DSTZach

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.

A beautiful strip, man. Happy X'arkfart, everyone.

Yes, shipping dates are sometimes late -- since I've been here, I have not seen them go earlier than what we have indicated on the blog, but I've only been here since May, so I'll defer to you guys on that. But I can't even imagine how you would have gotten Minimates before they were listed in Previews, unless they were offered somewhere else first. Diamond's retailer site says "shipped 12/28." I knew many retailers get their items on Tuesdays, but I had no idea they got them this early. I guess they sent shipments out early for the holidays.

Nice. I see the super pursuit mode and the KARR version.. but when do we get regular KITT and Michael Knight?.. out of the 3 versions, the classic version has got to be the one most are wanting first... am I missing something? The regular Michael Knight and KITT will be part of the TRU wave of vehicles. The packaging shots you see on the AA site are the Previews exclusive vehicles. Hope to have the TRU packaging soon, with standard KITT and the Albion ship.

We'll definitely have more UM MMs to show off in February! You've already seen our tentative Wave 3 of Select figures, and we're working on Minimate designs now.

Assume Halloweentime, along with most of our horror releases.

Nobody should have seen them in the wild. They ship next week. Trish should come with her big sword and guns, and Dormammu with fireballs and a flight base, I believe. We posted some packaging pics a while back, but I neglected to bust them out of the package and shoot them. My bad.

NOOOOO!!! I liked her better in the promo shot, with the pale blue skin! She looked more undersea mermaid-like and I really liked how she stood out from the rest. Sorry, monkeycrumb. Not sure what happened there. Hope we can make a pale version sometime in the future.

I don't think so, but Marvel might, as it doesn't reflect the comics. As fun as Minimates are, they have to represent what's on the page or screen. This. I would also like to point out the fact that we're having a civil discussion about a figure line that we love, with a guy who works there, listens to (and respects?) us... I love this board. I RESPECT YOU ALL. And as a former collector, I can appreciate a collector's desire to complete a collection. I've also seen what happens when a collection is completed. The line dies a slow death. I wouldn't say that we're avoiding certain characters to draw things out -- there are still plenty to do, clearly -- but we're also not in a hurry, which means we have the luxury of doing '80s and '90s characters before '60s classics, or even the new Spidey on the block.

I am not the final arbiter of such things, but it certainly seems unlikely, doesn't it? Given what's come before? It would probably take a lot of convincing, and strong retailer support for it. That said, some pretty obscure two-packs have been made for TRU, so that's always a route we could take. I thought the Marvel Universe 1-and-1 route was rough. This is pure speculation, remember. No plans at this time that I've seen. I think we've talked about doing bigger box sets, but nothing definite. I'm really not doing this for fun, just trying to offer a different point of view on things -- one that's informed, and yet has no real power. And if I can re-assure the desperate from time to time, even better. That said, I do offer my input on product occasionally, so I like hypothesizing with Minimate experts about what might be cool, but also work as a realistic, mass-friendly release.

Not seeing too much different on the design sheets, but I believe they've also changed a bit since then. Best-of Cap gets a belt, 44 Cap gets a harness, MvC3S3 gets a belt. Tampos are fairly different, though. Face tampos should align with the masks better on 44 and Best Of, I think they're a touch off in the prototype photo. Faces are added in by the designer at that stage.

That set did have Thor, and a Thor movie had just come out. Comic-con sets aren't just targeted at hardcore Minimate collectors, they're targeted at non-Minimate-buying comic fans, and even attendees who don't read a lot of comics. So you need an A-lister. Kang, Falcon, Winter Soldier and Zemo are high Bs (most, if not all villains are Bs), and while I love Commander Rogers, if he's not Cap, he's not Cap. Not saying we won't make those characters, just not THAT box set.

I think you might have just opened up the wrong floodgate with that line. It's not like they couldn't before! I've chatted with a couple of people. And they can tell you I'm slow to respond there, as well.

I think I saw this thread in October and refrained from commenting. Not sure why. We never had the license for DC Minimates (DC Direct did), and we don't have it now. Easy to choose the license you have over the license you don't. If DC Direct had continued the line, we'd still be making them today. Maybe. We're currently making Street Fighter characters in the MvC3 line. Hopefully, sales for this line will be better than they were for Street Fighter back in the day, which is why it was cancelled. Since we have a relationship with Capcom, there's no reason for it not to continue if this line is successful. And Lenore is targeted at a completely different audience than either of those two properties, so rather than hitting up the same customers twice, we will hopefully pick up new customers, helping the brand as a whole.

This as a convention exclusive boxset this summer would make a lot of sense. We would definitely sell between 17 and 23 of them. I think people will be happy with our box sets.

Don't listen to Youbastards. It was entirely based on license restrictions. We would have shown them, had we been allowed to. Shelf/counter display vs. peg display might have been a licensing issue, as well. Except there is no Wolverine in Wave 44! He should have told them about Curse of the Mutants. Until MvC3 Series 2 hits, that's their best bet.

I never said my love of Grey Gargoyle made it more likely we would see him as a Minimate. Just pointing out that dissing characters only leads to hurt feelings. That's why I have never said a bad thing about Squirrel Girl, even if I have absolutely zero interest in a figure of her. Also, I was sharing a personal story of my youth, one that explained my love of capes and mustaches, and why I wear gloves all the time. NEVER AGAIN.

I see what you did there.

Shoulder bag and hoodie are one piece. But the shoulder bag has a wolf's head sculpted onto it, so it's got that going for it.

Almost answered this question, then realized you were just stirring up trouble. THIS I have to answer. You know how Stan Lee said every comic is someone's first comic? My first Marvel superhero comic was a Cap issue where he fought Grey Gargoyle. Therefore, Grey Gargoyle is the second or third greatest Marvel character alive to me. Also, he recently laid the smack down on Paris in Fear Itself. He's KIND of a big deal right now.

Since every one of these represents someone people want to see made, I imagine a zero-vote getting made is better than someone who's not even on this list, right? That said, I'm very curious to see these results. Then I'll cross off everyone who's getting made this year, and look at THOSE results. Voting for Orka now.

I don't believe Chuck said anything about retailers. Not sure why he would have addressed if he was just talking about gifts for retailers and press. See how I did that ? :biggrin: I should have let you wallow in your misery for a while longer.

Once again, Funkguerrilla has taught us something about ourselves, and about life. Kind of ironic there isn't a Wolverine on sale now. If only they'd found a Series 10 or Series 9 two-pack -- even then, it's a shirtless version and a brown-costume version. Might not have been good enough.

Sorry, didn't see this thread way down here! We should move it to Current licenses! Yes, Set 2 is all our characters -- it's confusing, since Set 1 was all other people's. Yes, that means no royalties, but that doesn't always mean a set is an automatic yes if orders are low. Yes, packaged samples are in. I'll post some pics soon, and maybe some new loose shots. I also took some pics back when I first got samples: http://www.artasylum.com/blog/2011/08/femme-fatales-minimates-the-photo-shoot/ Sorry I didn't see this. If you ever need me to weigh in on something, PM me.

I don't believe Chuck said anything about retailers. Not sure why he would have addressed if he was just talking about gifts for retailers and press.