the manufacturer now, DC Direct still place's the order... AA was making them for DC Direct, now DST is making them for DC direct so nothing really changes I'd believe. DC still has creative control of the product.

Anyway, Yeah glad this is out in the open now and this definitely isn't the end for the growth of DST as I see it.

They just moved to somewhere in NY, hope they're not moving again! LOL. They probably made that move knowing of things to come.

-CloneMe

Awesome! Maybe we'll see them dropping the 2.5" DC mates!

[Cyc]

I don't think DCD mates will be effected in the short term, and no chance of chases of dropping the 2.5", but are DCD that chummy with DST?

[infallible]

I think that DC MiniMates are the only line that could potentially be affected, right? All the other lines are distributed by Diamond or AA themselves.

Personally, I think that DST would be happy leaving things as they are. They may not make as much on DC 'Mates, but the added noteriety and exposure of having DC 'Mates more than makes up for it.

Not to mention that it's a pre-existing deal, so is unlikely to be affected. But even when it comes time to re-up the contract, if they're still doing strong, I'm sure they would continue the contract.

[Reideen1313]

Awesome! Maybe we'll see them dropping the 2.5" DC mates!

I certainly hope not. I really like the larger characters and I'm hoping for a new Darkseid in the line at some point. Ares is nice IMO. Croc is what the Hulk should be. I'm looking forward to Bane and think a nice big Doomsday would look great on my shelf. As you can tell, I'm digging the varying sizes DCD is doing.

With the new of the merger, I'd like to think this means DST could be handling QC issues on all lines, but that might be too much to hope for where DC Direct is concerned....

Oh and Robert, if you happen to read this, congrats. Hope things continue to go well for you - you certainly deserve it.