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I've had enough of alternate universe/future X-boxsets to last a lifetime. No special attachment to 70s Marvel for me but I'm definitely picking this up. Morbius is the big draw, but even Blade looks cool, especially with the stake-throwing accessory. Strange seems like a pretty worthwhile upgrade too. If Universal Monsters is dead, a follow-up Strange Tales set would seem like a perfect release around Halloween.

While I'm sure DST would like to have minimates at Target or Wal-mart in addition to TRU, I wonder if it would be better for collectors overall. Sure, there would be more 'mates available, but there's no way the other retailers or going to take on the characters that TRU has as exclusives. Firelord and Air-Walker would never appear at Wal-mart. My favorite change would have to be the increased details of tampos and the additional sculpting, but I think the biggest game-changer has been the addition of accessories to create variations on the same character. I definitely buy more because of this and it certainly adds to the value of a set.

Really? I haven't seen Nova or GotG trades for a reasonable price anywhere for a long time. The New Warriors may not have been an original book, but I liked it quite a bit then and think it still holds up pretty well now. They're probably my most-wanted team after the DnA Guardians of the Galaxy.

Winter Soldier.

If "most important" means "most significant to the MU" then I think I'd have to go with Baron Strucker, though I think there's a good case to be made for Enchantress too. This would be a great question for a poll (an actual one vote poll) after enough responses to get an idea of the field.

Would the standard minimate articulation even work scaled-up to 6-12"? I can't recall seeing anything that used the same kind of joints at that scale.

I think people have it backwards, the Borg doesn't come packaged with Picard, Picard happens to be packaged with a Borg, probably Hugh. Picard is the constant here. He was always going to be in both assortments if they wanted to have a chance at being successful enough to sustain the line.

If it had any articulation they probably couldn't call it a bank. But that would only matter if the license covered banks and I don't think we've seen any indication that the Marvel license actually does.

Found these this morning. Love the characters, but this is some of the most annoying quality I've dealt with in a long time. Most of the foot holes are too large to stay on a base properly, and most of the pegs from the feet to the legs are either too small to fit snugly or so large that they barely fit at all. Air-Walker's knees are very loose, which normally isn't a big deal but makes him nearly impossible to display with his back-heavy design. Surfer is fine, but his flight stand is warped so badly that it's barely usable. Torch's base is pretty warped too. Did anyone else notice all the bases now have the same code as the minimates printed on them? Sort of makes clear stands less useful. I'm sure DST doesn't have a choice on it though.

A BAF wouldn't have to be a larger figure. The last three ML BAFs have been characters that are or would be normal-sized minimates. And breaking a normal figure up would be fairly easy: lower body, upper body, head and accessories. I would say the bigger issue is that there's no real benefit to doing a BAF when you look at DST's current strategy. Variants, army builders, and extra looks for characters already net the extra sales you're trying to get with a BAF. Plus a BAF isn't going to result in characters that are any more obscure or desirable than what we can get with the current system. At one point it might have been worthwhile, but now I think a BAF would actually provide less value (and sales for DST) than what we usually get.

It's not that TRU prefers obscure characters, it's that comic book stores DO NOT. TRU actually doesn't care all that much about who DST selects for a wave, which is why DST is able to get more obscure characters and finish off teams and box set lineups there. Just one more reason why you guys that constantly harp about TRU need to look at the bigger picture.... I don't remember which thread it was mentioned in, but I could have sworn Zach said that the buyer for TRU did actually request some obscure characters, probably to help drive collectors into the store. So I think it's more than just a lack of enthusiasm from the local LCS for characters other than the big names. Which is just one more reason I'm pretty enthusiastic about TRU despite the issues that crop up.

I think it's the obvious result of TRU's preference for more obscure characters (which I'm thankful for) combined with mass market distribution. I suspect most TRU's have at least one "valuable" set that's just been sitting on the pegs, though I am a little surprised that ones with the exclusive sticker hang around.

Depends how much the hole in the head of the Corps set bothers you. The differences are the lack of a hole in the head, some muscle detailing on the legs, black marks on the feet, no bandoliers for the upper legs, and a slightly orange paint job.

I'm curious to see how DST goes about engineering the Aliens. Obviously a sculpted head, hands, and feet will be used but I wonder what combination of tampos, slip-on pieces, and totally sculpted parts we'll see for the arms, legs, and chest.

I'm amazed how many people are complaining about things we knew before Toy Fair.

I saw Nova at TRU the other day and almost picked him up, but couldn't pull the trigger. It's just not as cool in person as I was expecting from the pictures. Passed on Nighthawk too as I'm not a huge fan of the character. He would make a fantastic minimate though.

I wouldn't go as far as calling Deadpool orange, but it's definitely the lightest red we've had so far. Under the right light it might look a little... orangey? I know there's a pretty extensive conversation about paint and plastic in another thread, but does anyone else think these 'mates are a better quality plastic? They seem less rubbery to me. The bases are definitely much better quality than what we've had in the past.

Punisher does look good and with all the weapons from the Expendables he ought to have an appropriate armory. Still wish he was black instead of blue gray though.

Are Pops that popular with casual buyers? I first heard about them through the regular toy collecting channels, so I've never had the impression that they were a "craze" or anything like beanie babies. More appealing to a wider range of people than a typical action figure maybe, but actually trendy? Also, I think the failure of Mighty Muggs has as much to do with Hasbro mishandling the format as it does with a decline in popularity.

I really hope they don't go with cloth for any of these. It's awful on the small figures and I can't imagine them going with high enough quality material to make them look even halfway decent even on the larger scale.

Well, that pretty much confirms the direction they'll be going with the 3 3/4" line; it should be back to 5 POA in no time. I'll be impressed if these actually manage to be as good as the press photo. Definitely priced higher than I'd like, but I think action figure fans have conclusively proven that we don't actually care about price as much as we claim.

I've assumed that Funko is able to get so many different licenses because licensors consider the products novelty items instead of toys or action figures. I suspect that's why some are actually bobbleheads and others are vinyl figures. The style of these have been growing on me for a while, so after seeing the upcoming MOTU and Watchmen Pops I picked up a few (Gandalf, Leonidas, Tusken Raider). They didn't disappoint once I had them in hand. I can see myself having kind of a love/hate relationship with these though. I like the range of licenses and the style seems to work for many characters (not all), but I'm not a fan of all the chase variants, exclusives, and "retiring" figures to drive the price up. Also, perusing the Funko board really made me appreciate this place.

Hey now, don't speak ill of SHIELD. Save that for nuNova and Superior Spidey.

Sure, I remember the time well. I still think they managed to do really well, even though it's obvious that the toy business was very different at the time. It certainly wouldn't be a bad place to look if DST needed some ideas. Checking out the list of characters produced convinced me I'd really like to see a two-pack of Captain's Jacket Picard and Dathon, among others.

After the announcement I was curious about the Playmates line and did some checking. It's pretty amazing how many figures they made. I would usually say minimates would be able to cover more characters and specific versions than anyone else, but I think it's going to be pretty tough to top what Playmates managed. I'm just hoping we can get TNG and DS9 bridge crews.