Reideen1313

Congrats Danny. It truely has been a great resource for fans of 'mates.

I know. Maybe my sarcasm wasn't thick enough? I meant that there's no reasonable explaination for the jump in price, such as a jump in oil prices or the change in factories (both of these explainations should have already worked thru the system as far as pricing goes) so the only logical explaination I can come up with is a need (either on AA or DST's end) to make sure 'mates show a profit for the year, resulting in the increase in price.

So, $60 for 12 mates or $30 for 12 down the road...... Hmm. I wonder which one I'll be choosing. (No offense Xy - it's direced at AA/DST - not you.)

Not Iowa, but close. I'm in Nebraska - the armpit of action figure collecting. Haven't found them here yet.

Yeah, but, $5.00 for ONE 'mate? I know we're lacking in any kind of 'mates fix, but is one 'mate worth $5.00? I'm guessing this is two running tests for AA's marketing department (such as it is). One, these'll be the first blind boxed 'mates. Secondly, they're testing a new price point. (Of course, there's a third possibility - I'm giving AA's marketing department WAY more credit than they're due.) Anyway. If you guys all bite and buy 'em by the case, it'll be a successful test and we'll probably see more like this in the future. If you hold off on buying them for a few weeks, a message might be sent.... Don't get me wrong - I'm all geeked up about the classic line. I plan on picking them up. Just not right away. I'll probably wait until the 4 packs are released.

Price of oil jumped? Change in factories? Haven't had any minimates sales this year so they need to make sure they show a profit? Take your pick.

This one hasn't closed, but it appears the official AA forum is down. Yet again.

Yet another license that's already been 'Kubrick'ed.

My question is, what's the cause for the problems? We have multiple licensors involved. DC Direct, Marvel, DST, Play Along, Capcom and now apparently Playmaker Toys with the cereal mates line. Y'know - the guys who brought you the most popular toy of, well, ever - the slingshot monkey. The one constant in all these lines is Art Asylum. So, with that in mind, I automatically assume Art Asylum is the issue - whether it is them or their choice of manufacturing plants, shippers, etc, it boils down to AA's decisions and lack of marketing the product appropriately. I'll still buy the product, but not nearly as much of it as I was 2 years ago - mostly through no fault of my own since I cannot find the product anywhere. If I'd seen the SF stuff, I might have considered them just to buy some new 'mates. I'm almost positively buying the BSG stuff - assuming I find the sets. DCD is already preordered, although I'm considering cancelling that until I hear when they're due.

Depends on which one she used ... Batman=kinky Superman=boring Spider-Man=fun Wolverine=wild White Queen=team player Kiss: Gene Simmons=you better move on, you'll never satisfy her ^ Candidate for post of the year!

Where were they at retail? I've never even seen a 2 pack. I think that's the problem. I can find the SOTA figs at Hot Topic, Spencer Gifts, Suncoast, Tower, etc, but I cannot find the 'mates anywhere. Now, this could be a result of them selling out everywhere, but based on Chuck's statement, I don't think that's the case. Sure I can get them on line, like I do everything else, but I quit being interested in SFII, oh, 10 years ago. Couple this with the fact that minimates are a very 'niche' market and they aren't going to sell like the Marvel stuff. AA needs to learn from this misstep. When BSG rolls out, they need to advertise on SciFi (and make sure the 'mates are available at retailers). They need print advertising in whatever the current sci-fi mags are. Same with Speed Racer and DC 'mates. Yes, advertising is expensive, but, you've got to spend money to make money. You can put out fabulous product. It can even be leaps & bounds above what you've done before as far as accessories and sculpts, but if people a) don't know it's out there and can't find the product easily, none of it is going to amount to a hill of beans.

No offense taken JL. I've heard others with similar stories. My local comic shop sucks @ss, so that's not really an option. They have been very quick to respond to my emails regarding my order, so I'm going to give them a chance. If it turns bad on me, I'm vocal enough that I think I'll do ok for myself in the end.

Tim the admin..Kirk chair...wonder if there's a poster of System Unavailable messages included in that set....

I preordered all 3 waves from Corner Store Comics. I emailed them regarding this today and got an email back almost immediately. Here's how they're handling preorders and such: Works for me.

I'm wondering who's going to be the first to use the image as their avatar...

What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow? No fair asking European or African either. I'm looking for the European variety.

Seems like there's been a huge delay in all minimate related product this year. Lots of announcements but no product. Could all this be as a result of changing factories? I'm concerned about all this product getting dumped on to consumers at once. I am interested in the BSG stuff - both current and especially classic. However if these hit at the same time as the first DC wave, I'll really have to pick and choose what's more important to me. Had they been staggered in their release, I'd be able to get them all. If they come all at once, or even within a couple of months of each other, I'll have to pass on the BSG stuff.

I'm shocked you'd suggest such a thing! IMO, it comes down to not offering what you can't provide. If you can't provide news on a timely basis, don't say you will. If (as Jeff Cope suggested in his oh so unprofessional way,) the site is nothing more than a place for fans to hang out and discuss product that's out and news they've found elsewhere, then say that. Course, maybe I'm just being too whiny for the AA boards proper.

I do love the Dalek! That K-9 is pretty nifty too!! The Tardis is a bit small, but, I'm sure it's bigger on the inside, right?

Quick & easy. This is one license I'd love to see AA take on. Imagine these packaged in Tardis themed packages! All the various Doctors, Daleks would be a must have - as is K-9! Come on AA - go after this one!!

That's odd. My 2-inchers move when I am looking. And they talk too. Tell me to do bad things. Just want to verify we ARE talking about minimates here, right?

There are others that were used in the past, who aren't being used currently, such as Sugar Pops Pete:

Here's the full list of current Kellogg's mascots: Corn Flakes cereal: Cornelius (rooster) Coco Pops cereal: Coco the Monkey Frosted Flakes®(US)/Frosties (other markets) cereal: Tony the Tiger Froot Loops cereal: Toucan Sam Honey Smacks (US)/Smack (other markets) cereal: Dig 'Em Frog Rice Krispies®/Rice Bubbles (Australia) cereal: Snap, Crackle and Pop Apple Jacks cereal: CinnaMan and Bad Apple Special K cereals: Kay (a 'K')

Here's my guesses:

Correct. However preposed resin ($$$) vs preposed rotocast ($) is a no brainer. There's two ways to look at it from a retail perspective. AA sells 50 resin figures at $50 each. $2500 in sales, right? Factor in the cost of resin, manufacturing, packaging and shipping from china and I'd estimate AA is making around $750. (I used $50 for a couple of reasons - distributors get a discount from Diamond based on the quantity of their orders which allows them to mark up the product to the final retail price. Also, $50 is a nice round figure that's easy for people to understand. ) The advantage to making them in resin is AA already has the capability to manufacture products in resin, since they make other statues already. The other scenario is to make the figures in rotocast. To date, I don't know of any rotocast products from AA, so they'd either need to farm it out to a different manufacturer or purchase equiptment and materials themselves - so their manufacturing costs would/could be higher. That said, on with the scenario. AA sells 200 figures at $25 each. 200 x $25 = $5000. When you factor the increased manufacturing costs, distribution, etc, AA would make approximately $1000. The advantage here is, they're moving more product at a lower price point and making up the loss in margin $ due to increased sales. The increased manufacturing costs are something they'd only incur once - once the equiptment is purchased or the contract with a different manufacturer is signed, the margins move back up on the product as well. On the 2nd wave (I'm assuming they'd be successful enough to warrant a 2nd wave for the sake of the example - this could also be a DC wave for all intents and purposes.) AA sells the same 200 figures (since they're DC related, they're able to keep sales consistent) at $25.00 each. Again, 200 x $25 = $5000. However, like I said, their production costs are lower and this time, instead of $1000, they make $1500 in revenue. See how that works? Rotocast = good, resin = bad.