DSTZach

Hey Zach, any idea when we might get a glimpse at the Scorpion tank or other Halo vehicles?

I wouldn't think before Toy Fair. But hopefully then.

I assume the PS will make Zola's castle look less... pastel?

It did when I posted it a few weeks ago!

http://www.facebook.com/diamondselecttoys#!/media/set/?set=a.273694412674823.72554.170392609671671&type=3

If Zach is reading this, the bios on the back are a bit inadequate for a n00b. You might in the future think about listing their powers and personality rather than condensing straight comic book history.

I've only been writing packaging (or anything at DST) since May, so I didn't do those, but I HAVE tried to focus on character info over storylines in my bios, unless the storyline is crucial to the set. So by all means, let me know if you have any complaints about Marvel 41/11, Curse of the Mutants, Age of X, Heralds of Galactus, Universal Monsters Series 2, Femme Fatales Set 1, or anythign from here on out. Marvel approves all packaging text, and I have had changes made to stuff I've written. MVC3 text I condensed from official guidebook bios, but I added where more info was needed.

And I'll try to post some good Dani/Magma pics soon.

So I don't know if this is news or not because I don't do Halo Minimates (I still can't believe it myself) but I found a large Halo Warthog set at TRU yesterday for $25. It had 3 mates from Reach (The only one I know is Kat) and some guns and the warthog, and it was a big big box. Like I said, don't know if that's newsworthy or not. Is the Warthog new or something?

The cool thing is, if it sells good, it's probably the format they could use for the APC.

Scroll up, TM2. That's one of the Halo Reach boxed sets -- there are two and each comes with half the team. One of the Warthogs is new -- it has a Gauss cannon -- but the other is the classic model. A lot of the weapons are new, as well -- sniper rifle, shotgun, etc.

Not sure the APC wil need the larger packaging. I BELIEVE it fits into the standard Vehicles packaging. But we are definitely going to have some vehicles coming up that need the larger packaging. The Halo Scorpion Tank may need it, but there are others in development, as well.

Behind-the-scenes: Zola's purple castle, pre-Photoshop:

Thanks for the pics -- I still haven't gotten complete TRU samples, so mine are missing a few accessories (half of Crossbones' gear, Cap's alt hair, Balder's sword, etc.)

Happy to see everything they actually come with!

Very cool! I second what the guys said about a tripod -- a lot of the magic of moving toys goes away when the camera moves, too. It looks less like a movie and more like a series of photographs that kind of match up. I have a teeny-tiny tripod for my camera, it's only 4 inches high, so I can put the camera right on the desk. It was like $10 at OfficeMax. But I use that for my flip video camera, and not for stop-motion -- I wouldn't even try the latter! The fact that you had the patience to do this at all is amazing.

But yeah, storyboards are very helpful if you want to shoot scenes out of order and re-cut them. I'll see if I can post the storyboards for the pirate episode our animator did...

Try to keep ferret-related replacement requests to a minimum. If we replaced every Minimate part that was ever devoured by a ferret, we'd be out of business.

Really great stuff, mikebit. Love the X-Factor, Hot Rod rocks, and that Nemesis is EVIL.

Strong Guy looks cool, but I'm lovin' the Havok!

they make you buy minimates?

Sets that are sold out, and that came out while I stepped away from the industry for a couple years? And are awesome? Yes.

I rarely see Marvel Minimates that old at TRU. Must have fallen behind a shelf.

Also picked up Slimeblower Ray and Theater Ghost, but that's a tale for a different thread.

The TRU in Danbury, CT has these. Stupidly forgot to take inventory of characters, was too busy snapping up a deeply discounted Stilt-Man set.

Thanks, guys -- a lot of hard work went into it, and we actually had the basic setup live by SDCC. (Games came later.) I'll be updating the collection galleries monthly, if you need to see what's upcoming, and I'll post links to all the animations there. It's meant to be a true gateway to Minimates, skewing towards younger fans (no Femme Fatales or Universal Monsters content), but I would like it to be fun for collectors as well.

Zach... please tell Chuck.

Hey, Ask DST! Appeal to Chuck's love of Spider-Man.

Sorry Zach, the link isn't goin' anyplace when I try it. I even entered copy/pasted it to my browser but that just gave me DST's general page at Google+ and nothing specific. I noodled around but didn't see any Thor pictures.

Sent you the pic on FB. It's First Appearance Thor raising his hand above his shoulder. Also, Balder. And Valkyrie. And Sif. And Loki. I'll post a galley this week.

Head plug's an interesting idea, but it would have to be *really* thin and sit perfectly flat. And it seems like an overly complicated way to deal with baldimates when just not having a hole in the head has worked fine so far, except for when an occasional holey-headed Blade/Deadpool/Xavier makes it through to production unnoticed.

In addition to the fact that the hole in the head should only happen when we want it to, the head plug is apparently not workable. The PVC can't be that thin, and the gap would be noticeable. So we'll just do our best to make sure the holes don't happen.

I was really looking forward to the "First Appearance" Thor, but seeing that his cape has the shoulder pads attached is kind of a bummer for me. I dislike when the sculpted parts get in the way of the movement of the figure underneath. As in, Thor unable to raise his hands above his hand to use Mjolnir, y'know?

Mystery Man, did you see this shot I took?

Asked for clarification on tampo printing and head holes.

Apparently, if a bald Minimate has a hole, it was either on purpose for hat placement, or a factory error. An example I was given was a tooling error on Cerebro required that Xavier have a head hole. But he was supposed to have no hole, and Cerebro was supposed to have no peg. But it's never done because it's easier or convenient.

And tampo printing HAS gone up since the Carnage days. You pay per strike, and Carnage required one strike on every single side of him. What's more, printing a lighter color on dark requires multiple strikes to ensure opacity. So Carnage's eyes, or the top of Cossbones' head, would require three strikes.

The hair plug is pretty cool. After ten years, I won't assume that the designers haven't already thought of this and dismissed it for some reason, but I'll pass it along, if that's all right.

The Max firefighter I got in return has a painted helmet,jacket,boots,gloves,belt,axe,oxygen mask,oxygen tank,torch,suspenders,face & hair..... & much of the figure is painted in two colours which extend around the whole piece rather than just the front. Again.... awesome & if you haven't warmed to this line yet you eventually will. 'Simple'? No way,I love it for its detail but I wouldn't have missed the suspenders if the trade-off was a little patch of white on the top of Crossbones' head.....which would have been simple

I love the MAX figures as well, although I'm not sure what their suspenders have to do with the top of Crossbones' head. Rates must have changed between Carnage and today, because I do know that tampos are apparently super-expensive, and I'm pretty sure they charge per side, because I can't think of too many Minimates that have top-of-head printing. Sorry it's a sticking point for some people.

This is all great stuff, guys. Thanks! Marvel is getting a lot of love, but I guess that's mathematically appropriate. No BSG fans?

Anything RGB knocking anyone's socks off?

24?

Honorable mentions:

DCD Series 1 Batman. Loved the slip on mask, though I thought I'd hate it after seeing the prototype pic.

Disney exclusive Thor. No silly powerhouse torso to restrict movement, and nice paint deco.

MvC3 Magneto.

Green Goblin (the one in my avatar pic). Nice facial expression and the scaly paint deco looks great.

I really like the Disney-exclusive Iron Man, too.

I keep hopeing that the MAX line will eventually have some motorcycles, which we can then modify into bikes for Cap and GR and anyone else who who needs one. And yeah, Zach, Chuck, and anybody else who might be "listening", that was a big lead hint.

Oh, I get it. But we're still trying to get the APC to work. But maybe you can put flaming wheels on that and call it the Secret Defenders van.

No way. DSTChuck would kill me.

just got your PM... Awesome news, cheers!

Ha ha.

It's actually a beefed-up Jackal. Totally ripped. Followed by Jackalbuster Iron Man.

Not to toot DST's horn, but we've been making Minimates for 10 years, and there are over a thousand of them, and most of them are pretty damn good. BUT if we were to pick the best ones ever made, across all brands and eras, which would they be? I'm looking for single-figure nominations, from the entire Multiverse: Marvel, DC, Street Fighter, 24, Crouching Tiger, Back to the Future, Lord of the Rings, Ghostbusters, unique sculpts, bare bones, 2 inch, 3 inch... Suggestions? Anyone?

No way. DSTChuck would kill me.

The "Secret War" Cap is, to me, a lovely poke in the eye. It's a nice looking figure, but now it stands alone as a representation of a storyline that thus far no other characters have been made for. So that's one more "team" that will eventually need to be filled out. Considering that this "team" is almost entirely composed of characters we've already gotten multiple versions of (Daisy Johnson being the only "new" figure that could be made), it's a bummer. Because future slots in a series could be given to these characters while the much-touted Kang, Falcon, Black Knight, et. all continue to remain unmade.

The impression I have is that the decision process is more like:

-"What Spider-Man should go in this allocated Spider-Man slot?"

-"How about Secret War Spider-Man?"

...rather than:

-"Should we have Secret War Spider-Man or Kang in this completely unspecified slot?"

But who knows. I'll also be less than enthused if we get all the Secret War costumes, they're a bit boring.

I think battlecat is on the money -- this wave was Cap- and Thor-heavy to get out the versions of the characters fans want as well as to capitalize on all the younger fans who are just now discovering Cap and Thor through the cartoon and the movies (which are now all on DVD). Looking for Caps to do, I think they found a badass recent costume (Secret War) and a classic, timeless, outfit (leather jacket). If a Secret War Spidey or whomever turns up later (none are planned as far as I know), it's because we needed a kick-ass Spidey or whomever. Not because we were avoiding the metaphorical Kang.

Also, that classic Cap could be '90s Avengers Cap, but Cap also wore a jacket in the movie, as well as in EMH:

http://fuckyeahcaptainamerica.tumblr.com/post/11117033371/leather-avengers-jacket-from-the-90s-and-ult-wwii

I'll look into head holes. I think it has something to do with what's in the tool, when we re-use parts. Head-top tampo might be pricey enough that it would cost out more weapons. So maybe he'd get a knife OR a gun, but not both?