cylonchaney

8 minutes ago, Strider said:

Could it be the license for the Lego movie? I always thought they would make great minimates.

The salesperson who could cut that deal would be wasting their talent at DST. 

No worries.

Good luck with your project. I'm curious now.

PS Is this your custom?

22 hours ago, elhonez said:

It's a round disk with a star shape on one side.

Here's a link, but the Multiverse ironically doesn't allow us to post images from the MMDB:

http://minimatedatabase.com/acc.php?i=1752&n=Round+Shield

Thanks for taking a look!

How's this?

Do you have a friend with a 3d printer? I banged this off quickly for you but have not tested. If you know someone who can test print, do that. If you're happy with it, you could order a nice one from Shapeways. I'll try to get around to a test print but am pretty busy these days.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6229556/files

4 hours ago, DSTZach said:

Thanks, Onyx, I don't control the socials anymore, so I can only post my pics on my own channel, but I try to send the best fan MM images to the social managers.

I don't know if Minimates can go online-only. Luckily, there are still brick-and-mortar buyers. Someday we'll hit on the right license to get them into Walmart -- it almost happened very recently, we'll show off the new license at NYTF.

Oh, and we have been trying to improve our Minimates solicitation images. The last batch of images for SDCC TF Minimates and Marvel 84 were pretty solid, I think, but sorry if past images were not up to snuff. 

 

I'm no photo critic. But those Mates are gorgeous!

I made some extra heads and printed off a few versions. Interested to see if anyone has a favourite. Each of these is unique though they will look similar.

A further follow up. I still have not printed a nice version of Dave's Bishop face. In the meantime, continuing to learn the tools I'm working with, I came up with a better rip off of DST's face. You can see my workflow below. Once I've got a full sheet worth of stuff to print, I'll have a face off. Dave's vs. my traced version vs. this version.

Also, Hail Ivan! The starting photo is from minimatedatabase.

1 hour ago, thereasonsy said:

 I would think this is a collectors piece for fans of the show— not the movies. That on principle would mean a hyper targeted buy be aimed at men aged 40+ with an interest group of the 80s. 

This strikes me as a bang on assessment of the market for GI Joe Mates.

More Invincible Mates would be great!

19 hours ago, DSTZach said:

And yeah, we'd probably only make an exclusive for a licensed reseller. I don't think they'd need to have a history with our distributor (Diamond Comics), but they would need to have a sales outlet. To be honest, I'm not sure we still have the rights to sell Minimates in the UK anyway, so it may be moot. 

I have to say Zach, your attitude seems a bit dismissive. Why not invite bhm to have a serious discussion about how it could be done and what would have to happen. If it needs an American retailer, perhaps he is able to find one to partner with. Then if you cant' make it work, you at least come across as having tried. The above reads like a hard no.

Maybe you've had offline conversations. But it has come up publicly on the forum a couple of times and it seems like you just dismiss it without serious consideration.

That aside, best of luck with your Joe marketing. I hope you guys can get this line to thrive.

On 9/8/2023 at 1:28 AM, buttheadsmate said:

The demise of ToysRUs was definitely the death knell as ,by that time, most of the Minimate eggs were in that one basket . I don't live in the US but this forum was alive back then & it was pretty obvious that something was not quite right with distribution even then .  TRU web sales were initially non-existent & then, when online orders became possible they were handled by .....I'll be too polite.....people that weren't quite up to the task .  Comic stores were all but alienated by that time except for some very entrepreneurial online sellers who thankfully took over the mantle .  I  cringe when I see how many 'retailer' promos there are in the MMDB , there are probably more individual promos than current Minimate retailers. By the time TRU had gone so had the 'other' retailers . So we're left with a ridiculously good product with some top-line licences with no retailers .  Walgreens Minimates were described on this forum recently as 'ancient history' , WG 'mates were in many instances superb & the final wave was according ,to the MMDB, January 2022 . They were never released in the US ,doesn't that say it all ?

 

Right around that time, every comic shop in town carried Minimates. It was often the case that one could buy the TRU line and get an exclusive plus all of the characters from the Comic Shop wave, disincentivizing Comic Shop sales . Very shortly after that, no comic stores in town carried Minimates anymore. I can only order online now. Thank goodness for Luke.

10 hours ago, blogzilly said:

Have you shown what Blackbird you’re trying to model this after? I understand that you’re endgame is to make a Chibi kind of thing, but what’s the basic reference you are using?

I'm not married to a specific design. Played with a couple of different wing styles and some other things. I do kind of like the backwards swept wing style.

I've had this challenge with the Viper and Thunderfighter as well where they are long thin ships and at first I make them too fat and stubby. The Blackbird, in any incarnation, is especially long and thin. On top of all that, I'm trying to make it hold two rows of mates, so it's really wide. If I dropped that feature, I could make it way narrower which would help a lot. But the fun of a Minimates Blackbird to me is the idea of transporting a team.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1997-men-blackbird-jet-original-box-504233662 - This toy is what inspired me to take a stab though mine will be much larger relative to the figures. I can always head back towards a more direct copy of that design if none of my ideas work out.

I've been looking at this style which I think might be attractively deformed. https://www.ultimatepapermache.com/x-men-blackbird But it hasn't influenced the current iteration.

Just poking around, I usually end up with something I like. I was absolutely dismayed at my first Thunderfighter. A couple of iterations later, it's my favourite of my designs.

I might put the Blackbird aside for a while and move on to the Marauder that was supposed to be next.

If you have some thoughts, I'm open to criticism and suggestions. Bear in mind that I'm also working with a somewhat primitive tool set.

Funny. They would pick right up for me. The only MCU movie I've seen after Endgame was Guardians 3.

Personally, I find almost everything coming out of Hollywood these days unwatchable. Whether or not one agrees with the political messaging is irrelevant. It's so one-sided and over the top that everything becomes boring and predictable.

And every Marvel movie now has to be about saving all of existence from the most powerful bad guy ever.

Still trying to find my way with the Blackbird. I feel like it's an improvement but still feel I can do better.

I always picture bhm's shed to be more organized than Smaug's hoard and less so than the warehouse from the end of Raiders, and somewhat resembling both. LOL

I'll say it again. Army builders would break the seal on me buying into this line. I have none as of yet.

The main bad buy is Cobra Commander right? So what's he commanding then?

I generally defend the decisions of DST because it's so easy to be an armchair critic and we don't know all that goes on behind the scenes. And I try to be always polite on the forum. But, seriously DST, if this line comes and goes and you did not try some kind of army builder pack, you are idiots. How is that not "the sky is blue" obvious?

When that set came out, someone posted a QC Borgpool in the Star Trek thread. 

I meant to reply but never did. I used that bag to make Poolcard.  It was Picard with a Deadpool head and that pack loaded up with scifi weapons like Casey Jones. I remember it holding a good amount of stuff.

39 minutes ago, elhonez said:

Are there any other open/functional quivers with straps outside of Fear Itself Hawkeye?

I'm really not wanting to drop 20 bucks for a single part, but that seems to be the only listing on Ebay. I already used mine for Apache Kid, but now I'm working on another character that needs one.

Deadpools Assemble! Box Set - Satchel part

If you have the same colour bricks you can add one row of bricks per floor or whatever for a better fit. I have a building made from a bunch of Mega Bloks sets and I did exactly that. Obviously that won't work for every set. But it's a good option in some cases.

Work on the Blackbird progresses. While it's an improvement over the first one, I'm just not feeling this one. I've been playing around but I just can't seem to get to where I feel it's a good representation. The latest:

I'm not much of a comics guy but Kingpin looks really cool.

Things have come a long way since the old design sheets.

Are those final photos Zach? I find is slightly off-putting when a figure has a super ripped stomach like that and no other muscle detail anywhere.

@blogzilly Congrats on coming out of your shell. And welcome.

6 hours ago, buttheadsmate said:

 

What a ridiculous  suggestion , who the helI owns a saucepan big enough to fit a fridge in ?

 

Lot's of people.

But I fail to see how the fridge offers any advantage over just plain boiling water.

I'm surprised this run of puns is still going. I'd expect it to have lost its legs by now.