Ivan

When I read the title of this thread I thought, "Well, I drive to San Diego once a year."

But I've never really gone overboard on eBay or caught in a bidding war. I have missed out on a lot of neat rarities as a result though. When I didn't get the Ozzy Wave 2 Box Set(s) that showed up a while ago, I beat myself up a bit. It doesn't hurt so much now. Now that I think about it, I have spent more than I would have liked for a single Minimate just because it came in a different package. The Battle Damaged Spider-Man single pack cost me somewhere around $25. Not bad, just more than I thought it was worth.

I'm actually more ashamed that I bought a teen vampire(?) book to get the Kyra Minimate. (I even made sure to pay in cash so that it didn't get added to my customer profile.)

Aww crap. When did August get here?

Thanks all.

Sorry I can't help you directly. I sold Minimate Database to the Omni Consumer Products and Energy Concern a couple months ago. I no longer have any control over content or presentation. While I have no power to change the site, they keep me around as a figurehead due to my high standing in the community. Reasons for the sale are complex and plentiful. All I can say is that the Minimate Adult Performance Union has very inventive ways of getting what they want.

I shall pass on your concerns the highly qualified team of web designers and database engineers. I'm sure they'll get right on it.

As for the Bad Saint eating a mime photos, I have to take the fall for this one. We had Val Kilmer booked for a photoshoot and he was excited about the cannibalism angle. Consummate professional, always willing to experiment. Unfortunately I offended him shortly after he entered the MMDB compound. While trying to make small talk I asked what I thought was a innocuous question, "What do you think about cross-breeding hippopotamuses and poodles?" I thought it would be a great way to introduce an interesting new pet into the market, The Hippopotamadoodle (trademark pending). Kilmer flew off the handle and started ranting about how a poodle killed his father and how this abomination of a hybrid would destroy humanity, blah, blah blah. He stormed out and we never got the photo.

We'll get one though. I've got a person on the inside at the Vatican. Once Teresa gets the Official stamp of approval I'll get another shoot set up. Luckily I got the rates in writing before the beatification, apparently it costs four times as much now.

In the meantime here's a graph, everyone likes graphs.

I appreciate the suggestions and I'm always looking for ways to improve the site. Unfortunately the wish list keeps getting new items and nothing seems to get crossed off. I'll definitely add it to the list, but don't expect it anytime soon. (User rankings is a four year old request and still not done.)

Dammit Ivan, code faster!

Oh good, that answers half my question. Would a CGI/3D version fit under the digital artwork clause?

... hunting the Wumpus near Ivan's sausage

That's the best I got.

Could be, it is a popular place after all.

Other possibilities...

...hunting the Wumpus with Ohio's senator

...hunting the Wumpus over Loni's goodies

...hunting the Wumpus amid Vlad's erotica

I think the only winning move is not to play. However...

Picture of your Huntmate pretending he/she's in the movie "The Hunt for Red October" dressed as Elmer Fudd hunting the Wumpus with Thor's Mjolnir

Crazy Ivan indeed.

Partial REWARD:

Hidden Bonus #4: ------- -- ---- -------- ---------- --/---'- -- --- ----- "--- ---- --- --- -------" ------- -- ----- ---- hunting the Wumpus ---- ----'- -------

GOT IT!

Picture of your Huntmate recreating AA/DST's ad for their "Try Hard And Eat Nakedly" crusade Be leery your hunting the Wumpus time hasn't expired

Gotta turn this around.

I'm not sure if this comparison has been made, but I find DST and AA to be like mothers.

...

True, Chuck doesn't even mind when you call him 'mommy'.

Try it.

In the chat.

Tonight.

I dare you.

I think there should be a Kang filter in the chat, all the Kangs get replaced with My Little Pony or something.

"So when are we going to see My Little Pony's purple ass?"

The Minimate Panel video is up. I tried to filter out background noise, but it always seemed to kill Zach's voice as well. It sounds better than the recorded original, but it's still hard to listen to.

After dying three times I stopped trying to upload the full video and split it into two pieces. Of course the upload doesn't die right away. It lets you spend four hours getting to 90% before it dies. It was intentionally tormenting me, I know it.

If anyone wants to record the panel next year, go for it. I won't mind a bit. With all the detailed synopses out there the video's value seemed to diminish the later it got. I'll chalk it up as a learning experience.

Photos are up on the Database, and they look great (as always!). My only quibble is that Beta Ray Bill's hammer is incorrectly labelled as Mjolnir, when it is, in fact, called Stormbreaker.

Crappity crap.

Fixed.

Sorry I still haven't got the panel video uploaded yet. It looks fine but the audio came out pretty bad. I'm trying to make it listenable. Hopefully it will be ready some time tomorrow.

There will be new stuff at NYCC, but I don't know what.

The pirate giveaways were more limited than previous years. Looks to be 250 of each. That's what is printed on the empty box.

Arctic Warthog was on sale at the DST booth, because I bought one. Don't know if it still is though.

I was able to record the Minimates panel, but haven't been able to upload it. Hotel wireless isn't great, and the convention center's wireless is worse than last year. I'll have to camp out at a Starbucks or something.

I think the slideshow at the beginning of the panel brought the room's energy down. (It will be rather dull in the video as well.) Since there were no big reveals, barring Modok's design sheet, it was all very low key.

Ivan! I saw you today at the giveaway. Aaron pointed you out for me. But then you went the opposite direction so I couldn't say hi. So, hi.

Greetings! Heh. I didn't see you at the giveaway, but I did see you shortly thereafter leaving the DST booth. They started looking for you because someone had a Minimate question they couldn't answer and thought you'd know.

This isn't their only Booth Babe, is it? I thought they were supposed to have a Minimate Milk Firefighter Chick.

That's Saturday, I think. Different Femme Fatale everyday.

And after talking with Pat at AFX, he mentioned that the AFX NYCC exclusive box set is probably the best box set they ever made. He hasn't seen the prototypes yet but it will be revealed on their blog sometime (no idea, could be a while). I got nothing else about that other than DST saying they will have a NYCC box set too. Not sure if they are related or not yet. I know, vague. Don't shoot the reporter...

Edit:

Fun DST Fact - Chuck buys every employee who goes to conventions a knife*. So don't piss anyone off at DST. Except Zach. He's still new and hasn't gotten his knife yet so he's harmless for now. :tongue:

*By knife, I mean box cutter.

I wouldn't call him harmless. Those fierce sideburns once shot a man just to see him die. They have the death sentence on twelve systems.

Ms. Firefighter might be one of the show promos. She is featured rather prominently.

I kind of thought Ms. Firefighter (I call her Miss July) might be in a future Femme Fatales box set. It would be weird having DST give out promos of a sexy female firefighter to random kids at SDCC. Unless that's what's underneath her uniform, then it's okay. :tongue:

Guess she's not a promo, instead she's a poster for kids to hang above their beds...

(SDCC Details)

Saturday, July 23

All Day:

Diamond Select Toys, Booth 2607

- Real-life Minimates MAX Firewoman, available for photographs

I'm not sure what to think about that. I imagine it would be pretty hard to get around the con floor with only 14 points of articulation.

(EDIT: link cleanup)

Yeah, it's a little disappointing for those of us who wanted something new. But I guess this makes more sense from a marketing perspective.

If a con-goer sees how neat these one of these free little pirate Lego guys is, maybe they'll take a closer look when they seem them at TRU. Maybe buy a pack or two. Probably works better than another blank, (even though I personally love them so.) Then that new buyer will see all the other licensed Minimate properties currently at TRU, X-Men, Sony, Cap, Thor, etc. They'll dip their toe in. "This Red Skull looks cool." Before they know it, they're back at TRU buying anything with the Minimate brand. Even that neglected Hunter-Killer tank crammed between the ripped Star Trek movie costume from 2009 and the malfunctioning robot dinosaur that stutters. Then they're on to their local comic shop to pick up older figures. They even buy that lingering Mandarin/Dreadnought pack. Suddenly, they're scouring eBay, posting on Twitter, starting a blog, making websites. Slipping faster and deeper into that inescapable hole we know as...

Guess I'll have to start asking him more Minimate philosophy questions.

I have often wondered where Minimates go when they die, I bet Chuck knows.

(Guess our resident archivist is still on her leave of absence. )

Actually it wasn't from a DST Q&A, it was in the OAFE summary of the Minimates panel at C2E2 last March.

From OAFE (via battlecat),

Tampo paint is really expensive in both cost and time - sometimes its cheaper to do a sculpted piece than tampo print (Spider-Man is one of the most expensive) which is one reason we're seeing more sculpted pieces

It's interesting that we're all treating this as gospel and forgetting that big ole' "sometimes" in that quote.

Has anyone seen the Rocket Warthog in store yet? I might just be impatient, but since TRU Box Sets don't show up around here I'm wondering if these might skip my TRUs too.

I know they're online, but I have low confidence in receiving a photo-worthy bubble from the .com.

*Actually I'm just posting this so they'll "coincidentally" show up when I check after work tonight.

**Those quote marks around coincidentally are supposed to be "air quotes". Meaning I know about the conspiracy.

***Those quote marks around air quotes are just regular quotes.

****I can't type "air quotes" without visualizing the gesture.

*****Can you read it without visualizing the gesture?

******LIAR!

*******I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. It's not about you, it's about the talking lizard living in my sink.

And then named one of them Squirty. But I digress...

Excellent! I think your daughter should decide the official names for all the MAX figures.

What will take Minimates to the next level of awesomeness?

Robotics/Remote Control.