Santos L Halper

As one of those (mostly)silent members that also suffers from completist OCD; I can understand the frustration of not being able to find what you're looking for with relative ease. It was a very sad day when my local comic shop informed me they would no longer be carrying Minimates because I was the only one buying them at that time and until Luke's toy store opened up it was a pain having to deal with the likes of Action Figure Express and Big Bad Toy Store. Fortunately the Toysrus in my town has always been great about having the new 'mates and the employees have been very helpful with letting me know when trucks are coming in(I'm know as the Minimate guy by the employees lol). Other than the Angel/Warpath set; I've been able to get them all in store, but I will admit it was very frustrating at the time and put me off 'mates for a while. Fortunately DST realized the TRU one per case set was not a good idea and has fixed that problem. Really hope those that are unable to find what they are looking for are able to get help from members on the forum or their TRU finally gets the 'mates in stock.

The other day while doing some cleaning I came across a long comic book box full of old Toyfare Magazines and decided I would scan all of the Minimates related articles, ads, big shots, top ten appearances, etc... and put them up on the internet for everyone here to see. I found a full run from February 2004 to October 2009. Toyfare was always one of my favorite magazines with my first issue being # 4 (Captain Picard as a Locutus on the cover) back in 1998 (unfortunetly I was informed by my mom that she's pretty sure she donated all the issues from 1998 to 2003 to the local library). Toyfare is what got me back into toys when I was 18 after years of not caring about toys(sports and girls were my priority from 12 to 18....well I guess they still are at times lol). I hope everyone enjoys looking back at all the scans, there's 174 total so it may take you a while to get through all of them. Anyway, here's the link to my library on Photobucket http://s1148.photobucket.com/user/SantosLHalper12/library/?sort=6&page=1 P.S. I also want to give a shout out to Zach, as many of us know he was one of the writers for Toyfare and it is quite an honor to have him as member here now as an employee of DST. Thank you Zach for helping make Toyfare one of the best magazines there was.

I personally place no fault with DST at all, DST was doing a favor for someone who used to be part of the company and then Digger using his former association with the company took advantage of us to get us to donate to his project. Can't blame DST for not making product they had not been paid for yet or had not gotten the designs for. I can understand why the guys at DST feel some responsibility for this ordeal, but only because I too would feel bad if people were promised something that was going to be made by my company and almost two years later they still have not been made. Yes they did allow Digger to use the Minimates brand to promote his project, but it was Digger's responsibility to follow through with the promises he made and that is something he has obviously not done. I can't wait for this to all be done with and that those who spent thousands of dollars get what they paid for so we can all wipe our hands clean of Digger completely and forget he ever had anything to do with the toy line we all love so much. His reputation(not that it was ever all that great to begin with) and his legacy as one of the creators of Minimates is tarnished beyond repair and the sooner we can forget he ever existed the better. Edit - I also want to thank Luke for keeping us up to date on the progress of the 'mates, something Digger has been unwilling to do because Digger doesn't have the balls to face the people he has conned and ripped off.

Thank you Delta for taping the panel and putting it up for everyone to see, your hard work on editing this is very much appreciated. Also thanks to Shane, DST and C2E2 for working together to allow this to happen at all, it was great being able to see what goes on at a convention panel. Very envious of those who won the painted prototypes at the end, hope some of those went to members here.

I just want to say thanks to Tim and Shane for making these available to members who were unable to attend C2E2. It's stuff like this(among many other things) that continues to prove that this is the best forum on the internet.

I love minimates because no other toy line has such a wide variety of characters available in the same scale with great articulation that the minimates brand offers. The ability to have Spiderman, Batman, Marty McFly, Hannibal, the Terminator, Master Chief and many, many other characters standing together was a dream come true and I look forward to all the new properties that will be joining the brand this year.

Of course...No need to come down from your throne to visit with the masses when you already know you have their undying love and affection. Maybe one day he'll grace us with his presence again, bearing gifts that nobody wants anymore.

So did anyone who attended C2E2 have any words with Digger......I mean, meet kindly with him and ask about the progress of his super sweet and awesome project that us peasants had the pleasure of supporting?

I have very mixed feelings about Walmart in general (being a resident of Northwest Arkansas for 30 years now and seeing first hand how they have ran out of town/crushed all the smaller businesses over the years), but I am glad to see other major retailers carrying the Minimates brand. More exposure is always a good thing.....well except for that one misfortunate day at Oceans of Fun when I was 13 lol.

Maybe you should just offer to send it another member for the cost of shipping? Seems a little tacky to use something made for this specific forum as trade fodder when you know there are plenty of others who would cherish it. While I agree with you that it seems a bit tacky, it is his to do with as he pleases. Yes there are many of us (myself very much included on that list) that would cherish having the MMMV blank, but as a collector of the convention blanks (having all of them released so far); I have always factored in what it would cost to attend a convention into how much I am willing to spend on a blank. Obviously it isn't cheap after it's all said and done to attend a convention(tickets to show, travel to show, lodging while there, food, other expenditures, etc...). I really wanted to attend C2E2, but due to other financial responsibilities(damn you taxes being due this month), I wasn't able to attend and I know many others on the board were in the same boat for various reasons. Of course I would love if he gave it away for cost of shipping (especially if it was to me lol), but like all the other blanks that have been given out "free" at conventions I have yet to actually get one for free and unfortunately don't think these will be any different. Edit - I understand these blanks are different and have more meaning than your average blank. I don't envy Shane at all when it comes to deciding how to distribute the extras he was given, unfortunately I think there are going to be some hurt feelings when it's all said and done. I have no clue how it can be done fairly without playing favorites, do members with the highest post counts deserve them, those who have been members of the forum the longest ( I wouldn't complain about that one lol), a random drawing, some sort of photography/artistry contest, steel cage battle royal?

After seeing pics of the actual figures in the C2E2 thread, the Lizard looks great and much better than he does in the promotional picture(The angle of the promotional picture made the head look huge). Also love that Doc Ock can stand on his tentacles. The whole set looks great especially with all the extra accessories for different looks, that's always been one of my favorite aspects of the Minimates brand. Two of these sets will definitely be needed.

I think what's throwing me off on the Lizard is the size of the neck post in relation to the size of the head. Maybe if there was something on the neck post to make it thicker, kind of like the collar piece that comes on the Captain Picard 'mates.

Congratulations Luke! It's been a pleasure doing business with you since you opened your store(honestly hard to believe its almost been five years since I've stop doing business with any other online retailer) and I look forward to many more years of business with you. Your customer service is second to none, if only other retailers treated their customers with as much respect and understanding; you go above and beyond what anyone could expect of you to make your customers happy. Your store is very deserving of this exclusive and I can't wait to add these to the collection.

The first page of the C2E2 2014 Pics & Discussion thread has pics of Shredder, Foot Clan ninjas and Krang. http://www.minimatemultiverse.com/index.php?showtopic=12793

As much as I love the plain basic minimate with as little sculpting as possible; I think these would have benefited greatly from sculpted heads, something similar to what they have done with battle beast. I see the basic cylindrical head as the default human head and think that animals/creatures should have a different head than that of human characters.

Pics of the turtles were just posted on DST's facebook page https://www.facebook.com/diamondselecttoys/photos/a.170694629641469.38259.170392609671671/748605865183673/?type=1&theater

I can only assume one will be made available to the most prolific, handsome, witty, and charming forum member, whomever that may be. Hmmm......So I guess that means we can rule out dinobot? lol A series of tests based on charm, wit and beauty does seem like the only fair/logical way to determine which members are worthy of obtaining any extras that may become available to those unable to attend the convention.

That Minimate Multiverse blank looks incredible, easily the best convention blank ever made. Now I just need to find a way to add one to the collection.

Thanks youbastards for posting pics! Looks like Rosita will be in the walking dead TRU wave 6, very happy to get her as a minimate. Love the TMNT 'mates shown so far, Shredder and the Foot Clan ninjas look fantastic and that Krang is just too awesome for words. However for me the real winners of the con right now are all the Alien/Aliens accessories; face hugger piece, chestbruster piece, Jonesy the cat.....can't wait for these to come out.

That's awesome, thank you so much for doing this and thanks to DST for allowing the panel to be filmed

I really try not to buy many non-minimate toys, but I must have that Blue Man Tobias. A question for the those that collect Pops; how hard are the chase figures to find?

At no time did I believe you were being condescending, I like you was just voicing an idea out loud in the form of an opinion. As I have stated many times, I completely understand why DST focuses on the most recognizable/most popular/main characters from Marvel Comics or any property for that matter. It's just that after 11 years of collecting what I consider to be the absolute best toy line there is(in fact I stopped collecting any other toy line years ago to focus only on minimates and other than a few figures here and there, all my collecting money goes to minimates), I would like a little more variety in character selection, which for the most part DST does a good job at. I am a completist(that's my own sickness that I have to deal with lol) and will buy everything that is put out whether I like/know the character or not, or if I already have 6 other 'mates that look exactly the same, but with a slightly different tampo. But for every ten Wolverines, it would be nice if someone like Toad or Pryo or comic Blob would be made; for every five Thors, maybe one of the Warriors Three or maybe one of the Wrecking Crew. I'm not asking for every single 'mate to be a new unmade character, just a little more variety in character selection in each wave. All that said, this wave does look great and of course I'll be buying them. Love that they have tampo on the sides of the chest blocks.

I think you might be in love with the wrong property. Marvel is usually "The same characters... in the different costumes" since thats why most people still read them. Minimates have the amazing appeal to finding outfits and era specific looks just to appeal to us, rather than boring ol' normal minifigures. DST has to appeal to both us, and still entice new comers to collect, who either saw a movie or read a new series. Hence why Marvel Now has been getting a good push in minimates. I'm well aware that Marvel is usually the same characters in different costumes changing throughout the years, its just that after 59 waves it would be nice if there was a wider variety of characters choices instead of relying on the same main characters over and over. Like I said; I completely understand why DST does it, but it would be nice if an unmade character or two would get mixed in to each wave(yes I know Bobby Drake is an unmade character). Just because I have a low post count doesn't mean I haven't been a member here since the very first day this forum was created after the old AA forum went down and that I haven't been collecting minimates since the very beginning.

While these 'mates look good, I'm just tired of buying the same characters over and over just in different costumes. I understand why DST makes the more recognizable characters, but there are so many X-Men villains that have yet to be made. If I didn't have the sickness of being a completist I would be passing on these.

Is there anyway a Mod could move all of the Blind Bag/possible new way of distribution talk to its own thread? There is a good discussion going on here about this topic with lots of insight from DSTZach, but no one would know about it if they didn't read the Star Trek thread.