thereasonsy

It was there at the Neca activation at NyCC among several other logos throughout. Could just be to tease or just to show ownership of the IP. Either way everyone I asked at Neca just said nothing to announce and that it is nothing to get excited over. 

16 minutes ago, cylonchaney said:

Imagine trying to do a Karl Malden or Owen Wilson and you can't draw the nose.   

Barry’s struggle was real as the kids say. 

23 hours ago, Barry said:

 You don't realize that some people are more recognizable for their face shape or their nose until you don't have those elements to use.

As I have been working on my own decals, I deeply feel this. Characters like Tombstone need noses and other identifying features that make them stand out on Minimate shelves. I’m honestly surprised we didn’t get an official one.
 

As for the shift in faces, boy did my wallet notice as I went through and updated every face on older mates that I could with the new face versions.  
 

13 hours ago, Barry said:

When characters appeared at multiple retail locations, they were considered the same figure.  In my tracking sheets they were listed as 'reused' characters even if they were new for that release.  (So, new for Specialty, reused for the same corresponding TRU wave).  Some ended up with small differences, like the Wolverine belt situation, but those weren’t intentional or planned running changes, so I don’t keep separate production files for them.  Similarly, I don’t log a specialty version and a TRU version as different in my own list of everything I worked on.  They're the same figure.

At one point, there was more than one factory involved, but I’m not sure how long that lasted since I wasn’t project manager then.  That may have caused differences like the Wolverine belt, but it could just as easily have been a matter of different runs done at different times.  All the source files were identical and the variations likely came down to a factory or individual missing something.  

Occasionally, sets were re-run multiple times.  For example, Deadpools Assemble (my original title was “Deadpools Resemble!” but I digress…) was produced at least four times.  Over the years, minor differences are inevitable, but I still consider them the same figures.  I understand that some collectors care about those small changes, like Star Wars POTF2's infamous long vs. short lightsabers, but from my perspective they’re all the same figures.

As far as intentional changes go, there was only ever one true running change, and I don’t think anyone has ever noticed it.  The Hulk Through the Ages set originally included Classic Iron Man’s helmet among Maestro’s trophies.  When we re-ran the set years later, the original helmet tooling was unavailable.  The factory asked to swap in the Extremis Iron Man helmet, and I approved it since it fit on the base without issue.  Since most die-hard collectors bought the first release, the revision likely went unnoticed.

 

Honestly, I’m a little relieved we never got to Eternals because I think the tampo costs alone would have broken the bank!  I know some of the post-Endgame MCU characters remain frustrating holes in collectors’ shelves, but at least we did manage the one What If? set with the Zombies from Season 1.  The only reason that happened was because most other What If episodes would have required new tooling, while the Zombies were existing MCU designs just reimagined in animated, zombified form.

As for my own collection, I don’t have any playsets or dioramas only because of the sheer size of it.  I’ve kept one of every figure I worked on, and when I had them displayed, they filled rows upon rows.  So many that I eventually ran out of space.  Sadly, I took them all down during an office redesign.  Maybe one day they’ll return, but for now I’ve shifted focus to statues in my personal collection.

When the figures were up, it was incredibly useful having them right behind my desk.  I could just turn around, glance over the rows, and spot suitable reused parts for a project without digging through storage.  Then I could easily take them out and kitbash a new figure together to make sure the parts worked without interfering with each other.  The photo I have here is the last shot I took before taking them down that I can find.  They were displayed on old IKEA VHS/DVD shelves, which I’d customized with acrylic doors for combating dust.  Since then, I’ve completely redone the room with Moducases.  For reference, there's 4 rows of figures on each shelf, so there's just over 2,000 displayed here.

A funny little side note: the reason Minimates come with stands at all is because of my own greedy need for them.  My own collection kept dominoing over, which drove me nuts.  I brought the issue up to DST, arguing that it had to be happening to other collectors too.  Since the added cost was negligible, we went ahead with them, and they became standard.

I can’t help but sing the Will this Minimate be on my shelf theme every time I see a picture like this. Thanks Luke 😂 

13 hours ago, Barry said:

I did sit down recently to draw again as a way of retaining the muscle memory.  Coincidently I drew characters from stories stemming from Uncanny X-Men #269 where Rogue is in her Savage Land attire.  These were for my own growth and maybe for a bit of fun.  They're nothing official, and nothing anyone asked me to do, so please don’t take it as some kind of return or resurrection, because it really isn’t.  It's just me daydreaming and trying to keep busy after months of unemployment.  I’ve been debating whether I should share them or just leave them be.  

Well, we are here for them if you ever decide to share. Know it’s a tough time but we appreciate you. 

If you aren’t following Barry on the gram you’re missing his cool posts about what was designed on this day! 

2 hours ago, Padrino said:

Awesome idea! Did you use a template?

 

I started off by printing off Luke’s so I had the neck piece and length marked out and then just freestyled it. The cape isn’t meant to be perfect so I just went with it. 

3 hours ago, Padrino said:

Im wiling to pay for that goblin queen cape

Not the same I know but, I made one from cutting the plastic window that came with a Minimate and then painting it black. 

6 hours ago, buttheadsmate said:

Before or after it's sold ? 

Preferably before but after works as well so I can shed more tears. Who knows maybe someone will learn how to 3d print one. 

If anyone see the baby Christopher prototype up for sale anywhere can you please let me know?  

On 9/16/2025 at 1:32 AM, cylonchaney said:

The blue is darker than I wanted. But the lighter blue plastic I had was old and brittle and kept breaking in the colour changing hardware. I put a chest sticker on one but it didn't look right. I'll have to make one custom for these guys if I want them to have muscles. I might go with the uniform on the right and just leave it like that. The guys on the left need some detail if I'm going to continue down that road. I'm quite pleased with the results of my first effort at multi-colour printing though.

The base face I modified was Wizard from our decals thread. I don't want to search through the whole thread to figure out who to credit but my gut says Dave based on the art style. If I stumble across who it was, I'll edit the thread. In any case, thanks!

 

These are beautiful 

On 9/16/2025 at 7:22 PM, Padrino said:

this is my homage to that amazing new Rachel Summers Legends figure

Sunbird

https://imgur.com/PWHG478

(I need to update my Rachel figure with those wings but I have to get it from storage first)

Wow this is beautiful 

17 hours ago, luke314pi said:

I am extremely limited by what parts are available to me in larger quantities, so that has always limited my character choices. I am happy to hear suggestions, and sometimes it does spark ideas, but unfortunately most of the time my answer is "sorry, I don't have the parts to do that". 

::Cough:: Speedball and Marvel Boy ::Cough:: who said that?

On 9/15/2025 at 5:07 PM, Padrino said:

Hi Barry,

Did you work on the Alpha Flight set? Were there any unreleased figures from that set (i.e., Talisman, Diamond Lil)? 

Also, in the Infinity War set, was that Tony/Iron Man using magic? Man, I have to look into the rewrites on that movie!

I’ve been working on a decal for Diamond Lil for about 6 months now and she’s a tough one to crack. May just stick to her Trisha look because of this. 😂

7 hours ago, Shanester said:

That Stark camo is genius!

It’s so freaking good. @Barry has done it again. 

35 minutes ago, NerdyTrev said:

Your comments put me all at sea.

I’m just soaking them all up. 

4 hours ago, Barry said:

Sorry, I'm not sure I follow.

Sorry you were ,entirely I g tooling restraints and I was curious if that is why we only got one AIM solider. 

I think the prototype that broke my heart the most was Baby Christopher. That Inferno Era was some of my favourite time in the mutantverse. 

16 hours ago, Barry said:

Tooling restrains prevented further Keyblades, unfortunately.

Is this what happened with AIM soldiers? 

16 hours ago, luke314pi said:

Nailed it! 😁

Ahhhhhhhhhh this is so exciting!

4 hours ago, luke314pi said:

Moira is now shipping! Here is a hint for my next custom: This character prefers a sword over a blaster. 

Can I just say swordsman and we all agree and you make him for us? Please? 😊

1 hour ago, Barry said:

I’d love to have corresponding photos with my designs but having worked on over 3,500 Minimates it’s just too much work.  As it is, cutting the front view out to paste in a new frame is a lot to do!

I really should dig through some old boxes to take SOME pictures though.  I have those cereal mascot protos, amongst others from that era, like the unreleased C3 DC ones (Alfred and the like).

Well I feel like I speak for everyone by saying we appreciate how much you’ve shared. It’s such an impressive body of work. 

2 hours ago, luke314pi said:

Thanks guys - it looks like my old Flickr album is still up here with all of my Doctor Who customs.

Maybe they get a custom release now 😗😗😗

3 hours ago, Barry said:

At the time of the Vinimates, Buffy was never discussed for Minimates, and I’m not sure why.

A Doctor Who proposal was being worked on during my first year, in late 2007.  I was tied up with the first Iron Man movie though so my involvement was limited to assembling design sheets and colouring.  I was also asked to experiment a bit with Dalek proportions using reference images from the web, but I never drew anything.

Uriel designed the 9th and 10th doctors, the latter in both his blue suit and brown suit with trenchcoat, Rose, Martha, Harkness, and what appears to be the showrunner inside of an oversized reference image of a Dalek.  Based on it's proportions, I can see why I was asked to try different Dalek sizes.  

There are designs for a Cyberman and a Cybercontroller by Matt Cauley, and I believe he coloured front views of the humans for a Toy Fair proposal board.  I was asked to recolour everything from original scans when we moved to full design sheets, but the project never went any further than that, and again, I'm not sure why.

Thank you sir! I wonder if Buffy Mates were ignored because of Palz. 

@Barry did you ever work on Buffy Minimates or Dr Who?

I love the designs of the Legacy characters but man would those TNG figures have been my JAM.