Shanester

I love that Lone Ranger. He really needs that red kerchief. 😉

Very cool!

I am very glad to know you are doing well Zach. You are a good guy and you deserve it. I will get my copy and maybe have you sign it some day.

I may actually have one printed up. I always liked it for its history.

Very cool. I always thought it was a poster and I even asked some Art Asylum guys about it and no one seemed to recall. I was gifted some booth display materials a few times and agree with your assessment. When I saw the poster online, I saved a copy of the image in 2007 but I bet its from even earlier. I typically scooped up anything I could get my hands on.

This poster? I assume it was a one-off because I hunted for it for years.

I really wanted that Werewolf Captain America...

Years of digging them up and the occasional Ebay auction. I have met some sellers in China that let me know when they uncover anything Minimates. I have been doing this for many years and my best sources are just a few people I know or have known.

This is going to cost me... I specifically collect pre-production Minimate stuff.

I would buy Asterix Minimates! So, like BHM and many others, I have been after Minimates since the beginning and I have been most fortunate to have had discussions with many of the "movers and shakers" at DST and Art Asylum before that. I have always felt that Minimates were something DST was behind promotion wise, but once you have a good talk with the folks who produce a toy like Minimates, you learn a lot about business decisions that over power the collector instincts. We all know shelf space is at a premium and stores want not only what will sell, but will make them money. I was often told that the profit margin on Minimates was small. As collectors, we have high hopes and dreams of licenses and lines that would be amazing, but then Mr. Business would come in and dash our hopes. License holders couldn't justify the margin, stores couldn't justify the margin. Then, lines would not sell through well and get discounted and move to clearance. I really thought box sets would move the line to a better position but then folks scoffed at $30 and $40 price points. I sure did. I have always felt that Minimates were born for Comics Shops and Specialty Markets. This is part of the reason distribution was often dismal. Promotional Minimates were hard to find beyond the secondary market. Access via a shop like Luke's really helped with acquisition but I guess the ship was already sinking at that point and I don't think it was because of Minimates. Minimates just went down with the ship.

I used some rubbing alcohol on my "sticky mates" and it worked well.

I think the color on Best of Hulk is a bit odd, but there is some comic accuracy there.

Yep, Wave 1 Hulk got me started on this crazy ride. He is kinda comical when you see the beauties like Wave 41 Hulk, Wave 45 Hulk, or even the Best of Wave 2 Hulk. I have them all...

I have a lot of test shots/protos, paint tests, resin parts/accessories, unreleased. Probably about 20% of those came off Ebay. The rest are pick ups along the way. I started collecting Minimates at the beginning, so I have been grinding the whole time.

A big reason I never got serious about Kubricks is because of their secondary market. It is bizarre and I just never got past that. I love the Star Wars line and have many of those. I have the Ultraman line and a few of the Disney figures and Universal Monsters figures. I just get what I like.