Ivan

I can only imagine how much the whole abandonment subtext of this movie would have screwed me up if I was seven or eight years old when it came out. When I was that age I was very attached to my toys. I tried not to show favoritism to any particular one and I'd feel bad if I had ignored a toy for a while. It wasn't obsessive or anything, but I treated them like they had feelings. Of course, as a kid I knew my toys weren't alive, but this movie probably would have made me really wonder. They'd go to extreme lengths just to be played with. There was grief over toys that weren't around anymore (Squeaker, Bo, etc.) The fear over being left behind or thrown out seemed genuine. If I had been exposed to this movie as a kid I probably would have never been able to get rid of any toy. Oh wait...

Not a complicated recipe, but I'm partial to the Twinkie Wiener Sandwich from U.H.F. (Whether the hot dogs are cooked or 'raw' is left up to chef's discretion.)

I find your ideas intriguing and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Some time ago I received an anonymous email at my Minimate Labs account with a zip file full of photos and a simple message "Thought this should be shared". The photos were of the previously mentioned Ghost Rider prototype listed on eBay. I sat on them for a little while because I wasn't sure how to present them. Then they just slipped my mind. I guess now is as good a time as any to share them. Bear in mind, I do not own this prototype. I do not know who does. These photos were sent to me anonymously. I've cropped the background out a bit and adjusted the levels so details are more visible. They are at full resolution, so I can't really enlarge them. FWIW

I can't say I haven't considered it. Mainly when trying to decide whether a particular bit of plastic is an accessory or intrinsic to the character. (Depending on how tired I am, that decision is not entirely consistent nor necessarily accurate.) Just saying everything is a "part" would take the fuzzyness out of the process and to me that is a very attractive option. But... Updates would be seriously delayed. Depending on how you break a Minimate up, each figure has at least 9 parts (foot, left leg, right leg, crotch, torso, left arm, right arm, hand, head), to photograph and catalog. Then, you'd have to match up to see what's already been used. Example: Is Radioactive Man's arm the same color as the SDCC Translucent Green? Not to mention the entire backlog. We're up over 900 Minimates now. 900 times 9 = 8100 parts. That's not counting hairpieces, chest caps, gauntlets, torso extensions, machine gun hands, etc. Sure there's a lot of duplication, but it's still a crapload of individual parts. I'm not saying it can't be done, I'm probably not the guy who's going to be doing it. Unless DST has a job opening for Minimate Archivist*, I still have to go to work like everyone else. Honestly, I've been having a lot of fun lately with virtual Minimates and compiling a Minimate Parts Database sounds boring as hell. *One can dream...

Weird, I thought that guy was with you. He certainly liked movies about gladiators. Truthishly, I like being able to share SDCC with my dad. Sure, by the end of the week we are getting on each others nerves, but it's one of the few things he and I do together regularly and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I really don't have a dog in this fight. If you guys think I should change the flesh MMDB entries I can fairly easily.

Dammit, dammit, dammit. I have been able to resist Cosbabies until now despite how much I like the looks of them. These Toy Story versions are sure to break my resolve.

I'll look into your account Danny. We've had a few glitches with the super-premium-gimme-all-the-boobies-you-got accounts. I'll extend your membership a couple months gratis for the hassle. No one ever told me the adult entertainment industry would be this hard. Account management problems, content organization problems, heated contract negotiations, unruly pimps, fluffer strikes, Feds breaking down your door... It never ends. Gone are the days when you could shoot a nice little video on a camcorder, dupe a few VHS copies, slap a box on them and make a mint. Sigh. On a more positive note, we just shot the cover photos for the July 2010 DVD (and Blu-Ray!) It doesn't have a title... or a script... or even a plot yet really. But I'm sure it will be a complex, taut, character-driven cinematic masterpiece. A Tour de Force! (Click for 1200x1800 version, suitable for all your pervy wallpaper needs.)

Actually, I'm more concerned about this image: According to the single packs the dark gray drone with the pointy shoulder bits is the Sea Assault Drone not the Air Assault Drone listed on the the new TRU pack. (Although the pointy bits do remind of the missiles on fighter jets.) I don't know which is "right" so I don't know how best to represent it in the DB. Calgon take me away!

I'll be there. I've been counting down the days. Last year seemed a little scattered. Do we want to try and plan a place and time to meetup? A couple years back we had a room scheduled upstairs during convention hours. I don't know what it takes to arrange that or if CCI still permits it, but it seemed to work well.

Oh crapola! I just searched through a bunch of TRU product images to find them. (Well my script did.) Only to come back here and find UKCollector had beaten me to the punch. Oh well, here are the non-photoshopped versions.

No objections here. It's odd, in all my wasted afternoons buried in TV Tropes I never really thought about how many applied to Minimates. I'd always focus on the Television/Movie/media side and "real" things like toys faded from the fore. I think there's a whole other side to that site I've been missing. Well, there goes my day.

(Aack, double posting. Hopefully the necro negates it. ) I try not to be too self promoting around here, but I just posted a new bit of animation on the site that I'm pretty fond of. I'm not the first to do it, but I see a lot more of these projects in the future.

Cheese!

Aww, thanks guys. I'm trying to make some time this weekend to improve the search functionality and tweak that stuff mentioned in the Cap Box Set thread. I just wish my Battle Tactics sets would show up.

That all depends if you have reached the rank of Miggida Miggida Miggida Mac Daddy or not.

All you guys that are voting multiple times, don't you realize you are actually hurting your cause more than helping it. Whoever is counting up the votes is certainly going to see 30 consecutive votes for Civil War Cap from the same IP address and suspect something fishy. If it were me, I'd remove all votes from that IP just to prevent you from having a voice in the poll. Oh but you say, "I released my IP address and voted again with a new one." Well if you are smart enough to do that, certainly you've heard of cookies right? Toys R Us places several cookies on your machine whenever you visit they site. These cookies store your TRUID value which is a long identifier that links to your activity records in their database. They store everything about you in this database, any coupon you use, how long you look at a product, every click you make, what Minimate you voted for. All this data is linked to your unique TRUID. They know you're trying to subvert the system. I hear you again, "I deleted all my cookies before renewing my IP and re-voting for that spiffy U.S. Agent redeco." Sure you've deleted the basic browser cookies, but did you get the Flash cookies? Any browser with the Flash plugin has the ability to store a different kind of cookie that your browser doesn't know about. You can't see them. You can't open the plugin's property page and simply click them away. TRU knows this and they are storing your TRUID there too. Buried deep within your browser's entrails, they hide. Don't tell me you don't have Flash installed, how can you look at all the kitten videos without it? Hmm? Yet again you protest, "I voted at separate computers, there's no way those cookies can follow me." Separate computers is a good start, but I'll bet all those computers were on the same network. Little known fact about most network administrators is that they are quite paranoid. They've developed software that can identify people based on their typing patterns. The timings between key presses, the frequencies of word patterns can all be used to link you from one computer to the next. The software is amazingly accurate. Occasionally two people will be matched with the same typing patterns, but it's rare. Amazingly enough I was once matched to Yul Brynner, it was an honor. Once more you retort, "Gotcha there, I was on a different network for each vote." "Silly voter," I respond. You are voting from computers you do not have control of. It's very easy for administrators of public-access computers to install small webcams in the monitors. These cameras record your eye movements. They can see how long you looked at a particular advertisement or whether your eyes lingered more on the Hollywood starlet in her micro-mini skirt or the lumbering, pretty-boy love interest beside her. This information is then sold to advertising companies and used to figure out how to make their ads more persuasive and targeted. It's very easy to add facial recognition software to keep track of a particular user over time. When this data is sent to the advertising companies they can match you regardless of what computer you used on which network. Still you counter, "Ah, but I know about facial recognition software. I know that facial hair confuses it. My beard is mighty!" That is true, you have found the only fail point in this technological terror they've created. The scanners cannot reliable match an individual where hair covers more than 10% of their face. You may think you've succeeded, but the mighty corporations have a contingency plan. There is a theme that is prevalent in current Western popular media that bearded individuals are not to be trusted. Bearded people aren't bad, they're just a little off and you should keep your distance. This is not an invention of Hollywood, it comes directly from the corporations. You are labeled as a subversive. They will let you think you've won. They will let you think you've beaten the system. When the time is right, they will show you what they do to subversives.

That's looking good. More pictures would be great. Any write-ups on failures and successes would be interesting too. I've thought about doing something similar but have never taken the initiative. What are you using for your mold/casting method?

Sure, I'm nice. I just have certain... ahem... proclivities.

Just finished watching all six parts of the panel and it was more interesting than I was led to believe. Thanks for the link. This is the stuff that caught my attention. Part 1 - Looks like I need to work on my branding a bit. "Yeah, Minimate Database, is that the name of it?" Thanks to the audience member for the assist. - Loved Chuck's answer to the Jubilee question. "We've done a lot of 90s X-Men recently... and there are a few characters we haven't done... and it would be kind of smart of us to do them at some point. Part 2 - Didn't hear anything about pitching Ferris Bueller until now. I wonder if he's trying to drum up interest. - "You'll never see a certain actor who believes in a certain religion who does some kinda big movies and people used to like." I first thought he was referring to Mel Gibson, but Mel wasn't in Top Gun. I guess we'll never see the Rain Man two-pack. It's not really a likeness problem, it's just a non-starter as far as the studio is concerned. Too antsy. Part 3 - They've renewed the Marvel license 5 or 6 times with changes each time. - Chuck's wife doesn't care about "Lego Men." - They've looked at Amityville and Carrie. - "We got told at one point, don't mess with Winona Rider." Part 4 - Heat/rub transfer tech maybe patented, but they're looking into. - Can't afford to do Goonies Minimates by themselves. Would have to be part of library. - Brief mention of Dr. Who around 5:00 when talking about international licensing. Part 5 - Chuck is a benevolent dictator. - Ooh, a second mention of MMDB. Yes I do list accessories. :nod: Part 6 - No real plans for a gaming element with Minimates though some companies have asked. Proud to be a loyal servant to the benevolent dictator Chuck. All glory to Chuck. (and the Hypnotoad)

I'm looking at a Drone right now and it says 091225KK. And my wife says, 'Why are you looking at that robot's butt?'. I'd swear, Minimates are going to get me divorced. Your sacrifice is appreciated and will be handsomely rewarded.

It's really a shame you guys are spending so much money on troop builders and not fine digital cameras with which to take fine digital pictures of said impressive armies. Hintity hint hint. (Please deconsider the logical paradox in this post. It is not a fruitful avenue of discussion.)

Favor to ask. Can one of you guys that have opened the Borders packs tell me the manufacturer date codes on the back of the crotch pieces? (Usually something like 091127KK.) I'm working on the MMDB update, but since I haven't even assembled a complete set I'm hesitant to open the few I have found. Many thanks.

After repeatedly searching Borders for the Iron Man 2 exclusives, I realized that I kept lingering at the blind-packed Domo Qees. "I could buy one or two, what would it hurt?" One or two quickly became too many. These are just the uniques. I have four flocked red ones now too. I would think about them while at work, "That was a fresh case, nobody's pulled the rarer ones yet. I should get some more." Somebody help me please. I am weak. I have no resistance to blind packs. Make it stop. Can anybody make it stop?