TMNT Minimates - it's official!

[The Scarlet Spider]

3 hours ago, DSTZach said:

The space waves? There were some amazing accessories in there. Mostly with the basic Turtles, and not the Space suit Turtles, but I think Space Casey had some cool gear. And there were some great aliens!

I believe Inventor Don was in space and I got 3-4 of him for the accessories. I'm not sure what waves Fanboy Leo or Pizza Party Mikey were in but I got multiples of those as well. 

[ApexPredator]

25 minutes ago, SCW said:

Just curious, is this something that can change?

Like, most places are still taking pre-orders. Could like a "these Turtles Minimates are in trouble of not being produced" type campaign cause more pre-orders to come in and DST reverse it's decision? 

I guess what I'm saying is, I think a lot of people WEREN'T concerned that these wouldn't be made, so there may not have been a mad rush to pre-order. But if the fanbase knew these might not come out, pre-orders would IMO spike up. Because I think a lot of people do want these, but didn't feel like they had to immediately pre-order because they thought there was no chance these wouldn't be made.

Or when a decision like this comes down, it's too late and there's no stopping it even if 1,000 more pre-orders popped up in the next few weeks?

This. Cause I'll preorder the **** out of this

[MisterPL]

Has DST dropped the TMNT license or are they waiting for the new Nick series to debut and basing the next assortment on that?

[spidermatt]

I hope the decision to cancel this line gets over turned and they get made. I grew up with these turtles and love the minimate design of them.

If they are totally canceled, I hope down the line they revisit these retro turtles. IF not will there be a drawing to win the proto-types?

[DSTZach]

39 minutes ago, MisterPL said:

Has DST dropped the TMNT license or are they waiting for the new Nick series to debut and basing the next assortment on that?

Neither, we just aren't making this assortment (or the next one), because nobody ordered them, and we could not produce them as planned without more orders in hand. It has nothing to do with future cartoons or the license in general, although I'm not sure what else we have in development right now.

[youbastards]

15 minutes ago, DSTZach said:

Neither, we just aren't making this assortment (or the next one), because nobody ordered them, and we could not produce them as planned without more orders in hand. It has nothing to do with future cartoons or the license in general, although I'm not sure what else we have in development right now.

Zach, instead of full assortments, could DST try soliciting them as boxsets instead?

Each boxset could have one turtle, one enemy, one supporting character, one Foot soldier.  When the Series 4 of NBX Blind Bags got scrapped, they were resolicited as 2-packs.  Couldn't the retro TMNT line potentially work as boxsets?

Edited August 23, 2017 by youbastards

[DSTZach]

NBX was a slightly different situation, there were other things that made a reschedule advantageous, and the end of bags was in the works.

I don't know if that would change things, but it's a possibility, I suppose.

[Ninja Mate]

so does this mean the upcoming Classic Turtles are not gonna come out anymore?

[youbastards]

I hope you can offer up the suggestion to the powers that be, if an alternate method of solicitation is all it might take to make the line succeed, I think it is at least worth a discussion.

[MisterMiracle]

38 minutes ago, youbastards said:

Zach, instead of full assortments, could DST try soliciting them as boxsets instead?

Each boxset could have one turtle, one enemy, one supporting character, one Foot soldier.  

Yeah, I was hoping maybe box sets could save this line somehow.  Although I wouldn't take a chance on packing the box sets like that.  I would make sure you get the big guns out there first so we're not stuck with incomplete teams.

#1  =  Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael

#2  =  Shredder, Splinter, Casey, April

#3  =  Bebop, Rocksteady, Baxter Stockman, Foot Soldier

[SCW]

Box sets would make a lot of sense. 

#1  =  Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael

#2  =  Shredder, Splinter, Casey, April

#3  =  Bebop, Rocksteady, Baxter Stockman, Krang

#4 = Foot Soldiers (Or any other additional people)

[MisterMiracle]

Ah, you're right!  I forgot they were going to do a Krang too!

[MisterPL]

44 minutes ago, MisterMiracle said:

Yeah, I was hoping maybe box sets could save this line somehow.  Although I wouldn't take a chance on packing the box sets like that.  I would make sure you get the big guns out there first so we're not stuck with incomplete teams.

#1  =  Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael

#2  =  Shredder, Splinter, Casey, April

#3  =  Bebop, Rocksteady, Baxter Stockman, Foot Soldier

 

So offer it like ThunderCats. Hmmm...

[MisterMiracle]

32 minutes ago, MisterPL said:

So offer it like ThunderCats. Hmmm...

Exactly.  I forgot all about those!  If Thundercats was popular enough to warrant 4 box sets, Classic TMNT should be able to AT LEAST match that.

[fwoosheyman]

Gotta agree the boxset idea is great. DST is already going that way with speciality, so it fits with their current strategy.

Also, the work is already done on the minimates. Why not resolicit them as boxsets and see if they succeed that way? 

[RedTiger95]

Sad to hear of the cancellation. Although I always thought of a perfect harmony of having classic TMNT at specialty places and have Nick TMNT at TRU. It's bummer we didn't make it past the space arc because we would had some cool designs like the black outfits they wore when battling Super Shredder or the current samurai looks they have. I mean they even brought in Yojimbo, who looks really cool. I was actually thinking of using some the Tomb Raider samurai enemies to maybe kitbash the Samurai Turtles, but we'll see.

I hope the full license isn't truly lost and can continue in some way.

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by RedTiger95

[Mirymate]

Let's see, the last movie bombed at the box office and the popular cartoon is ending really soon/may already be over. Gosh, wonder why TRU would be cutting back on TMNT product? Must be they hate minimates. Yeah. that's it.

[MisterMiracle]

32 minutes ago, Mirymate said:

Let's see, the last movie bombed at the box office and the popular cartoon is ending really soon/may already be over. Gosh, wonder why TRU would be cutting back on TMNT product? Must be they hate minimates. Yeah. that's it.

Then how would you explain all of the brand new TMNT stuff still being released?  Recently I've seen new Playmates basic action figures (Samurai wave), the giant 12" figures, the TMNT/WWE figures, and micro TMNT figures and playsets.

[MisterPL]

In all fairness, the "new" stuff we're seeing now started development a year ago. TRU probably had to make sales commitments six months ago.

[TENIME_art]

If Zach's taking votes, I vote for the 4 pack of Foot Soldiers or the one Foot Soldier per set over one Foot Soldier in one set.

I don't want to end up with numerous Shredders/Bebops/Rocksteadies, nor can I afford to troop build ninjas at $20 a pop unless I'm getting four for that $20 (like I did with the Crazy 88).

[MisterPL]

I think I bought 4 or 5 sets of Crazy 88s. I lost track. Great army-builders with cool accessories for so many looks. It really set the bar high.

 

If only we had motorcycles.

[Mirymate]

47 minutes ago, MisterMiracle said:

Then how would you explain all of the brand new TMNT stuff still being released?  Recently I've seen new Playmates basic action figures (Samurai wave), the giant 12" figures, the TMNT/WWE figures, and micro TMNT figures and playsets.

Okay, sure, you're right. I'm sorry. The only logical conclusion is that TRU is giving up on minimates in their entirety and the whole enterprise is on the verge of collapse. How silly of me not to realize it earlier, so sorry.

[MisterMiracle]

No, I'm just saying that there continues to be new TMNT merchandise put out on shelves that seems to be selling fairly well while the last two waves of TMNT Minimates haven't done so hot.  TRU clearly hasn't "given up on Minimates in their entirety" if they're still putting out stuff like Watchmen, Dark Tower, NBX, etc.  

 

I still think a classic TMNT wave would've sold better to kids & collectors compared to something like Dark Tower where even hardcore Dark Tower fans might not even pull the trigger on a purchase.

Edited August 24, 2017 by MisterMiracle

[Mirymate]

You're assuming kids now what "classic TMNT" is. Mega Blok's tried a classic line when they had the license... it didn't exactly leap off the shelves, and it was pretty widely released. Why would minimates at a single retailer do better? 

[SCW]

TRU and other retailers have made their TMNT area smaller (though in most places, they still have a pretty large presence) but that's in part because of the show coming to an end and Playmates and other companies are making less products. But they are still making new products. So it's like, maybe less new SKUs overall, but still plenty of new merchandise. And I expect when the new TMNT show comes out, the aisle will grow again to reflect that.

There's no doubt that the space waves hurt TMNT Minimates. Just as the Space Season hurt the show. I think the Minimates could have survived ONE space wave, but when it was split over two it just bogged everything down. And on the show, the Space Season dragged on (I actually believe because Nick wanted to stretch the show out longer than Ciro Nieli did and forced him to "pause" his story and do something else for a bit) to the point that the show dipped in the ratings some.

So less popular figures based on a less popular season of the show hurt things.

As for kids wanting classic TMNT. Can't say for sure on that. You can't really say Mega Bloks Classic TMNT was a failure, it had several waves and even released a Technodrome. If anything the issues there seemed to be their release strategy which required you to buy expensive sets to get core characters. Not really comparable, IMO. You literally couldn't get some of the core characters without shelling out hundreds of dollars, but you'd be forced into multiple versions of the Turtles.