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TMNT Minimates - it's official!


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6 minutes ago, Mirymate said:

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? 

Kids should definitely know what Classic TMNT is.  Go look at any of the clothes in the boys aisle.  A lot of the TMNT cloths are the older style Turtles, not just the newer Nick style. 

Toys R Us carried the 6" Classic TMNT figures (both the cartoon and movie versions) as well as the Retro 1980's rereleases, it just seemed like it would've been a good fit.

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On 8/23/2017 at 5:19 AM, DSTZach said:

...We offered it to comic shops. In Previews and everything. We were going to go ahead with it without TRU. But not enough ordered it for us to make it. Obviously, if TRU had been on board, it wouldn't have mattered, but the comic shop orders were very low. Did your local comic shop order them? A LOT of them? He was one of the few.

I don't think you gave comic stores enough time to order them. My LGS has a lot of Minimates on the shelves and usually doesn't order anything unless I ask the owner to, and I thought ordering now would be enough time in advance since the wave was supposed to come out in October.

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I was going to order a custom case of each wave from Luke. But I wanted to wait until the second wave was solicited and order them both at the same time. Especially with needing to pay up front with Luke, I didn't want to order the first set and then have this happen with the second set!

I think it was a mistake to solicit one set and wait months to solicit the second one (or not at all). If you wanted the classic turtles, you wanted ALL of the classic turtles. Not half of them. 

And, the promo also only had the first wave. If you weren't 'in the know' about Minimates, you wouldn't even know that the other two turtles and the other key henchman were planned. You would go, hmmm, cool. But I want Ralph and Mikey. Why aren't they offering them? 

Anyway, I am super bummed by this. These looked so cool and I even purchased the MB classic van, which is perfect for Minimates, that I was planning to display these with. :(

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5 hours ago, TENIME_art said:

I never saw the MB 80s van  & only saw the Technodrome once (and of course couldn't afford it when I did :().

I think I still have the van around me and my TRU has a few Technodrome at $150 (which is 50% off original price). Too pricey still for me; I still have the one from the old turtle line which was way undersized for those turtles but is passable for Minimates.

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1 hour ago, Onyx_6 said:

I was going to order a custom case of each wave from Luke. But I wanted to wait until the second wave was solicited and order them both at the same time. Especially with needing to pay up front with Luke, I didn't want to order the first set and then have this happen with the second set!

I think it was a mistake to solicit one set and wait months to solicit the second one (or not at all). If you wanted the classic turtles, you wanted ALL of the classic turtles. Not half of them. 

And, the promo also only had the first wave. If you weren't 'in the know' about Minimates, you wouldn't even know that the other two turtles and the other key henchman were planned. You would go, hmmm, cool. But I want Ralph and Mikey. Why aren't they offering them? 

Anyway, I am super bummed by this. These looked so cool and I even purchased the MB classic van, which is perfect for Minimates, that I was planning to display these with. :(

I did find the cases a bit odd. Why split the Turtles up? Why split Bebop and Rocksteady up? It meant waiting for a second wave to complete sort of essential parts of a display. I mean, I get needing to have a second wave, but I thought some of the ways it was split up to be puzzling.

Edited by SCW
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The split made sense to me. Both series had a strong (fan favorite) turtle (Leo or Ralph) and an odd turtle (Donny or Mikey). Each wave had a big bad and half the blundering duo. Many foot and supporters to round it out. That made sense. 

Not soliciting them, say, a month apart didn't make sense. They had them all prototyped, TMNT is a tested property, they knew the line plan, why wait? Even if one product was, say, 4 months out and the other was 7, it would seem to be better to have shown that they were coming than to test the market and wait. I think that's the same problem we have had in the past with Trek mates.

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On 8/23/2017 at 7:34 PM, 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.

So it would seem that the line is not done & dusted .

 

I see you're from the UK so you also need to be careful with...er...certain members understanding your very British idioms :thumbsup:

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19 hours ago, Onyx_6 said:

I think I still have the van around me and my TRU has a few Technodrome at $150 (which is 50% off original price). Too pricey still for me; I still have the one from the old turtle line which was way undersized for those turtles but is passable for Minimates.

I don't remember it being $300. I thought it was around $100-ish.

 

6 hours ago, buttheadsmate said:

So it would seem that the line is not done & dusted .

 

I see you're from the UK so you also need to be careful with...er...certain members understanding your very British idioms :thumbsup:

 

5 hours ago, DDM said:

Haha. I'll try and be less British in the future ?

Lousy Brits!

Tj1BF8N.jpg

(Please save us!)

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The Mega Bloks Technodrome was listed at $250 initially. I think I got it for about $50 less than retail after rewards points and coupons. Then it dropped to like $100 at the holidays and I weeped a bit. Its a fantastic set, not just for Minimates but the Mega Bloks figures too. I had to get all the Classic versions to go with the 'drome.

Edited by Mysterious Stranger
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That's a bummer...

I was going to get both sets, but I didn't pre-order because I wanted to wait until they were both released and order together. Shipping to the UK is getting more and more expensive and I wanted the full lot together.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

My overwhelming negativity every time a promising line is canceled has kept me from logging in since these waves were canceled...

Zach, Please try to comment on this with some helpful insight.

You frequently mention that if it weren't for TRU we would get so many other lines. Such as Dark Tower in the last example I remember you listing. And one way for a line to get canceled is when TRU pulls out and LCS orders are low. At this point when TRU pulls out or decides not to carry a line from the start, has DST noticed a trend of comic shop orders getting lower and lower to the point where we are now really relying on the big retailers to help make items possible? It feels like we have had a lot fewer boxsets and popular licenses falling through out of nowhere. What is DST's current opinion on the trends related to comic and specialty orders?

I know specialty applies to everything that's not big box retailers, it just happens includes comic shops. I live in Dallas, one of the fastest growing cities in the nation and has tons of retail variety,  I used to spread my excitement about shop availability (SOOOO many comic shops across this sprawling city/county) and their minimate selection here in Dallas. Now I'm down to one shop that used to order tons, and now may order 1 case for certain things here and there with minimal boxsets. They have been voted best in Dallas several times, and are a super popular shop. They've had so many toy sales where mates end up on clearance and they can't sell them for whatever reason, crappy location maybe? Lack of nearby shoppers,? Lack of noses? Or just no more interest? Then I had one shop that stopped years ago and didn't order anything again until the blind bags came out, ordered a few boxsets, then they gave up again, and all the rest of our shops just don't stock them at all no matter how much I try to sell them on it.

It really feels on my end at least that comic and LCS are past the point of caring about the majority of releases, and I get all of my local releases from TRU and Walgreens, the exact opposite of what I used to do. Has DST seen anything that supports this? Is there any sort of strategy in place to combat this kind of thing or is DST also relying on TRU and other big retailers to keep us afloat? What if any problems have any retailers voiced to DST about why they aren't ordering or why are they dropping support?

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2 hours ago, Mysterious Stranger said:

I got the two SDCC Donatellos I wanted when they first hit ebay (I have one opened and one sealed of all 4 now) Paid a pretty penny for them too. Like way more than I should have.

 

1 hour ago, Onyx_6 said:

Ditto, Stranger. I think I paid as much my Donatellos as I did for the other three (6) combined.

Ugh!  I was hoping at least one person on here would have some extras.  I don't know, the past year or so it just seems like it's getting harder and harder to track down the Minimates that I want between some of the TMNT stuff, Predator stuff and Marvel blind bag stuff.

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10 hours ago, MisterMiracle said:

 

Ugh!  I was hoping at least one person on here would have some extras.  I don't know, the past year or so it just seems like it's getting harder and harder to track down the Minimates that I want between some of the TMNT stuff, Predator stuff and Marvel blind bag stuff.

Well, there are no more Marvel or Predator blind bags, so that should help. Yay shots of Predator TRU4 soon...

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On 9/16/2017 at 10:01 AM, MisterMiracle said:

So...do these 2017 SDCC translucent Donatello minimates actually exist?  I've been trying to track one down since I found out about them and I'm not seeing anything anywhere.

We made 1000, I believe. I ASSUME they were all given away.

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