battlecat

No!!! Not at all! This is what I've been trying to point out... Beyonder had no human form in Secret Wars, only in its sequel, which is generally seen as awful. In the sequel he comes to earth and apparently bases his clothing/hairstyle on the equally awful Michael Jackson ( ) in order to blend in. Because he's so inconspicuous! So for everyone saying Beyonder caused Secret Wars and is needed in the set -- you're voting for a bastardized version of him. From a crappy sequel. Who looks like Michael Jackson. Seriously. Molecule Man basically *was* the human form of the Beyonder in the original series, since that's where all his powers came from. I just don't get why people voting out of nostalgia for Secret Wars (which Beyonder voters must be?) would rather have a mate who didn't appear in the series over one who did... Hell, even Spidey getting his symbiote has more validity in the set, since it was a pretty big moment in the character's history. Also, I know everyone's joking, but nobody actually believes DST would rig their own fan poll, do you? They can release all the Spideys they want, whenever they want, however they want. They wouldn't bother faking a fan poll, it's just that people like Spideys. We don't, because we all have so many mates we just want new characters, but there are a lot more casual Minimate collectors who'd prefer a cool Spidey over obscure '80s characters -- I was one until a couple years ago. Even in this thread, more than one board member has (bravely ) admitted to voting for Spidey. I think this is another case of the confusion between what we generally want, and what the larger buying public do (DSS anyone?)... /rant.

At this point I have accepted that Spidey is just that popular. And let's face it, if he somehow didn't end up in the top 4, DST would surely decide to release a 5 mate set instead. Let's just be thankful there was no Wolverine option to vote for. This guy, on the other hand... ........ seriously? Molecule Man, Spider-Woman or Doom need to make a surge and kick this guy to the curb!

Looks like infinite Spidey variations is what the people want after all -- DSTChuck had it right all along . I actually like this version a lot, but I wouldn't want him over Spider-woman, Doom etc... Also, I wouldn't count your mates before they're hatched -- it's only been a day, and it says this poll is open for another month and a half. Things could still change a lot. Michael Jackson's already been knocked down to 4th (just), in the time since you posted... Also, I need to stop checking this poll like an obsessive compulsive. It's just that it's so cool to see a direct impact from fans... Between this and the AFX suggestion box, and the Deadpool wave, it's a great time to be one!

Since the Beyonder is 3rd place in the poll, a lot of people obviously think he should be there too, but I still don't get it. In Secret Wars he's like this living universe/god thing with no physical form. Not some random disco dork. Out of curiosity I looked up the Wiki page for Secret Wars II, where he does appear that way, and it says he chose the white suit and hairstyle to mimic Michael Jackson's look in 'Captain EO'.......... I mean seriously, 50+ plus people have chosen this mate over several great alternatives? Anyway, I'm with you on Ben Grimm. About as exciting as a powered down Colossus or She-Hulk, still in the spandex. He looks like a wrestler.

It did seem weird to me that they would take the time to actually design six minimates that won't see production... It'd be one thing to show comic art and vote, but designing them all takes up their employees' valuable time. Or is the DST office like one of those internet boom offices, where everyone plays foosball and pogo-sticks around all day? Then I guess they'd have lots of free time... So no, it's not that crazy.

You are not alone. He's too emo for words...

I know we've talked about her on the board before, but I never seriously thought they'd make a mohawk Storm! Also, this may just be my foggy memories of the 1980s, but did the Beyonder ever actually show up in his cheesy disco form in Secret Wars? I remember seeing him on the cover for Secret Wars 2, which I never read, but I don't remember him taking a human form in the original series....?

Kinda said this in the GB thread already, but DST did at least stick to using original game characters for the pack-in mates, which is really the most collector-friendly way to approach an exclusive like this -- it's not like fans of the movies who aren't bothered about the game are going to miss out on any important characters because of this. It's specifically geared towards people that would buy the game anyway. I've always seen completist collecting as a fairly impossible task, so this release doesn't really change that view for me. As a non-completist, the TRU exlusives do make me feel a tiny fraction of the pain that UK collectors must have felt a few years back, but so far we've only had, what, 4 mates that couldn't be found in more widely/globally available sets? I'd love to be able to use some online store rather than bother a board member to get those 4 without an eBay mark-up, but as luke314pi said, you can't really deny DST business opportunities because it makes a couple mates hard to find for us. Anything that keeps the line going/growing, ultimately gets us many more "easily accessible" mates down the line. Also thank god all those convention exclusive sets have been so easy to get online -- some toy lines have "real" exclusives that aren't available online the next day.

Thank Gozer that DST didn't stick any important characters in this thing, like Janine or the library ghost -- personally I couldn't give a toss about random ghost mates with no nostalgia factor, but I feel for those who want them... Niche market or not, I can't see them showing up too cheap on eBay, at least not at first. Anything with the word "exclusive" attached to it, and eBay sellers' eyes suddenly turn into cartoon dollar signs...

Ha, nothing to be sorry about... hopefully my post didn't read too "dick", I was just trying to answer your rhetorical question . I may not put much stock in DST's projected release dates, but I'm still jonesing for something new to come out as much as the next minimaddict -- hopefully just a week to go!

Well, they don't. They show us release date *estimates*. Personally I'd rather have a general idea of when I'm gonna need cash handy, so I can budget it, than find out two days ahead of time on that week's Diamond list. Don't get me wrong, I understand the frustration, but after a while you stop taking DST's estimates so literally, as bilbofett said...

I've only seen what little anime the kid's network here has aired, and from that limited exposure I've enjoyed Fullmetal Alchemist and Death Note, but I've had two series really hook me in... One is Bleach (which is currently in the middle of the first filler arc here, and after a rocky start I'm actually liking it a lot, especially as they've tied it back into the Soul Society a little) and the other is Eureka Seven, which I'm mildly obsessed with, to the point that I've spent fairly ridiculous amounts on eBay to pick up the annoyingly rare production art books and figures that came out in Japan when it originally aired. Oh and I also caught a few films at a nearby indie theatre when I was in school -- my favourite was Spirited Away, and I liked Akira a lot. Also I know it's not technically anime, but the American cartoon Avatar is brilliant, and takes all its storytelling and art cues from anime. Anyway, good thread! I'll have to check out some of the titles people have listed...

Haven't seen it linked anywhere -- there's a photo of the set up on the AFX blog: http://shopafx.typepad.com/ looking good...

It didn't. We went through this a few times in the original thread, but the final votes were compiled by team, not split by the different line-ups listed. So Excalibur got 16 votes, Wrecking Crew got 14.

The movie was just okay, like everyone's saying, but I can't recommend the books enough. There was just too much stuff in them that they couldn't fit into the movie, plus they had to speed everything up way too much to get through what they did include, so it felt really rushed to me. The slow build-up in the books is much better. What was brilliant about the comic is that Cooke took all these unrelated events from early DCU continuity and tied them into one big story so well that it makes it all seem retroactively intentional... plus the art's great, which they somewhat translated to the screen.

It says in the first post that different rosters will have their votes combined at the end. So Excalibur *is* tied for first.

She is/was a mutant (a crazy-powerful one, but she was too timid to do much with it most of the time), but her powers were also magically connected to the UK somehow. I think. It has been about 10 years, and I remember her mutant status being fairly confused even at the time.

I find this works well in every area of life, not just with movies, and generally leaves me a lot happier. Having said that, I'm not a big enough Joe fan to have expectations for the movie -- and yet everything I've seen from it points to awful. And I mean just as a movie, not a Joe movie specifically.

Welllllll, yeah. I'm as skeptical as anyone that this whole thing could turn out to be a very advanced wishlist thread... But it's still fun to believe it could happen, even just a little bit, and they did ask for suggestions, and they are doing a Champions boxset, which, Ghost Rider or no, still seems like a crazy fan-fave pick for a set... so as you say, it's a good idea. Vote Meggan!

Ah, that's where I was hoping that it being an AFX exclusive would mean DST wouldn't really care about marketability -- I know their past exclusives have ended up being sold to other online stores and even to comic shops (through Diamond?), but is that done through AFX or DST? I guess I assumed AFX becomes like the distributor for their exclusives, but I'm not sure at all how it works... And AFX clearly prefers geek obscurity over marketability, since they jumped on Web Armor Spidey! Oh and outside of an Excalibur set, I would classify Meggan as "imbloodypossible", but that's just me

I could be completely wrong, since I haven't seen the movie for a long time, but I thought only two of them wear those goo guns to coat the Statue of Liberty? Edit: did a very quick Google search and I *may* just be thinking of the poster, which has Ray and Winston with the slime gear and the others wearing proton packs. Also a GID Stay Puft seems really weird to me, since he's solid, and not a ghost... I'm sure the second 4-pack will have a regular version.

Well, me and 3* other people agree with you, but it looks like the Nightcrawler love will win out here. IF they ever make an Excalibur set (and even if it actually won this vote, and the result actually made a real impact on AFX's decision, I'm still not getting my hopes up that it'll make it past DSTChuck ) I'm hoping Meggan's, uh, cheapness would put her ahead of another 'Crawler... like I don't think they'd do a straight rerelease of Nightcrawler at this point, so he'd need some new sculpts, and either way he'd need way more unique parts produced than Meggs, who would just be hair and a body. So yes, if the lousy economy does nothing else for me, I'm hoping it will sway character selection in this very specific and unlikely scenario *make that 4, it went up as I was typing this

Finally *two* Saberteeth that don't suck! It's like we had to wait so long for one, they threw in another for free (well, for the (usually over)price of a variant pack)... Thanks for the info Nessex, I'll have to look up that Madripoor stuff when I'm feeling less lazy ... I agree though that this seems like more of a "Wolverine after the fact" wave...

Well, the team has only existed for 3 issues, most of which have been spent on one big fight... Osborn and Sentry (and Doom, really) may be hogging the spotlight so far, but there'll be several more issues out before SDCC for the rest of the team members to make an impact...

Oh okay, well that would be a pretty big honkin' connection then Thanks for the info