monkeycrumb

How can you pass on the man who played Death in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey? The head of Section 31? Or the guy who did time with Andy Dufresne?

Standard Ent? So, no Treebeard? Man, this ship keeps looking better & better! Now I too want to see a fleet of more ships like the 1701-D, Borg Cube, Kilngon and Romulan Bird of Prey, and always that awesome Shuttlecraft!

She'd look out-of-place without cleavage showing, based on those wiki pics.

Let's take a look! Nope, not seeing anything about Series 54. But feel free to read in whatever you like! How about telling us what your favorite corner of the Marvel Universe is!

Ouch! I hope we don't miss out on completing the Warriors Three! Only need one darn 2-pack to accomplish that! Plus I'd love to see Heimdall. I still want Frigga, but would sacrifice her if necessary and the new Selvig for Hogun & Fandral, plus Heimdall. As far as "whatever your favorite theme", I hope you're referring to comic versions!

Why 3 Maria Hills? I need one for Maria, and a second for Sharon Carter. Is there a 3rd prominent female Shield agent?

AIM & Hydra soldiers - because they're getting overrun by all the Shield releases recently, and not all of us army-built them at BHM quantities. I think Hydra Soldier can be upgraded for sure. I loved the AIM soldier, he's perfect as is, but whatever it takes to get more out there!

There's a distinct likelihood that if they come online it will be a fiasco . The latest IM3 'mates listings are just pathetic ....4 listings ,no descriptions,no pictures .....4 identical listings for 4 different items . if I weren't a generally rational person I'd actually believe that they do it on purpose . As I type I can now see that the Walking Dead 'mates are up on TRU.com .....no descriptions,no pictures F@%cking Hopeless .It almost feels like an underhanded trick to force people to buy all four to make sure that they get the exclusive sets or, and I feel dirty even thinking this, a way to cover all orders by substituting in non-exclusives to sell through. I can understand not having complete information for the sample case but it is just stupid and/or lazy not to at least have the correct tags by the time they have full stock on hand. TRU is incredibly shady, especially if you follow how they sell Lego. In fact, I heard mention that there's a lawsuit in CA over their deceptive practices of raising their already over-MSRP prices even further when they have a BOGO sale of any kind. Personally, I can't keep track of how many times they fail to change the shelf sticker and the item rigs up at a higher price at the register! Thank goodness their TRU-Exclusive Lego sets are also available at Lego.com or the Lego store (and always cheaper!) I ONLY buy Minimates at TRU. It's extremely rare for me to buy something else there, and that's only for clearance prices. They used to be more fair on their Reward points, but now it's like $5 for every $150 you spend, unless you use their credit card. I stopped using it for the longest time, but I do try to use it mainly so they see I'm buying minimates. But my main point is that TRU is intentionally underhanded on how they handle Lego sales, so it's hard to think their website minimate handling is anything less than intentional. They are a HUGE purchaser, and buy enough Lego that they can have their own exclusive sets, yet they have to gouge $20-$30 over MSRP on larger Lego sets? Seriously, if it weren't for TRU's support of Minimates, I'd want to see them go out of business.

So, now that we know what a lot of other companies are offering as SDCC exclusives this year, shouldn't we be hearing about the minimates exclusives any day now??

I was reffering to the cap/falcon widow/winter soldier strucker/army builder madame hydra/army builder line up. If it fetures black knight,the super adaptoid and other classic avengers in the tru wave then awesome! If the widow is the yelena version then eve more awesome! I'd like it if she came with those googles she wears in the new "secret avengers" series. Come to think of it with all the espionage figures that are rumoured i wouldn't rule out some of the NOW! Secret avengers characters. I bet a they could appear in the tru wave along with some classic avenges. True, having cap comic stuff compete with cap moie stuff is a pain so maybe that's why they moved the cap comic wave earlier. And if we get a comic thor wave then splendid! I didn't buy volstagg and f the release the rest of the warriors three i'll either have to hunt him down or wait for the comic versions to be (hopefully) announced. Better start hunting now, Kostis! Zach confirmed that the Thor 2 minimates would complete the movie-version Warriors Three.

I think she did wear a skirt. Excellent work, BTW!

Squirrel-Girl confirmed? So, has Zach every said what his favorite corner of the Marvel U is? Is it Captain America? It is definitely not whatever corner of the MU Squirrel Girl lives in. I have never even READ a Great Lakes Avengers story. I like comedy -- What The, Not Brand Ecch, anything involving Keith Giffen -- but she has never made it onto my radar. 'Twas a joke. Since you said "undeniable A-lister". HELL YEAH! I've been craving more Asgardians in minimate form!

Isn't that why they created the MattyCollector mascot? His face looks incredibly punchable. Sad about the 60's TV Batman minimates. I'm not planning on buying any merchandise from this line that isn't minimates, and I really don't need Mattel's 6" line.

Squirrel-Girl confirmed? So, has Zach every said what his favorite corner of the Marvel U is? Is it Captain America?

Anyone remember what a joyous day it was when we finally got a Thor in wave 16? Yup. The list has changed due to the movies. Thor is now top 10, as is Cap. And Iron Man, if not really, realy close to #1, is at least # 2 to SpiderMan.

I agree, but I'm waiting to have my loot shipped from BBTS. And I've waited too long so far for what's sitting at BBTS for me right now

So, looks like the LCS wave got bumped again to 6/26

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a Hamburger today!

The only paint rub off I have had was Lion-O. The paint has chipped off rather than ribbed off. I used a poor choice of words,sorry. It doesn't happen to all of the minimates parts, only at the elbow joint. And most of my minimates come from Luke so they aren't knockoffs. The things i bought from ebay come from the menagerie and the few i've bought from other ebay sellers came in sealed packages. It makes me wonder if he's being sold cheap knock-offs. What you're sayin about obscure characters is true. I'm not talking about putting rereleases in every pack, that'd be a wasted slot. But every ten waves or so i'd like to see an updated look for a character that got released one time only. Moon knight could benefit from an update and is vissually interesting so he could sell some packs. Sure,there are more high profile characters that need an update or characters who never got a minimate but some certain re-releases are needed to keep the line friendly to new collectors. They have kinda been doing that, and I imagine it'll continue. There was a mention of a list, years ago during my Toy Biz collecting days, that mentioned an internal listing of the Top Ten Marvel characters for merchandise sales. I don't remember it in total, and this was before the movies so not sure if Cap or Thor were even on the list, but I do remember The Thing was on that list, as well as the usual suspects Spidey, Wolverine, etc. I imagine it might have changed a bit, but I'm sure there's a form of Top Ten that someone pops up from in every wave.

The 24 series mates mixed with BSG and extra parts here & there help fill that out nicely. And my favorite recent QC is the LCS Daredevil with Matt Murdock head & glasses on the green suit body that came with Puppet Master for an accurate Frank Miller version of Matt Murdock.

Kostis, we do get refreshes, it just takes time. We just got a refresh on Dr Strange, and people have been asking for that for awhile now. If it's a strongly demanded, *strong-selling* character, then it happens, like Deadpool. Moon Knight isn't very demanded right now, and honestly I'd rather see Deathlok who hasn't been done yet before a refresh of an older character like Moon Knight. When it comes to niche characters, then DST is potentially competing with itself when older versions are plentiful on ebay. Only so many people are willing to buy certain characters, but the core ones always sell. That's why characters like Moon Knight won't be showing up in "best of" series. I get what you're saying about rereleases not doing any harm. But that's the wrong question - the question is will rereleases do any good? When the answer is yes, they find their way into release, like the recent Dr Strange. They don't necessarily do harm, but they do take up a slot and they need to sell. Is the demand currently strong enough that it's worth bumping another character or new look to get an updated version back on shelves, and which decision will lead to stronger sales? A majority of us would buy a new Deathlok before a refresh of Moon Knight we might likely have sitting on our shelves already. It sucks to pay markup prices off ebay for older stuff, but at least it exists. So profitably speaking, it makes more sense to go with the new for DST. I feel for you, and I wish we could all have access to everything that gets released at reasonable prices. I'd love to pick up extras for customs from plenty of older releases. But we're in the minority. As a collector that's been there from the beginning, I painfully remember the times of being on edge wondering if the line was being cancelled. If we ever lose TRU, I'll be concerned again. And I am still missing some things, but they are still out there and available. I'd hate to see DST go the way of Hasbro's Star Wars where almost everything was a refresh and you got that wishlist figure maybe once or twice a year. I don't need another SpiderMan variant, but they are good for the line so I am okay with them. I'd prefer another character in his place, but if he sells well enough to get me Songbird, etc, then I deal. But it would be retail suicide to remake every character done so far for the new collectors that missed out. It will only happen where it makes sense. It makes me wonder if he's being sold cheap knock-offs.

I recall the Toy Biz line enjoying a pretty successful run since before the first film's release. AA and Play Along came late to the game. I don't think they started offering product until the second or third film hit. And Play Along (now The Bridge Direct) ended up cannibalizing Minimates retailer sales by offering small scale figures in their "Armies of Middle Earth" line. This time around there's a lot less competition. The Bridge is only offering 4" and 6" figures but not nearly in the quantities that Toy Biz did. I think there's room in the market for Middle Earth Minimates but DST should strike while the iron's still hot. I read that as "We'll jump at the chance but right now it's not part of the contract." Wait, so you're saying Play Along *became* The Bridge Direct? I wasn't aware they were practically the same company. (as in same people I assume?). Cool if that's the case. I liked Play Along's Armies of Middle Earth stuff for the most part - not the best marketed, lots of pegwarmers, but they made a few cool playsets. Hard to think they killed the Minimates. I loved the ToyBiz 6" line and still have almost everything they put out, even the Balrog (or was that Balrog NECA?). I wholeheartedly agree about Hobbit minimates NOW while the iron is still hot, along with LOTR. But I got the feeling the first Hobbit didn't exactly set the merchandising world on fire. Granted, I didn't like the figures, but I bought the heck out of the Lego sets! (seriously anyone even remotely interested needs to pick up the Hobbit home set! Great set and one that will skyrocket in price once it's retired). Any case of not putting out designs due to movie spoilers can be easily supplemented by a LOTR wave. As for 60's TV Batman, isn't the 2" market covered by Mezco? I'm skipping most of the stuff everyone will be putting out, but Minimates I'd have been all over because they wouldn't have the problems people like Mattel are having with likeness rights. And as for Banshee and Sunfire - I want to call them a 100% given at this point. Chuck's answer pretty much echoes his previous answers right before we got other major fan-requested characters, plus Zach stated that between 3 waves (54, TRU 17 & 18) that a lot of wishlisters were going to be very happy. The top of most wishlists have Banshee/Sunfire & Falcon/Winter Soldier at the top, edging out most other requests like Wrecking Crew & Brotherhood (even though those are very high up themselves, I think the first 2 sets edge them out by at least 1% more requests) ALSO notice that Chuck shoots down Wrecking Crew & Brotherhood SETS, but not the characters themselves!

I don't know about that, but NECA is doing action figures. Now, if only we could get some of NECA's other stuff as minimates (*coughArmyofDarkness*cough)

Regarding the LOTR wave 3 mates cancellation: DST Chuck: That was before we acquired the Minimate assets from Art Asylum and they did that line on their own. I have some idea but it’s not for me to say. I really would love to hear more about this. Assuming there's more to it than just not enough sales.

Nope. He specifically stated we're going to cross off a bunch of wishlist wants between wave 54 & TRU wave 17 & 18. I have such a long wishlist, I'm happy with everything checked off of it. Actually, I can't think of any recent waves where I didn't love something in it.