pk13

The biggest thing for me as far as 2013 is concerned is the quality of choices instead of the quantity. Even if the overall number of new characters isn't as high as years before, the specific holes that were filled are pretty darn cool. Think about this: so far we have a new FF crew in the darker Negative Zone kit, a couple of new FF villains in Blastaar & Puppet Master, (as well as the Moloid army builder that serves as good background for the TRU W8 Mole Man & the new Hulk box set Barbarian Hulk), a Best Of wave that gave us a pretty sweet Bruce Banner and Doombot, as well as entry level versions of Deadpool, Loki, & Venom, (the alt. look of Venom is spectacular). That's not counting the TRU W15 additions of a human Ben Grimm, 2 new herald figures, (make it 3 if you throw in a spectacular Kirby Krackle Surfer update), freaking Annihilus, & two more of the Worthy. And that doesn't account for the exclusives and box sets we've received. And it also doesn't account for what's coming before the end of the year. Waves 50 and 51 both deliver some seriousness goodness as well as A+ army builders. Last bit not least, it doesn't address all of the Marvel Movie 'Mates that we have/are coming. I'll say they this year hasn't filled the *exact* holes that I would want to be filled. But I'm pretty impressed with what's been accomplished so far.

Happy Birthday Shane! Hope it's a good one!

Zak is correct. Not every toy is designed to be owned by the maximum number of people. Our first Battle Beast ever was only at NY Toy Fair.

When we hold an event, we like to do something special. We make toys for a living, so that's our first option.

Last year, people were mad fans had no chance to get a Gold Vorin. This year, they CAN get an orange Merk IF they so choose. They may have to settle for a purple one, though.

And criticizing someone's spelling is kinda uncool.

Kinda uncool? As uncool as expecting someone to travel across the country to get... nevermind. Screw it. Just to be clear, I wasn't complaining because *I* was only concerned with being able to get one for *myself*. I just think it isn't a very nice way to treat the vast majority of your customers. You know, the people that spend disposable income on your non-essential items.

And on that thought, I'm not super happy that the mouthpiece for DST is dismissive of someone that wants their products. So screw it, I'm out. Zach, I think you do a really good job most of the time, but you just talked your company out of my money. I'm sure it isn't going to bankrupt you guys or anything like that. But for what it's worth, I buy 100% of every Minimate product, plus probably 30% of that a second time as doubles, as well as most of the Marvel Select line. So add that up because your post effectively lost that much money for DST.

It's been an absolute pleasure to chat with you, ZK.

Or your overreacting, they have been doing that for a long time. I'm sorry if you want one, maybe if you ask someone nicely they'll help you out.

Please work out the correct usage of "you're" and "your". It will lend a small bit of credence to your dismissive attitude.

I understand that this is a tactic that they've used for a long time. I'm simply asking *why* they use a tactic that excludes so many of their customers.

If you want one go

That's a pretty thoughtless response.

If there are any left over, they'll be there that weekend, but likely not. It's less rare than Gold Vorin, but we're letting fans get them on Thursday, so I imagine they'll go fast.

I don't understand this. If this giveaway was intended to raise awareness for a brand new line then I would get making something that's very limited in production and very hard to get. But when a line has over a decade of exposure, then all this does is exclude the 99.99% of people that would like to have one. Why does DST engineer a giveaway that excludes the people that spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on their products while giving away something that most collectors would want to a very select few that happen to be at a bar on a specific night? If it is simply to raise Minimate awareness, why not just give away a normal two pack?

Zach, will this be something that is only given out at this bar for one night or will there be other opportunities to get one?

I'm not seeing it either.

What's the difference going to be with the "Hot Wings" Merk announced on the AA blog? Will it just be a packaging thing or more like the Gold Vorin?

I wouldn't be opposed to DST adding in an extra set of short legs as a one time thing. But I definitely wouldn't want to see it more than that. They could do a wave where Wolverine was the variant in his normal yellow/blue costume as well as his brown costume and each pack could include the extra short legs. There would need to be a very strong army builder though. Something like an AIM Soldier or Hand Ninja. That way people can buy multiple packs for the army builder and have plenty of extra sets of short legs for their older Wolverines. Or they could use them to customize or just toss em in the extra parts bin. As long as the army builder is good then I don't think it would cause much of a problem.

Blue Vorin availability.

That's great news. Blue Vorin wasn't terrible to find on the secondary market. Thanks Zach!

Hopefully this one will be more along the lines of Blue Vorin availability instead of Gold Vorin availability for those of us not going to SDCC.

I was sort of worried about the made up figure but seeing it in this context is pretty funny and actually works for me. I mean, nothing says ridiculous more than Deadpool, right? So that was a big plus. And the fact that the Phonics Killer is the figure with the alternate display option is a good thing.

Now the buy 10 to get 2 IM set? That just reeks of Hasbro/Mattel tactics. It would have been nice if it was an 8 pack of the armors for those that don't have them and a 2 pack of Tony & Pepper for those that don't want to be stuck with two full box sets of straight repacks/slight repaints.

And while we don't know if or when we will offer it to retailers, it will hopefully be at every show we attend.

Please find a way to make these available to people that can't attend the cons.

Great to have you here, James!

That's great news! Congrats Rob!

How about a 12-inch tall, MInimate-shaped, Sentinel bottle opener that's hollowed out to hold the bottle caps?

TARGET IDENTIFIED. GLASS BOTTLE DR. PEPPER. REMOVING BOTTLE CAP.

Congrats on making it a year! These are an endless source of entertainment and laughter. Thank you for putting in the work!

When is SDCC?

Preview Night is July 17.

Mojo/spineless one

Spiral/spineless one

Banshee/Sunfire

Apocolypse/Exodus

Yeah?

I would buy this wave every single day for a week straight. Just open a set every now and then when I had a lousy day. That's how sweet this line up would be to me.

Wow, those didn't last very long. How long does it usually take between seeing a sample case online and the packs showing up in stores?

I opened my specialty and TRU sets last night and am very happy with them. I really appreciate how Iron Patriot was packaged with the Extremis Soldier. It doesn't feel wasteful when the pack mate of an army builder also has several display options. Good job DST!

Happy Birthday, Zach!

Sorry to necro an old post, but I have a Delorean question... Are the stickers that come with the original TRU Delorean the same as any of the other sticker sheets from the other Deloreans? I found an original that doesn't have the sticker sheet and would like to get those for it. Thanks to anyone that can help!