cdubya

These were the biggest, baddest dumps EVER!

fixed that for ya

But on a serious note, I dare say this is going to be my favorite army dump ever, on par with the Cylon army dump. The only thing not taking it past the Cylon dump would be the inclusion of 3 humans that could be 3 more Aliens (when adding up multiple orders, those 3 spots become a much bigger number). Not that I'm complaining though

You've got a point, however if these dumps are the only way to acquire these three, then I don't think you'll have any trouble selling/trading your extras to collectors not looking to army-build. I imagine we'll get plenty of Xeno-love from the series itself. This is just a great way to expand the swarm while offering two 'mates that I honestly thought had little-to-no-chance of ever being produced. I say "two" because Burke would've surely made the cut eventually (he'd just need to be packed with a "must-have"). In fact, I wouldn't be too surprised if he's offered again later in a set (face-huggers in containers or "I'm about to die" expression would be an excellent incentive for us to buy him again!).

Now if we were talking animation in general, Hanna Barbera characters would rock as minimates.

Only if they bypass the classic catalog and dive straight into Thundarr the Barbarian (or Johnny Quest)! Sure, the line would fail miserably, but I'd be thrilled..."Ee-yaaaaw-he"!!

Personally I'm a HUGE Anime fan, and I'm also a member of Senior Staff for North Carolina's largest Anime Convention, Animazement, and even though I would love Anime Minimates, I have to agree with Zach, the markets just not there for it. Granted our attendance at Animazement has increased by atleast 10% per year since the Anime bubble burst around 2006 / 2007, which would make you think that if conventions are still pulling in the cash, then why not have the merch. To tell the truth, the major draw to conventions is the Cosplay, Guests, Panels, and Artist Alley, while the dealers room is put on the back burner.

You see, while Japanese fans still go Gaga over Anime toys, the U.S. market is more interested in model kits, high end statues, and highly detailed trading figures. They are interested in what looks as close to the Animated character as possible, and not a cute posable figure. This is why Kubricks produces very few Anime properties anymore, and iMen is all but non-existant. The truth of the matter is, the U.S. market has far less people truely dedicated to Anime as a hobby, and far more that look at it as a passing phase in their adolesence. Hell, thanks to streaming and bit torrent you can't even get the casual fans to purchase their Anime anymore, they rather hurt what little industry the U.S. has left and pirate it.

To sum it all up, I'd love to see Anime Minimates. I think a set of Ranma 1/2, Strike Witches, or Fate/Stay Night mates would be charming and awesome, but in reality DST is somewhat familiar with the Anime toy market (seeing as they've gone to Japanese toy shows before like Wonder-Con), and I don't think we'll ever see these wishes come to fruition.

As much as I love anime (primarily 70's-80's with the occasional modern title such as Cowboy Bebop), I gotta agree with Macross-Junkie on this one. The market just isn't strong enough not to mention that most are very stylized and wouldn't translate well in 'mate form. Fans generally want accurate representations of characters, though "super-D (deformed)" seems to be the exception to this (one which I've never personally understood). The only ones I'd even have a passing interest in are: Akira, Battle Angel Alita (GUNNM), Captain Harlock, Cowboy Bebop, Devilman, Gatchaman (BotP), Grey, Guyver, Lupin III, Macross/Robotech (but what good is this without the "mech"?), Trigun, Vampire Hunter D, or any Studio Ghibli (Nausicaa, Howl's M.C., P. Mononoke, M.N. Totoro, etc.). While I've never personally been a fan, the only title that comes to mind with decent western exposure and characters suited to 'mates proportions would be Dragonball Z, but Bandai seems to have a choke-hold on that one.

BBTS has the army dump listed for 59.99, I'm not sure if that had been posted already, it was news to me.

aaaand ordered! Thanks for the tip Valo! I suspect if BBTS has them listed for $59.99, then someone else may come in around $49.99 (in which case I'll likely snag another). At any rate, I can relax knowing I've got at least one reserved.

Ripley was spotted awhile ago

...and twice in this very thread if you go back a page or two. This Ripley and another with the brown jacket.

I was down for at least two of everything from the start, but I've gotta say that it's very reassuring to see two of the most unlikely-to-be-produced characters (Wierzbowski and Spunkmeyer) appearing so soon! It speaks volumes for DST's commitment to the line and was an excellent choice for the Warrior-heavy, army-building dumps. Just *one question Zach: Are these smaller dumps than previous or did the article just fail to mention that there would likely be multiples of the other three characters as well as the Xenos?

*Actually three...When and how much?!? Sold and Thank-You!

Good point, and I might throw out there that this is likely the only line that stands a chance of giving fans the (or near enough) full cast. This is partly why I'm pushing so hard for Alien (and the Predator license for that matter) 'mates.

Can you imagine a Hall of Armor-style 10-pack of Colonial Marines?

I know. We'd be much better off pairing Marines with Xenos so we can build armies a la The Walking Dead and zombies. It's a thought.

So this boxed set is going to tie into the 35th anniversary of Alien? Which half of the Nostromo crew are you offering first?

That would be the smart move as the 35th anniversary is right around the corner. And as we've previously discussed, boxsets are the way to go for Alien. It would be best IMHO to kick-off with the most iconic: Space Jockey back-drop with Dallas, Lambert, Kane in spacesuits (same tooling for all three) and the Alien with 3-4 eggs (one open that can accommodate the face-hugger). Series 2: Ripley, Ash, Parker, and Brett w/ Jones the cat. Series 3: Dallas, Lambert, Kane, and Alien (extended jaw) w/ chest-burster. Work in a shuttlecraft vehicle (cryobed and opening blast-hatch) w/ Ripley (undie vers.), spacesuit and speargun and call it a success!

While I'm not opposed to some Aliens specialty-market box sets, I believe these will shine brighter as TRU 2-packs (loads of characters with multiple variants to sustain 3-4 waves) for army-building.

I just hope they don't blow their wad too soon with those Ripleys. They need to save the "get away from her you b!tch" (angry BD face) for a Power Loader mini-vehicle and possibly the leather jacket version for an APC (unless it comes with a Marine). This line will do well (at least as well, if not better than Ghostbusters), but I'm a bit concerned that DST will play the wait-n-see approach on the vehicles. There's three (four if they do the Queen right and package as set...with sac and eggs please!) vehicles just ripe for Minimatizing: Dropship (w/ Bishop or Ferro), APC (w/Ripley or Marine), and Power loader (w/ Ripley), but only about 4-6 waves (depending on whether these are 2 or 4 packs...and if we're getting a full line including minors like Ferro, Spunkmeyer, Crowe, etc.). Inserting these between series will require a lot of forethought.

I would love to see classic PoTA, but in all honesty I think it would only be slightly more successful than LiS due to a shrinking fan-base(though I'd admittedly buy the Hell out of them if they tried!). Besides, without horses the line would seem like "GhostRider-without-a-cycle" all over again.

Personally, I think pop culture awareness of POTA is way, way higher than LiS. And while Minimate horses would be great, I don't think they're that core to the main Apes characters -- I mean, with Ghost Rider the bike is part of his power set, and part of his name even. Even the Eastwood mates being horseless didn't ruin that line.

And I'm not a Apes superfan or anything, but I do think a set or two would really sell.

You're right, that was a bad analogy on my part. Perhaps I should have said something like "slightly less than TOS Star Trek" (*dodging barrage of Tribbles thrown by Trekkies!). You see, I am a big fan of the Apes-anthology and would hate to see a line fail due to DST's accountability. I want a comprehensive line covering all five films and the TV series, but I sincerely doubt that the support is there to satisfy Chuck's definition of "success" regardless of public awareness. That said, 2-packs (and TRU support) seem unlikely, but you're correct that a few boxsets are doable. In fact, it would have to be at least two (Taylor, Nova, Cornelius, Zira/ Zaius, Soldier,...another Taylor or perhaps Lucius and Julius:the jailer, Landon, Dodge, Milo, etc.) to cover the first (and most iconic) film (though I reeeeaally want a Gen. Ursus, but that's "Beneath" the realm of possibility at the moment. See what I did there?LOL). But one Gorilla Soldier ain't gonna cut it for me personally (I'm terribly selfish and passionate about this franchise!), which leads me to my comment about the horses. My intention wasn't to say that lack of 'mate-horses would "ruin" the line per se, but rather that the inclusion of of one would greatly increase it's chances of success. If they were to commit to a "vehicle-pack" with a Gorilla Soldier and Stallion it would serve as an army-builder and likely ensure a few extra purchases by customizers and those not supporting the sets. While they don't have recognizable names like say, Lone Ranger's Silver, if ever there was a time to tool a horse for Minimates, this would be it IMHO. We all know they can do it, the real question is would they? I have to say that I have my reservations.

*Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack the thread, I just tend to "go ape" on this subject!

Without sounding rude, your thoughts on Chuck's opinion of things is pretty much how I think also monkeycrumb. I think with any job that you have where you are making decisions about what the public wants, whether it be through media, merchandise, food, whatever, that there is a tendency to lose perspective of the publics mentality. Whether that translates to studios thinking it's a great idea to make a movie like Green Lantern or whether it's DC not seeing a market for more Minimates, it's just a matter of people making decisions and being out of touch with their fanbase. My fear is that is too much the case in most toy companies and that it's starting to affect DST. I think hiring someone like Zach has helped them tremendously with how things are marketed and how they as a company relate to buyers, but am unsure how much influence that has in reverse when it comes to feedback of what line/products would be marketable or why certain products failed. And I say all of this knowing that anyone from DST might read this and also know that it's not my job that's affected by whether or not this stuff sells. I just wish there was a way for there to be more interaction for Chuck to guage what's really wanted or if there's better ways to present the product. I know I've said it before, but the interaction that Palisades Toys had with their fanbase was amazing and it truly showed in how successful some of their lines were (yes, I know they're no longer in business, but it sounds like it was a completely different set of circumstances that led to that and had nothing to do with listening to their fans). Just adding my $.02.

Preach-on brother!!! NECA is the best present-day example of how a toy company should handle PR. Randy Falk is amazing (not to take anything away from our resident guardian angel Zach. We greatly appreciate your presence!).

I would love to see classic PoTA, but in all honesty I think it would only be slightly more successful than LiS due to a shrinking fan-base(though I'd admittedly buy the Hell out of them if they tried!). Besides, without horses the line would seem like "GhostRider-without-a-cycle" all over again. Predator, however, must happen. The time is right, the fan-base is sizeable (and incidentally connected to the Alien Universe), and once fans realize that NECA (awesome line BTW) won't be able to deliver all of Dutch's squad because of likeness-rights, DST will have a whole new group of 'mates fans...guaranteed.

Thanks for the insight Monkeycrumb! It's a shame the wait for Aliens will be so long though. I was hopeful that they would be out, successful, and gearing towards an Alien (boxsets please!) announcement by next year.

Sooooo, now that the panel has come and gone, does anybody have any info. to add on how these will be packaged (two-packs, four-packs or possibly a combination of the two ala Ghostbusters) and who will be carrying them TRU, on-line, both? I expected this thread to be buzzing by now! I like what I've seen, but I was kind'a anticipating a bit more details than we've gotten.

No, she generally doesn't (much to NECA fans dismay). However Minimates being stylistic representations of characters, there's more leeway. This may be the only way Alien/s fans will ever get a complete official line and yet another reason why DST should really be pushing for a Predator license to capitalize on the popularity.

I was not aware of a running change on the top hat, I'll ask about it.

I thought it was some kind of mold-release agent, because it comes off when you touch it. It looks nice in the package, but a single swipe with your finger and it's off.

...and then the damn kids are flying around the livingroom. Careful with those happy thoughts, folks!

Sending in my pictures to Customer Service today. I just found these 2 in the wild:

Eye/Mouth alignment is close, but still slightly off:

Church Lady 7 of 9:

I'm guessing the problem is the Borg tech tampo around the eye is somehow throwing off the mouth alignment.

It looks like we found twins:

And a mirror:

Maybe I am mistaken, but aren't the face tampos one piece? I cannot understand how the lips are not only that off, but also that off from each other! :O

So it seems the Seven of Nine variations count is up to 3 now (I noticed this third, too, yesterday in the wild)! Despite the fact that I originally purchased the proportionate "close eye/mouth", I've got to say that I'm actually leaning more towards the "aligned spaced eye/mouth after studying pics of Ms. Ryan. She does have an exotic, slightly long face. Now this third one? I don 't know...snarky Seven? Too bad all of these misprints didn't happen to Hugh instead, then perhaps we'd have a legitimate "army-builder" on our hands!

Picked-up all three today for $9.99 ea in Kansas. They still had a good amount despite being clearanced. I hope this doesn't discourage Disney from consigning more 'mates in the future as they really are quite nice despite their original shocking price-point (well, primarily the ship). While sifting through sets for uncrushed packaging and optimum paint app.s I did come across an interesting variation on John's top-hat that I haven't seen mentioned in previous posts (forgive me if it has) in a few of the "Hook" packs. Of about 6 that I examined, 4 were simply painted a matte black and 2 had a strange glittery flocking (pixie dust?). Despite my personal preference for the simple matte black, I grabbed a glittered set since there were fewer of them. Does anybody have any info. on this that I might have overlooked; were they all supposed to be this way and some just slipped through or what?

picked up a full set today in Towson, Maryland. Seven of Nine's eyes and mouth are extremely set apart. Not sure if it was isolated to the two they had on the shelf or if all of the sevens will have features with distance.

IMG_0670.jpg

I almost missed them on the shelves too. They were somewhere near starwars and green lantern and a hodpodge of mezits keychains.

I noticed this too as I was cherry-picking the case I *found at a TRU in Missouri today. Of the two, one was perfect and the other had that odd spacing of the mouth and eyes. It's amazing just how much of a difference a millimeter makes; it looked like a completely different character. I had always assumed that the face app.s were done with one tampo. I also noticed a lot of loose hands rattling around in many of the packs, but that's not really a big deal unless you're a MOC collector. Overall, I'm thrilled with these and looking forward to many more to come. Since we've given the go-ahead for "wish-listing", I'll throw my "must have" list of TOS: Romulan(s), Andorian(s), Salt Vampire, Mugato, Talosian, Harry Mudd, and I wouldn't be opposed to an updated Gorn with sculpted head, feet, hands and beefed-up bicep/thighs. It's the aliens that were really lacking for me personally in the first Trek line. Hopefully this will be rectified as well as the rest getting all their TNG, DS9, etc. desires. I'd say we're off to a good start! As for "Ganster" Kirk and Spock, I can see Zach's points but I still think this would make a wonderful future Con-exclusive. It's cosplay Kirk and Spock after all!

*I would have missed these as well, if it weren't for a box full of "motion-activated" Tribbles scaring the p!ss out of me as I walked down the aisle! Lo-and-behold Trek 'mates hiding alongside.

Hopefully these precede a full-on line and not just a one-shot.

Not only is it the safe thing to do, but it looks quite cool and gemmy too!

I don't know, I think we have a pretty good chance of this line carrying-on for quite some time with this "mixed" formula. I'm personally hoping for more TOS aliens, but TNG is a safe bet as I'm sure it will get most of the attention (and rightly so). Movies, DS9 and Enterprise just add to the longevity (but unfortunately the wait for personal favorites).

Perhaps not in the knees, but the tweaked crotch-piece (that just sounds wrong no matter how I phrase it) will allow B-9 to bend over for lifting or hanging in a deactivated state. It's an artistic liberty that I can live with.

Sweet (high six), Zach just confirmed "Princess Bride" as the new license!! Well, it should be. Packaging looks good on this chapter of Trek. I think ita's a good idea to lump them all under one umbrella. I can't wait!

Still jonesing for a taste of Aliens!! LiS is looking really good to me now; hopefully the line gets expanded. A full crew and Chariot are not too much to ask for (funky aliens a bonus) are they? Thanks for the pic.s YB! Any guesses/hints on the "new license" to debut at SDCC (please let it be Predator, please let it be Predator *fingers crossed chanting*)?!?

I think in the case of Xenos that a half chest-piece will work given their height. The bottom half of the torso can serve as the slender abdomen. Also with the phlange and tubes on the back, A chest-piece (ribs) will almost certainly be neccesary. Think of "battle beasts" and I think we have a pretty good idea of how they can be executed.