DSTZach

I've been trying to pay tribute to MASK in the stop-motion MAX shorts. Helmets lowering onto heads, teams chosen according to specialty, etc. We have a second one in production now.

If retailer orders are low enough, we cancel waves. I assumed that was what happened with GR, but there may have been other issues at play, like timing. If reference art was late in coming, we might have missed our window -- maybe they would have gotten to shelves late. Regardless, it would have to be bad for us to eat prototyping and painting costs, as well as tooling. I can't remember another Marvel wave or set that has been cancelled after prototyping and solicitation, although some were cancelled in development. (Please do not ask me what they were.)

Getting specialty stores to buy in to one of our proprietary brands is a tall order anyway, but we wanted to try. Looks like they WILL be getting made as two-packs, if TRU continues to bite. Buy Pirate Minimates at TRU, please. Considering that we're making up this line as we go along, they're really only pushing other characters back a bit. We invent characters to fit what we need. Now we need less!

If your FP definitely carries some Minimates, I would see if they can get in what you need, but I'd be surprised if they get in TRU exclusives. That said, I know Luke's Toy Store orders TRU sets in limited amounts, and I believe he ships internationally. And I know that some of these guys have been helpful towards others, so make friends with the right blokes. Just to confirm, I did a search for "Minimates" on the TRU UK site. 25 items, none of them Minimates.

Just to weigh in here, at the request of Urban Saboteur: - These figures were never slated for mass. Minimates were only going to specialty retailers at this point, not Toys "R" Us. - Without sharing these figures with Toys "R" Us, the production would have hinged entirely on the specialty orders. I'm actually surprised they reached the test shot stage. - DST is NOT set up to sell direct-to-consumer in any sort of real numbers. Selling direct-to-retailers is the best we can do, and based on the mixed reactions from serious Minimate collectors on these forums, I doubt fan response would have been much different than the retailers' commitment. - Windows for the movies are limited, so we can definitely not produce these figures any more. - I do not believe there were ever any plans to do GR2 Minimates, possibly due to the initial reaction to these figures, and the generally low expectations for the sequel. - While I personally did not care for the first movie, I am looking forward to the second. Big Crank/Gamer fan.

The black-haired version is actually Undercover Anne Bonny. She disguised herself to infiltrate the Vendetta's evil pirate crew. THe FF version is the standard Anne.

Warlords/Night Driver. ...Not really.

Of the two-packs? That's very sad. Mine is sold out. I'd hoped it was universal, but I guess not.

It may not. At least, not in that format.

The customers may be there, but the retailers may not be as on board. We'll see. It looks like MvC3 Series 2 should hit specialty stores and comic shops next month, and TRU the month after that. If you're willing to pay shipping, the specialty wave should be easy to get a hold of from online retailers. The TRU exclusives might be trickier to track down, but if you're in the U.S. you're already better off than the overseas collectors, and Toysrus.com will get stock in intermittently. (They sell out in short bursts.) Series 3 should be another month or two after that, but I believe Spring. I believe at this point, ALL Minimates releases are non-UK, due to product restrictions, and the Toys R Us exclusives are no exception. MvC3 Hulk was exclusive to TRU, but is similar to the Wave 41/TRU 11 Hulk. As long as he continues to exist in the comic book world, I'm sure his appearance in UMvC3 is not your only chance.

Hope the next ones blow KITT and KARR out of the water.

We were late to the party on MvC3, and by the time UvMC3 Mates came out we'd be late to the party again, so we may skip UMvC3 and go right to something else. That plan may change, though.

We'll have a few new lines at the show, from video games and movies and comics. Not revealing which just yet. Sorry, BRB.

Sorry, no more Jak & Daxter figures planned at this time. But we do have a couple of new video game lines we may unveil at Toy Fair.

Sorry, I just can't do it. I bought the full LCBS assortment, plus the TRU variant pirate ship & DeLorean. But I'm done buying the Stealth Jet. I don't want to buy any more Stealth Jets. It's been done to death and I'm really tired of them. The same repainted figure and the same jet recolored. Maybe on clearance, but I'm so sick of the Stealth Jet. Sorry Zach. But it was never based on any property or design I care for. Maybe if the figure was more unique I would have gotten it. I was half-joking, although TRU sales could always be better. I guess I'll stop pushing for my new, more unique MAX jet colorway, then.

I sincerely hope this is not the case. I have never thought of Battle Beasts as "defunct", only delayed. If this is what Zach was referring to, I will be disappointed if we don't get a resurrected line. I hope for several I've mentioned before, but I'd be surprised if LOTR isn't one of them. Plus I expect to see the Trek Shuttlecraft in the vehicles line. Battle Beasts was never defunct. We never even started it! As you've all seen, we'll be announcing something at C2E2 (not Toy Fair), so assume that we will be immediately turning it up to 11, as promised for all of the lines. I can think of two lines that are defunct (or thought of as defunct) that are currently getting new items in 2012, although one of those might only be seen as getting an extra something-something. Hopefully all of our plans come to fruition.

We've been working on it, but as it would likely be exclusive to Toys "R" Us again, the need to have it there isn't as pressing. A lot of retailer exclusives don't come to Toy Fair, because they've already been bought and agreed upon, and therefore don't need to. It's more a sales event than a press event.

Waiting to see how well Series 1 does, and we'll probably make a decision after Toy Fair next month.

There are actually two Ryus. Series 2 has a first appearance Ryu, with floppy bangs, and Series 3 has modern spiky-haired Ryu. I may have heard something about us tweaking one of the hair pieces, but as far as I know both figures are still happening.

SPM KITT was sold individually, as a Previews Exclusive. The Vendetta was in a case assortment with KARR. Sounds like your shop didn't order the case assortment? Let me look into that one. Just looking at how it changed, I am going to assume they could not get the tampo to apply around the bowsprit like that, without greatly increasing the cost. Jason Wires can do anything with a prototype, but for an assembly line to do that a thousand times... it may have been a necessary cut. Ditto the gold anchors.

Yes! In Wave 3! http://www.artasylum.com/blog/2012/01/marvel-vs-capcom-wave-3-to-fight-its-way-to-stores-this-spring/

Yes, some of the details on SPM mode would have been too small to make transformable on such a small car, so we made two different versions. Transforming would have been cool. Yes, there was some confusion on my part. I've been promoting the TRU assortment assuming it would hit around the same time, and that the disparity between the two assortments in the LAST wave had been resolved. But this time, the TRU wave will be the one that comes out much later, by TRU's own preference. So the basic KITT won't be out until May (along with the Albion ship). I know, I know -- SPM KITT and KARR before Basic KITT? Insanity! But it was a last-minute change that I did not inquire about, and I apologize. If you can't wait that long, buy the SPM KITT, because it's awesome. Then go to TRU and buy the Hover DeLorean, the Ranger ship and another Stealth Jet. All awesome. And in case anyone is still confused, the APC got bumped to Wave 4, so Albion and KITT are the only vehicles in TRU 3. Not sure of Wave 4 dates at this point.

Very Cool! I'm also more interested now in KITT than I was before! Assuming these are production pieces and not prototypes, KITT's looking hella slick! The pics that show the glossy cars are production -- KARR's light is actually yellow, not red, and I didn't apply any decals, but otherwise they're production. Sadly, it sounds like basic KITT and the HMS Albion are going to be a spring release at TRU. TRU wants to move more of Series 2 first, since they pretty much just came out.

Hey, I have that outfit! That was the uniform at the Wizard offices, wasn't it? Just ToyFare and Anime Insider.

No, I lost my cool here a bit. I started defending the product-making decision, when I should have simply explained the reason for deletion and left it at that. I muddied the issue, and I apologize. And Dio never said "garbage" until I did -- he said "pegwarmers." And the funny thing is, if he had said something had turned OUT to be a pegwarmer, that probably would have been fine -- perfectly good figures often end up keeping pegs warm for various reasons, and usually no fault of their own. It was the way he implied (and later stated outright) that something we had made was clearly a pegwarmer from the start that made me delete it. I love love love that this message board exists. But I need to keep the FB page a happy place to go and learn about DST products.