DSTZach

3 hours ago, thereasonsy said:

I just wish they communicated to the masses better or figured out how to create a rhythm for interested people that aren’t diehards that come here. Finding out we have two sets coming on the same day without much notice is frustrating for fans of the line. 

We have a ship dates calendar on our website, that breaks things down by quarter. I know, three months is a big window, but we can't tell people exactly when they'll be in stores (or in our webstore, for that matter) until they are in our warehouse. International and trans-continental freight shipping is too unpredictable, plus there are warehouse workloads to take into consideration.

I just gave everybody a one- to two-week heads-up, but that may be the best I can do. AEW MM ships tomorrow, MMPR Series 2 ships NEXT WEDNESDAY. So you get to spread out your purchases a little. That said, I'm willing to bet that VERY few people outside of hardcores will be into AEW AND MMPR MM, causing a purchasing dilemma.  

And only hardcores "need" to buy these on release day. Everyone else will buy as they discover them in stores, see ads online or in various publications (Previews, ToyCollectr, and yes, Archie) or see reviews online (I ship this stuff out regularly).

13 minutes ago, Navaan said:

Any chance we can get confirmation of who is still in the pack? Hoping Echo is still safe with her show coming out? I know you said Mary should be clear and good!

I believe we are dropping Kingpin. We made a great Kingpin not too long ago. Don't quote me, we'll all find out next month, I think. 

I don't remember us marketing the FCBD set as being the only place to get those characters. If that was ever presented as a fact, I apologize. I don't know that I knew full details about the carded sets at the time, but I certainly thought future variants of those MAJOR characters were possible. 

And again, this is not a "course correction." We didn't develop these as an alternative to ARAH, but as an interesting exclusive at some point in the line. But with ARAH not selling well, we are TRYING these instead, to see if it is Joe in general, or just ARAH fatigue. Between Hasbro, Ultimates and ReAction, there is a lot of ARAH out there. If they do well, great, maybe we can revisit ARAH at a future date. I certainly hope so. 

BTW, I have corrected an oversight on my part and requested Joe MM for HIssTank. I honestly thought I had sent him Series 1, but now he will have everything. Thanks for the heads up.

On 4/14/2023 at 7:53 PM, Swarm198 said:

Still on the fence about this set. Losing a character doesn't seem like a wise decision, but I agree with others that it definitely shouldn't be Mary.

It's not Mary. And we're trying to make sets more affordable, so unless we cut paint apps or new parts, fewer characters per set is the game plan. The price is going to go down, is my understanding. 

On 4/14/2023 at 7:53 PM, Swarm198 said:

I feel like its crazy to have seen these in October and still not have a confirmed solicitation. DST should look into Kickstarter FFS.

I showed a sneak peek of 84 artwork at NYCC because 82 was out and 83 was on pre-order, and that's traditionally when we reveal the next series. I honestly thought they would have been solicited by now, I'm trying to get them moved up, but I guess sneak peeks need to be spread out more or eliminated.

Not sure how Kickstarter would change anything, aside from making them available to fewer retailers and killing the line entirely. Amazon, BBTS, EE and Luke currently support the line, I don't know how that would change if we went direct to consumer as our primary venue. Also not sure it's faster. 

Checked out Cotswold, as I remember they used to be very into retro Joe. Now, they seem to specialize in very high-end 1/6 scale, with some 1:12 from Mezco and some 1/18 Warhammer stuff. It's possible they may be interested, maybe I'll send them some hints. THanks!

As far as I know, they will be exact reproductions, minus the light-up features. So Luminos will be translucent. We tend to do clear prototypes in white, but we should really have some extra clear bodies made so we can prototype clear Minimates. I'll suggest it.

Checked with my Hisstank contact to see if I have sent him anything, but it's possible I may not have. I will get him samples. YoJoe seems to be largely inactive, I'd love for them to create a MM database, but unlikely. Luckily there is Ivan!

Glad to see there are some fans out there. I never had Super Joes, they were a little before my time, but they were always fascinating to me being around Mego scale. I think we had a couple in the toy library at ToyFare. Ditto the Adventure Team, there was a guy in my area who used to take great realistic photography of those bearded dudes doing different stuff, so I have a fondness for them. 

Correct, but Series 4 is still happening. More info later. 

1 hour ago, Navaan said:

I appreciate you, both in response and in fighting for the Joe fans.

I know it may seem abnormal, but I would almost really recommend asking here and even on Hisstank what characters would get people the most interested. Joe fans can be temperamental and fickle.

I think the team knows who the most popular Joes and Cobras are, because Series 3 and 4 are all killer no filler. It's not like we made a set with Raptor and Crystal Ball and wondered why the sales weren't there, there must be other reasons. The character repeats are what they are, but I am not sure the carded figures were the best way to go. We'll see how these do. Chuck said in a live Ask DST today that 3 and 4 are not dead. 

19 hours ago, nandoninny said:

Any chance we’ll have sdcc exclusives?  I plan on this being my last year going and would love to pick something up in person one last time

There will be a Transformers MM SDCC exclusive. No Joe at this time. 

19 hours ago, fwoosheyman said:

Instead of doing things like simplifying the packaging to reduce the price of gijoe boxsets to be in line w other sets, stop releasing the same characters over and over or an army builder boxset the decision was to do not one but two older/more obscure boxsets. 🤯

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again DST management makes horrible choices time and time again when it comes to minimates (Trek, KH, DC)

DC line was a work-for-hire joint. I don't think we chose the characters. 

19 hours ago, fwoosheyman said:

I sure hope this works or the retailer comes through. GIJOE mates have been my favorite of the hasbro lines and the one w best potential to last a long time.  As others have said this is a total disappointment and sure looks like a death blow. 

Taste the Fwoosh!  

17 hours ago, Onyx_6 said:

Has Hasbro acknowledged Minimates on their social media? It would be great if they could have given shout outs to the lines when their properties were getting released/promoted. 

Not sure it was available before, but I have actually been talking to them today about pushing the product. I just sent them info on Joe Series 1 and hopefully it will lead to some online promo. 

17 hours ago, Onyx_6 said:

will these sets be on the retro cards at $10 a mate? Or will they at least be in the more palatable/affordable box format?

I believe they are individually carded, it was mentioned in the voiceover and I have seen the art. 

1 hour ago, Shanester said:

@DSTZach Will Luminos be clear?

I believe so, yes, they mention it in the audio description. I'm not 100% familiar with the toy. I'm only 45.

12 hours ago, BCDX97 said:

DST released some Predator minimates shortpacked in a case and that killed my interest in that line.  Sometimes they make weird business decisions.

Decisions are based on sales. At one time, I believe shortly after Kmart and Hot Topic requested blind-bagged TMNT and NBX 'Mates, we tried blind bags as a way to appeal to different retailers. I don't think the Marvel Now set did very well, but I think the Predator wave did okay. Notice we don't do it anymore. 

43 minutes ago, elhonez said:

But if the intent is to find something you think will sell better than 80s Joes... I don't even know where to start kicking the tires on that logic. I'm sure there are plenty of 60+ collectors out there still, and even on these boards, but if you couldn't get the 80s Joes to catch fire, what's the plan of attack here?

If this is a passion project that Chuck wanted to squeak out before you retire Joe Mates, that would make more sense. I'm not opposed to these in the least, but the logic doesn't track.

I don't think we said, "80s Joes aren't selling, let's do 1970s Joes", I think these were developed in parallel as a potential exclusive, but now we are trying them at retail because Series 2 was a disappointment. We're just trying to change things up a little. 

Series 3 in a simplified format is still possible. An army-builder set is still possible, but not before 3 and 4 come out. I'll keep fighting.

1 hour ago, Navaan said:

I think the biggest pain is availability. These need to be in stores. I have three comic chains in my area, with six locations, and none of them knew about these until I requested them, directly, which got set 1 ordered.

 

The loss of Toys R Us has been such, such a blow to Minimates. I really, really hope that this new vendor pulls through, it can only help.

We offer them to retailers every month. If they order toys, then DST is the first retailer they see in the Previews catalog. If they look at what is shipping each week in toys, DST items are at the top. Unfortunately, the new retailer is online, but I think it would still boost visibility.

1 hour ago, Chooch said:

I'll get these for the oddity factor alone, but would have preferred the ARAH stuff kept going. Are these Con exclusives?

At this time, I do not believe they are con exclusives -- we just showed them to retailers in their private Showcase, so I assume they will be in Previews soon. We tried not to show any exclusives there. They are definitely not for SDCC as far as I know. 

There is a major retailer interested, as far as I know it is just a matter of straightening out paperwork, but that's taking a while. We'll see how it goes, it may be the kiss of life. 

37 minutes ago, THE_CRIPPLER said:

I'm not pointing a finger at you Zach, I am sure you were probably as shocked as the rest of us when you saw that these were being made. Is there some behind the curtain reasoning why these were decided on over the popular 80's G.I. Joe line?

Nobody is buying the '80s Joe line. Blame character repeats if you like, but it doesn't change the situation. I am still pulling for Series 3/4, hopefully we can figure something out. Con exclusive, VHS set, what have you. 

Was searching for something else on Amazon and came across this cool 15" rock formation that would make a great display for Minimates. I mean, not a TON of Minimates, but several!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7P3TNMG/ref=twister_B0B7W9G8VC

10 hours ago, THE_CRIPPLER said:

GI. Joe sets should be coming out more consistently to help get non Minimate collectors to take notice and get interested in them. I think that is probably the second most popular license you guys have, yet we have not seen very much since it was announced that you had the license for them.

I am a firm believe in momentum, making a line collectable enough (i.e. having enough releases) to be collected. But it's hard to keep cranking them out when sales are on a downward trend. I think we would do better with less expensive sets, like on a single blister card, but I'm not sure everyone else agrees with me, here or at HQ.

And you'll get two sets next week, I believe! AEW and Power Rangers. Not sure what will be next. D&D, possibly? After that, maybe TMNT Blimp set or the SDCC box set we're doing. 

We're going to start offering more sets soon, so perhaps we'll have more than one per month in the near future. 

Series 2 is in the warehouse. Probably in stores next Wednesday. 

Series 1 is in the warehouse now. Probably in stores next Wednesday.

1 hour ago, Navaan said:

Army Builders. Make a set with Trooper, Viper, Crimson Guard and BAT and it will sell like crazy to Joe fans.

I agree. We'll see how it goes. 

There will be AEW and GI Joe Minimate reveals in the Showcase.

As far as I know we are proceeding with the Vinimates and we included them and Series 2 in the Fan Expo. Not sure of release. 

No but we may solicit in late May.

Amazing!

Sweet! How did he react?

Skywarp is my favorite, and I believe he would be next, yes. 

You know, we called our thing a Fan Expo without really taking into consideration that there IS a Fan Expo convention elsewhere. Ours is just an online thing that incorporates a Showcase of new products, plus some interviews with talent. I THOUGHT it sounded too good to not be taken. 

As far as the AEW Fan Fest goes, I do not think we will be attending. Still no product to sell! It's coming up pretty soon, I think. 

I can see Blue Marvel being a tough one, great choice, Luke.

I believe we have set a release for them, you may not hear until summer, but they will come out.