Ivan

Not a lot of time, just dropping in briefly to add some linkage.

EDIT: to fix links... it's been too long.

I think they are on the site here, but they just don't show up in the search.

Fire Fighters

Law Enforcement

These are the old item pages for Wave 1, but it shows them in stock. I've placed an order for these assuming I'll get Wave 2. But if anyone else decides to do it and Wave 1 shows up, don't blame me.

Here's my reasoning. These two packs share the same UPCs in Wave 1 and Wave 2. Items are probably entered into TRU's system by UPC and when these were added they got mapped to the old item numbers instead of creating new ones. Back when Wave 1 went out of stock, a flag was set to prevent them from showing on the site. That flag wasn't reset when Wave 2 arrived. Until that flag is set they won't show without a direct link. They can still be ordered because the ordering part of the backend doesn't care about the search/display part of the front end.

I still wonder whatever happened to Ulan Aruk and Brent Craig...

MisterPL usually pops in once in a while, so I am usually not too worried about him.

And seriously, I had a thought about putting a post it note on the back of my drivers license or something saying if something happened to me, contact Shanester at MMMV and let him know so you guys would find out.

Ulan Aruk gave up Minimates some time ago. But he has posted on the RTM under various other handles: Asylum Collectibles; Cranston, RI; and Greg the Bunny. Lately he seems to have settled on simply "Greg" but I'm not sure if he's the only Greg there. I don't know what the latest is, but for a while he was working on his photography and posting it at RTM. It was Suicide Girls style cheesecake stuff but with more Rubenesque ladies.

I wish I could take a trip down Brent Craig memory lane.

I think "Lee Burns" is going to have even more interesting questions in the next Q&A.

GOOSE! NOOOO!

I don't think I could have animated that. For me the grief is still too near.

I did consider replicating his helmet(or Maverick's) to put in the erlenmeyer flask on the tag. Unfortunately the thought didn't occur until late in the process and the MAX helmet I designed wouldn't take such a complex texture map.

So instead you get 20 floating Minimate hands... a loss by any measure.

I haven't posted this to Minimate Labs yet, but I have a new

It features the MAX Pilot and Stealth Jet from the first round of specialty market vehicles. Now that it's "finished" I see a lot of little things I'd change, but it's time I move on to the next time sink.

Close, there's a great Greek place near my work and it had been a while since I had had one of their Gyros/Yeeros. So very, very good.

Sure, I come back with food and everyone's gone. More lamb for me I guess.

Thank you for all your work Danny. I'm sure it's hard letting go of something you put so much into, but probably in some ways it's a relief, right? I wish you all the best.

It really is fortunate for Luke they relaxed the child labor laws in Minnesota. I figure that's the only way he can accomplish all this stuff.

Nah, Miry's the man. All I did was run a simple SELECT query out of the database. I barely took enough time to sort it alphabetically. I'd trust your comic knowledge more than the myriad assumptions scattered throughout my database tables.

I tried. But for some reason they think Ivan Gumbercules isn't my real name. Guess it's back to myspace for me.

Some heavy hinting for Blade Runner in Twitterlandia today.

Of course the 'army-builders' and 'team-finishers' references are more applicable to Marvel than Blade Runner. But it's nice to dream (of electric sheep.)

...

2. AREN'T we the biggest representation of the Marvel Universe? Has Marvel Universe overtaken us already in terms of the number of different characters? I don't think Legends has, and I'm not counting Heroclix, that's for sure. I should probably do this research myself, but if someone's already done it, let me know.

I can't speak to MU, but here's a DB extract of Minimate characters for your new research project. (Spoiler tags used to protect the innocent.)

The rowcount is 225. There's a bit of duplication because of things like Tony Stark and Iron Man being listed separately and potential errors in my Marvel knowledge. It also includes scheduled but unreleased figures (like Arnim Zola).

Ah, here we go.

Challenge 1. Picture of your Mini-Team-Mate (+1) & write a short background bio for your teammate (+1).

(Bio coming soon)

Challenge 2. Picture of your minimate working on the Comic Cover Replication contest entry

Is anyone else thankful that "Lee Burns" isn't into Minimates?

They seem to be, at least at my TRUs. The first, basic Warthog didn't fly off the pegs but sold through rather quickly. It never hit clearance like the Hunter-Killer/Stealth-Jet did. The more recent Rocket Warthog with Red Spartan is moving a bit slower. I don't doubt it will sell out though.

I don't know about these new box sets. I'd pass on them if I didn't have my 'affliction'. My guess is that they're aimed at Christmas shopping parents that see more value in a Vehicle+3 than a Vehicle+1, even if it is $10 more. I've stopped trying to predict the behavior of those folks.

Thanks everyone. This Blender stuff is currently just a hobby for me. Maybe 'hobby' is too light a word. 'Obsession' is more apt. I can't stop thinking about it, coming up with new ideas and things I want to try. My day job is pretty dull, I work as a nuclear chemist making neon signs.

Groundhog, I'm pretty sure the mental breakdown will come before Shockini Citizen Kane*. Now that you mention it, maybe my Lord of the Rings recreation with popsicle sticks is a step in the wrong direction.

(*Although now I want a Minimate version of the Orson Welles emphatically/defiantly clapping gif.)

Here's my entry, World War Hulk #4.

Used the artwork from the Marvel website for the main scene, and for the titles I used this:

This was a lot of fun to do. I think I'm going to replicate one of my alternate choices just for the fun of it.

I thought this thread was going to be filled with little known facts about why Kang is so great. Stuff like,

-Emails from Kang never get filtered as spam.

-Kang is a devourer of Devourers of Worlds.

-TRU deliveries to Kang are always undamaged.

-Kang has a Minimate DSTChuck.

-Kang has disemboweled everyone involved in The Smurfs movie.

Actually it's a long and complicated process. I'm sure it started out with basic design sketches based on the dominant block figure of the time, Kubricks. After a lot of back-and-forth and experimentation the Art Asylum folks settled on a design that was similar to the Kubrick design yet distinctive enough aesthetically and legally.

Based on those designs, sculpted clay versions were made. I'm sure those went through many iterations to figure out articulation, tolerances, etc. This first design is nowhere near what you see today. It was much more Kubrick-like and didn't have elbow or knee joints. Of course it was closer to the larger three-inch version than the current two-inchers.

Once the design was final and all the bugs worked out it's handed over to a machinist. He (most of the machinists I know are male, I'm not saying women can't be machinists, just that they are underrepresented in the field, and that if you are going to choose a pronoun to represent them, the masculine pronoun is more likely to apply to any randomly selected individual) is responsible for creating the steel mold, or tool, for each piece of the Minimate listed by youbastards above. Of course like all molds the tool is a negative version of the finished item. The machinist has to remove the steel where ever there should be plastic. It is a valuable trade that doesn't seem to get the respect it should, IMO.

The machinist doesn't just create one tool per part. Multiple torso tools (for example) are assembled in a rig. This rig does have a technical term that I can't recall and Google isn't helping. Each piece in the rig is connected via channels. When the plastic is injected, these filled channels become the sprue that the Minimate parts hang off of. It's also possible that the tools are assembled so that all the pieces for a single Minimate are on a single sprue. Usually they are combined in whatever way produces lowest cost. If pieces are molded in different types or colors of plastic, their corresponding tools are going to have to be on different jigs.

The actual injection process begins with solid plastic granules being poured into the injection machine. Transporting and storing liquid plastic is a recipe for disaster. At this point lubricant is applied to the interior of the tool to aid in product removal. Inside the machine, the plastic is melted and forced into the cooled and lubricated tool. The tool is kept cold in order to harden the plastic upon contact. I'm not sure what types of plastics are used in Minimates but I do know it has changed over the years. At this point in the process, depending on the plastic, the mold needs to be shaken, pressurized, rotated, or caressed gently.

After cooling, the plastic is ready to be removed. Everything is unscrewed and the sprues with the Minimate parts are popped out. Then the tool/jig assembly is all put back together ready for another injection. The sprues of Minimate parts are taken to the examination area where teams of detail oriented engineers examine them. They are looking for any irregularities or mold failures that could cause problems down the line. Last I heard their rejection rate at this point in the process is down to 2%. Bad sprues are stored for archival purposes.

After examination, the sprues are taken to the purification chamber. Here they are subjected to series of chemical baths in order to make them safe to handle. First it gets a spray of Bromous acid (HBrO2) in a 0.3 micromolar solution. Next is the Thiosulfuric acid (H2S2O3) for color. And finally the chamber is filled with Hydrogen Selenide (H2Se) in order to cure. Seventeen hours later the room is ventilated and the sprues are taken to the Paint and Tampo department.

I don't know much about the Tampographic (tampo) process. From what I understand it's a type of pad printing, but I haven't had any first-hand experience with it. I did try taking a class in it though. But once they opened the vial of cobra venom I decided it wasn't worth the risk and dropped the course. For your purposes it probably isn't necessary anyway.

After painting, the Minimate pieces are sent to the Assembly Building via underground pneumatic tubing. There's actually an electronic eye in the tube that can identify the particular part and send it to the correct output bin. Sounds cool right? That's not the half of it. The Assembly Building is like nothing you've seen. Completely automated. Robots everywhere. They've got robots that remove pieces from sprues. They've got robots that attach Minimate arms to Minimate torsos. They've got robots that grind up the sprues and pour it into other robots for use as fuel. They've got robots that sweep up the plastic dust that the grinding robots leave behind. They've got robots that make sure the Minimate head is pointing the right direction before putting a Minimate helmet on it.

The assembly robots finish their work by gently placing the finished Minimate in its proper spot in the thin plastic tray. These trays are placed on a conveyor belt which leads to the Consecration Room. Very little is known about what goes on in here and rumors abound. Everything from application of addictive substances to Masonic rituals to Chuck personally blessing each figure with Glinda's wand... But one thing is certain a Minimate is not truly a Minimate unless it comes out of this room.

Then everything is boxed up, put in a shipping container, placed on a boat, sailed across the ocean to Diamond Distributors, then sent to your LCS or TRU.

I think that about covers it.

Wikipedia terms for further research: machining, tool and die, injection molding, pad printing, Lysergic acid diethylamide

Wait I know this one...

When a Mommy-Minimate and a Daddy-Minimate love each other very much she shall open to the man as the furrow to the plow, and he shall work in her, in and again, till she bring him to his fall, and rest him then upon the sweat of her breast.

"Makin' Minimates" is now a favored euphemism.

This might be a good time to make your way over to the Buy/Sale/Trade area of the forum instead of pimping your auctions here.

My entry for the Custom Cover Recreation Contest isn't complete yet so I didn't want to pollute that thread with this 'in-progress' image. But while I was test fitting some of the new pieces I got some neat reflections. I just had to play...

I had forgotten that Toy Fair pic, thanks MINI_MYTE. Makes sense, BTTF2 is where that particular Delorean style is most prominent. I agree, the tampos were probably just cut for cost. It's a shame too, the tampos would have changed this figure from a forgettable one to a merely mediocre one.

Thanks BHM, that McDonald's toy looks to be sporting the radiation suit. I like how the stylized look gives him a real 'evil scientist' vibe.

Anyone know in which movie Doc was wearing this particular ensemble included with the Hover Delorean? I did a fast forward scan of all three movies and couldn't find any instance of him wearing a plain yellow shirt. Throughout the second movie he wore a train print shirt that had a bit of yellow in it, but that's as close as I could match.

Anyone recognize it?