DSTZach

So really, we are of 2 camps.

1: "SM3 sucked. Thank goodness for a reboot!"

2: "This new movie looks awful, and is an unnecessary reboot. SM3 wasn't that bad."

That about sum it up?

Three camps.

3. "Crap, they're still debating Andrew Garfield. When will they start talking about that swell DST product again? Man, DST is awesome."

Utterly unnecessary, but you're welcome!

Great Dracula shot, funkguerilla! And send me your Oreos, geohound! I'm currently fiending. Gotta get my friend to bring me my Girl Scout cookies, stat.

I don’t like that the Stacys (Stacies? Staci?) look nothing like Emma Stone or Dennis Leary.

I’m sure they’ll be fine as representations of the movie characters or the comic characters or whatever, but they don’t look they’ll work for Zombieland or Rescue Men fodder.

I LOVE Rescue Men!

8. by now i dont need an 8th thing

8. DENNIS LEARY.

But seriously, I like Andrew Garfield and Rhys Ifans as actors, and as much as I've enjoyed other Raimi films, I look forward to a movie that's not partially tongue-in-cheek.

Picked up my set of this wave yesterday. Really impressed with everyone. One downside, the SHIELD agent that came with my Aunt May has two right legs. Fortunately, I had two others, with another two on the way from Luke, but it still kinda sucks, cause these little guys are so cool, and I totally want an army of them.

Contact customer service.

I thought I was gonna cry when I got to the shop and there was no Aunt May on the pegs. Bless his heart, the shop owner set her aside just for me. [swoon]

Marry that man.

Aaah! Thanks, geohound. Man, I love Stilt-Man. I've been making "The Stilt-Man was here." and even "The most tallest man in the world jokes in my head since I saw it. ("I don't always drink beer, but when I do, look out below!") And that Nightcrawler pic... I need to dress Ben Grimm up like Blackbeard again, stat. And great Man-Spider, Jeff!

Zach... do you know if any of the chest blocks under the bulked up Venom's will have any decals?

Was hoping to swap with the she Venom 'boob' chest to make a different incarnation of Venom.

Failing that, I can grab another Spidey from wave 43, but it'd be good to know in advance. Thanks!

I'll look into it, but give me time.

Sometime frustrations with a toy line are justified. When I first posted here, it was while I was in the middle of writing my weekly blog and was talking about a certain other toy compnay that not only gives bad service, but borders on fraud (okay, probably could have left the words 'borders on' out of that sentence).

I guess my thinking now is that companies like DST sell toys, we choose to purchase them and the relationship is complete there. They offer goods, we pay them, end of obligation. Anything other than that is extra on their part and can't be expected. Customer service, fan interaction and giving explanations are all extras that we've all come to expect to be part of the price that we purchase items for and I think we frequently take it for granted.

Sorry about your experience, groundhog. That whole situation is... unfortunate.

I feel like when you have to deal with 'fans' like this on occasion, you probably tend to expect the negative comments after awhile. And if it was me, I'd take it personally also.

And just to add to what's been said, there have been more than just a couple issues brought up with Minimates over the years. In fact, it seems that about every wave someone has some kind of issues with something that's released or how it's released and usually there's a fair amount of heated discussion about it. The only thing that's different now is that we have a representative of DST here. Not that that should change too much, but hopefully that puts a little bit of the complaints into perspective that real people have jobs that make these. It's not just a hobby to them, it's their career. And if we're all honest, we've all screwed something up at our jobs, we just usually don't tick off a huge group of fanboys when we do. Maybe having Zach here will remind us to use our manners like we should do anyways.

Sorry for the soapbox; I really shouldn't post here when I'm mad about something else.

Sorry you're mad about something else, groundhog7s. I hope Minimates somehow make it better.

And I think I've said that no one needs to mind their manners on my account. I know there will always be criticisms of DST on this board -- it's what it's for (the love of Minimates is implied). But I'm not gonna let a shot at DST go by without comment, if I feel it's unjustified. Most of you are quick to defend your own opinions when someone comments on them, so I'll do the same for DST. I don't expect to change hearts and minds, but I will attempt to correct false or unfair perceptions. If this is gonna be a problem, let me know, and I'll scale back my comments and interaction.

I believe The Wave 47 Wolverine claws will be the same ones Brood Wolverine has. Knife blades that get wider towards the ends, a la Liefeld. (My personal favorite claws.)

Good deal Zach...though that's a McFarlane cover. LOVE Todd.

Pwned! I must have had a brain fart, which explains why I couldn't find this cover in a Google search, but I could find that Outback-era fikll-in issue by Liefeld that was a stand-alone parody of DC's Invasion storyline. (I think.) So random.

Boyd, when I saw your comment, I said to myself "is he trying to bait Zach? That doesn't sound like Boyd". :biggrin:

And Zach, don't you think it's just a little defensive to suggest that we only focus on the screwups here? What, just because we didn't like X-Force Wolverine's beak? I think the vast majority of the sentiment here, and in particular since Toy Fare, are very positive. I mean, compare this board to, say, what they say about Mattel over at AFI; we're a love fest in comparison.

I don't think anyone blames you for this, or the Angel fiasco (though I do think some blame should go Chuck's way for saying that he was going to address the problem, but as yet nothing's happened (and I've got an SA Angel, so I'm not complaining, mind you)). They're just... things that happen in the course of doing business. You guys have a great track record; don't go gettin' all Geoff Beckett on us here. :biggrin:

I said "people," meaning... "people." Not Multiverse people specifically. No, this place is at least 50% positive about what we do. :biggrin: But for the most part, 90% of the Internet seems to be complaints, and that applies to our work, as well. And Boyd's unexpected statement (Et tu, Boyd?) may have been a joke, but it made us sound like that's all we do. Screw up.

I will admit I was hurt, but only because I have come to strongly identify myself with DST. I did not think anyone was blaming me specifically, but they were blaming DST specifically, without knowing the facts. (Our factory screwed up -- we certainly did not tell them to put TRU exclusives in boxes going to comic shops.) I am, to be honest, not fully versed in the Angel fiasco, but I would like to know what happened, and will search the forums later. Having seen the pictures of the Spidey Friends and Foes figures, I understand that issue, but I would be very curious to see what our early samples from the factories looked like. I'm sure Chuck has addressed that one elsewhere, but I doubt they looked like that.

I believe The Wave 47 Wolverine claws will be the same ones Brood Wolverine has. Knife blades that get wider towards the ends, a la Liefeld. (My personal favorite claws.)

Actually, what we do best is make great toys, but the spectacular screw-ups are what people seem to focus on.

I mean it only with love, Zach. Your successes have outweighed your mistakes in my eyes.

I don't know how to respond to either of those statements.

Zach, I know you can’t really talk about this line yet, you probably aren’t even going to read this post until well after press photos of wave 1 come out, but PLEASE say you guys can make the DLC characters!

I think we're looking into it.

The game comes out Tuesday, any chance we'll see a press release soon Zach?

Waiting on some paperwork to be finalized...

Because Minimates aren't sold in the U.K.? I dunno. it may be around there, we'll see when everything ships.

Sold in the UK legally!, we got ways around the minimate prohibition thats lasted all these years, men have got rich & powerful selling these babies to desperate people like myself........ rich & powerful

"I'll get you, Minimate Bandit!"

"No you won't!"

"Oh, yes I will!"

I'm starting to wonder if there's more to this story, like TRU cut their order at the last minute and DST is having to dump the extra inventory on LCSs. It's beginning to sound a little more widespread than a mixup with a few cases. Hmm...

Yes, but this is also the same company that gave us "Angel-Gate". Specatular screw-ups are what they do best

I think it's more likely a palette of TRU boxes got mixed with the Direct Market boxes and got shipped, especially since the boxes look alike (as Luke pointed out). The more interesting questions are if TRU is getting Direct Market exclusives, and if so ,what are they going to do with them?

Actually, what we do best is make great toys, but the spectacular screw-ups are what people seem to focus on.

And yes, it apparently is more widespread, but it is not because TRU cut their order. One retailer has told me that he has received his TRU sets in a specialty box, so it looks like it was a packing error at the factory. Still not sure how widespread it is, and whether it was a production error or simply a packing error, but I would hope that the number of each type of figure is still the same. We'll see if TRU gets specialty sets, and what they choose to do with them. Luckily, we usually make extra specialty sets to keep in inventory, so hopefully they will not be too hard to get.

Why not April 27th?

Thats the UK cinema release date

Because Minimates aren't sold in the U.K.? I dunno. it may be around there, we'll see when everything ships.

See? It's a common mistake. And, in this age of more sculpted bits, technically close to true.

Actually, it's DST that describes them as 2.5", not just rude retailers.

Yeah, I may have copied and pasted that from some old Previews text a couple of times before being told that was actually incorrect. Which I THOUGHT, but didn't question. I'm currently trying to stamp out all mention of that scale, but the Internet is forever. The newer solicitation text should be correct.

Perhaps it's because Jill is DLC only? So they figure both SuperSkrull (who is a LOT of fun in the game) and C Viper would have had more exposure & therefore warrant bigger Distribution.

I actually didn't realize that, so that actually makes sense. Although I am gonna stick with "Super Skrull is a dude, and dudes sell better, especially cool alien dudes." Pretty sure that's our default position. Also, a nice big sculpted part on Super Skrull, which is more cost-effective in higher quantities.

I want to share more control art. I'll see if I'm allowed.

Hey, is Jill Valentine shorter than the other Minimates? I haven't seen her in person, and someone on FB is saying she is. I know Viewtiful Joe has slippers, but does Jill?

Any Hill Valley Town Square sets they could re-use for Monster Squad sets too.! (same movie set)

I would love for us to do Monster Squad. Please, please Ask DST.

Full monty to be sur... oh what the frell am I saying?!?!?!??

No, it will be Thong Kang.

Now Mr. Oat... when did you say we will be able to get a gander at the 2 REDACTED minimates? When will DST be able to unveil them officially.

May 4th? Unless I hear otherwise, date of premiere or date of release, whichever comes first. (I think it has to be the premiere.)

Also a question for Zach - does it ruin your movie experience to already know what the REDACTED and the REDACTED are and what they look like? I've always wondered that about people in the industry but you're the first one I have access to.

Not in this case, no. I've never been one to avoid spoilers, but I would not classify this as one. The battle will be amazing regardless of what the villains look like, and there are no real plot elements revealed by the figures. Just a name and a design scheme. I can't wait for everyone to see them.

very good... very good

EDIT - don't worry chaps, I'm sure DST will add a chin for the release.

She'll look good ahead of a few wave 43 agents. Looks rather Cobie and very Maria, really like it when we get new movie characters that aren't over detailed and fit in with the comic line.

Just hope she doesn't end up having the weird orangey plastic skin like the Thor mates.

so... 'speciality' wave, right? variant or not? I'm not keeping track.

Looked at the control art, and it looks like her face is supposed to be slightly more centered, giving her a chin. Hopefully will be fixed in production. Art also shows a thigh holster, so I'm assuming that will be there as well.

Specialty wave. And she is NOT the rare chase figure any more. She's the three-per-case, with the mystery villain army builder. The one-per-case variant will be another mystery villain.