DSTZach

- No, these aren't all for me!

- Yes, they are all spoken for!

Wow, you picked those all up for other collectors? Out of the goodness of your heart?

Just shot these from packaged samples. Dormammu also comes with fireball hands, and Trish also comes with gun. No energy attack for Morrigan.

Zach,what would i have to do in order to get a Phantom Of The Opera Boxset ?

Buy Universal Monsters Minimates that aren't the Phantom, so the line continues? Show them off to all your UM-loving friends? Given the time and the support, I expect the line to continue apace.

Here you go:

I'll try to share a packaging pic tomorrow. Sorry that step got skipped on this set.

You're kidding about that Rocket Raccoon cartoon, aren't you? That's just mean.

Sorry, I was trying to make a point, at the expense of your feelings. I apologize.

I'm not trying to make an Avengers vs. X-Men thing about the box sets, just pointing out that the ones released in the last few years have been very X-heavy. And, since the box sets are often the best way for us to get lesser lights, that's been disappointing. Of course, the X-Men are a very different property from the Avengers, which is more of an umbrella for solo heroes. The X-Men collectively are A-listers, but individually none of the characters save Wolverine have that status. As Miry pointed out, none of the other X-Men have a solo title right now, and none have even proven capable of sustaining a solo title for a significant period of time. But now we're just arguing semantics.

I think two-packs get a lot of lesser-known characters out there. My favorite C-lister Minimate is and always shall be Stilt-Man.

I would also agree with Miry that the time for Commander Rogers has passed, since that identity was so fleeting. Hey, at least it lasted longer then Spidey's id reveal (Marvel really drives me nuts sometimes...). I also think that was Chuck's basic argument against the Winter Soldier those months ago, which somehow became "we won't make him because he's dead" which somehow became "we have a rule against making any dead character", which is preposterous. I know it's tough for you guys to keep up with continuity, when it's so fluid and your development process is so long. Did I mention that I thought it was brilliant of you guys to announce the Miles Morales Spider-Man when you did?

Thank you! I will take credit for that. And while we certainly asked ourselves, "Will he still be around next summer?" when we decided to do him (it seems like he will), we aren't going to rule out a cool character look just because it was short-lived. Heroes Return Iron Man was not a long-lived armor, nor was the armored Captain America. Just saying.

At least one that I know of.

Now I'm REALLY confused. Apologies if I offended anyone.

Well, Zach, I'm going to throw this out there. You have the sales numbers in front of you. We don't. You have a long history in the industry. We don't. We sit back, buy, and speculate. You plan meticulously because it is literally your pay check. You know what you're doing. We're just guessing.

I haven't been in the industry THAT long. I joined in 1999. I kinda left in 2008, and came back this year, but I was writing a book about toys for much of that time, so I guess that counts. And I am not involved in character selection or line planning. I have been told what has and hasn't worked, and I have a vague sense of what they're trying to do with each year's line plan.

That said, from what you yourself have heard in this very thread, people want, and have wanted for a long time, a Cap Pack. We want it more than Kang. We want it more than Squirrel Girl (which is a lot). The numbers are right at the top of every page. Specialty, con exclusive, sell it out of a taco truck. We don't care.

Oh, I get it. I know that you guys want Falcon, Winter Soldier, Commander Rogers and Baron Zemo. (And Kang, always Kang.) And while only 95 people have voted, and only 30-35% of respondents even voted FOR these characters (Commander Rogers isn't even a voting option, that I can see), I know that cross-section represents a real desire from collectors. My last rambling post was only the end of a long, pointless back-and-forth about how that SPECIFIC Cap-pack would probably never happen -- I would bet that all of those figures will eventually get made, just in separate 4-packs or two-packs or what have you.

Make it happen.

What do I look like, a comic book villain? I made it happen two weeks ago.

Just kidding. But yeah, nobody's actually asked me how many of those are already coming out in 2012.

I promise to dress 1/3 as cool as I dressed in 2003, and have 1/3 the hair.

Zach, any chance of revisiting the Bride in a Black & White version? Maybe you guys can use that as a filler if you have any open spots, it would be nice to have all the classic Monsters in B&W format.

You should Ask DST! Put the bug in DSTChuck's ear.

Really? So are we.

Am I invited?

[Not to belabor the point, Zack, and I know you weren't at the company the whole time, but... it's actually been a REALLY long time since DST has made an Avengers-themed box set. You have to go all the way back to 2009, with the Dark Avengers box sets for the San Diego Comic Con. I'd even give you the Champions, since that features Black Widow and Hercules, but that set was released in the same con. Since then, we've had: FA X-Men, X-Factor, X-Force, Uncanny X-Men, New Mutants, AoA 1, AoA 2, Uncanny X-Force, Excalibur, X-Men First Class, Curse of the Mutants, and Age of X. Granted, there were box sets featuring individual Avengers, such as Cap and Thor, and individual Avengers appeared in sets like Secret Wars, but still... that's a lotta X-Men!

Are we wrong to pay attention to the X-Men? Character-wise, the X-Men take up at huge chunk of the universe, and have legions of old and young fans, thanks to the first successful Marvel film franchise. Also, keep in mind that there are still more X-Men titles than Avengers titles -- I think there are 12 X-books now, thanks to the Schism! Not positive about Avengers title numbers, but pretty sure it's less than that.

And I think discounting Cap and Thor sets as Avengers sets simply because they're popular enough to also have their own titles seems false, especially if you're counting EVERY TEAM that has mutants on it as X-Men. So I'd count Heroic Age, Classic Heroic Age, Cap Through the Ages, Thor Stormbreaker, Heroes and Adversaries (three Avengers in there, mind you) and Iron Man 2 as Avengers box sets that have appeared since 2009.

And keep in mind that the two-packs (and single packs) being released were dominated by Iron Man in 2010 and Cap and Thor this past year. So 35, 36, 39, 40 and 42 have all been focused on Avengers, not to mention TRU 6, 7 and all the movie waves save XMFC. That's a lotta Avengers! Sure, there were an X-wave or two, as well, and some X-Men mixed into some of the other waves, but some Avengers (Secret, New or otherwise) were mixed into those, too.

Putting out a set from a storyline like Curse of the Mutants, which was neither a big critical or commercial success, rather then something like Siege, which at least sold very well, is backing the wrong horse. My two cents. Of course, if I were the guy in charge, I'd have ignored them both for Annihilation. :biggrin:

Pretty sure development on the Curse set started before the series concluded, if not before the first issues even came out. And the set was done with collectors in mind, assuming the new vampire versions of Wolvie and Jubilee, plus an updated Blade and the first Marvel Dracula, would be more welcome than re-hashes of the major players of Siege, most of whom had been done before. Unless you wanted tangential characters like Red Hood and the U-Foes, in which case, see above.

I meant the price of the Con. I don't believe that shows like SDCC and NYCC draw much in the way of casual attendees, IE people that aren't already into comics, sci fi, anime, ect. It's too expensive, too crowded, too much of a pain in the @$$... I know I wouldn't go if I didn't love comics! :biggrin:

Hardcore fans of anything represented at the show -- video games, anime, samurai swords, etc. -- can still be casual comics fans. Also, cool parents who bring their hardcore comics-loving kids to the show, or curious kids who come with their hardcore parents. And by choosing the most popular characters -- Rocket Raccoon's Saturday morning cartoon notwithstanding, Thor is more popular universally -- we're more likely to get a casual comics fan's attention. Making a character who has no toys simply to get a sale from that character's superfans is a gamble. And it's a gamble for a retailer to buy, too.

Are you sick of that question yet, Zach?

No! It's surprisingly easy to ignore!

I'm sick of not knowing what lines will be announced. Tell us. Just tell us, man! It's driving me bonkers.

I can see how not knowing whether your favorite character will make it into the next wave of Marvel Mates might drive you crazy, but not knowing which completely unknown licenses will someday be made into Minimates? I guess if there was a license you REALLY wanted, and you hoped it might be included, I get that. You could always lob a license at me and I could think about ruling it out, but why not sit back and relax, resting easy in the fact that Minimates aren't going anywhere, and new frontiers await you?

Didn't somebody here link to where you could buy the ComicsPRO mate a few months back?

Looks like it...

http://www.comicspro.org/content.aspx?page_id=586&club_id=843470&item_id=1812

But I'd say that the proposed set, with Commander Rogers et all, would do very well at specialty. But, of course, with the specialty market, the problem is not in getting the consumer interested, but the RETAILERS, since those guys are actually your direct customers. But I do think that making sets for the specialty market based on X-Men events, at this point, is not the best choice, since the X-Men ceased being the engine that drives the Marvel Universe some years ago. Look at the sales figures; it's the Avengers now.

Maybe the set would do well at specialty, or maybe retailers would really want it to have an actual Cap in it, so they can sell it to kids who don't know Commander Rogers. And we've made plenty of Avengers sets for specialty, and there will be plenty more -- I would think any chance for us NOT to do an Avengers set at this point would be welcome. But we can't ignore X-fans, who still exist, sometimes in sad child form.

My personal feeling about con exclusives (not just from you guys, but everybody) is that they should dip pretty deep into the well. At a con, I think, you don't need to cater to the casual fan, because the casual fan ain't comin'. Not at those prices! Cons are the perfect place to do something like the Squadron Supreme, or the Guardians of the Galaxy, or the Wrecking Crew, or the Inhumans... feel free to use any of these suggestions, by the way. :biggrin: Something that might not find a home at retail, but might just be odd enough to catch the eye of the passing geek. The Deadpool NYCC set's a good example of this. The Heralds of Galactus set, actually, would have made for a great con exclusive. Glad we didn't have to wait, though!

Do you mean con ticket prices are too high, or con box set prices? If the former, I think not only are there plenty of casual Minimate fans (and even non-fans) in attendance, there are also casual comic fans in general -- they may not fly there, but they'll go to local cons. And they both will shell out the money for a Minimate set with their favorite character or storyline, which is why we usually include a popular character; choosing a set of characters based on how random they are, hoping it will catch a geek's eye, seems like a big gamble. Especially with kids, because chances are a kid's favorite character belongs to none of the groups you mentioned. I think the Deadpool Corps set would have done great at specialty, not because it's odd, but because DP is really popular. Galactus would have been great anywhere -- cons, specialty, etc. -- it just happened to come about through a partnership with TRU.

I would only suggest that you take another look at the MU 2 pack rosters.

Unless you're telling me we need to make the Wrecking Crew, in which case you're preaching to the choir, I assume you're saying some MU two-packs are all B-list. I know there's a new wave out with, like, Gambit/Sinister and Moon Knight/Ant-Man, Wonder Man/Quicksilver and Heroes for Hire, but OTHER THAN THAT...

But seriously, all I was saying that, other than those dudes, MOST of the two-packs that have come out had at LEAST one of the following dudes in it: Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Mr. Fantastic, Thing or Deadpool. Some of them even had two of those guys, and the remainder had Hawkeye, Storm and Doom as their big guns, none of whom are slouches.

Sales of this new wave may refute my claim that that you need that big gun in every pack, but I still maintain the differences between the two products (MM and MU) make them largely uncomparable.

As long as we still get that sweet Mummy Sarcophagus we saw last year! I'd gladly sacrifice a figure in place of that sarcophagus!!

They showed that? Wow, they did:

http://www.cooltoyreview.com/TF2010/DST/image114.asp

Fingers crossed.

I've met Justin Aclin, and am pretty good acquaintances with Jim Gibbons & Mel Caylo. Also met Chuck a few times. Zach, you coming out to Chicago any time soon?

C2E2. Doing a thing there.

A very pleasant surprise, I figured the monster minimates would be done due to low sales. If we get the mummy and invisible man I'll be a happy collector.

I have not heard anything about sales preventing production on a new wave, but I suppose we will see what the retailer reaction is at Toy Fair. I believe we talk to Toys "R" Us this month.

I'm so sorry Zach. Without a sarcasm emitcon I probably come across the wrong way most of the time. I was just saying what normally gets thrown out whena new line comes out that people don't understand.

No worries!

If it helps, I've found that putting things in quotes helps indicate a layer of removal from what is actually being said. Also, typing in all caps with typos and random numbers mixed in, and/or ending sentences with "/sarcasm".

Apologies to all if I sometimes don't pick up on the nuances of boardspeak.

Welcome to the 'Verse, fatcow!

5. There will be new Minimates lines announced in 2012. DC is not one of them, unfortunately, but hopefully we'll be able to entice you to collect some of our other current offerings, as well as lines.

I really miss these guys. I wish we'd bet costume variations (like this!) instead of just random elf hats. But I still want more. Why are these so hard to get? What's with the general lack of promo mates all together lately? The Zombie Mate is about it for the last 3 years. :/

Didn't we just talk about these in the Q&A thread? We've batted some ideas around.

And we did pirate promo mates, too, which means our promo giveaways have increased exponentially of late -- if you mean UNIQUE promo mates, those are a tougher sell. Buttheadsmate voted against retailer promos -- anyone else feel strongly?

I met Zach at a Wizard World Texas in 2003 (or maybe 2004). He is a man of his word! You better believe his delivery dates.

But he sucks at video trivia. I beat him at classic rock video trivia in the bar. Good times! I think he has a restraining order against me now. Come back to me Zach!

YOU.

No, please question my delivery dates. If Minimates show up early, everybody wins. For the most part.

I don't understand the logic here at all. Who, pray tell, is the A-lister in the Age of X box set? Gambit? Please. Magneto? Debatable, as he has name recognition from the movies, though not in that outfit. Cyclops and Rogue? Well, maybe... except that they have different names, much the way a hypothetical Commander Rogers Minimate would. And Hasbro doesn't seem too concerned that Commander Rogers will leave parents and children dumbfounded, considering that he's currently on shelves in the Marvel Universe line, and that he'll be part of the first wave of the relaunched Marvel Legends. I think, also, that if you made the box set and stuck it in the same basic package used for the Cap Through the Ages box set, called it "Cap Friends and Foes", no one would notice there isn't an actual Captain America... just like the Wolverine Through the Ages box set that didn't have Wolverine. :biggrin:

Simple answer: Age of X is NOT a convention exclusive set!

SDCC brings in a lot of people who might never walk into a comic shop, or don't know what a minimate is. A lot of people waste a lot of time standing in line at the various stores at SDCC to buy their exclusives, and while waiting in line will see the other merchandise available. How many people waited in line at AFX for their Lost/Dexter exclusives, to see that "cute little mini-Thor boxset" and bought it on a whim? Those are the people who wouldn't touch a Wrecking Crew box set. Age of X has enough A-List X-Men that anyone walking into a comic store has a better chance of knowing those characters as opposed to the general population SDCC gets.

I hadn't even differentiated between SDCC sets and Specialty sets, but monkeycrumb makes a good point. AoX MIGHT not have flown at a con OR at mass. But on the specialty market, I'd say Cyclops and Magneto are A-listers, and the specialty market comic readers will recognize them from the crossover event even if they're Basilisk and White Magneto. I'd go even further and say that Gambit and Rogue are As in the X-Verse, and high B's in the MU. Same logic applies for the Wolverine set -- to specialty comic readers, those were four Wolverines, even without a yellow costume between them.

THAT SAID, we did a con-exclusive set with alternate-reality versions of Cyke, Rogue and Magneto at NYCC last year. It was AoA, not AoX, but still. AND we have some second-tier characters coming up in con sets that may fly in the face of all of this. We'll see how they do, I guess! YOU all will love them, but will the con-tossed masses?

Hasbro is working with different collectors, collecting habits, price points and (most importantly) products. If we sold solo Minimates at mass, it might be a different story, but for now, look at what's in a Marvel Universe two-pack, or Marvel Legends box set. USUALLY, there's at least one recognizable A in there.