Mirymate

That would be Pantone .

They make gummy-mates now?

Seriously, so what you want, T, is for MiniMates to try and compete with Playmobile and Legos. Gotta be honest, I don't see the lego town stuff or Playmobile stuff exactly flying off the shelves. (of course, I don't see much flying off the shelves that doesn't end in "gon" but that's another issue). I'd love some army guys, cops, and thugs to interact with the MiniMates, but I'm not sure that segment of the market is strong enough for another major player, especially one only offering figures only without the sets that Playmobile and lego offer.

(although I did see a Playmobile Roman Colloseum, complete with lions and a victim. Oh the wacky fun you can recreate with that one!)

Well now that the sting of being too late has worn off I did want to say a heart felt thank you to DST Matt and company. I cannot ever remember in my all collecting years a more enjoyable wave reveal. I thank you for your time and creativity.

And good luck topping it.

If T-Bolts sell out quickly, then you may have be right. . .but I betcha it won't In fact, I would not be the least bit surprised if this is the lowest selling set yet for DST. I'm not hoping this, I actually applaud DST for having the guts to release a set like this. . .but I'm not optimistic for its chances based on the characters included.

In truth, agree with you 100%.

But I really, really hope we're both wrong.

And I'd bet dollars to donuts that AA/DST is hoping the same thing.

If only cause they hate losing money.

In a perfect world, you'd have Beyonder, Captain Marvel, Molecule Man and Storm for the boxed set with a Spidey and Doom set as a TRU exclusive.

... though I'm still sorry to see Ben Grimm go.

Actually shouldn't it be a Doom v. Energy Beyonder for a 2 pack?

In a perfect world you'd have Cpt Monica, Storm, Molecule Man, and Ben Grimm in the set, a Doom v Energy Beyonder 2 pack, followed by a Secret Wars 2 boxed set with Disco Beyonder, Puma, Dazzeler, and Rachel Summers Phoenix.

I think it would be nice to start some "X-Men" and "Avengers" waves similar to the recent and future Spidey ones--with roughly a 1:1 villains to heroes ratio. Throwing in another Thor with female Ultron (whatever her name is) or another Wolverine or Nightcrawler with Arcade would probably move more sets than a box set with 4 relatively unknown baddies (such as the Brotherhood).

But are we not getting a set with what amounts to one descently known Spider-villain, (in name only) a civillian version of a well known Spider-villain, a long time third stringer, and the man who was once

? I'm not going to pretend my idea isn't dicey, but IF this T-Bolts set works out and does well, I think that opens the door to other villain team sets.

Or just split the difference, throw out Destiny and add a battle damaged Wolverine. Don't think they've made that one yet.

A boxed set is the answer, really. The Brotherhood is an important part of the history of Marvel's most popular team. And, with the release of the Thunderbolts set, we now have precedence for an all villains boxed set. So what we need to do is put in bug in DST's ear that we want a Brotherhood boxed set for next summer's convention season.

Which Brotherhood? Probably the best known grouping overall is Mystique's first one so Blob, Pyro, Avalanche, and Destiny. Yeah, I know, nothing sells toys like blind old woman in shorts and thigh highs. But Raven's been made already, and while making one of her more modern outfits is probably in order, they have already produced her in the costume she was wearing when the attacked the Senator.

Sorry, Toad, but you're on your own.

I guess.

I keep forgeting this is suppossed to be a TRU thing, not the usual small market exclusive.

From that stand point, I guess having both a popular X-Man and a Spidey would be a better thing for the masses.

Darn masses.

When's the cut off on this going to be and the lineup foramlly announced.

And can we find 60 more people to vote for Dr. Doom before then? (seems more reasonable than trying to find 150 to vote for Ben Grimm)

Okay, 6... 6 more people to vote for the Disco suit. It's not a first choice, but it edges Spidey out of the set. (I can not believe I am encouraging voting for the guy who plagued every title I read for a whole year with pointless appearances, annoying the frak outah me back in the day.)

Well I've got an 8 year old and a three year old that would make happy.

Logistically... dear Lord. What, one wave per series for 10 plus series? What do you do for the years they've had more than 6 Rangers? And that's happened at least twice the the last 7 series.

Which really is all I know, from Ninja Storm up to the current, oddly post-apocolyptic, RPM. Didn't pay any attention to these guys until my friends and I started having kids. But I would imagine we have members here that grew up with them and have the same blind-eye remembrance of them I have for Space Giants and Ultra Man.

Actually he has, in later episodes after his brief appearance he's once again Magneto's lackey and helps to capture Nightcrawler. So unfortunately your DVR skipped or the TV schedule messed up the episodes, they tend to do that.

Okay, does that fall before or after the one with Nitro (which is the last one I have). Blasted Tivo. And it's set for reruns and first runs and hasn't picked it up. Boys are gonna be ticked... if I tell them. My bad, Essex.

I agree that Pyro's not as recognisable as Sabretooth - but in fairness Sabretooth hasn't worn his Jim Lee costume for close to 10 years - or his FA costume for about 20years (Which are the costumes we are getting in MiniMate form). Pyro may not be a big hitter like Sabretooth, but when i see us getting LESS recognisable (as far as kids tv goes) chacaters like Lady D, Thanos, Bullseye, Leader etc . . . who aren't really Kids TV characters - i get confused as to how the 'Recogniseable = Marketable' argument works.

I'll admit - i'm pretty biased towards X-Villains cause i grew up with them, but Pyro has been one of the cool X-Men bad guys for a years & his look has been fairly consistent:

Okay. Let me say this again. I am not trying knock Pyro. I was just disputing the claim that Pyro and the Mandarin are as recognizable to kids as Sabretooth and Electro. It was not my intention to say that this somehow disqualified Pyro from getting a minimate. There's a generation of comics book geeks that have no idea who Mariko is but we got a mate of her. Yes, Pyro is as recognizable as Lady D, Leader, or Thanos as far as kids go, and they got mates. Heck Thanos is nihilistic Death worshiper, and he got a mate. (although try explaining nihilism to an 8 year sometime)

Current Wolverine & The X-Men Pyro

Just FYI, he hasn't appeared in costume yet. He was in the first episode out of costume, but hasn't appeared since. Or let me add the qualifier- If he has, my DVR skipped the episode for some reason and my boys are going to kill me.

I do have some questions though that I pose to the more experienced member of the group. I only have experience Marvel and DC minimates so for you guys that pick up everything this may be a no-brainer. On these design sheets, several parts are listed as recycled that I can't recall seeing before. Can you guy help identify them?

On the Vault Guardsman, I dont recognize the boots or gloves. On Spider-Woman and May, I don't recognize either hair piece immediately. I'm just curious where they've appeared before. None of their sheets say they are using any new parts, so they must have come from somewhere. Or is this simply my inexperience at looking at these design sheets show?

Not to be a jerk, but i'm pretty sure the Red & Yellow goggled Pyro appeared in the original X-Men animated series from the 90's. He also featured in the 2nd and 3rd series of X-Men Evolution with a similar, although slightly modernised costume. He also appeared in similar costumes in X-Men Legends & X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse. There was also a recent Marvel Legends figure of him in his classic costume, as well as a Superhero Squad version in the same garb.. For anyone who has history with the X-Men, i think he's pretty recognisable. Maybe not as recognisable as Sabretooth - but i'd recognise him before i recognised The Leader (Hulk), Ultron (Avengers) or Lady Deathstrike (X-Men).

Not taking as such, Nathaniel. The 90's cartoon is, well, at least a decade old. It's been in soradic reruns since. Evolution did have the goggles, but a very different costume. (had a lot of grey IIRC) It too is at least 5 years gone. And I haven't seen it in reruns. When you're talking kids, you're hitting about 7 to 12 for this kind of toy. And that's what blizzerd mentioned was kids. So most of them were either too young or not around for those shows. Now there was a the SUper Hero squad and the video game and that helps Pryo more than anything else. But I can only speak for the kids in that age range I know. And over half of them are like my kid, and the sons of recovering comics nerds. And even in that group, I'd say only about half would pick Pryo in costume out of a lineup of other fire themed characters. All that said, kid recognition is obviously not the by all and end all of minimate selection. We've made it to wave 30 as mostly a small scale collector focused line. Given that, it is surprising that Mandarin, Pryo, or yes Kang have not been made. Now as MM's have re-entered the mass market in TRU, kid appeal may re-enter the equation.

I'm not knockin Pyro, fellas. I'd love to see one made. But I dispute the notion he's at least recognisable as Sabretooth to most kids in the suit most of us think of him in. That's all.

There are several villains from across the board that I'm surprised we haven't gotten. We're 30 waves in and we haven't gotten a Mandarin or a Pyro mate? I think both of these guys, among others, are as familiar to kids as Electro or Sabretooth or whoever else we've gotten

Not really.

Mandarin hasn't been seen in a cartoon in a comics accurate form since the Iron Man cartoon of the early 80's. Not that most would call that whole thing accurate, but compared to the version appearing in the new Nicktoons show its spot on. I certianly would not have picked the new one out of a lineup as the Mandarin.

Pyro is different. Do kids know him from the X-movies? Sure. Do they recognise him as the guy in the orange and red costume and big red goggles? Not really. Put Nitro's fire hand and Hydroman's hair on Marty Mcfly in Disguise and that they might recognise as Pyro. And he hasn't appeared in costume in the newest X-Men cartoon either.

On the other hand, Electro was in a couple of episodes of Spectacular Spider Man. The look was very different, but the lightning around the head, and general color scheme was the same. And Sabretooth is very memorible from the first movie, even before the current one came out.

Really wish I'd skipped down a few more pages before decoding everything, only to find out conditions may have been met 2 hours ago. Not that it wasn't fun, but now I'm a little bummed.

Let's see if anyone can find a comic reference to "War Machine" Vault Guardsman.

I can't recall having even seen a Guardsman in a long, long time. IIRC there was a group of "Rogue Guardsman" called "the Jury" that wore variations of the Guardsman armor, but in different color schemes and different weaponry. There might have been one with shoulder cannons. Closest I can think of and then not 100% on that.

All in all it's not a bad design even with the cannons. 3 characters I wanted, and a welcome surprise army builder.

And on the subject of wings: if they were that happy with the guantlet wings they put on Man-Bat, don't you think they'd have made Sauron by now? Just a thought.

Now Im more curious as to how they would attach a tail for the lizard since he doesn't have a backpack.

Seems like the simplest way would be to create a new "large crotch" slip-over piece with a peg on it; and you could pop the one- or two-piece tail over the peg (or the tail could have a peg that fit into a hole on the crotch piece). Only problem I would foresee is that Lizard will probably come with white lab-coat, so there would have to be a gap in the back for the tail to fit between. Or, there could be a peg on (or hole in) the lab-coat itself. . .

I think that really is your holdup on both the Lizard and the Vulture- they haven't figured out exactly how they want to do it. I'd be dollars to donughts there's a ton of design sketches and mockups floating around their office while they try and figure out the most cost effective way to make those two look good. For the Lizard, it's a double debate, since we're not just talking about the tail and lab coat, but the head as well. I'm sure the arguement has been had here on this board and in the AA/DST office about whether or not the Lizard should have a plain round head, or something that denotes the snout. With the Vulture, it's all about the wings. And once they work those out I am sure both the Vulture and the Falcon will be showing up. Until that gets worked out, they'll keep being put off for another wave.

As as Avengers fan, I'm not sure what the X-Fans are complaining about.

We've got 3 Avengers villians so far, (Loki, Ultron, Taskmaster) with only one more on the way. (Moonstone) And only one of them is an "Avengers only" villain, (Ultron) the rest are borrowed from members' rogues galleries. And then there's Taskmaster, who qualifies as the Avengers villain everyone else has fought. Radioactive Man and Absorbing Man are Thor villains with a history of taking on the Avengers. Scorpion and Shocker were both briefly members of the third Masters of Evil (they were really hurting for members that lineup) And Rhino and Electro once fought the team together. And really, with the exception of Sinister or Apocalypse, they've fought everybody at least once.

But Really we've got Ultron, Loki, Taskmaster, and Moonstone that could be considered primarily Avengers villains. That's it.

33 different Avengers members made or announced. (counting each character only once) 4 bad guys.

Just for the curious-

Ant-Man/Giant Man, Beast, Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain America (Barnes), Captain America (Rogers), Dr. Strange, Firestar, Hawkeye/Ronin, Hercules, Human Torch (Hammond), Hulk, Iron Fist, Iron Man , Ms. Marvel, Namor, Power Man, Quicksilver , Scarlet Witch, Sentry, She-Hulk, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman I, Spider-Woman II, Thor,

Thor II, US Agent, Vision, Vision 2.0, War Machine (Rhodes), Wasp, Wonder Man

and Wolverine (who I keeping trying and tring to forget is now on the team)

Well it's not really a Spider-MAN variant at least...

And it is a new character... sort of...

And I am curious to see the design on this one. Will it have a brand new mask w/ hair piece?

Warwolves! Made similar to the Ghostbusters "Terror Dog." Probably wouldn't be too popular with the masses, but I would like to have a few.

Oh I am SOOOOO loving that idea. So see, there's at least two sales right there.

Once Kang is made, who will everyone want made next?

Apparently the Amazing Bag-Man.

I like that Corsair look also. Like I said any Nightcrawler Minimate would be cool.

How about an Excalibur wave.

Captain Britain/Megan

Nightcrawler/Shadowcat

Phoenix/?

Phoenix (hound costume)/ army builder

with

Phoenix (dark phoenix colors)/ army builder

or

Marvel Girl (Rachel) / army builder

as the variants

I'd pick an army builder, but those seem to be completely indepentant of the wave (barring the Ultimate SHIELD agents in the Ultimates wave). Probably the most approriate one for the wave would be Shiar soldier. I can just imagine their triangle helmets translated onto a Mate's round head.

I sorta liked his corsair outfit in Excalibur.

Okay, so it's settled. We want a modern Nightcrawler, with Corsair Nightcrawler variant. (although I remember his being called "Pirate Smurf" back in the day when Toy Biz made a 5" figure of that design)

I have no idea who "Takara (spectaclestesticleswalltewatch)" is. But that is so going to be my next forum name when I sign up somewhere. (Copied and pasted to notepad )

I do understand its just some guys name and your making the sign of the cross like he's godlike its the whole thing just reads so well.

The short answer is Takara is a japanese toy company. They made the toys Hasbro rebranded into Transformers 25 years ago. Once Transofrmers took off, they made the Japanese versions. Right now, since they are not bound by US toys law they can make TF's that the US can't or has to modify to bring over in "unnacceptable" ways. (go to any TF board and search for "short smoke stacks", you'll get the idea) In recent times, they re-release US TF's with different, often more extensive and more "show accurate", paint jobs. For this they are praised and Hasbro is evil. I know, I don't get it either. I'm sure TM2 chopperface could explain it, but we're veering off point.

Which was it's always fun to find out who the "good guys" and "bad guys" are in any new collector community.

As we're likely to see Storm and Black Panther in Wave 29, I can't help feeling both could have been used to help sell a less popular character, such as Black Panther/Klaw and Storm/Callisto, for example. I feel like these characters have less chance of being made as their chief adversary has been released already.

Hate to be the bringer of bad news, Valo, but Black Panther is the less popular character that they're hoping will sell better if paired with the Storm in what's probably her best known costume.

We are 1 mate away from the 2 lineups of the sinister six and I am sure we will get the vulture we need to do it.

And we will get it...in Marvel series 43.

Be fair. They'll be revealing the Vulture for NEXT YEARS Spidey wave. Should be wave 35 or 36. Which, as long as we keep filling out Spidey's rogues gallery, I won't mind seeing. Right now, even in a Spidey wave, we get at least three not Spidey characters. As a guy who spent most of the last decade hunting down Marvel Legends, where villains came on per wave, this is Christmas.

Good thing there is AFX to get us characters we want, since DST isn't capable of doing it on their own.

Seriously?

A week after they announced Storm, Black Panther, Moon Knight, Bullseye and Moonstone? Two days after they announced Scorpion and Electro? DST is incapable of giving us characters we've been whining for for years? Really?

Funny stuff. It's nice to see the "The Company X clearly hates its customers" is a universal fan constant. When Toy Biz were making ML's, they were evil, uncaring bastards who never listened to the fans and must have wanted the line to fail with their character selection/costume choices/lack of or overuse of X-characters. Then Hasbro got the liscense and Hasbro became evil, and everyone longed for the TB days and forgot they were ever mad at them. Of course, toy collectors are used to hating Hasbro, because they keep screwing up Transformers, and only Takara (spectaclestesticleswalltewatch) ever gets them right. Except the random chrome, but that's another issue entirely.