Swarm198 Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 (edited) Why does Diamond stick to two and four pack formats for ‘mates? Would you all prefer larger packs with more figures that are more pertinent to the theme? Some examples: Warriors Three? Three pack. Sinister Six? Six pack. Captain America 3 mates? One pack for Team Cap, one pack for Team Stark , and maybe another with Crossbones, some Army builders, Zemo, and Ross. I feel like being able to buy an entire team, event, era, movie/show, or theme all together instead of slowly building these groups over time would be more enticing to fans (especially completionists who cry themselves to sleep at night thinking about their missing X-Force team members). You could even throw in an A-lister into the obscure character packs to ensure the big names are always in circulation. Thoughts? Edited January 12, 2018 by Swarm198 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bilbofett Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 My thoughts, packaging costs, displaying options. Early on there were varied packages. The original X-Men pack, a10 pack for TRU. The formula DST uses is pretty streamlined and the cost effective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigvis497 Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 I like the current model but wouldn't mind seeing experimentation every now and then. Packaging that could double as an accessory/backdrop could be a neat way of doing it, make it a once a year convention exclusive. The Vault immediately springs to mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttheadsmate Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 I have a hankering for some single packs , I should however stress that these should only be used for some 'special' Minimates . I could define which 'mates I would consider 'special' & I'm pretty sure other members would have their own opinion of what they consider to be special . Luke's current customs could be considered as a foray into a hitherto untapped 'single' minimate market & I genuinely wet myself if he decided to package future offerings . 'Shopko' singles were IMHO magnificent ( see MMDB,Hail Ivan ) .............. now I'm a packaging completist but even a die-hard opener surely sees the beauty of these things ? ..............also I'm told that a singly packaged 'mate was available at a recent convention ? Oh yeah ......vinimates are singly packed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stack32 Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 Given the price increase we get on a boxset I would hate to see how much a 6 or 10-pack would cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heinous Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 2 hours ago, buttheadsmate said: . 'Shopko' singles were IMHO magnificent ( see MMDB,Hail Ivan ) .............. now I'm a packaging completist but even a die-hard opener surely sees the beauty of these things ? It's a package to me. I've never seen a package so great that I felt I need to not open it or buy a second one to keep in package. All I see the package as is a roadblock to get through to obtain the real treasure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterPL Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 It's not just about the end consumers (us). It's about the retailers. Box sets jumped from $20 to $25 recently but only in the specialty market. TRU, which orders considerably more than specialty, has been retailing box sets and even 2-packs significantly lower than DST's MSRP. (Well, when they stock them at all.) Walgreens also comes in a couple dollars lower. Then there are price points. If a 4-pack has an MSRP of $25 then we'd expect a 3-pack to retail for $18.75. DST might round that up to $18.99 just to give retailers some wiggle room on a discount. Single figures have been retailing for $5.99. The popularity of blind bags varies by retailer but the window boxes seem to do well among collectors. At the end of the day it's about convincing retailers that there's enough demand for Minimates in a wider variety of assortments. The Warriors Three seems like a no-brainer but I'm sure DST would probably justify making it a 4-pack by adding Thor to anchor it for retailers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFMcGill Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 1 hour ago, MisterPL said: The Warriors Three seems like a no-brainer but I'm sure DST would probably justify making it a 4-pack by adding Thor to anchor it for retailers. You make it sound like a bad thing but there's still plenty of really valid Thor variants that could fill that hole (Lord of Asgard, Destroyer Thor, Earth X, at least 3 ugly 90s costumes). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterPL Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 That was kinda my point. From DST's POV it makes more sense to add Thor to get retailers on board. But then you've got some collectors saying, "Hey, how about a 5-pack with Sif?" Now we're talking about a $30 set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrClean Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 (edited) I think one downfall of single carded minimates would be the lack of an anchor character to sell like the 2-pack has. History seems to have shown secondary characters won’t sell as well after the first case(s) are sold through. Imagine a peg full of Carrions, Collectors, Aunt Mays, Klaues, Wongs, Mariahs, and Blizzards. As far as looks, I think it would look great if it were blister carded with a minimate render of the character next to the bubble, with “Collect them all” checklists on the back. Edited January 12, 2018 by MrClean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stack32 Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 I mentioned in the ML thread how cool it would be to get minimates in retro packaging like the ML retro collection. I would probably buy extras of those to keep carded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterPL Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 I could see single-carded 'mates selling at checkouts if Marvel would allow them to be sold on blisters. The Greatest Hits characters would do fine there and maybe attract some newbies to the brand. Unfortunately there's some kind of weird stipulation in place that requires no more than 30% (?) of the figure to show through the packaging. I think that pre-dates the Disney acquisition so I'm not sure if Marvel would even care anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mysterious Stranger Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 15 hours ago, bigvis497 said: I like the current model but wouldn't mind seeing experimentation every now and then. Packaging that could double as an accessory/backdrop could be a neat way of doing it, make it a once a year convention exclusive. The Vault immediately springs to mind. A great opportunity for this was the Iron Man Hall of Armor 10-pack. If the package could have doubled as an actual hall of armor like from the movie I think that set would have sold better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloDelorean Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Blind bags and box sets at my LCS have both had higher prices per minimate than two packs. I'd be fine with new formats, so long as the value was at least equal to that of the two packs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stack32 Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 The packaging rules for Marvel minimates are one of the weirdest restrictions I've heard of for any license. Something like height restrictions I understand even if I think it's silly from a practical perspective, but who would really be worried about how much of a figure is visible in a package? How can it be a useful restriction? It's like a rule for the sake of having rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterPL Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 These are also rules implemented long ago during the Toy Biz days. I have to wonder if they're obsolete. Not that DST would want to challenge them. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystery Man Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 I would love a classic Warriors Three 3-pack. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thereasonsy Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 On 1/12/2018 at 9:00 PM, stack32 said: The packaging rules for Marvel minimates are one of the weirdest restrictions I've heard of for any license. Something like height restrictions I understand even if I think it's silly from a practical perspective, but who would really be worried about how much of a figure is visible in a package? How can it be a useful restriction? It's like a rule for the sake of having rules. People like their rules. Hell, Facebook/Instagram has the 20% rule that dramatically impacts your paid ads and in some cases makes them ineligible to show. Why? Because Mark said so. I do think that there are probably efficiencies at this point with the packaging design that are what make a change more cumbersome and problematic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSTZach Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 In the Toy Biz days, we couldn't have any windows at all. Seeing the toy, and not a picture, makes a big difference. Same with percentages. Now that Hasbro is the master toy licensee, restrictions are mostly non-negotiable. We are happy to be doing what we do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.