hellpop

I think the biggest problem Minimates face is just general apathy. Big retailers aren't interested in a niche toy line that's been around for so long. Smaller ones have moved onto other things and don't want to give them another try (possibly because they still have old dusty sets on their pegs). And even at DST there just seems to be a general lack of urgency to try new things and innovate with the figures. To me, this is a real shame because I think Minimates are far and away the best specialized toy. The design is much better than any other minifigure, and unlike Pops or other stylized toy (including Vinimates), they aren't static. I don't really know what the answer is; obviously Toys R Us going out of business was terrible, and I don't know if Minimates will ever recover. But it seems to me a toy that's worth saving, and that with some innovation it could get people interested again. Just because Minimates aren't fresh and new anymore doesn't mean they can't be exciting.

AFI (yes, they still exist) posted some shots of this with Playskool and Lego figures. Looks pretty tiny: http://www.actionfigureinsider.com/hall-of-justice-funko/

Someone killed his dog.

Still holding out hope that the movie-only villain is Batroc.

If it's true that this wave is cancelled and won't be resolicited, then that's it. This has basically become a Marvel exclusive line for the past few years, and if even Marvel Minimates can't draw enough interest, then they are well and truly done. I sincerely hope that DST tries to rethink and relaunch them; they are, after all, owned by DST so it behooves them to try to reestablish the figure in some way.

Wow, he looks great.

Not after seeing that! Very nice work. I'll try to snap a pic and post it later today.

Silver Sable is definitely a character in need of an update; the original holds up better than a lot of others from that era, but Minimate designs have changed so much that I'd love to see a new one.

Boomerang is sure to be in this wave because I finally broke down and made a custom of him.

I never got the idea of Bearbricks. Kubricks are deformed enough already, and sticking weird ears on top of them just seems like a real easy way to limit any potential market you might have. The only Bearbrick I ever bought is Winnie the Pooh.

DST's most likely not selling directly to that guy, but rather he or she has a Diamond account and order through that. I don't think it's as easy as "just" reinventing the Minimate brand; they've certainly tried to make vehicles at least with limited success. In some ways I think that Minimates are now a victim of their own modest success. It's a known enough brand that it's hard to get retailers to take a chance on it. And again I'd argue that it's a leftover commodity from a previous time, when block figures were of more interest among the collecting community.

What's comparable? Legos and Megablox are construction sets, and the minifigures are a side hustle. Shockinis?

I think this is an important point that we often overlook. There's not really a market for block figures anymore; Minimates is basically the last survivor of a toy fad that burned out many years ago.

Phew!

Happy holidays to you and yours Zach! You're a good dude.

Not to hijack the thread, but the Lego Movie 2 was *such* a disappointment.

I speculated a couple months ago when DST showed some Buffy stuff that we might get some Minimates. I would have to think they're on the table; a Buffy box set should be an easy sell to somebody out there. Right?

We're not doing phrasing anymore.

I don't think you can compare the challenges in selling through a wave between TRU and comic book shops; if the former has leftover sets, they just get clearanced. If the latter is stuck with them, they may lose money on that case, and they may not order them again. I know that, at least at first, DST had a lot more freedom in character selection with the TRU Marvel sets. That's why a figure like Lockjaw would go to TRU (and I suspect that they also let TRU's orders offset the costs for a one-off figure like that, which required new tooling never used again). Over the years, as they were dealing with different buyers, the relationship changed and they had to put in more recognizable characters into each set. But for as much as people hated on TRU around here, we got A LOT of figures that we would not have otherwise.

Yeah, that's basically what I mean; without TRU around there's not an outlet for those non-Marvel Minimates, because the brand isn't strong enough right now to get enough orders for seemingly anything. I doubt that we would have gotten figures for things like Beetlejuice and Pirates of the Caribbean if it wasn't for TRU, and no doubt we'd all be playing with our John Wicks right now if they hadn't gone under. You're absolutely right that the crossover of figures between the two markets eventually led to the death of Minimates at comics shops. I used to try to still wait and buy sets from my retailer, but sometimes the TRU wave would be out weeks before the specialty wave and I would crack. Also that they were several dollars cheaper didn't help. I think most comics shops weren't aware of the overlap; they just knew that this toy line suddenly wasn't selling anymore so they stopped ordering them, so even the waves that weren't shared wouldn't get ordered. Which led us to order more from Luke and other online retailers (but really, you should always use Luke!), which further diminished comic shop sales. And now that they need that market again it's dried up.

Let's be honest: Minimates essentially died with Toys R Us. There's not enough support for the brand through just specialty stores without a big retailer on board to order enough product to get the figures made. I am hoping that DST is just hibernating a bit while keeping the line alive with just the Marvel figures, but I'm not very optimistic.

For Mon-El, I used M.Bison as my base, with the chest, cape (trimming off the shoulder pads), and skirt all being pretty spot-on IMHO. Use Mar-Vel's legs for nice blue boots. For Brainy, there are several purple chestblocks with nice detail, mostly from the Green Goblin, that are pretty easy to match with arms and legs. And he needs his force field belt; I used one from an old C3 Batman, can't remember which, but there are a bunch that work well. I really like your Spider Girl by the way! I had not thought about making her with the Medusa hair, but it works perfectly. I'm gonna steal that!

Points for Blue Monday.

They will always get you eventually. The breadth of their character selection is astounding, so there's always going to be someone you can't resist.

I would prefer this too, but I remember a lot of kvetching when DST did that this summer for the Spider-Man movie. And I can't imagine that a wave or box set with the two Black Widows, Red Guardian, and Taskmaster would do all that well. You'd have to throw in Captain America and Daredevil to make it work, I think.