blogzilly

It’s a great set. Hope to pick it up.

On 12/1/2023 at 5:09 AM, minimateship said:

 

that's no trouble, things move pretty slow and steady on here anyways  you can 'follow' topics/threads but as far as getting notifications about the site off the site I've no idea, though your quoting my post certainly drew my eye to this so thank you for that, and thank you again for saying g'day and talking here on the multiverse: it continues to astound me in the best of ways on so many days...whenever i pick up some Palz lately, really, or mull over some Palisades muppets on eBay, or dream feverishly of die hard minimates  sorry again if my opening questions interrogation was a bit over-enthusiastic! 

thank you so much for the opportunity, your answers give a bit to chew on! i'll hold my horses on any further questions for the time being and go sort through my paper Palz paraphernalia with a fine-tooth comb (and a big arse magnifying glass! :p) as well find the instagram you mention. I had no idea that Die Hard was potentially going to be two-packs, but i did always have the suspicion the episodes on the Palz sized X-Files were chosen with a care beyond my ken 😛 groovy to hear and so groovy that you have such recollections of the line; I'm keen as mustard to check out some of your further retrospectives and so glad to hear of them!

Forgot to mention the instagram page is @creatusmaximus. I think the one you found is the one I use for family stuff. My bad.

On 10/27/2023 at 2:12 AM, minimateship said:

I had no idea what a ride it's been! You sound like a wonderful father, and it's great to hear you're finding the time to be around a bit more online. I for one, like roman numerals, am glad enough to take you right up on that offer, though I'll try and begin with only a mercifully short (painfully longform) set of questions:

1) X-Files Two-Packs -- to expand on a point you mentioned that I've thought about near daily since, what were some of the ideas floating around when X-Files Palz were destined to be two-packs? I often sit and mentally pair the characters of wave one together to see what combos fit best thematically scully&pfaster, deep throat & grey alien vs practically or if the line up was even decided at that stage, or indeed if that was more a series 2 discussion alongside the EXQUISITE die hard palz (my first ever block figure case, all the way over here in mid-00s Australia! an incredible memory)

2) Attention to Accessories --   Squinting at episode titles on the 'File" in the hands of my Palz is a fond memory, i learned quite a bit of plot from the embryo included with the grey alien, fortunately less from the retooling of that element in the second series 😛  Skinner's forever incomplete desk set-up (now i have a towering wheelie chair tho, ho-ho-ho), right on down to the The 'Lilly' Sanitation Services on the back of my favourite Flukeman's toilet:  What are some of your favourite accessories from the line, or ones with more a story to tell than we've heard? I'm particularly interested in what went into choosing which episodes to include on the Files, further accessory plans and of course any Lilly Sanitation Services esque gags we may have missed, or missed out on!

3) Legless Legacy -- Thank you so much for what you've shared already, and for maybe reading this! I think i've managed to secure a copy of Get Bit! and I'm absoutely jubilant at this thread and being able to get one last Palz surprise after the bell. Second-hand of course; i'm sorry to hear things went poorly as that project went on. I had no idea the Palz physique rode again, so thank you for that, and for doing more cool stuff! I also discovered your 'Smart Bombs' from here (thanks BHM!) :What are some things you've worked on that particularly stand out on the shelf to you? What's your favourite Pal from X-Files Series 1? What Palz would you have had as super special limited-run give-aways & the like, if the stars aligned?

Thank you so very much for your time @blogzilly, and for all the brilliant block figures (and figures at large!) I hope my enthusiasm hasn't shone through too blindingly and that i've not scared you off 😛 There may be a Die Hard Palz thread revival yet

Sorry I missed this. If there’s a notification system, I don’t know how to activate it.

1. On this question I’d like to pause it. I do some retrospectives on my Instagram and at some point plan to cover these, and the dropping of 2-packs, the dropping of blisters (shifting to blind boxes and how it affected the line-up for a revised S2) and all that I need to coordinate all the data points because there is a lot of it and I’m trying to be accurate. DH was a two-pack blister carded line also in the initial design, also pretty much obliterated as a product that would be viable here by the Sales decision to go blind box.

2. Two words. Magnifying Glass! 😆 Skinner would have had his desk, it was design via 3D model, but the blind box decision killed that possibility. Putting my name on the toilet was a very self-serving thing to do. I rarely did anything like it, but since X-Files was my favorite Sci-Fi show at that time…I indulged. Not ashamed to admit it was purely a self-indulgent thing. There was a system or reason for each X-File. I’d need to go through each one though and I don’t have them spread out. But I did have a rationale. There were some canceled figs, canceled accessories, junk like that. Happens in every line.

3. Things I’ve worked on that stand out? The Muppets seem to the most with people. I learned the most by working on it since it went so deep. My favorite S1 PALz is probably Scully…mainly because she’s my favorite character. I’m still a fan at heart, so.. As for what would I have had as special limited stuff? None. I’m actually not in favor of a lot of that ultra rare stuff. I’d rather have the figure variants available to everybody who wants them.

hope I answered enough of what you wanted to get answers for. Sorry to not hit everything.

On 9/29/2023 at 2:47 AM, minimateship said:

The only thing my mind is made up about is that Palz remain my favourite block figures ever! and that logging in here and seeing words from the man himself is not only making BHM's week but Signature Choice(now rebranded to Minimateship)'s year, hell my lifetime

I also can't help but feel a bit embarrassed, like I was critiquing the DJ just as the music stopped; though in this instance picture Daft Punk on the decks which is to say royalty in their field...rest assured I typed it all with love Mr Lilly! I guess I was trying to spark discourse & was snarking like I'd invented it...in the vein of Wayne and Garth, we're not worthy 🤘

Thank you so much for the insight and of course for the Palz and so so much for dropping us all a line here! 

I don't think I'll be going so long between log-ins any longer and my block figure fires are almost as stoked as myself

I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say once I'm done hyperventilating but oh my giddy aunt welcome indeed! Love your work

Thanks. It’s totally cool. Having opinions and expressing them is what the Internet is, yeah? Or a big part of it anyway. I’m a bit of an open book online and off, and I wish I’d been around here when the discussions were going on, I could have participated and likely answered some questions that might have curtailed a lot of speculation. That’s mostly where the bulk of it sprang from…the lack of knowledge about me, my intentions, etc. Unfortunately at the time I’d pulled myself offline when my business shat the bed then when I came back I was primarily hanging in disability circles, not in collectibles, and most of my activity was disability related. 

It’s only been within the past couple of years that I’ve gone back to embracing the toy past online, on social media mainly. My son (the one who became disabled, who I essentially left the industry for) is older now (nearly 15) and he’s a bit easier to manage day to day.

Anyway…I haven’t yet figured out how to get notified when there’s new posts here. I try to check in when I can. Thanks for reaching out I appreciate it.

It reminded me of the animated toy, which mainly prompted the question. I understand the squat look you want to get. The team transport idea I think is great (I liked the idea of 3 Cylons in the Raider, for example). I don’t have criticisms, it’s your project, your design, and it could be done a lot of different ways. I appreciate hearing a bit of your thought process, it makes the watching of the evolution of it that much more interesting. 

On 9/3/2023 at 12:58 PM, cylonchaney said:

Still trying to find my way with the Blackbird. I feel like it's an improvement but still feel I can do better.

 

 

Have you shown what Blackbird you’re trying to model this after? I understand that you’re endgame is to make a Chibi kind of thing, but what’s the basic reference you are using?

On 9/3/2023 at 3:28 AM, buttheadsmate said:

 

There is a website Zachd .kubrick which is very useful . There are also 2 Kubrick 'bibles' which are catalogues of what has been produced . If you are lucky you can find a further concise volume which contains nigh on everything , this is the one to get .  

Unfortunately the warehouse is more like a warehouse for a house-mover  I fully intend to slow down in 2 years time (if I make it) & then the fun might begin .

The Pantone kubricks fascinated me purely because I spent my life, up until the millennium, as a printer . 

 

Holeeee…sheet. That index…there’s so many I didn’t know about. SO MANY…just like some Minimates that got made over the past 10 years. I thought I was paying attention…I SO wasn’t paying attention. 

8 hours ago, buttheadsmate said:

In the first instance I probably gained my 'knowledge' from you in the first place   As you may or may not realise yet I used to lead people to your eBay listings which were other than just 'eBay listings' . I am a generally tongue-in -cheek , savagely sarcastic poster .......I can tell you quite sincerely that that side of me is well & truly under lock & key in this thread .

Kubrick, the director , & his films are another huge passion of mine , I have some rather nice items in 'ye olde warehouse'  but don't let me stray on to that .

The 'poobricks' ?  It should be understood that the worst thing about them is that I actually bought them ,nobody forced me to do it.

There's the Palmboy line ,several star-like figures which have arms & legs with faces that inspire you......to point a rifle at them . I have them, most of them if not all of them, they are painted with flags of the world etc.etc. I have no idea what they portray & if I had a rifle I would shoot at them.

The Blythe line ....a group of doe-eyed 'girls' in various dresses etc.  A man of my years might well have a lot to explain as to why they are in his toy collection ? I would deserve the question & would struggle with the answer.

To-Fu kubricks..... you guessed it ,a kubrick with a cube of to-fu as a head. All colours, shapes & sizes that you'd imagine would last as a line for about as long as one box-set of 4.  They in fact had 7 series of 5, several specials, several promos & one or two dealer exclusives . I tried not to indulge in them but I fell for it .

I have recently seen some big 400% To-Fu kubricks on Ebay , they are new releases, so when you consider that Medicom has left the Kubrick line 99.9% dormant for several years ...To-fu must still have it's followers.

The Marvel line of kubricks isn't marvellous but the Captain America Kubrick has become a favourite .

 

This post reinforces for me why Kubrick has been an on-again/off-again relationship with me since 2001. Sometimes I look at them at think they’re incredibly awesome, others I’m shaking my head. Yet I buy them. And it’s only due to proximity (the fact that they’re not widely available in the US) that I don’t have a lot more. Always liked the Pantone ones though.

This warehouse…the visions in my head are something out of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Is there a Kubrick database as thick as this Minimates one? The one on the Kubrick website is subpar.

18 minutes ago, buttheadsmate said:

Medicom didn't allow themselves to be hamstrung by the rather too simple Kubrick design .

Head (1) torso(2)left arm (3) right arm (4) left hand (5)right hand(6)left leg (7)right leg(8)crotch piece (9) .......9 pieces 

I am told that '9' is pronounced 'Koo' in Japanese , it would seem to me then that the 'Koo' isn't a coincidence .....Koo bricks ?

Anyway you can see from the rather plain 'hedgehog' promo above that kubricks wouldn't have lasted long like that & TBQH there are some shockingly shite kubricks out there!

However Medicom didn't allow themselves to be hamstrung & the Star Wars line in many many instances 'perhaps' look like kubricks but only just 

The Kelloggs line BTW had a secret chase, a Kubrick sized 'Kelloggs' capital 'K' in the Kelloggs typeface , no legs, head or arms ...just a big 'K' .

It was however articulated , it swivels in the centre , Medicom took the trouble to make it articulate for no other reason, it would seem, than they wanted to.

“In 2000 Medicom founder Tatsuhiko Akashi and a former LEGO employee created the Kubrick, 2.5-inch (6cm) Minifigures inspired by those included with LEGO building sets.

The brand name Kubrick (and its original logo style) was also created in honor of film director Stanley Kubrick.

Kubrick is a hybridization of “Kyu,” Japanese kanji for the number 9, and the English word ‘brick’. Nine refers to the number of Kubrick standard body parts, brick is a reference to Kubrick’s similarity to Lego Minifigures.”

Not sure if I’m 100% accurate (because the Internet isn’t 100%), but I started using it in listings of extra Kubs I’ve got a couple of years ago, and so far no one has told me to brick off.

I’m curious…what’s a “shockingly shite” Kubrick? Can you pick a couple?  

10 hours ago, Shanester said:

I found the Star Wars line to be incredibly creative. I have quite a few from many different properties.  I think the first line that really grabbed me was Ultraman. I had never seen Ultraman mini figures before and the Kubrick line delved deep.

I’d like to get some of those. And that 400% Ultraman is pretty sweet.

12 hours ago, buttheadsmate said:

Japaharinet hedgehog promo.......I confess that although I have it I ,again, didn't have a clue what it was.

I didn’t know…and I have no idea how I got it or even why. No recollection whatsoever of having purchased it. But my memory has been getting really weird like that. Too much toy buying over the years. After a while it starts to look like one huge mass with a collective consciousness built to destroy me, particularly every time I’ve had to move.

On 8/29/2023 at 9:35 AM, buttheadsmate said:

Beaker is beautiful but is one of the rarest IMHO.   I will confess that until I read your post I had no idea that the Batman S1 Secret/Chase was called 'Spoiler' ...I've seen checklists with the name 'spoiler' & always assumed that 'spoiler' was a placeholder name ....did I make sense there? I don't think it was as rare as Beaker .

Quidditch Potter can still be bought from an online store ( Google it ) or USeBay.

I've enjoyed my Kubrick hunting but it is a very lonely job . It's even lonelier trying to convince people of their beauty.  

 

I missed this somehow (still learning the forum’s ins and outs). Spoiler was the daughter of Cluemaster. Starts as a baddie, becomes good, ends up being the fourth Robin, then eventually becomes the third Batgirl. This was all pre-52. So… but I think she was brought back post 52 in some way. Honestly the continuities in both Marvel and DC are so convoluted now it makes my head hurt to even try to talk about it. It’s even tougher with younger people who have completely different sensibilities based on where they “start” in their absorption of comics mythology. That’s been made even more poignant these days with films being considered by some to be a New Gospel. To each their own.

There are some Kubrick figures I simply gave up hope on. It was better that way. Though…I did recently make a friend in Japan, and since I started getting the tickle again maybe I’d have better luck going down that road.

What’s your top 3 most awesome “gets” in your Kub-hunting? Oh and speaking of…do you recognize this one? I’m drawing a blank of who he is…

Here’s a shot of the final factory shots I had done back when I was still considering doing an 80s toys satire line that would have needed a new title. The working one was…oh it was just so dumb. But it was these colorized figs that led to their inclusion in Get Bit! the card game.

8 hours ago, Shanester said:

Welcome aboard Ken.  I have a couple of Palz I got with some Minimate test shots.  Any idea what the story on them is?  BTW, Scully has been sitting here by my monitor since I bought her back in the day.

Hey,

I do know what those are, I think. In 2006 I got the go ahead from the company that acquired Palisades to use the body design from PALz for a block figure line. At the time I thought I’d be able to get the tools, turns out I couldn’t get full access, so I paid for a new tool. That was a dumb decision. I should have designed a different product but I wasn’t thinking very clearly at the time. It was a very difficult couple of years. To test the tool I’d run off a couple of sets of brightly colored factory shots. They ultimately worked.

‘Not long after a former co-worker saw me messing with them and asked me about using them in a game he was trying to do, an indie game called Get Bit!. A card game that had been using cards but he wanted to have a play element with figures that lost appendages. I needed the income because things weren’t going well so I said “Yeah, sure.” and convinced the factory to run a very short run (couple of hundred, really not many) of these brightly colored PALz-like figures. He paid me and I got packaging credit.

So he puts them in the game and it really improves the overall experience and gameplay and later sold a larger company revives it via Kickstarter, though they added a shark that they ripped off from LEGO after changing a couple of bits. They later created more versions of the game and kinda cut me out of the entire equation, even though some of the original Robot Martini versions of the game (with my name on the box) were in their campaign as rewards.

I spoke to the owner, was promised things I never received (like comps and packaging credit) despite him telling me they were tooling the fig on their own (yet the rumor in China (I knew people) was that somehow they got access to the tool I paid for. He was just covering bases and making sure they had my blessing (likely seeing if I was going to have a problem, legally speaking, with the actions they were about to take). Hey…shit happens, people get f—d over all the time in the industry. This particular time wasn’t even the worst thing that ever happened to me, not by a long shot. I really wasn’t going to survive long enough as a small toy company to get anything going on my own, I’d failed hard getting things started. I was smart enough to realize that.

Anyway, more versions of Get Bit! did end up getting made, some were laughingly shitty, IMHO. I’ve never seen a physical copy up close but photos are so awful. Artwork is really unprofessional on their Collectors Edition. Looks like a bunch of grade school art.

High likelihood that those figs you have are from some version of the Get Bit! game. Attaching pics of the first version (which I also didn’t get, and I was supposed to get comps from the cool kids…funny that!) 

I feel a bit weird answering this from November of last year, but I’ve got a couple of HGs on my Kubrick list…

First is Beaker, from the Muppets series. Shortpacking him was the crime of the century.

The other I’ve wanted for quite some time and never been able to locate is Spoiler from Batman.

Theres a carded version of Harry Potter in a Quidditch outfit I only recently found out about, it’s been added to my radar.

3 hours ago, buttheadsmate said:

Also "Kang" or the lack of Kang became a long-running in-joke here , he eventually appeared in a fairly obscure box set . There is a second  Walgreen version which is widely available & IMHO a very worthy cheap alternative .

Juggernaut ?  I guess the Excalibur version is rare & the best. The Excalibur box set is rare & a bit of an enigma , it contains one of the cutest Minimates ever made ,Meggan & undoubtedly one of the worst, Capt.Britain  , a shockingly bad minimate that should never have seen the light of day .  The Excalibur Nightcrawler is also the best version we have had. 

Oh yeah…I’m starting to have totall recall on how hard it was to keep track of all the different releases now. Lol. Especially the Walgreen’s and TRU packs and such in Marvel. Turns out I did buy that Excalibur set when it came out, just forgot I did, but the figures are here. No Kang anywhere so I must have missed those packs. Past several days I’ve been doing some assessing and sorting. There were some TWD, Aliens, Tomb Raider packs, all unopened that I completely forgot I bought. Makes sense according to some of the dates on the packs, almost all pre 2015 when things in life started taking significant lefts so I wasn’t collecting as vociferously.

The last time I bought a Marvel pack in the store was in 2016. It was a 2-pack of Dr. Strange and The Ancient One.

I like Trekker42’s idea of having a collection of one each of a favorite character. I think I’ll start whittling some of these down from what I got here and approach it that way.

On 8/27/2023 at 9:10 AM, Trekker 42 said:

Agreed. I assure you, one of each of your favorite characters is adequate for a Minimate collection. 
I just hope for your sake your favorite characters aren’t Juggernaut and Kang. 

I’m guessing there’s some super scarcity to those two I haven’t yet begun to comprehend?

If I could offer a tip…use heat instead of cold. Plastic polymers, when frozen, become brittle and that temp shift can result in micro fractures in the material. The act of separating those parts could result in shattering pieces of plastic away from the main structure or damaging some of the linked internal chains that may not be noticeable now but could affect the figure down the road (warping, discoloration, leeching binders, etc). 

First thing is to try to figure out what you think might be causing the sticking. If you think it’s plastic to plastic (bad fit or something) then gently increasing the heat is a good bet. But if it’s dried paint you’d need to try something else. Some methods work better than others and they depend on plastic types and amount of paint and a person’s, I dunno…their overall feelings about risk/reward! 😆 

I’ve got some chemicals in my garage I use, I could go take a look when I get a chance. But they’re last resort stuff honestly.

The first thing I usually do is bathe the thing in hot soapy Dawn water, washing with a fine brush around and into the cracks around that helmet. After patting dry, as gently but firmly as possible Vice clamp the helmet or hair (covered with cloth), insert something like precision needle nose in the neck hole so I can work a grip and do my best to turn the head inside the helmet or hair. That usually does the least damage and works on light paint sticking.

29 minutes ago, NerdyTrev said:

Hail Ivan!

That’s the one. Wow…it’s so huge.

15 hours ago, cylonchaney said:

@blogzilly Congrats on coming out of your shell. And welcome.

Thanks!

8 hours ago, buttheadsmate said:

Your post made my day week !  PALz were the reason I originally became a mini-figure fan so you're the man I blame for being broke  

Amazing (to me) that you also share (my) your opinion on blind - boxing  

Thank you Ken for posting , I'm sure there are many PALz fans but sometimes it feels very lonely being one . Not for my ego , purely for context , you can count on one hand how many kubricks (that I am aware of) that I don't own , every Minimate that is shown on the MMDB & every PALz figure ........X -Files PALz are perhaps my favourite . 

On another note 'Oppenheimer' & 'Barbie'  are flavours of the day . Millions of people must have a Barbie doll but I'm betting few people are as proud as I am to own a "Smart bomb"  ? I haven't seen mine for several years ( my collection is a mess of cartons ) but I still remember loving it . 

 

 

 

That’s so interesting. Smart Bombs are one of those things that at the time seemed like an OK idea to pursue but in hindsight I wish I hadn’t. Or rather I wish I’d pursued something else first. It’s quite a long story, but the result of it was that making those sank any chance I had to grow my own thing. It’s likely for the best when I look at everything that followed in my life. 

I used to collect all kinds of block figures too, BHM…Kubrick, Be@rbrick, MM, Dragon, anything I could find. Gorton's puts out a promotional block figure of their fisherman mascot? I’m tracking it down. Somewhere amidst all that, maybe 2025-ish, I zeroed in on LEGO and focused on it almost entirely. That’s still my primary thing that I’ll pick up, if I have any extra money. I’m seriously considering now dumping all collectibles that aren’t block figures and building the ultimate Blockopolis.

I thought there was a checklist-style database somewhere around here, though I might be mis-remembering a lot of it. It’s been quite a few years. Gotta admit…sometimes I wish I hadn’t stopped on Minimates. Now I realize how there’s just no way I could ever jump back in. There’s so many. That’s a good thing for them though.

On 11/23/2020 at 11:21 PM, SignatureChoice said:

Why the flip was Comrade Artzen, Mr Alex Krycek himself, packed 1:64 to a case? Alongside the smoking man he's one of the series few truly recurring villains, and has a slightly more exciting (read:playable) M.O within the show. As opposed to smoking and stubbing out cigarettes menacingly. Also, Krycek had soooo many different looks, from FBI suit to undercut-leather jacket mercenary to his old man disguise. I can understand a variant being packed so as to become a rarity, but it's a great tragedy the only Krycek we saw was a 1:64 packed 'Comrade Artzen' variant. Is it still called a variant if it's the only figure we ever got? 

The issue of making unique characters chase figures recurs with the 1:64 Marita Covarrubias. I missed out on Deep Throat, that's on me. He wasn't blind packed anyway. I was lucky enough to get a 1:16 X figure, so I had someone to leak information to Mulder anyway. I'm grateful to have him, but I dread to think of those X-Files fans who got onboard X-Files Palz series 1 and were big fans of the informant characters. It's the same deal as Krycek, anyone wanting to complete a set of Mulder's first 3 whistleblowing friends would have had (and now most definitely) has their work cut out for them, and once again, it's not like the chase figure needed to be the only example. Marita had even more looks than Krycek throughout the show, some of them were even plot-pivotal. Unlike Highlander, there needn't have only been one.

Hi. I was browsing around the web, looking for some info on PALz, and came upon this post. Hadn’t been here in a long while, though I used to swing by more regularly while I was much more heavily into collecting Minimates, Minifigures and Kubrick figures. I never felt very comfortable about joining into any of the ongoing conversations. It has been my experience that trying to explain myself or my actions after I left Palisades (I’m that Ken guy, the one who was responsible for all the horror) has never been very easy to those who have their minds made up.

I want to address, specifically, the blind box issue however. I can tell you that on the Product Development side of things, none of us wanted it. We all knew what many of you have stated within this forum…that it doesn’t fly well here in the states. Seems to get a pass with LEGO CMF, but that’s the only exception I know of. Of course the baggies…you can feel those out (the current boxes not so much, so that’s going to be an issue for them. Or is it? It will be interesting to see.) Bottom line is that the Sales Department pushed for it and got it.

Why? The company wasn’t doing very well. Smaller retailers, which were keeping the lights on, were rapidly going away. To incentivize them Sales thought that this was a viable solution. It didn’t address the long term problem. It was only a short term fix, which was selling the units to the retailers. It still didn’t sell enough units. It still didn’t sell enough overall product or get consumer exposure and interest. It didn’t do a lot of things. It wasn’t just PALz that suffered. Army of Darkness did also, that got flipped to blind packaging from Series 1 to Series 2.

That’s not the only problem with PALz, the blind box, but it’s realistically the biggest. The products in that category which released in blister packs did better than those that did not. X-Files was originally supposed to be 2-packs on cards. So was Die Hard. That was the format moving forward from Buffy. But things change and you try to respond to what you’re asked to do as best you can.

I do appreciate what you said about the attention to detail though. Kim (the assistant in PD) ran Buffy. I ran XF and DH. She was an enormous Buffy fan, I’m an enormous fan of XF and DH. You always hope that fan intensity bleeds out to the people buying the stuff, especially those who know the material as well.

EDIT: Typed this in Notes on my iPad. No idea why the text is huge. Sorry about that.