Lobsterman

To be fair, the figure does what the picture says. I thought the same thing as you when I got the figure, so I tried posing the faceplate as shown in the photos. While the little pegs don't fit into the holes in this configuration, they do hold the mask in place on top of his head decently well. To be honest, I was more disappointed that he didn't have a removable full helmet, as is the tradition with Iron Man mates. But, to achieve the up-and-down faceplate effect used so much in the source material, this was an okay compromise.

Well, then, this thread is officially useless without pics.

Sweet! So if they're in the Philippines now, where would that put the ETA for us stateside? Couple weeks? I can't tell from the pic; did they end up giving Doc a sculpted head like last time, or a separate hairpiece? Thanks for the pics!

Don't think I haven't seriously wondered that myself...

Hopefully DC can be the anchor. Minimates have always sold through well in the specialty market. "Come for Batman, stay for Hannibal Lechter!"

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to add fuel to their fire, and I definitely don't want to see the end of Marvel mates. I just think if there's a freight train coming at you, it's better to step off the tracks than to start a campaign about how much you hate freight trains. This seems like the kind of decision that would have been made a long time ago, not one they're just now floating around to see how well it polls.

You know, I hate to be a doomsayer, but I wonder if the whole protest/petition/save-the-whatever movement actually makes a lick of difference to big companies like Marvel. I've been on the losing end of more than a few fan support campaigns to save toylines (MOTU, Xevoz, Invader Zim, pretty much everything Palisades did...) and it just seems like toy companies aren't that interested in making the "hardcore fans" happy. From a retail standpoint, Marvel mates have been on a long, bloody, painful downhill slide, and Marvel might just be thinking, "it's not worth spending our brand equity." Marvel minimates have been given chance after chance at major retailers, and are apparently not able to make the kind of showing they need to. Sure, there are a few hundred people out there who love minimates to death, but the line's just not driving up the dumptrucks full of money they're looking for. I think DC is a different story. DC Direct's business model, god bless them, has always been to cater to fans through small, highly-targeted outlets – comic book stores and online. They make it profitable (one supposes) by charging several dollars more on average for a product than Hasbro and Mattel do. Minimates are a natural fit for that model. Marvel's model, on the other hand, seems to be exclusively focused on moving lots and lots of low(er)-priced product through big box stores. They could keep doing the onesey-twosey thing in comic shops with specialty items like resin and minimates, but why bother? Hasbro's product is plowing in the cash at TRU, Walmart and Target. On top of that, I could see Hasbro reasonably making the argument that minimates "compete" for sales with superhero squad. If the decision to kill Marvel mates has been made, I'm not sure if anything we say to Marvel can change it. On the bright side, I guess we don't have to worry about any more custom projects being made obsolete.

I saw a case worth of these at Suncoast today. Incedentally, this was the same Suncoast that had a couple dozen SS/Hobby two packs not a week ago, and are now sold out of them. Hopefully a good sign for Marvel mate sales!

Any word that Stuckakid has them yet?

I'm just here for the pictures of dead horses. You do make a good point about the McFly 2-pack, though. Paging streetfightermaniacs.com, we have a proposition for you...

But I just bought a 24-pack of pitchforks at Costco! What am I supposed to do now?!? But seriously, sounds like good news, or at least no specifically bad news.

Ugh... after what they did to Marvel Legends, I'd almost want to see Marvel mates die instead. Hasbro taking them over would almost guarantee $10 two-packs, sculpted heads, no masks, minimal tampos and maybe one accessory each. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if they cut out the waist joint and made the entire torso one piece. It would be like fraking Pet Sematary for minimates. Besides, I don't think Hasbro would bother with it. They already have a 2" line that is much more profitable and easy to produce -- Super Hero Squad.

Dang, we went a whole thirteen days without someone mentioning Street Fighter. Is that a new record?

Hear, hear! Thanks, Reideen, for organizing. Any chance you can publish a list of the Santas? I still don't know who did mine!

It really would be sad. On one hand, they're delivering a lot of the fan-favorites we've been asking for in waves 19 and 20. On the other hand, crap! You guys can't kill Marvel mates! I guess all good things come to an end. Hopefully, though, this is all idle speculation.

I really, really, really hope this guy has no idea what he's talking about. http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseact...CAAF58F69641605 Am I late to the party? Did this already get debunked?

Got mine, too. Nice little set to finish the year. Thanks for "sponsoring" this set, BTTF.

Dang, I'm sorry to hear that. I am (and I'm sure most of us stateside are) ready to help any way we can. Should we set up some kind of minimate "adopt a Briton" program?

It wasn't a specific Minimates hint, although, when taken with the previous "boxed elements" hint, it does make a person wonder... Seven heads and fourteen legs could imply a standard six-figure + chase wave, or a seven-figure box set (I think that TRU Marvel set was the only box set with more than five mates). But only ten mechanical arms is throwing me. That's five figures. Unless it's five cylons and two humans. Or a couple cylons with their arms ripped off.

Oh, yes, I tried to pack in a few extra surprises... I'm glad you like him. This was a really fun project to work on. And, as always, I got overly ambitious with it. My wife will attest to the fact that I was totally freaking out last week trying to get it finished. I'd appreciate any pictures you take; my camera wasn't working the day I sent him off, so I kept having nightmares he'd be destroyed by the post office and I'd have no photographic evidence... I tried to pack him as carefully as possible, but I see he didn't escape the journey unscathed. Is the missing piece of his helmet chevron still in the box somewhere?

found 'em. I grabbed three extra SS/Hobby packs and one extra Jack/Nina pack. PM me if you still need them. -- Just spotted about 25 more at a Suncoast in the same mall. I'm guessing there will be no trouble finding these in a week or two...

You, sir, rock. Thanks.

Not sure which number is what, so here's the whole tag: Very handy. Any chance you have the tag for the 24 2-pack as well?

Ripping scabs off is fun! I hope it leaves a scar!

No luck at my FYE today, on this or the 24 day two set. Out of curiosity, does anyone know how these things are distributed to FYE stores? Are they sent to all the stores by corporate, or is it manager's discretion on whether to order them? Or, asked another way, if the manager gave me a blank stare when I said "Minimates," is there any chance in hell I'll see these locally?...