monkeycrumb

How many waves did we have to wait to even get our first Thor? Like 16 right?

Right on the money, YB. Thor! Followed closely by Hulk. Maybe 3rd place is Daredevil? Hard to say since so much of his supporting cast overlaps with SpiderMan.

Ghost Rider has been very neglected in terms of his supporting cast. But, I really can't fault them there, there's not much I'd care to have from his supporting cast. And I'd call him B-List anyway, GR's not a "tent-pole" character.

I didn't know that TRU passed on Thor 2 wave. Does anyone know why?

Because TRU hates money. And it's corporate purchasers are not the wisest of beings.

Can anyone explain this game to me in terms of if it's fun or tedious?

Every review I've come across reads like a paid promotion piece.

Is this game actually fun to play for adults? My wife loves Disney, but this game sounds very kid-oriented. And no, she won't care much for the Toy Box Mode from what I've read. What's the point of discs that give you +10% health if dying in the game has no consequences? And are the future expansion figures supposed to unlock different worlds? Or will that require another game purchase?

These seem too expensive to chase after just as figurines, so is the gameplay fun, and non-repetitive? We won't be playing online most likely, and my wife doesn't care for level building like Little Big Planet.

Bottom line, to me every video I've seen looks rather tedious and dull. Is this really worth getting into?

We're making a Malekith!

Sorry, I didn't look back far enough, I though he was part of the lost TRU wave. My mistake. Thanks Zach.

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=38536

Judging by the pics so far, it might not be too dificult to customize a Malekith from a Dark Elf army builder.

I just want dc minimates back.

I've been with you on that for awhile, but if it's Nu52, forget it!

Now that the 60's Adam West Batman is back on the table, I'm really bummed we're not getting these as minimates. The Mattel stuff leaves me cold (haven't seen the 6-in scale Batmobile in person yet). But WHO can do Batgirl figures with Yvonne Craig refusing to license out her likeness? Minimates, that's who!!

I gave up on Mattel a long time ago. I hated their business practices, I hate their SDCC exclusive nonsense, and I hated their rip-off mailing system for the Club and online purchasing. Everyone wanted a larger scale Doomsday, and they held off forever just to use him to anchor a wave that didn't come through, and kept giving us crap like that terrible non-classic Poison Ivy design and Uncle Sam. They milked it and put out a few good figures here and there.

Now, with my DC-fatigue, and my personal dislike of Nu52, I'm just not chomping at the bit for DC minimates like I used to be. Granted, knowing DST, they'd knock it out of the park and have me craving them with the first few pics. But without that, to paraphrase MisterPL, I just don't have that tingling in my nuts for DC right now. But when DST finally makes DC mates again, I hope they can still do the Adam West Batman series. With all the vehicles!

Loving these minimates.

How about an army builder pack?

Reptilian warrior, tuska warrior, thunderian royal guard and captain shiner... With extra armor pieces and weapons (and a generic soldier head for shiner) to create different looks for the army. Throw in a generic berbil and you've got a winner. I'd buy at least 4 packs. A pack like that could make for a pretty impressive minmate third earth.

I would also really like to see Jaguara and Claudus. Lunataks would be welcome too.

I'd be down for a few of these!

Not doing a blanket license, that I know of. Just the Kevin Smith library, Pulp Fiction and Sin City for now.

What, no Blanket? Who's my Michael Jackson custom going to dangle off the balcony now?

I, for one, am ecstatic that the Walking Dead Minimates are in full color.

Amen! B&W mates are so dull.

Nono, I totally WANT them! I just have no income and ebay locked down my account.

None of my business, but why would ebay lock down your account?

Wow. Especially when seeing the old 2007 Pike next to this new one, holy crap what an improvement! I really love that new collar piece (that debuted with TWOK Kirk). I also want to see the Away Team jacket, but not at $30 each. Man, I really hope this line continues!

So what other products are we going to see based on a pilot about a 88 year old Alheimers lady?

I knew but I've forgotten.

Don't they have Depends undergarments on your side of the pond?

An Agent88 line of incontinent wear for the active Ninja on the go.

So what other products are we going to see based on a pilot about a 88 year old Alheimers lady?

Depends...

Lego seems to be walking away from Monster Hunters, as well.

Just my thoughts.

EDIT: DST is not perfect, I don't think we ever claimed to be. I was just surprised to see the product flaw that got singled out was "loose feet". And the Spidey Friends and Foes drum is an old one.

...Monkeycrumb, why is your icon a Squinky? I'm sure it has no relevance here, I'm just wondering.

Lego is renowned for doing one wave and done of their themes. They were incredibly successful with their Monster Fighters line, including at $179.99 Haunted Mansion set which is really sweet. But their one-and-done wave approach is just how they do business, and never really indicative of the market itself. (sure there are exceptions, but overall)

I really don't want to get too far off topic again with UM, but my feeling was that the market was a bit oversaturated between TRU & LCS. The TRU exclusives sold out, including the Mummy wave that wound up unintentionally exclusive. But the trope of it being due to the license has been brought out many times. I really liked them, the minimates actually made me into a UM fan. But the mainstream reviews weren't glowing. I was buying them in droves, but they are not the same quality compared to other minimates, and I always thought it was due to the molds nearing their end of life for the main body parts. I don't want to call them bad, but you asked for an example, I gave you a few, including Halo. And the Spidey Friends and Foes comment wasn't directed at you. Interesting that you don't think online reviews count for much regarding those TRU reviews. I'm very happy to hear what the moms are telling you about their kids loving minimates.

And my icon is a squinkie since just before the Kang minimate was officially announced and right after Chuck hinted heavily at it coming. I just haven't bothered to change it yet. It's due to the character, not the brand of toys

No need to get excited. Things are getting unnecessarily heated in this thread.

But for a discussion board, I get the impression that some topics just aren't up for discussion around here.

No politics, no religion. Anything else is up for discussion within reason.

I was referring to the unwillingness to fault DST for anything however trivial. Unless faith in DST is a religion Then, Lord knows I do frequently sing their praises. I just hate the whole "throw the baby out with the bathwater" mentality, wherever it comes from.

I'll go and say 9 Hail DST's now.

What I realize is that those people were likely a lost cause since they had different expectations than any minimate, perfect quality or not, was going to deliver. That's probably why no one has marked the reviews as helpful. I can't imagine they had a noticeable impact on sales, but then I think quality was a much smaller issue than the overall popularity of Universal Monsters, so obviously we disagree.

You're hypothesizing here. And if you want to argue over the popularity of UM, then why is DST continuing with UM product? Banks, figures, Mego-style figures, etc. And Mezco, and other companies as well. Yep, not popular, huh? Again, attack the license and ignore that it still sells in other formats. I know you want to argue down every example I give you regardless of reality. So why don't you go ask people how happy they are with that Spiderman Friends & Foes set? And did you not read that the reviews I posted also included Halo? No, you just ignore everything else and hone in on UM. Halo also suffered bad engineering and fell apart quite easily.

What really pisses me off is that no one is willing to consider that maybe it's the product in some cases, not the license that caused sales not to live up to expectations, whether it's the case ratios, engineering, character choices, deco, whatever. I'm not saying this is the case every time. But we're a discussion board, and yet no one is willing to discuss this possibility. And people are quick to point their finger in any direction BUT DST's. Last I checked (granted I didn't do a full physical exam), DST is run by people. People aren't perfect. People can make mistakes. It's when they stick their heads in the sand and refuse to even entertain the notion that maybe someone somewhere made a mistake that prevents anyone from learning. I don't expect the company reps to come right out and admit fault, but the apologists here are practically falling over themselves to clear DST of any fault whatsoever.

That is what I'm saying. That is what I've been saying.

But for a discussion board, I get the impression that some topics just aren't up for discussion around here.

I'm still ambivalent towards this sequel. I really liked the first one. I really hope this one is good. But with the loss of director Brannagh from this film, I really hope the new director can do an effective job. I felt the first film owed a lot to him, and between Brannagh and Hemsworth, the first film would have likely failed without either of them.

Trailers can be so misleading. It looks good. And more Loki is always welcome.

totally buying a second Scarlett Witch set to make x3 Jean Grey.

I don't know when it was actually published, but around six years ago he did something for Marvel.

What. The hell. Was that?

I freakin loved it sure, but what the hell WAS that?

It was a Marvel-inspired take on Evan Dorkin's own Milk & Cheese comic, which itself was pretty cool. Actually, pretty much everything Evan Dorkin writes is pretty cool.

No-one jinx it, we've not had 2 waves of marvel released in the same week since the old days....

With Series 52 scheduled to ship the following week, this could be a tsunami of Marvel Minimates.

A Marvelanche™! (Next on SyFy.)

Everything got delayed because they were busy making Agent 88 minimates. I think they are currently being stored with those excess 1980's E.T. Atari cartridges.

Now I really want these, since Bruce Willis is OUT, and Harrison Ford is IN! Yeah!

You're citing reviews from people that obviously don't realize what minimates are as proof of bad product hurting sales?

When the person says the parts won't stay on, that's a problem. I've had many like that myself.

The UM line largely struck me as being made when the main tooling was in need of replacement (as they do every few years since molds wear out), and the feet and hands were notorious for falling out constantly. They are not as tightly held together as other minimates. I have thousands of minimates and I can easily tell the difference between the quality and non-quality ones.

And you do realize DST needs to sell to more than just the board members here, right? Just because they are meant to be taken apart isn't the same as constantly falling apart.

Toys R Us' website in itself is detrimental to Minimates sales.

Agreed. But Zach asked to be "educated".

Just a heads up, I've added a load of Trek uniforms over in the decal thread which you can find here > Wonderful Trekkie goodness

Very nicely done! Great work Liney!

A full assortment was never in the cards, even before SDCC. That said, if the set had performed better, maybe we would have reconsidered. Chuck has stated that the license was primarily acquired to make robot stuff.

This post was what I was referring to, Zach.

And if you really want to know about bad product hurting sales, how about some of the 1-star ratings from ToysRUs.com citing pieces that constantly fall off?

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11873303&prodFindSrc=rv#showReviews

"Comments about Halo

Reach Minimates Action Figures - LAAG:

Arms and legs come off"

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11318764&prodFindSrc=rv#showReviewshttp://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11318764&prodFindSrc=rv#showReviews

Comments

about Diamond 1001810 Universal Monsters Minimates Wave 2 Action Figures -

Franken and Henry:

They

are very tiny (1 1/2 inches long). They are made up of segmented pieces. When I

opened up the packages 2 of the 6 mini mates had pieces that had already fallen

off in the package. I had to glue them because their feet wouldn't stay on. My

son loves all of the Universal Monsters and loves action figures. He was

happy... I was not. They were on clearance when I bought them and I still don't

think they were worth that price.

Plus I recall another review for the Dracula 2-pack that has similar reviews. And the Creature had it even worse with parts that wouldn't stay on.

And yet DST has made claims about poor-selling UM product, when other companies continue to put out UM product, including DST still.

And fine, B&W are the nichest of the niche of our niche little corner.

Why did the Clerks set sell out again??? You need to move on, your rambling isn't doing anything positive. Ask DST, that may actually help you. Like Chuck doesn't know how to do his job? He, at least in my opinion, is churning out Marvel, TWD is doing well, ST looks great, oh yeah then there is TR, and Aliens, but your complaining about LiS. Not everyone can be pleased, but not everyone always complains. Just think is this post really necessary.

Wow. Rude much? Is your post really necessary? Since, you're the authority on it and all. Then you went on to say " I personally don't own any B&W and probably won't, just my preference.", so thanks for proving my point. As for Clerks selling out, between what MisterPL said AND having a Facebook photo of Jason Mewes showcasing the product, that tends to help too.

My point, and what I've been saying all along, is that when people are talking about any license not selling well, I'm saying maybe someone should look at the product because sometimes there's blame with the end product as well, and it's not always the license. But hey, I guess I need to ramble the point because I don't see anyone else here making it. I guess there's no point in having a discussion board since what we're expected to do is just sing DST's praises, since Zak Katz doesn't like negativity.

Dear Monkeycrumb: Minimates are niche. Lost in Space is niche. Collectible toys are niche!

We know that a B&W set is not a color set. We also know that not all fans want a B&W set. We know that a color set would very likely sell more. But we can still look at how well a con-exclusive, limited, B&W set sells, and translate those numbers -- not directly, but we can certainly get a sense through some simple math. Chuck has formulas in his head for pretty much any product scenario that you can think of. He kinda does this for a living.

Nobody is blaming LiS for being black-and-white. We're just not planning on doing more than we've said we would do (at the moment) because we have concerns about sell-through. There was never a four-pack that got shelved because of this. There will, however, be another two-pack.

Zach, that's the firmest confirmation we've heard about a 2nd 2-pack. Every statement up until now has been "if"'s and "maybe"'s. And I never said anything about a cancelled 4-pack. It sounded like every statement up until just now sounded like you guys were likely giving up after the SDCC pack.

This Kickstarter was never about making Minimates. Minimates were one of many incentives offered – and I think they simply overpromised on them. I'm sure there was no ill will or intent to scam anyone – based on the objectives clearly stated in the Kickstarter, their number one priority was to make this pilot. Making sure the Minimates got made and into the hands of a very small, but very vocal group of Minimates fans who frankly don't give two craps about their TV show was, I imagine, not even in the list of their top ten priorities.

Bingo!

Minimate fans were just a means to an end of getting Digger's project made. Digger used his connections to make an incentive for his main goal, and minimates were never the priority. It is a bit concerning that DST hasn't weighed in at all on their update since they are manufacturing them. But as much as I want to see you guys get what you paid for, I'd hate to see any regular minimates delayed due to Agent 88 tieing up the manufacturing plant.