DSTZach

I'm really not sure why there's so much consternation from some people around here about this "variant rerelease rule"... Chuck's right, they haven't just done a straight rerelease of any variant figure. The only people that I can understand being upset are those of us that paid a premium for figures like black suit Spidey and Spider-Woman... and I'm one of them, and I'm not bothered by the new figures. What is the problem, exactly?

"I don’t know that we’d do Ant Man or Wasp micro BUT you never know. If we get a chance we’ll have to see what happens." Geez, if you're looking for an opportunity, how about with the new GiAnt Man figures you JUST ANNOUNCED!?

If there's already two Ant-Mans in the wave, that may not be the ideal time to do a Micro Ant-Man. Just sayin'.

I, too, am confused over the "hypocrite" label we've gotten over making a new, better, bearded Thor. The old figure is still a rare, short-packed chase figure; the new one is pretty different, even if it's based on the same character. If someone is reading us as saying we'd never re-make a CHARACTER that was a short-packed figure... well, that's an unfortunate miscommunication. Pretty sure it will happen again, especially as characters rise and fall in prominence in the comics. An obscure throwback one year may get his own limited series later. But if the presence of a new Thor makes your old Thor worth less, Sam, we're certainly sorry.

FYI, me saying I dig Warriors Three does not mean anything. Hopefully Thor 2 will give us some more opportunities. And Chuck may very well be correct about FF Set 2, I just need to ask for those shots to be posted. I think we have Knight Rider packaging, as well.

Hey, another Q&A where my question was ignored! Thanks guys, I get the hint.

What was your question, youbastards? Perhaps I can help.

Does anyone know if the LCB wave for Marvel vs Capcom still due to be released on Dec 28th?

That's the date I have.

As Stan Lee once said, every comic book was *somebody's* first comic book!

Truth.

And yeah, you guys are truly a community, from what I've seen, one that helps each other as well as complete strangers.

And I don't think we would ever charge a premium for limited toys -- I think the unproduced figures we've cancelled due to low orders speak to that.

Whoa, I never said I was announcing a new LICENSE! Just new assortments. I'm still waiting to OFFICIALLY announce Marvel 44 -- BBTS jumped the gun, and while I haven't asked retailers to stop posting it, I haven't sent it out to everyone, either. Also waiting on some art for 45, to jazz that one up.

But we'll have new licenses to announce at NYTF. Possibly sooner, but probably not until January.

Really though, disgusted or not, I just love Minimates. The promos still remain some of my favorite mates ever.

Which promos? Blanks?

And Zach, I think you hang around because this is your place too on a personal level. You're one of us, even if we yell at the professional Zach.

I do enjoy the back-and-forth -- the ToyFare boards were fun back in the day, and I'm learning a lot about monster fandom over on the UMA boards -- but rarely have I been so focused on one toy line that I could spend time in a dedicated forum before now. Even in my anything-goes Simpsons, Muppets and Marvel Legends collecting days, I rarely went online, I just re-arranged them on my shelves constantly.

And I was a near-completist for all of those lines, barring the occasional high-priced box set or a rare piece I just wasn't meant to have. I'm sure collecting a line like Minimates, with a lower price point but far more releases per year, has its pros and cons.

Will there be any TRU stuff to correspond with 44 and 45?

Well, 45 is Avengers Movie, and it will have a corresponding TRU assortment, remember. See page one.

Not sure what will be at TRU while 44 is out. Need to see exactly how close 44 and 45 will hit. Might be that TRU will be okay for that short period, or I might be missing something.

And not to @$$-kiss, but Toyfare was probably my favorite magazine, and the fact that you're not only involved in Minimates now, but frequent this board to talk to us, is just absolutely awesome. Thank you, Zach.

Thank you! I actually just wrote a new Marvel MM comic strip for the packaging inset -- my first fumetti since my TF days -- and they're shooting it now, so hopefully that will start showing up mid-year.

I want to reprint the old ones on Minimates.com, too. Did the second page of that Spidey strip ever run anywhere? I don't think it did.

Apologies for not realizing so many of you were completists. I guess I got lost in the forest of people saying "pass."

All I can say is thank you for your continued support of the line. We'll try to pad out some wish lists soon. This summer alone has four or five sets I can think of that will make people very happy.

I'll post them after the new year. We have so many new assortments being solicited/announced this month, I'd like to give them some space.

So 43 will be hitting before 44 and 45, but the TRU series 13 won't be hitting with 43? Is that whatcha mean?

Exactly. If that changes, I'll let people know.

TRU Series 13 is out in June? I thought they, and the Jean DeWolff specialty shop stuff would be out much sooner than that.

Sorry, I didn't see this. Those two waves don't line up. 43 is much earlier.

I realize that some of these two-packs -- depending on who you think is great and who you view as punishment from on high -- require you to buy one you don't want to get someone you want. But who here is an actual completist? I didn't think very many of you were, if any. So if this wave, or a two-pack in it, isn't for you, there will be plenty of other sets/waves coming out next year -- the summer just happens to belong to the Avengers movie and its starring characters. (Also, I get the feeling that if we announced three consecutive waves that were all must-haves, response would be similarly disheartened, if only from a monetary standpoint.)

And I think criticism of planning is fine -- this is your forum, not ours -- but I wouldn't assume that we didn't plan. A basic Cap in multiple waves is a necessity if you want to make sure there's a basic Cap on shelves at all times. And FA Wolverine may be considered an anchor figure to a Secret Invasion set, whereas a box set with four important alternate Wolverine looks may not need him as badly. (This is all hypothetical -- I wasn't with the company when those came out, and I'm not involved in line plans now.) But I DO know these line plans are agonized over, and, aside from the occasional production delay, the figures come out in the order they're supposed to.

In short, we have a plan. But we also want Minimates to be around for another 10 years, so we're gonna keep trying different things to ensure the brand's longevity. Rest assured, we want to make new characters just as much as we want to sell the famous ones.

I may feel indifferent to what is currently known about 44, 45, and best of, but I still you Zach. For now at least.

BTW, what day are we celebrating the 10th anniversary?

From Lee's Toy Review #114, coverage of the Art Asylum showroom at New York Toy Fair:

"Mini Mates, Art Asylum’s version of the pocket-size world of movies and music, unveils a Bruce Lee, kiss, Star Trek, Dark Angel, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon assortment."

THe celebration will last all yea long, but since they debuted at Toy Fair, consider that ground zero -- we'll be announcing a bunch of new MM stuff.

Maybe I should read what I say one more time before I post. I'm really not trying to be negative. Minimates are my favorite toy line, Marvel has my favorite heroes, I am always excited to hear about new figures coming out. I totally understand what you guys are doing from a business perspective. I meant no offense. We just tend to forget about the masses of people and think only about the collectors who have been buying since wave 1. I'll try to be more careful with what I say here so I don't sound like a Debbie Downer.

No, I apologize for sounding like I was trying to refute you! Just responding, for everyone's benefit. Sorry if I came off as defensive. You guys are important to us, I just wanted you to know our strategy, and see that we're trying to make all parties happy.

Sorry your purchases are decreasing, Karamazov -- hopefully we'll be announcing some more stuff for you to spend your money on shortly.

Nothing wrong with repeat characters. It's just a little tougher when we get

wave 32 Iron Man

wave 33 Thor

wave 35 Iron Man

wave 36 Iron Man

wave 39 Thor

wave 40 Cap

wave 41 Iron Man, Hulk

wave 42 Cap, Thor

wave 44 Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk

wave 45 Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk

I really don't want to sound like I'm complaining. Every set is a chance for a new collector to jump on board. I just think we're suffering from a little Avengers over exposure. But even then, I'm dying to see the movie so I can't complain about striking while the iron is hot.

Given the top-grossing movies of the last three years, Iron Man, Cap and Thor figures are understandably staples. When Avengers tanks, we can all look forward to a few years of Defenders merch (fingers crossed!), but for now, we need to have the big three (who'd've thunk 10 years ago they'd be Marvel's big three!) out there for the new fans. When I was at TRU Times Square last week, the Cap and Thor movie waves had been picked over for all of the costumed Caps and costumed Thors -- that's what people want.

And most of those waves have 5-7 other characters in them. You can't always say that about other Marvel toy lines, especially the movie waves, where pretty much all you GET is Cap or Iron Man or Thor.

Wave 44 is the main comic-book counterpart to the movie line, and should come out first, but there may be some supplemental comic-style Avengers figures, as well, for those of you seeking more members/foes, etc.

Wave 13 is June, so after this.

FYI, this image has not been officially released, the Diamond computer system was circumnavigated. I won't pull it down, but please do not disseminate beyond this board for the time being. Thanks.

12 may not get the distro it needs until after the holiday, but it eems like many of you have a pretty good network for trading -- is there a place on the boards you all can coordinate the search? Help the helpless?

Zach, I will be quite blunt. I am more excited for the Best Of wave than I am for wave 44.

Glad to hear it! I personally am still rebuilding my collection, so I dig them all, but I also love the Heroes Return outfits -- that's where I jumped on to Avengers after years of loving Iron Man and X-Men. And Smart Hulk is the Hulk I read the longest. Not sure I've ever actually read a Sentry story, but they're neat robots.

And while I am willing to wager that excitement will increase across the board once I show production models, I certainly understand why some are going to pass. But if everyone who sees Avengers has the opportunity to pick up a Minimate of a cast member, that's good for the line overall, and we can continue to do fan-pleasing stuff.

Here's hoping TRU gets lucky with wave 13.

Wave 13 has already been revealed:

- Spidey/Punisher

- Daredevil/Kingpin

- Magma/Mirage

- Boomer/Rictor

No Avengers, four new characters, two requested (and needed) re-dos.

This wave does not overlap with a TRU Wave -- Wave 14 will be post-summer movies.

That was by no means the big 10th-anniversary celebration, no. Just an opportune time to remind people Minimates are ten, and still awesome.

The Heroic Age set is what it is -- a four-pack, and also sold out (from us, at least). It obviously overlaps with Wave 44 a bit as well, but it's the Year of the Avengers.

More great Marvel sets/waves with new characters are coming. Non-Marvel as well. IN FACT, there is big news coming this year for pretty much every Minimate brand, in one form or another.

So, in summation:

1) Strange and Hercules, you are not winners! You have no tiger blood!

2) No Kang for you!

1. Didn't say that. Perhaps they are the 9th and 10th most winners.

2. Didn't say that either, just that boyd has no reason to attempt to overturn a retail outlet.

Sorry, I'm not trying to be insulting, just looking for a little insight as to why these characters were picked when characters like Dr Strange or Hercules would just as easily fit into the 'Best Of' category and haven't been around for a few years?

The Classics wave was exclusively made for Previews -- they wanted to have an "all-winners" assortment of Minimates so comic shops could offer a selection of popular, recognizable characters to their customers. These are separate from our regular offerings, and meant to be a easy way to introduce new collectors -- and retailers -- to the brand. No offense meant to Strange and Herc, but those were not quite the big guns they wanted.

And FYI, Wave 44 has no direct TRU counterpart -- this line-up of figures is not shared with another wave. I would say TRU Wave 13 is the closest in terms of release dates, and that line-up has zero Avengers in it.

It's the George Perez Iron Man armor -- as an IM fan, I like the look of that fig a lot. The Thor is a Perez style, as well.

The Hank Pym Ant-Man should also come with a Giant-Man helmet, the Perez one, so you can display him either way -- he'll have waist spacers as well.

I can start posting pics here on the boards, as well. Not sure why I haven't! Full galley is here on Artasylum.com:

http://www.artasylum.com/gallery/marvel-minimates-42/