monkeycrumb

Gladiator

So, I found 2 different fresh cases at 2 different TRU's today. Both had: 1 Normal Face Tampo 7 of 9 1 Misaligned eyes & lips 7 of 9 I really hope Customer Sevice can address this issue, it's very noticable. And Gul Dukat is fan-freaking-tastic!!! The whole set is awesome, but, man that Cardassian is my favorite!

"Thief of Theives" Thieves. Sorry, Sir-never-makes-a-typo

Thanks Joe! I'd been trying to figure out how to part out a Thief of Theives set for customs, and hadn't thought of the robe for Invisible Man. I already considered the bullhorn for a SWAT-armored Governor for WD. And the guy with the star on his chest looks good for a possible coat for my COTEOF Captain Kirk combined with the SDCC Hershell shirt. So, yep, consider me sold on a set And those customs are just fantastic. I've seen your work in the customs section, but I don't think I've seen your Mummy. I think I like it better than the production one! I hope you consider making more customs.

In general. Nothing with IH that I know of. Although we are working on something for another company. But Aliens will be big for us, Battle Beasts is returning, and there are a couple of new licenses we'll be announcing at or around the show that have been taking up a lot of the designers' time. YES!!! I'm really excited that Aliens will be BIG! I'm down for multiple, multiple waves! I love what the designers are doing with so many of these new properties. The LiS Robot is a genius design. Thundercats have been an incredible 5-boxset run. I'm so incredibly excited to see what gets shown at SDCC! I'm not a huge Battle Beasts fan, but I have a full set of theTRU wave, so I'll look into wave 2. But man, I'm stoked to see more TV & Movie mates announced at SDCC Now, if we can just get the return of MAX, Calico Jack, and more vehicle releases!

You know, Kick Ass 2 is coming out, and would make a good temporary solution until Sin City 2 in 2014 Or, we could just forgo both and just make Hellboy movie & comic mates

AT LAST! Now we know the origin for this Sesame Street "outtake"

So, can we get a mass-released 2-pack with the names clearly visible: Boo Boo Kitty Fuck & Cock-knocker?

Awesome! Thanks! I was hoping one would have a more "creepy" facial expression. But yeah, like Zach said, the 3rd one is the best! I really, really hope we get the core cast in color! I'm kinda bummed this is in b&w, but I understand you can't make the robot a SDCC exclusive! Like MisterPL said, I don't think I've ordered enough sets! I'm not even an LiS fan, but I have a soft spot for all the older Sci-Fi & Horror stuff, I just love the designs and they translate so damn well into minimates! Now, if only we can get some Forbidden Planet minimates of Robbie the Robot and Leslie Nielsen!

Holy Crap! Three heads?!? Can we see a picture?? Pretty please?

Hot Sex! I hope the Robot's hands feature the new double-ring pegs to keep them from falling out! PLEASE tell me we'll get these in color too!

I went to Gwenneth Paltrow's Star Ceremony when she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (and again for Scarlett Johansson's about a year later). I was given a spot back and to the right of the rear of the podium to stand each time, and was forced to spend both their ceremonies staring at their backsides during their speeches. When my wife joined me for Scarlett's, I was wise enough to bring my sunglasses so she couldn't track where my eyes were

Still not found in CA! Doesn't DST realize Los Angeles has a huge population of both gangsters AND Hobos?

Marvel Zombies - highly hinted at View Askew line - the J&SB 2-pack is just the start Lost in Space - also just the beginning

Ouch! Had that happen to my SDCC WD Zombie from last year, which is now hard to find. I feel your pain.

I hated this movie. It was unbearable to watch since it was filmed with Shaky Cam the Entire. Damn. Film! I wanted to see Superman, not the Blair Witch Project! Otherwise, very, very predictable film. Could have been better, but if I hadn't paid by credit card, I'd have been up at the front demanding a refund. Even my wife hated the Shaky Cam. We both had headaches before Krypton even exploded. And this was in 2D, she said she would have literally thrown up if we'd seen it in 3d. I really wanted to enjoy this film. Zach Snyder is a hack and I'll never watch his stuff in the theater ever again after this BS. I've only ever wanted to walk out of four films in my life. Man of Steel is one of them.

Sorry Zach. I don't mean to show my lack of confidence, and I wish you the best with these. I'll likely get one for customs anyway. But even The Walking Dead don't get survivor 2-packs. They pair them up with zombies, so even if you don't know who the characters are, you get a toyetic design with it. And even then we had around 100 issues before we even got Minimates. I'll try to check out this book some time, but currently these characters have no resonance with me. We don't even get pure civilian versions of Steve Rogers, but these civilians are supposed to sell well I guess. This seems more like a vanity project to please Robert Kirkman more than anything. Please don't take this personally Zach, but if I were an investor, I'd be very nervous about this product. I'm not an Invincible fan, but at least those designs look like fun toys. And a wise DST rep pointed out in another thread that fans of a property aren't necessarily Minimate collectors. I'd just hate to see my LCS sit on these when the space could go to other sets that might have better sales. I do sincerely wish you the best with these sales.

I'm more concerned with everyone's recent use of the descriptive "hot sex" to show excitement over toys... Hot Sex is just what the groovy hip cats are saying this season, daddio! It's totally tubular, and awesome to the max! You dig?

It wasn't the non-uniformed Kirk & Spock's that led to the old line's failure. It was the constant repetition of Kirk & Spock, when we wanted more character variety, coupled with the uninteresting versions of non-uniformed K&S that we did get. Coming so soon after waves 1 & 2, collectors were not eager to get 7 new characters where 4 out of 7 were AGAIN Kirk & Spock! Couple that with one Kirk was in a boring grey outfit, and Spock was both packed with Sarek (most people didn't want 2 Sareks to get both Spocks!) AND was based on the most hated episode of TOS, "Spock's Brain". It was still a beautiful well made figure, but it already had too many strikes against it. Wave 4 was a brilliant step back in the right direction. But retailers still had tons of unsold wave 3 left over. Wave 5 was decent, but the STTMP pack did poorly as well, and wave 3 was still lingering. Plus, we went from a shotgun approach of completing the entire TOS bridge crew in 2 waves to the only 1 TNG pack in w4 and one DS9 pack in w5. So, back to wave 3. Grey shirt Kirk. The strength was he was packed with a Klingon. But what a boring toy that Kirk was! I'd really hate to think that DST thinks that wave 3 failed in part because he was unrecognizable as Kirk to the masses - no, it's because there were too many Kirk & Spocks in one wave and that was one boring ass version! Grey Kirk = Dullsville, baby! There was no "cool" factor to him, whereas even the half-blue, half-green outfit from "What Are Little Girls Made Of" would have been more visually interesting and would have "popped" off the shelf better, and even that version is at the low end of what would have been better than that grey shirt. The reason I advocate for Gangster Kirk & Spock is because together, they are very colorful, they are interesting designs, they are action-oriented with their Tommy guns, and their strength would be in being packaged together, which DST never did in the old line, K&S were always packaged seperately save the 5-pack Mirror Mirror set. But I absolutely agree with you Zach, a Gangster set should not be made right away, there are more important designs to come first. But as toys, this set does scream "fun" and "cool" to me. Hobo K&S aren't very visually interesting, and aren't very toyetic. Those versions can wait for wave 20 Sorry MisterPL, I want them too but those would be retail poison so early in the game. Even Edith Keeler is a boring toy design. As for the Thief of Thieves comparison, that's wholly unfair. AGT Picard is a boring design, but even he has more emotional resonance to more people than a brand new untried property like ToT. But I am thrilled to hear Zach talk about the future of Trek, compared to the "wait and see" after wave 1 we heard for so long. I'm more excited to see wave 2 shown at SDCC than any other property!

Blasphemy! That Strange Tales set was Hot Sex! I'm more bothered by Zachs statement about how there almost wasn't a set at all. As much as I appreciated the Alpha Flights and Stormbreaker sets, something is better than nothing! My only complaint is the pure repetition of characters this year. Wolvie, Iron Man and Deadpool. Oh, and a single Pepper Potts. My Marvel collection isn't growing by character depth this SDCC season. Personally I would have preferred to have some ranks fleshed out some more, like Marvel Now. I thought the Avengers vs X-Men sets were very well done and had hoped for something more like that. Should we be afraid for what the future holds for our Marvel Minimates?? If retailers were passing on a slam dunk like Hulk TTA, are box sets in trouble? I feel the waves are still safe (TRU & LCS), but are retailers shying away from the niche sets?

Well, fine, if we're demanding then: TNG & DS9 crews in full! as well as Locutus, Garak, Weyoun, Rom, Nog & The Grand Nagus! TNG Romulans, TOS Romulans, Q, Tholian Web Space Suit! TNG Klingons!

MiniJeff, Customer service was sending out replacement Lion-O belts with tampos that don't rub off if you requested them.

Zach, I'm still hoping to hear the story behind that Pike in the display case at C2E2! And I don't know about everyone else, but I'm not *demanding* a Gangster Kirk & Spock. I'd love to get them, obviously. If we get to wave 6 or up, I hope we see it by then But if we continue getting refreshes on Kirk & Spock, I just hope it's more visually interesting versions, instead of the "Bread & Circuses" dull grey outfit we got in the past. I think Kirk as a Romulan is more toyetic than Gangster Kirk, and I'd still love to one day get them all. Again, just wishlisting, not demanding As long as you guys keep making Star Trek minimates AND keep your foot in the door at TRU with them, I'll support whatever you guys need to do to keep the line going. Star Trek is going to be a very long itch to scratch, so every release is going to be pretty much golden to me. But in all seriousness, avoid STTMP! I like my Decker & Ilyia, but I don't think they helped the line and I'm in no hurry to complete that movie's lineup at all. Honestly, I'm just thrilled you guys came back to Trek minimates. I hope DST can keep it going for awhile long after the current movie is forgotten. Years ago I went through all the TOS episodes looking for designs I wanted to customize into Minimates. Outside of a few main crew variations and aliens, there's not a lot of really great stuff left untouched. So many guest stars had boring outfits, and not every crew variation is interesting. (Uhura wears a yellow uniform for one episode, but it's a boring variation!) The only things I truly want from TOS's rebirth is a TOS Romulan (I'll take every variation I can get!) and a Tholian Web space suit. Everything else will be delicious gravy! Otherwise, my main focus is TNG & DS9, but I'm still buying everything!

You're preaching to the choir here, MisterPL. Unfortunately, Zach does have a point. I really, really want 2 2-packs of Kirk & Spock based on City on the Edge of Forever and especially A Piece of the Action. What happens when you take just Kirk's head off any TOS minimate - without the uniform, he's not very recognizable as Kirk (if at all!). Without the nose, and at such a small scale, it's hard to get a good likeness. DST (understandably) wants the figures to pop out at customers browsing in the stores. We are the faithful, and we know what's upcoming and we're already sold on these before they even get released! They need the regular folks to buy in as well. And civilian clothing isn't going to accomplish that to the same level. Sadly, we are talking about 40+ year old single episodes. COTEOF civilian clothing isn't going to make the most visually compelling toys either. I still think APOTA Gangster suits 2-pack is a slam dunk because they are still action-oriented and visually interesting, but Zach disagrees with me (and I'm okay with that). I can still think of a ton of more interesting TOS designs that should come first. Having been to the Las Vegas Trek conventions in the past 2 years, they are abysmal in terms of their dealers room. Maybe a convention exclusive can do well, but who knows? SDCC would have been better, and that didn't happen this year. So yeah, I'd love to see convention exclusive packs, but it sounds like it's been an uphill battle just getting the iconic looks back into the market, so I can't fault DST for shooting down single episode based looks, especially civilian clothing. Unless a retailer comes to the table specifically looking for Trek exclusives, I think we're limited to just the LCS & TRU wave(s). Having TRU on board is a godsend for this line! All that said, I still plan to customize these looks for myself at some point. BUT I would love DST if whenever they do a Dr McCoy minimate, it has a reversible head with his crazed "bath salt face" look from COTEOF!

Well, if Spawn were owned by Kirkman, it'd be a sure bet. It seems these are being made because DST has a deal with Kirkman's Skybound studio. Yeah, I get that there's a TV series in the works based on these, but it's not even out yet, and even if they come out at the same time, there won't be a built-in fan base at the same time big enough to make this set fly off the shelves. I really wish they would take the time to grow the brand before merchandising it! And sorry, but I'll pass on any Spawn stuff. I still have a huge distaste from all things Spawn after how it was almost crammed down our throats back in the day! So much money wasted on such inferior products and poorly developed characters! I buy minimates for properties I'm not a fan of based on the strength of their designs (Thundercats!), but my dislike of Spawn is so strong, I would hate myself if I ever bought any Spawn merchandise! (Same for Youngblood!) If we really, really need to revisit the '90's, then gimme some Valiant instead