Kirby

Just watch - this will be the most successful wave yet. Why? Flaming skulls are totally metal!

Jesse Falcon of Marvel Toys even remarked as such; How else do you explain Vengeanve getting into Marvel Legends?! Collector's dig flaming skulls, kids love flaming skulls - even chicks dig flaming skulls (but not as much as they dig giant robots).

Plus the "caretaker" is the Cowboy Ghost Rider - yeehaw!

ToyBiz learned the lesson early on: Costume Variants are OK for chase, not Character Variants.

The heat they got over Goliath, Red Skull, et al was big and bad. They amended their policy, and fans were happier.

Given that, the only slip has been Spider-Woman.

However, part of the issue of variants has to do with the mold-making process; the molds are always the same (in terms of pieces used per character) and are produced in large batches. So, to use Shanester's idea above - instead of Jess Drew Spider-Woman, we'd get Spider-Man with Fabulous Hair variant.

I think the Marvel chases are fine (at a fixed 1-per-case ratio), and am cool with none in the DC lines; at least it means that you have 3 complete sets per case instead of 2 complete sets, 1 set with chase, and 2 extra boxes left over.

Sounds interesting.

I have never seen the movie, so I can't comment on the characters.

I think some of the multi-packs have a lot of potential; people here have been wanting generic/army builders like police officers and the like - it sounds like some of those options will meet that desire.

The property isn't very 'visible' now - there are no big events around it. This usually means that higher-end items, like your busts, can still break even; however, other items (such as the minimates) will have a big challenge without a major push from somewhere.

Keep in mind that this site is the 'vocal minority' in terms of sales; the community here can give you a lot of good input, but we are not the ones that will do the majority of the purchasing - you need to sell to those 'normal' people

Ah gee... you guys...

Thanks for the props. I really really wish I could devote more time to making 'mates, but I've got a dozen commitments to hundreds of people. There is never enough time. Hopefully I can get rolling again soon. I've never been able to enter a Custom Con, and I really hope that I can with a killer Minimate Entry - I've got an idea that will be pretty neat if I can ever get to it, but it is a secret.

Thanks again folks.

After having the official announcement so long ago, it is large matter of patience waiting for the new solicits to come in.

I can't figure it out. The SFmates were a top seller (the only AFX minimate exclusive to sell out in a short period of time as one example), had a presence overseas (the blind-box assortment), and were well received by the community here. I just can't understand the hold-up, other than the usual CAPCOM-charged-a-fortune-for-licensing-and-we-still-can't-make-up-the-difference syndrome.

At least I know my comic shop has gone through more of the Street Fighter Minimates than any other wave of minimates ever.

I've only had luck with heat and careful negotiation of the limb. Nothing else has worked and i went through 4 Nightcrawlers trying to see what fixed the issue.

This was the first thing I tried to do. All of the NightCrawler two packs were sold out and this was the only Target within an hour of my home that sells them. They offered cash back but my boy has been waiting for Nightcrawler for a couple years now and he didn't want to give him up. So he plays with a one legged nightcrawler (the other leg 'bamfed' away) hahah. The one leg remaining is about half torn off as well. So eventually I'll need to cough up double the cost and get it on ebay or something.

If you can get the peg out, it should not be difficult to fix.

There is an old trick from my Games Workshop wargaming days that can help strengthen parts that join together that should totally work.

You'll need: A broken Nightrawler foot, possibly a second minimate foot of the same base color (black?), needle-nose pliers, exacto knife or other precise cutting tool, brass rod or a finish nail and some way to cut it to size (wire cutters work fine), drill or rotary tool and bit that is close to the diameter of the brass rod/finish nail you will use, superglue.

1. Clean up the break - cut off any messy material from the broken area. You'll need to get the footpeg out of the leg (you can do this with pliers, or if you can't just yank it out, drill it out by drilling a hole in the middle - sometimes you can grip it using the hole and pull it out, otherwise, keep drilling until it is able to be broken out). For the repair, you'll probably want to fin a matching foot peg and cleanly cut it off at the peg as well.

2. Get a short length of brass rod (heck, even a nail can work - just cut it down to size). I can't say the exact length, but it should be able to go fairly deep into both the foot peg and the foot itself. You'll need the wire first so you know how wide a hole to drill.

3. Drill holes in the foot and the footpeg. This can be tricky to keep the pieces stable while drilling in them, so if you have some pliers or small clamps that you can use to hold it in place, do so. Otherwise you risk drilling into your hand, which is not good. Try to get the holes right in the center of where everything goes. Common sense applies here. As far as depth of holes - you'll need to drill deep enough that your rod will fit inside. You should not need to drill all the way through either part to get enough stabilization from the rod.

4. Insert Rod into holes. Apply pressure to do a dry fitting. This is just to make sure that the pieces all line up properly before gluing.

5. Pull the foot and peg apart a small way and put a drop or two of superglue in between, then press them back together. Maintain pressure for a minute or so. Let dry.

That should do it.

Hopefully this helps somebody. If anybody needs additional explanation, speak up. I could draw some diagrams or somethin.

Olympic Cards & Comis for most.

AFX, CSC, and BBTS for some others.

eBay for nearly all of the promos.

Thanks for the info TM2_Dinobot!

Aunt May would be great. Sign me up.

I hope and long and, dare I say, pine for Street Fighter Minimates round 2. Good to hear that the situation has improved.

It would be keen if the DCD deal would cause Marvel to budge, but I really do not see that happening. Marvel has itself licensed out to so many companies for so many things - it will likely mean more than just hashing things out with Hasbro.

Thanks groundhog!

Once I pay my bill for this month, I think I want to get a case... I need a LOT of fodder.

I started with Kubricks!

Seriously, I've been a block-head before there were minimates. I had just started collecting figures in 2000 with the Sonic Adventure and Street Fighter figures from ReSaurus. At some point I saw the Kubricks and fell in love the with genre as a whole. But importing Kubricks was/is a bear. (and sometimes a be@rbrick, ha!) When I heard about Art Asylum producing a domestic block-figure, I was giddy. I was all over them (albeit, I was kind of hiding under the alias "Guillermo Montoya" on the AA boards... It was me, Ivan, a few others and hundreds of Star Trek fans :o).

So my first Minimates were the Spencer's KISS four-pack and all the 3"ers.

I've been around ever since.

Not sure exactly what is meant 'tag' in this instance, since it can be done in so many ways. If you mean to say that it would say 'humor' right in the title or thereabouts, that would be great, or some other very clear distinction. I almost think a 'humor' tag isn't enough; (depending on how it was done) the ones who would even notice such a tag are probably already able to figure it out themselves (admittedly, it takes me a couple of read-throughs to 'get it').

One other solution would be to fork the the blog between the news and the humor. There should be a method to aggregate the two into a single 'page' for those that want it all. Barring that, more clearly distinguishing the humor from the rest via a different color-scheme might help.

I've played around with it, but usually we need all the pieces to play on

I just saw the castle set in a store. The scale will take some fudging, but it could work for some LOTR scenes.

http://www.rte.ie/arts/2006/1101/wachowskibrothers.html

Horde thine Minimates whilst thou canst! Great fortune awaits thee in 2008!

Great work! Lots of personality and flavor

I would love to see that colored - it would make a sweet poster or desktop.

If you look very close at the elbow joint, you see that Ares' has more roundness on the inner parts of the joint, which is more noticeable on the 2.5" 'mates.

Looks like Ares and Killer Croc will be standard Minimate size not the larger KISS, LOTR size that they appeared to be in the original illustrations. Same will probably be true for Bane then.

They look the same to me, although the Ares does appear smaller. I hope that it's just an illusion!

Croc is clearly in the larger scale although the height of Batman's ears makes it seem like less of a difference. And Ares does seem to be in the 2" scale in this comparison pic but I think he's not pictured to scale. If you look at his arms they are thicker than Wonder Woman's which makes me think that although he looks like he's only 2", he will be in the 2.5" scale.

Going for volume... probably more complicated than I should have gone for:

ToyFare is usually at least a month behind the world in terms of information dissemination, except when it is "exclusive," and even then, it is generally 'known' by the time the magazine hits newsstands. But it is funny.

Is it just me or do legs look shorter than normal? Something else? They look stumpier than normal.

Maybe I should go talk to the LASIK people again.

Sorry, it's all my fault. I was the one person in the universe in favor of blind-boxing, and apparantly they drew my name out of the jester's cap.

$5 is a nice round number.

It isn't so blind that you are going to open up a box and get Frodo. You know you're getting a Cylon. I know I'm stupid, but as long as I am getting some Cylon, it's all good for me.

PL's right - collector's are not excited about this, the same way collector's apparantly are not excited about Speed Racer (or anything else for that matter) - it's just me.

Yeah, I hope not, too. But, we already know about battle damaged variants for Supes and Bats. (Sniff sniff) Do I smell a "heat vision" variant, an Earth 2 variant and the super-special chase Kingdom Come variant?

As distasteful as the idea is to us, it would make total sense to boost sales on these with a minimum of one variant/chase they could inexpensively tampo for every character they've shown...

Those variants are almost certainly going to happen, probably sooner than later. At least with blind boxing, you get through them quicker.

Wow, everyone is being pretty dang hard on the line. I can't say that I disagree with most of the complaints. My Racer X has some bad paint apps as well. And the cars are a little out of scale. Honestly, everything that's been said seems to be accurate, but I still find it hard to believe everyone is being so critical. These are toys. Speed Racer himself has never been a BIG american character. They are bring a newer, "hipper" show, but these are based on the classic character. Just the fact they are releasing them alone is a plus. Also, whether the cars are in scale or not, I just think they are fun. They are small and well made. I was afraid of getting some crappy "pull-back motor" type of thing, but I was glad the way they turn out. Maybe I'm alone, but I do really like my Speed Minimates. I really don't see much difference between these and the first marvel mates. No accessories? Check. Limited Characters? Check. Overpriced? Check. So, in the end I guess it's just personal preference, and I personally think they are pretty cool and would buy a second wave, if they released one. Before anyone makes a snap judgement, I recommend that you at least take a look at them for yourself. neo

Lots of fine points. I do not have them yet, and thus cannot comment on the quality.

To add - Speed Racer IS an American icon, at least in that he is one of the first (debatably the first, but some conted Astro Boy as the first and Speed Racer the first major) examples of Japanese animation being imported to the US. The property is very significant, and there are numerous references to it throughout pop-culture.

Isn't it appropriate that the cars are deformed? The same is being done to the Battlestar Galactica franchise. It fits the subtext of minimates. Again, I don't own them (yet), but as long as the figures nicely fit into the vehicle, I think the pictures indicate I'll be happy.

I'm looking forward to acquiring these for myself and making a reasonable judgement on my own. I'm having a lot of trouble making any sort of thought about these from the comments in this thread.

edit: Mad Ups to NeoLego for the great pics. Thanks a bunch! Solidified my resolve to get them.

Congratulations and Thanks, Danny.

MMC is one of the best community sites in our little world, and you've done great things with it.

Very clever way to set up Army-Building.

Since you are only recasting 2 molds, these can be produced more quickly and cheaply than a regular set. Put it in blind-boxes to continue the trend.

I will probably get a half-case of each, since Cylons are the best part of BSG... but they are no orcs.

Don't turn to the way of the Kubrick!

LOL - you kids...

Between this and Speed Racer, methinks it be time to make a run to TRU.