173 replies to this topic

[Ivan]

Oh my. Something about this title sounded familiar. After searching my browser history, I brought up this Comics Alliance article titled "The 15 Worst Comics of the Decade". Tarot is the third one on the first page. Be sure to following the link that reviews Issue 53. Boo!

Minimates look good though.

[buttheadsmate]

...& Thongbird .

[captain_cbecker]

Tarot is an interesting comic if you're look for something "porn-y". Most of the stories some how involve a close battle where Tarot ends up losing most (if not all) of her clothes. It's like almost every porno you could imagine, where there is some forced or implausible reason to strip or have sex or whatever. That being said, "Porn-y" isn't necessarily a a bad thing, especially if you like pics of naked comic-book women. To be completely accurate, Tarot should have removeable armor. Just let me know where I sign up for these mates.

Edited by captain_cbecker, 11 February 2010 - 12:20 PM.

[Twisted Two-Face]

Wow...random license...okay...

I gotta say...being 16, i feel REALLY wrong about buying these minimates. Part of me wishes i hadn't read that Issue 53 review. They look INCREDIBLE and are great designs; since i want to be a comic artist, i really do appreciate what one must go through to have to draw and create things like Tarot. It's all morals, really. Thee mates look INCREDIBLE...



But i just can't enjoy them as much as i'd like to. I MIGHT buy them, but it'll be a real challenge when it comes time to. They are a HARSH, HARSH maybe for now though.

[Mattallica]

seems like a bad move for DST to put these out, it could get folks to misconstrue that all minimates = mature themes and that can easily kill deals with large retailers, especially a shame when there are so many licenses that could/should be made. as always just my $.02

[Dio]

Hahahaaaaaaaa that review was wonderful. I showed it to all of my friends and they fell out of their seats laughing.

And apparently they showed protoypes of other Tarot figures being made by DST, go look it up on the blog.

[NorthRaider]

The funny thing is that in hindsight, the "badness" of that review gives me the morbid desire to see the Minimates outsell the comic Hey, I want my minimate Avengers to go into battle against blatantly silly ideas weird-looking antiheroes too!

[Danny]

I can't access any of the links at work (stupid filters!) but from the comments these sound like they'd be similar to Witchblade? So, I'm in!

[buttheadsmate]

I especially love the Indie-Mates & have never understood why they apparently bombed. Quality-wise they were flawed but these look superb.

Twisted's comments should be taken seriously & are very valid. I love a laugh & my linking to 'suggestive' pictures of Minimates is hopefully seen as good fun ......whether an official line of Minimates as risque as these is healthy is a matter of opinion . As toys I am not entirely sure they are acceptable .....but are they toys? The eternal debate continues but we are continually told from DST that Minimates are toys . I like them but I like ALL minimates but which sort of new collector is going to be drawn in by these ?

[drgnrbrn316]

I don't really see it as a bad move on their part. How many of us here are kids and how many of us are adults? They're just trying to reach a wider market, and in a way, they've done this before. Silence of the Lambs isn't overly kid friendly, but we've got the box set.

I can agree that they probably shouldn't feature this set on any of the kid-targeted marketing though.

[NorthRaider]

Right, because kids today have absolutely zero interest in serial killers, terrorists, pastry chefs and eighties singers.

Here's a fun game to play: Randomly approach somebody and ask them if Minimates are for kids or collectors' items.

(Actually that's not a bad idea. We should totally get a poll going or something.)

[minijeff]

Ok, heres a bit o news folks...we have a new member named Holly Golightly...she is VP of Broadsword and will post news, updates and pics here for us on these. Here is the quote from my chat with her this morning

"Well tell 'em that when the admin lets me- I'll post and answer questions- BUT I was a Pre-K teacher and am very mindful of manners...sooo no snarky snarky "

so lets make her feel welcome!

Jeff of the Miniacs

[groundhog7s]

"Well tell 'em that when the admin lets me- I'll post and answer questions- BUT I was a Pre-K teacher and am very mindful of manners...sooo no snarky snarky "

For some reason when I think of the Vice President of Broadsword, I never would have guessed a pre-school teacher. I guess you never know.

I can agree that they probably shouldn't feature this set on any of the kid-targeted marketing though.

Really? I am totally expecting the announcement any day now that there will be a wave of Tarot exclusives at Toys R Us.

[NorthRaider]

Wait... are you saying toy stores shouldn't have adult collectibles in them?

[groundhog7s]

Well, as a parent, there are things I'd rather my kids not see at TRU. But, you'd have to define what adult collectibles are. TRU carries BSG figures which, really aren't kid friendly, and that's cool. However, if I found a wave of adult movie star figures there I guarentee we would never return.

[NorthRaider]

Aaaaaaah... fair enough.


For me though the distinction between toys and adult collectibles can be a pretty tricky one, especially in a Christian country like ours where people can get so worked up over "suggestive" material that we can't even get Watchmen on IMAX. We can be pretty conservative here, and yet when I walk into a toy store I can see anime figures of sometimes-scantily clad (but thankfully never nude ) women on display, some at eye-level with little kids even. Then again it could be due to how inefficient big-box toy stores can be at micromanaging demographics or something.

[TM2 Dinobot]

I've given this a lot of thought over the past few days. I find myself still struggling with this concept. Here's some of my issues.

I've never read TWBR. Never intend to. It's little more than pr0n and it has witches, black roses AND tarot cards in the title. That's enough to drive me away.
However, one of my all time favorite titles is Witchblade. Witchblade has the name witch in the title, frequently teams up with the Darkness, the Angelus is a lesbian, and Sarah seems to be wearing racier and racier clothes these days. How do those differ, and why is the former wrong (me never having read it) and the later okay (being in my top 5)?
These are Indy Mates. That makes me SO HAPPY that you have no idea.
These are a borderline adult property indy mate. A lot of LCSs don't carry TWBR, or if they do they keep it in the adult section. Should there really be toys of it? Should I be buying toys of it, regardless?
I don't think they will be, but what happens if these are sold at TRU? I feel that I should complain, because they do NOT belong in a children's store. But that may get Minimates pulled from TRU completely.
It has girl minimates! Yay!
It has pr0n star witch girl minimates! Boo!

I'm not really asking for anyone's commentary on my thought processes here. i just wished to air them, to try and get them straight. I see some of you are also struggling with similar thoughts. I think the best thing for these mates is if they were to be sold on the publisher's website, similar to Charm City Cakes, or some other internet exclusive. That keeps them out of the public eye, and out of the reach of children, but still gets them out there, and would get enough exposure to the target audience. Still, the ultimate question is how would I feel spending my hard earned American dollars on something that might make it more difficult for me to sleep at night?

[NorthRaider]

That's pretty eerie Dinobot... I was just reading the old Watchmen thread a while back, and that old argument you got into about the comic's critical acclaim came back to me

But I can see where you're coming from about the "questionableness" of these mates. In theory I'm supposed to be more embarrassed by these mates than anyone, but the fact that I'm actually excited for these kinda makes me feel like I'm an embarrassment to my gender instead.

[groundhog7s]

I'm not really asking for anyone's commentary on my thought processes here.

I know you're not asking, but since you posted it seems like fair game.

If you can rationalize and justify something like Witchblade or displaying your enjoyment of scantily clad women here, despite the beliefs you hold (which you also have openly shared here), it would seem rather easy to justify buying these. Just the fact that you are openly questioning whether or not to buy or support something when you announce that you don't agree with most of what it represents says there's not much for you to question.

I only say this to point out what this license will be for a lot of collectors. There really hasn't been a line of Minimates that polarized fans based on moral/ethical opinions and this line will do it. But, I don't think this line is intended for hardcore-Minimate fans as much as it is to hardcore Tarot fans. And those fans no what to expect from this line and would be disappointed if it didn't deliver. Whether or not it's right or wrong won't determine the fate of this line-pure sales numbers will. If there's a demand, they'll sell.

Edited by groundhog7s, 10 February 2010 - 11:51 AM.

[minijeff]

That's pretty eerie Dinobot... I was just reading the old Watchmen thread a while back, and that old argument you got into about the comic's critical acclaim came back to me

But I can see where you're coming from about the "questionableness" of these mates. In theory I'm supposed to be more embarrassed by these mates than anyone, but the fact that I'm actually excited for these kinda makes me feel like I'm an embarrassment to my gender instead.

Why would you feel as an embarrassment to your gender when the comics fan base is largely of the female gender as well?

Jeff of the Miniacs