Politician

-Tons of new licenses, some surprisingly bad. Lines like Star Trek, Invincible and Tomb Raider dropped despite there being a huge window to do more. It's basically that we're getting all this new stuff and we can't squeeze out another boxset or wave for VERY incomplete lines? We probably won't see anything else from at least half the new properties than what we know we're getting so I hesitate investing in that knowing there could be huge gaps.

-New retailers worry me. Every K-Mart I've ever been to is in a constant state of Hurricane Katrina. Gamestops are often unreliable and full of awkward workers who will beg you to pre-order something and will insist on selling you a used game when you want new. But I love Mass Effect so I have to deal with these dweebs. Walmart is strictly TMNT? I have great Walmarts near me but zero interest in that TMNT line so that's a bummer. And the Sears near me, like most Sears, will be out of business soon. Wonderful.

-Blind bags are the absolute worst. There had better be a unique indentifier on that SOB for Mass Effect, especially at the $5 range.

-Luke is the aboslute best and the boxset is wonderful. I hope he gets more, it seems like a low production number would be great for exclusives to his store. You know, like a Star Trek or Invincible boxset.

-AFX must feel burned by Alpha Flight or idk? Seems like they used to get the coolest boxsets. Give them a Botherhood boxset or 2 and see what happens. Gee, what a thought.

-TRU is probably pretty conflicted, Walking Dead does so good but their Marvel waves went down in quality each wave. I imagine the deal was to cut back and offer something that would sell easier.

Overall the most interesting year I've seen for 'mates. Also it's the first year I've spend more on OLDER releases than new ones, BY FAR too. I'm really looking forward to Best of Marvel 3 and Mass Effect, I want to see where Aliens pans out first but it looks great so far. I'm not 100% happy personally but from a business standpoint it all makes sense so DST is in the right and hopefully it all works out.

Any videogame released after 1992 is garbage that I hate. But, still curious to see how these turn out.

I know right? I mean, where are the gems like "Westward Ho", uh?

Leave Katy Perry alone.

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together came out in '95, there's your winner.

But yeah 'ME' is one of the only new properties I'm looking forward to, I hope we can see some control art or something by SDCC.

Well, technically, I didn't say that Grimm was the "next-best-selling comic title." I said it makes sense for us to look at SOME of the next-best-selling titles, and I said it in a conversation ABOUT GFT. And #278 sounds low, but I think that's pretty much top 100 for non-Marvel-or-DC. And the ranks above GFT are FULL of Minimated properties:

157. Invincible

173. Star Trek

Then why are we getting GFT if they're so low in the ranks? I feel like properties are all now "one and done" and it's a huge disappointment. And Zach, don't get me wrong, you're the best but don't tell me Trek is still on the table in the next few years because that spells more re-releases of what we just got.

Invincible IS as deep a property as Walking Dead, popularity isn't there obviously but you could run TONS of box sets and waves. Don't get me started on Star Trek, I should have known when all the captains were thrown in all together, there'd be nothing to anchor other waves so we weren't getting anything else.

I'm ranting here but it's pretty frustrating to see these properties lie stagnant while new properties are popping up left and right.

I actually remember hot topic carrying the marvel zombies set 6 years back.

And while I was joking about the Gulp and Go, I have to wonder if a chain of gas stations would be a good place to sell Minimates. How many kids go into gas stations? Or adults, now that you can pay at the pump? I've seen toy trucks and cars for sale in some, I think, but not recently, and that's a far more universal toy purchase.

Im not sure about other members, but 711's in southern San Diego are starting to carry these Transformers blind bags. Theyve restocked them a couple of times, So who knows! Maybe TMNT mates would sell too!

I imagine this is like Chula Vista/National City? I haven't seen anything at the 7-11's in the beach towns but it completely makes sense for South SD.

Almost everything this year is just not doing it for me. There's so many new properties that I would never buy in minimate form and the worst part is lines like Star Trek and Invincible are up in the air, instead of being expanded and getting better attention from DST. Feels like Minimates are being spread thin and there's no promises you'll ever see more than one boxset of any new or revived property while we're getting newer, questionable properties every month now.

Cable (Mutant Messiah with baby Hope) / Apocalypse (Bulked up)

X-Man (Nate Grey) / Stryfe

Bishop (Mutant Messiah) / Purifier army builder

Genesis / Purifier army builder

This is literally perfect.

Lots of questions.

- Was blind bagging the only way Gamestop would take these?

- Are these based on any specific game? The entire triology or something new?

- I avoid blind bags because it's the devil but aren't $5 single packs steep for an untested method of distribution?

- If the line does well, have there been talks about other lines getting the blind bag treatment? (Battle Beasts, Star Trek, Invincible, Tomb Raider, or other lines that we just don't see anymore)

I am so conflicted until I see pics. On the one hand I used to love the property but I'm wondering how it'll look. :/

Does the army builder have to be related to the characters in the wave? I feel like half the time DST ties it in, and half the time they just pick one.

Well in the case of wave 54, I'd say yes because Hydra Agents are directly related to Cap. The whole reason I love wave 54 is that it's strictly Cap themed. I think more tight-knit themed waves would be great.

What about a TRU wave in edition .... If so what's the format. ?

Well, TRU 18 had one unique pack in relation to wave 54, the Winter Soldier Shield Agent / Hydra Agent, (The Cap/Falcon repack shouldn't count) so add an extra pack consisting of an Alternate look for an ally / Army Builder.

So for my Iron Man wave example I'd denfinitely add Rhodes in Iron Man armor / AIM Soldier.

For my money, wave 54 is perfect. It has the main hero, main villain, allies, and army builders and I really can't help but hope DST uses it as a template for future comic waves. Now, using wave 54 as a template, I want to hear more ideas for future comic waves.

Main Hero / Main Villain

Ally & Enemy/ Closest Ally

Villain / Army Builder

Variant Villain / Army Builder

Iron Man?

Iron Man / Mandarin
Madam Masque / War Machine
Iron Monger & Stane parts / AIM Soldier
??????? /AIM Soldier

@Zach, when are we getting these? The last two waves showed up in Feb/Jan I believe and we're way past that. Was there any hesitation about the 3rd wave? Was it all the new brands you're working on that sidelined this for a little while?

I usually hate NOW stuff but these are so cool.

I'd hope Best Of 4 would be more villains and X-Men, we could always use more villains and X-Men have been completely absent so far besides the Wolvie/Saber pack. Come on Zach, that Classic Cyclops/Magneto pack would be perfect.

Most Best of figures resemble other figures, by design. Often, the paint is the main way we differentiate, and I'm not sure how close to final the paint here is. We tend to lean towards flat comic colors, but the shade may lighten or darken.

These are consistently my favorite waves each year, I'll be buying multiples again. I especially love the flat color like you mentioned. Fight for this wave every year Zach!

End credits scene spoiler:

Marc Webb, who made (500) Days of Summer for 20th Century Fox and
directed both The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, still
owes them another movie. But when Sony decided that they wanted the
director to start work on the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man 2
straight after the first, the studios made a deal: Sony could keep Webb
for the next movie, just as long as they opted to include a teaser for
Days of Future Past in the end credits.

I just saw it and it's just a 1 minute clip of Mystique beating up military guys, it serves no purpose and has no meaning to what you just saw in the movie. What a waste lmao. Hopefully they're smart enough to throw something else in there but I'm not holding my breath. Webb already mentioned the CGI during the credits is the real teaser. Sinsister Six blueprints? Come on, we already knew that, tease something practical for once.

Blind bags would also be aboslute gold for army builders.

...Thirdly, an openly gay director with a like for dating teenage boys and throwing drug-induced pool parties with teen boys shouldn't be filming underage boys naked in a shower. In any other scenario that's a felony. That's maybe what's so disturbing to me. His public life and what we know it to be as fact, is seriously hard to ignore when charges such as these come to light.

Ah, so what really bothers you is that he is gay, Nuff said.

I guess we know which party the Politician belongs to.

The problem I have with Singer is the same problem I have with Woody Allen. Hint: Woody Allen isn't gay.

That's all you got left, is to try and make it about me personally. Thanks for giving up.

You keep saying that Singer likes to do these things as though it's a fact, I failed to see anything that says this has ever been proven.

I do not know whether these accusations are true or not, but I do find it highly questionable that this is only coming up now and no one ever pursued criminal charges against Singer if he did in fact commit these offenses. I always find it very suspicious when something like this comes out where there was never any attempt to get the police involved.

Roland Emmerich has spoken about his pool parties with teen boys that he co-hosts with Bryan Singer. There are well documented articles and websites talking about the parties and showing pictures. Also some interesting stuff about Shawn Ashmore (Iceman) and his twin brother living with Singer when they were younger. Just saying, it's well known that he has a certain lifestyle, and that's fine until it dips into things that are illegal. Hollywood is a cespool and it is completely stupid to think that sexual favors and abuse aren't rampant in Hollywood.

He could be completely innocent, there's an equal chance he's guilty and will walk free anyway, but in any case, these are the facts. Even if the newest accusations are BS, it raises questions.

Don Murphey worked with Singer on Apt Pupil and Murphey wrote a very graphic article about the movie that I obviously can't link but sheds some light on disturbing things that happened.

@stack32: If these allegations are true, Singer directly used X-Men as a vehicle to commit felonies and other crimes. The sheer embarassment could be enough for Fox to drop it or Marvel could fight for it if they were smart. I'd be fine with either.

you may want to re-read that story at Donmurphey.net as according to his account the kids that filed suit against Phoenix pictures, Bryan Singer et all. are shown to be liars, claiming they were forced to strip naked, and held against their will as well as other charges but then confess that they never tried to leave the film set and they as well as every other extra were notified beforehand that nudity would possibly be a part of the shoot.

Yeah you might actually want to re-read what I wrote, seems you misunderstood another reference!

The article is graphic in nature, and despite the boys retracting their lawsuit, still sheds light on uncomfortable filming practices like youbastards mentioned. Go read about his pool parties with teen boys and try to tell me what happened doesn't have any amount of truth in it. He definitely did questionable things that he should have been punished for.

yeah I read what you wrote smart ass, what exactly was so disturbing, acording to the article You suggested everything except for a mix up on getting some papers signed was legit, if your refering to the accusations made by the two or three teens yeah they are disturbing but again are shown to never have happened. so it seems youre the one who misunderstood. as for what YB stated that parents were not allowed on set, that was also discussed that it was a closed set for the privacy of the actors a very common practice and one the parents were made aware of and signed off on before hand.

I can hardly read this first of all, it's been written so poorly.

Secondly, it's actually illegal to film underage teens nude without the parents being present and singing forms, which they DID NOT do. The article clearly mentions that they failed to get consent forms due to "a paperwork screwup. You call THAT a "mix up"? This isn't a case of someone forgetting to bring coffee, this is a huge deal.

Thirdly, an openly gay director with a like for dating teenage boys and throwing drug-induced pool parties with teen boys shouldn't be filming underage boys naked in a shower. In any other scenario that's a felony. That's maybe what's so disturbing to me. His public life and what we know it to be as fact, is seriously hard to ignore when charges such as these come to light.

I don't understand your ignorance to the facts though, that the fliming practices were in fact illegal. It doesn't matter what the lawsuit said, I never mentioned that. You keep missing the point, what he did was illegal, and he should have been punished for it. These new accusations are in no way surprising given his already factual private life we know about.

Don Murphey worked with Singer on Apt Pupil and Murphey wrote a very graphic article about the movie that I obviously can't link but sheds some light on disturbing things that happened.

@stack32: If these allegations are true, Singer directly used X-Men as a vehicle to commit felonies and other crimes. The sheer embarassment could be enough for Fox to drop it or Marvel could fight for it if they were smart. I'd be fine with either.

you may want to re-read that story at Donmurphey.net as according to his account the kids that filed suit against Phoenix pictures, Bryan Singer et all. are shown to be liars, claiming they were forced to strip naked, and held against their will as well as other charges but then confess that they never tried to leave the film set and they as well as every other extra were notified beforehand that nudity would possibly be a part of the shoot.

Yeah you might actually want to re-read what I wrote, seems you misunderstood another reference!

The article is graphic in nature, and despite the boys retracting their lawsuit, still sheds light on uncomfortable filming practices like youbastards mentioned. Go read about his pool parties with teen boys and try to tell me what happened doesn't have any amount of truth in it. He definitely did questionable things that he should have been punished for.

Don Murphey worked with Singer on Apt Pupil and Murphey wrote a very graphic article about the movie that I obviously can't link but sheds some light on disturbing things that happened.

@stack32: If these allegations are true, Singer directly used X-Men as a vehicle to commit felonies and other crimes. The sheer embarassment could be enough for Fox to drop it or Marvel could fight for it if they were smart. I'd be fine with either.

I just hope Singer sinks and Fox is forced to stop making X-Men movies because of the controversy surrounding these chargers directly involving the film franchise.

You clearly have your priorities in order.

Yeah I absolutely do. Singer is a scumbag, and Marvel would make infinitely better X-Men movies.

Apparently it's not even the first time he's been accused of something like this.

I just hope Singer sinks and Fox is forced to stop making X-Men movies because of the controversy surrounding these chargers directly involving the film franchise. Singer will probably walk free though, I'm sure he's paid his due in favors to keep him floating.

What did they clap about? Undertaker? I didn't see them. Lots of folks were extremely upset about UT. Some guys in the suite I was in actually left at that point. I overheard another guy saying he would finish watching tonight, but was done with wrestling after last night.

Yeah when Taker was walking off all 9 stood up and clapped in unison. Never missing a beat, same clapping motion, same time, every time. It was offensively scripted and that's stupid because you're just clapping.