Turtle

Cool news, but I will be seriously pissed if we don't get the whole team. Hopefully there will be another set with Ray, Winston, Slimer, and either Gozer or Janine. And a Maximate Stay Puft.

Rad, I don't know if you've found your answer, but the Mattel news is that the Four Horsemen are sculpting a 6 inch line. There will also be a 12 inch line.

For all we know "makes sense" might mean they've finally lifted the height restriction off of the the Marvel license

Could that be the "line extension" that was mentioned? I hope the "that makes sense" line is DC, because it would make sense AND make me happy. If DCD is too lame to continue one of the coolest lines to date, it does make a lot of sense for DST to pick up that license if possible. And, well, the more I think about it, the more I look forward to Toy Fair. First, there's nothing in the answer that specifically refers to minimates so I may be getting hyped for nothing. But then with 2009 being the year of the minimate and all, one can't help but think there's got to be something more than a few cancellations. And now that I think about it more, I wonder if the "We’ll also have plenty of line extensions for existing licenses" could mean that licenses that aren't currently in minimate form will be headed that way. And now I have gotten carried away.

From today's Q&A

James White:

Great Job on everything you guys have been doing lately and thanks for keeping us updated on shipping dates. My question is: Can you give us any hints as to what we may see at Toy Fair 09 from DST and AA?

DSTChuck: We’ll have a couple new licenses and one of them I think will shock everyone and the other will be a “that makes sense” response. We’ll also have plenty of line extensions for existing licenses.

Hmmm.

Yeah, Chuck said pretty definitely that there are no plans for Watchmen product. Unless DST JUST got the license, I just don't think we will be seeing Watchmen mates any time soon. It's probably a hint to Kubricks or Cosbabies. Kubricks are alright, but I don't collect any. I don't care for Cosbabies, but I don't care against them either.

And maybe this thread would be more appropriately titled SPECULATION instead of RUMOR.

I love me some Hellboy. The comics are a really great read. The noir horror/scifi/fantasy plays out very well, especially when the characters treat it all as part of their humdrum experience. The BPRD spin off series' have played out just as well. I really enjoy the HB short story collections almost better than the full-length stories. I especially love the Corpse. That's a great story. I would love to see the Mignola-verse in minimate form.

Mezco did a great job on the comic figures. Their movie figures are pretty nice as well. They did some mez-itz for the first movie and will have some Hell-buddy type (similar to Hasbro's heroes style) figures soon for the second movie, if you are into that kind of thing.

Spyderlon, Spyderlon, He can do whatever a... ah, screw it.

I think Marvel Minimates have succeeded because it is a diverse line that can be pretty easily marketed to Specialty Stores and Mainstream stores. Everybody in the world knows Wolverine, Spiderman, Captain America, the Hulk, and Iron Man. Frequently repeating these characters to please newcomers/casual buyers and adding in more obscure characters for the comic enthusiasts pretty much insures the line can sell anywhere. DC SHOULD have done so well, but C3 couldn't compete with other building toys and DCD seems to have the strategic thinking of a developmentally-challenged goat statue sculpted out of dog poo.

With Star Trek, I think it could have lasted a little longer with a strategy other than multiple Kirk and/or Spocks per wave. Also I think it was a mistake to release the entire TOS bridge crew within the first two waves. DST kind of blew their load a little too early. That would have been ok if they had then started to seriously incorporate other series, but they didn't. Just more Kirk and Spock. Oh, and a variant of old man Scotty. That's exciting. Poor planning yields not too much excitement after those first couple of waves. At least on my part. I love that Picard and Borg, though. I need to pick that up.

BSG I think may have died because of a timing error. If BSG wasn't quite living up to sales expectations, it probably was not a good idea to push THREE items (Boxset and 2 Waves) that would all hit retail relatively close to each other. If a retailer was willing to buy (and I'm just making up numbers now) 10 BSG units, it will now only buy three of each. Three isn't as much as ten, and suddenly the whole thing is not worth doing. A line should NEVER be competing with itself, and I think these final waves would have been. I also think Razor mates were a bit of a waste.

However, retailer exclusives are either partially or completely funded by that retailer, so it's up to them to determine whether it's "worth it" to do the item. The retailer my have a better bead on what their specific customers will buy, they may have a better mechanism for housing/getting rid of overstock, or they may just do it as a vanity project.

Very true. So now I guess we need to drum up retailer support for exclusives. How many weeks until Toyfair? What retailers would be good candidates?

Our individual pre-orders should make no difference. In the AA Q&A, Chuck doesn't even say "pre-orders", he says "pre-booked orders" and I'm still thinking that clearly implies the collective orders from retailers (not our pre-orders from those retailers).

That's what I've always thought. Sadly, I think that also means retailer exclusives wouldn't make enough of a difference to warrant production. If they can't meet the production quota among all the stores, I don't know if they will be able to meet a reasonable enough quota with one store/distributor. And it's one thing to offer a single set or figure. It's completely different to offer a set of 4 (3 + variant). But I could be totally wrong.

10. Aaron Doral

9. Simon the Cylon

8. Sam Anders

7. Brother Cavil

6. Captive Six Leoben

5. Racetrack

4. D'Anna

3. Athena Ellen Tigh

2. Natalie

1. Tory Foster

You knew somebody would bring up Battlestar Galactica.

Either another wave is already planned, or the T-1000 has some awesome swappable pieces.

I too think there is another wave planned.

"Along the way we also tried to have a unique character who interacts with the main cast in various scenes, hence the inclusion of some fan favorites we have yet to unveil."

It's gotta be that dude from Salute Your Shorts. No Terminator experience is complete without him.

Actually, they didn't get picked up in the peak of the final season, but in the middle of the break of the final season, not the peak. Preorders went away before it started back up. I think timing might have been a huge factor in all of this and hopefully resoliciting them at Toy Fair (close to when BSG is ending and the hype will be the biggest it will be for this series) will go better.

Sorry. What I was trying to say is that the release dates (not solicits) seemed to be in the peak of the final season, which would be a great time for a product to actually sell well. But you are right. There might be better luck soliciting when buzz is higher, even if the product won't get out until later. It's nice that DST will display them at Toy Fair, but I'm not counting on anything.

There are seven more cylons plus that stellar looking Three. If those made it out, I'd be ok with where the line ends. The boxset and wave 5 would have really capped the line. Wave 6 was icing. Of course, now anything we get would be icing. BBTS had the sets listed as February for the Boxset and March for the waves. I don't know how correct that was, but it seems if they couldn't get picked up to sell right in the peak of the final season, I dont see a way they will get picked up now. Sigh. No more anger, no more denial, no more bargaining.

Yeesh. Thanks for the news. Trek too, huh? At least DST will be pushing BSG mates at Toyfair, although I don't know if it will matter. It looks like Trek is just done.

Considering that there are some of the revelations that came out of the first episode of the new season, maybe DST has been holding their breathe on re-packaging the assortment (and couldn't reveal the new packages without giving away some of the spoilers.)

The same thought crossed my mind....

Yup. I'm hoping for that. I just have a really hard time imagining that DST had such an incredibly poor handle on the situation that they teased us with and announced two waves and a boxset when there was no retail support. That would be a big misjudgment, the kind that would make me think very little of DST's ability to analyze a marketplace in a meaningful way. I much prefer to think that DST got word about where the series was headed and slightly misjudged market interest and so decided to reformat these last waves. But I think I'm somewhere between denial and bargaining with a twinge of guilt, so...

What is this "reality" you speak of?

That's a good point. He started out nude in T2,

I smell a wave 2 variant there.......

Wait, you smell Ahnold naked?

I like all this positive thinking that is going on. After the hype we got around these waves, it would be a sin and a shame to completely cancel them. Maybe they will make it out somehow. In honor of the 4.5 premier tonight, I will keep faith that we will get, at the very least, the rest of the cylons.

Nice wave. Although, I think it would make more sense to put the T-800 with John Connor and the Terminator with the endoskeleton and Kyle Reese group. (Will Reese have any accessories?)

I really like the rolled-up sleeve piece that JohnConnor is getting. I also like his boots.

The T-1000 looks nice. That's got to be that unique sculpt that was hinted at in the AA blog. (I would have preferred X-files.)

Wow. I'm usually not huge on Marvel mates, only picking up some on occasion, but this wave looks great!

Sorry, BHM, but at 10/9 Central I plan on immediately posting as many spoilers as I can. I will ruin all of the mysteries: Who is(are) the final cylon(s)? Will they ever make it to Earth? Where is the Cylon homeworld? What's up with Starbuck? Where does the fleet get toilet paper?

As for the Stuckakid banner, I find myself logging in here just to see it, just to be teased by something I so desperately want but will probably never have. But it also gives me hope that at least maybe one online toy store is trying to keep interest up by wasting advertising space on a product that has apparently been cancelled. And when is DST going to make a statemet on this? At least a definitive acknowledgment would be nice.

Oooh, that Starro is beautiful. I have to pick this up.

If X-Files mates are on the way, I will forgive DST for not finishing off BSG. "The truth is out there" is almost definitely an X-Files clue, but the other stuff in the article makes it sound a little more exciting than, say, Mulder in a suit.

"...features a unique design which will probably never reappear in any future Minimate waves. It’s so innovative and eye-catching that I just know it will have to become a part of many, many collections and displays."

A unique design that will probably never reappear in any future waves? Hmm. Mulder and Scully are so simple they are almost guaranteed to reappear. But then, there has been soooo much in the X-Files series that would be unique. Aliens, Fluke, two-headed dog, and so much more fit the unique bill. And if X-files mates are in the works and BSG is really cancelled, this might be an opportunity to at least get a good Leoben head.

But then, it was another AA Blog post that got me so very excited to have the rest of the Cylons in minimate form. I don't want to get too worked up only to have another bust.

Bah! Terrrible news. These were awesome, especially Wave 5 and the Boxset. I hate to hear this, especially as BSG and DCD were the focus my collecting. Hopefully, hopefully, somthing will happen so that these make it out.

I will be supremely bummed if these are cancelled. DCD and BSG are (were) my main minimate focus. And it's Christmas time! Who sneaks in a silent canceling at Christmas? Who? Does the S in DST stand for Scrooge now? I hope not.

Oh, I definitely prefer to have a little Dick on my shelf, but as Tenime Art pointed out, I've already got a Dick in Nightwing. I think two Dicks would just be too many. I'm a one Dick kind of guy. But on the other hand, Babs Batgirl and classic Bats both look really good with young Dick. So I'll just say that Robin is versatile. When I need Dick, he's a Dick.

And Happy Holidays to all.