Resurrection Bob

Good luck on the hunt! Like I said, help with an Orko would be great, but no worries if it's not possible.

So Big Lots stores across the country are getting a variety of MOTUC figures right now. The exact figures vary, but it seems most if not all are getting the Mo-Larr and Skeletor pack and Orko (with Prince Adam). Everything is $10. The stores around me in Western Washington are largely cleared out (except Mo-Larr in Tacoma and Kent and Megator in Tacoma). There are also Ghostbusters 12" 2-packs of Egon and Ray that don't seem to be in as much demand for $30.

I had no luck finding an Orko anywhere, so if anybody goes hunting for these, if you find an extra Orko could you shoot me a message and we can work out a deal? With all the stores getting cleared out, I'm sure there will be a lot of Orkos on eBay, but I don't really want to reward the folks that couldn't be nice and leave some for the next collector.

And regardless of whether anybody can help me or not, happy hunting, everyone!

Found a full case on the pegs in Bellevue, WA. Grabbed one of each of the TRU exclusives, so there are plenty left if anyone's in the area.

Hey TM2, I'm sick and just had a pretty sleepless night, so I'm tired too, but in such a way that I'm not too interested in a bitter argument. Besides, people seem to be jumping in to say a lot of what I think anyway, so I'll just toss out a couple replies to things you said.

Bob, your attitude towards minimates is dangerously naive. It is probably because I haven't eaten or slept but you're ticking me off.

Sorry. I wasn't trying to upset anyone, but I don't see how what I said is "dangerous" or worth getting actively angry about.

If you were able to just walk into any TRU and get them, that means they're not selling and DST would go bottoms up.

On the contrary, I'd say if people are buying them for scalper prices on eBay, those are sure sales that DST isn't taking advantage of. It means the supply they're producing isn't meeting demand. That means less sales for DST and more unhappy customers who either have to go without the toys they want or pay way too much for them.

I'm sorry you can't find Minimates. Next time you see an empty peg, smile a little as it is a sign that we're going to get more in the future. And if you don't like it, quit. No one is forcing you to buy minimates. they are TOYS, not food or anything else. Their intention is 1) to be fun and 2) an investment. in that order. If you don't like the investment part, go play with mud.

I don't know where you got the impression that I can't find anything at TRU. Actually, I'm almost entirely complete on Ghostbusters from there (haven't picked up the Peter and Ray packs from wave 4 because money's short) and I've seen most of the Marvel stuff, including exclusives. I have what I want AND I'm happy that other people will get a chance to own them too. But I guess since I'm happy on both fronts, I should just play with mud.

Well, with Mattel I was mostly talking about the "people who want them should be able to get them easily and for a fair price" bit. Their monthly flurry of selling vastly overpriced toys isn't my thing at all. They're missing out on making sales to more casual people like myself, who don't think their stuff is worth the price they're asking and aren't interested in fighting to buy each figure one at a time. With Minimates in TRU, I can usually just walk in and grab what I want, and the whole wave costs me about what one Mattel figure costs. One Mattel figure that is usually a recycled body with minimal accessories.

As for value, I still say Minimates are just toys. I think it's a good thing that people will be able to walk into TRU and grab those Ghostbusters they're missing, versus some guy making a buck off some other guy who missed out on something he'd like to own. In my eyes, the value of my collection is no different now that other people will get to have the same things I currently enjoy.

I say if there's a demand for these mates and DST wants to rerelease them, more power to them. It's not like the secondary market is putting any extra money in DST's pockets, so why should they feel bad about lowering the "value" of the original releases? These are toys, people who want them should be able to get them easily and for a fair price. Once again DST handles Ghostbusters the exact opposite way that Mattel does, and they continue to be better for it.

The guy at my Borders went hunting in the back and came out with six sets: four of the exclusive pack, one regular Mark IV/Whiplash, and one Pepper/Drone. I grabbed one of the exclusives and the Pepper/Drone set and moved on to Toys R Us, where I found nothing. I'm hoping to be able to hit another Borders or two sometime soon, 'cause it would be great to get the variant set without paying the big markup that comic shops always slap on those. So far I'm digging these, though the Mark IV chest is a bit bulky and keeps him from putting his arms all the way down.

And for anyone else who was breathlessly waiting for an answer on this, the first thing I did with my Mark IV was put his helmet on the old Mark III. It looks absolutely perfect and fixes the one huge flaw with what is otherwise a great Minimate. And Sunglasses Tony wasn't going to be wearing that helmet anyway, so everybody's happy.

Although, I was able to score a MK IV Iron Man from the Marvel Select line, hot off the truck. I was also placed on the list for one of the MS War Machines too.

Does yours have unpainted eyes? I've yet to hear of someone getting one with the eyes painted, which is really disappointing both because I've really been looking forward to that figure, and because I asked Chuck about this in the recent chat here:

Resurrection_Bob: Earlier today I saw a packaged MS Mark IV Iron Man on eBay and the eyes on his mask were not painted. Is that how the figure is going to be released, and if so, why is it that way?

DSTchuck: Eyes are white with Red border just like on the poster...

Hopefully they'll be able to send people replacement faceplates or something.

Meanwhile, back on topic, the Minimates are looking fantastic. I can't wait to pick up all of the TRU sets. I'm also excited because from the pictures on The Fwoosh, it's looking like the new Iron Men use the same red as the old Mark III, which means I'll be able to give my old mate the new style helmet (so his face will stay on). I'm thinking of doing the same for my old Mark II as well, even though the new helmet doesn't have the little rivet dots. The tuxedo Tony hidden under the Mark I is also genius.

Sucks, because my nearest shop didn't get anything in yesterday, so now I'm just hoping Luke gets those couple extra cases he was talking about so I can snag a Hammer. Only one I'm really after from the single packs.

It's possible that the "casual" Ghostbusters are really the lab coat ones with switched out parts, as they have the same heads and pants. They'd each need to come with interchangable arms and torsos for that to be the case, though, so I'm not sure.

More concrete and exciting is that these guys have a good picture of that concept art behind the lab coat Ghostbusters showing what accessories they're to come with. They have the colander helmet!

Well, for once it wasn't me! I've been meaning to get out to Bellevue to look, but just haven't gotten around to it. That store seems to get everything at least once, but doesn't always restock after that first appearance, from what I've seen.

Hey Washington people, the Bellevue Toys R Us had a full case of Ghostbusters wave 2 on the pegs at about 4:30 this afternoon. I got a full set, so there's still a full set and a couple extras waiting for a home.

And what a haul it is! You've made a lot of folks here jealous, that's for sure...

Juicy stuff! Looking forward to pictures tomorrow, great that you guys are there getting us the info.

Dang, that blank is sweet. No clue how I'll get one of those.

Ghostbusters are at the Puyallup and Tacoma TRUS in Washington state.

And Bellevue for the second time, so I picked up what I missed earlier in the week. Really great to have these finally, now I just need to get to the comic shop early enough next week - I missed out on the box set last Wednesday or whenever it was.

I have a preorder in for a SDCC Venkman/Stay Puft set, but I'm pretty worried there won't be enough to go around. Fingers crossed there. I'm pretty optimistic about the ex-Amazon set being obtainable. I was going to skip that when it was part of that big bundle, but now I'm planning on going ahead and being a Ghostbusters completist. I think 24's the only other Minimates I've gotten every release of.

It's good to see how popular these are, but also intimidating in a way. I usually just have to worry about you guys scooping stuff up before me, but these seem to have a lot more general interest than other lines.

The white part of the flyer that's cut off is the little feedback form. Mine will tell DST that the paint on every set at my shop was messed up on the legs.

Thanks for all the pics! If the messed up paint you're referring to is how Peter's legs look different from Egon's, the AA blog somebody linked to earlier in the page said this:

One of these details picked out is that Peter Venkman doesn’t tuck his pants into his boots while the other Ghostbusters do. It may seem like an omission of paint and tampo on the Venkman Minimate at first, but it’s just one of those little details that we try to put into the Minimates to make them true to the source material.

So they actually got that one right!

I swung by my nearest comic shop on the way to work and they said they wouldn't have these until next week. Seeing some pictures here is a nice consolation prize - thanks!

Can we say "left field"?

They're sure making it easier for me to turn down Mattel's likely way-too-expensive-online-only figures in favor of just getting the Minimates. I'll probably end up spending just as much, but I'll be drowning in Mates rather than merely completing the team. We've seen most of the guys in uniforms from both movies, plus messy variants in-between, a handful of very welcome secondary characters, and a pile of ghosts - all before a single one has gone up for sale.

If you're going to do Ghostbusters toys, this is how you do it.

I'd be all for the originals and jump ship after that, myself. But they would indeed work well with the style, and could have their helmets as separate masks so there'd be faces under there (plus, for once, the slight "big-head" effect would be entirely appropriate). Like I said, though, my nostalgia would only make me buy the first team, and I'd be done after that, so they'd have to get the kids hooked to keep it going.

Love to see your drawn renditions if you can post them.

I found the whole set at the Toys R Us in Bellevue, Washington. The checkout lady said somebody's been calling about them, so whoever you are - they're in stock, go get them!

I'm fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, "bad"?

Thanks everybody! It's nice to get a little shout out even though I'm a lurker nobody knows. Happy birthday to the other guys - you picked a good day!

Mine came in the mail yesterday. I was completely unspoiled, so opening the envelope was a nice surprise. Here he is!