Lobsterman

To be fair, I can't think of an "exclusive" set that hasn't ended up being fairly easy to get within a few months of its release. From Magneto and Prof X. up through the Defenders, each "exclusive" ended up in the stock of nearly every online retailer out there. Granted, it's unfortunate you can't run down and get Minimates at your local corner store, but it's been proven time and again that these are a specialty item that just don't seem to work at mass retailers. I'm frankly surprised FYE is taking a swing at them. Ironically, the "widely-distributed" Target X-men packs are some of the most sought-after and hardest to find mates out there...

Hmm... interesting answer to the Havoc and Hawkeye hairpiece question. The asker phrased it assuming they would have removable masks instead of sculpted heads, and Chuck didn't outright deny that assertion. But, he didn't confirm it, either. Just kind of a "we'll see" answer... The tools must already be done, and the figures in production at this point. Just telling us, "yeah, they all have sculpted heads, sorry" probably wouldn't prevent anyone from buying them. It would just be nice to know...

Read carefully -- they said "boxed element," not "boxset." Maybe it's a humanoid cylon set. I could do with a Cavil mate.

Both sets have been spoken for.

Death's Head was a wacky intergalactic robot bounty hunter from the future. I think my secret santa did a nice job capturing the off-kilter humor of the book. First, the repurposed X-men box. I seriously cracked up when I saw this. Death's Head pwns you, mutants! I would be afraid if I were the X-men... Yep, just the one. Death's Head, in all his glory. "I said just one, yes?!?" Thanks again to my secret santa!

I just wanted to give Stuckakid some public kudos for a really cool thing they did. A couple months ago, I preordered DC wave 6 and Rocky wave 2 from Stuckakid as one order – at the time, they were forecast to come out at the same time. Since DC 6 ended up coming in ahead of schedule (back at the end of October), I had them ship it to me before Rocky 2 came in. Fast forward to last week, and Rocky 2 is ready to ship. I got the package today, and to my surprise, there was another set of DC 6 in the box. Here's the cool part: I emailed Stuckakid about it, and they said it was their mistake, and to keep the second set! So, in the spirit of unexpected holiday gifts, I want to pass these along to someone who needs them. I have plans for the Supergirl and Wonder Woman sets, but if you're looking for the Stargirl or Blackhawk set, shoot me a PM. First come, first served. Happy holidays – and go shop at Stuckakid!

Got home from a weekend trip last evening, and my secret santa gift was waiting. It is a fun little custom of the original Death's Head. I'll post pictures of it tonight. I haven't got a clue who my person is. He/she is in Texas, that's all I know. So, thanks, secret santa! Will the gift-givers be revealed at some point so we can thank them properly?

That is the double-breasted coat I've been waiting for my entire life. Hel-lo Greet Hornet custom...

Like I've said before, maybe if we piss and moan enough, we can get every independent retailer to stop making exclusives. That will certainly show them. I am fanboy, hear me roar!

Did these come in today? Anyone get them? Pics?

I kind of agree with Captain. I'd like to see some different characters, especially if we're getting more TOS (costumes, anyway) with a potential "Trials and Tribblations" wave.. Bring on TNG!

Did anyone else get a variant Chekov/ Sulu pack in which Chekov's insignia is misprinted? The gold fill on mine ended up about 2 mm too high, so it kind of wraps around the top corner of his torso. I didn't think tampos could do that... :/

DST site says 12/12.

...aaand they're moved back again, to 12/19. Why can't I have a minimate fedora? Why?!? Is there some kind of weird curse on sets with fedoras?

Well, mine were on the porch when I got home, no tracking number necessary, apparently. If there aren't pics and a review tomorrow, I'll post some.

Grr... still no shipping notice...

I'd like to see a classic NES set with Mario, Link, Simon Belmont, Megaman and Samus Aran. Licensing could be... problematic...

What would make the SF MMs awesome is if they actually made them. ^_^

Out of curiousity, did anyone who hasn't yet received the shipping notice order anything besides the Defenders set? I ganged mine with some Holiday Shop stuff, so I'm wondering if that added extra processing/packing time.

Nope, I haven't gotten one, either.

Here's a conversation I bet never happened: "Hey Pat over at AFX, Chuck from DST here. I've been thinking – we should really give something back to the 300 die-hard minimates fans that are entirely responsible for our financial solvency." "I'm listening." "What if we did a special minimate of an obscure costume variant nobody under the age of 25 has ever even seen, and then just give it to people, for free. I realize we probably won't make any money on it, so we're all willing to forgo our paychecks this month if you guys will kick in the other half." "No problem, Chuck. I feel it's my calling not to run a profitable business, but to make the fans happy, at any cost." Contrary to popular belief, neither AFX nor DST are in the business of doing each of us personal favors. They are in the business of manufacturing and distributing toys, and trying to make a living from it. If our personal fancies happen to intersect with that business model, happy day. If not, it's ridiculous and unfair to imply they're not doing their jobs by failing to jump to sooth every one of our scraped knees. Miraculously, though, they do manage to squeeze out characters like Web Armor and Scarlet Spidey, minimates nobody but the biggest fanboys will care about, because, yes, they do want to make us happy. They could be doing much, much worse as far as fan service goes (Mattel's infinite florescent Batman repaints, anyone?) Part of the benefit to AFX here isn't trying to scam some shipping money from you, it's to clear inventory out of their warehouse. They pay for the space every stocked item occupies. Not to mention, getting paid for an item and not shipping it means accounting for the inventory overage in their books. And breaking their normal shipping and handling chain to find a little envelope to ship out your Spidey by itself. And generally slogging through a pain-in-the-butt disruption of their normal operating procedure to do you a personal favor. So, seriously, nut up. If you just can't stomach that extra few dollars in shipping, wait for Spidey to show up on ebay, or one of the many inevitable promotions AFX will attach him to next year. But don't skewer AFX and DST for trying to make a profit (or break even) on doing something nice for us collectors.

AFX homepage says the Defenders are in stock!

Yeah, sorry, I snapped. Take me back, baby, it won't happen again.

I just watched "Downloaded" (the episode in which Caprica Six and Sharon start sympathizing with the humans) last night, and I have to say, I'm a lot more excited about this wave now. Giving Six a psycho Baltar hallucination was brilliant writing.

Can we pin this? Please? ^_^