Barry’s Blueprints of Hits and Heartbreak

[thereasonsy]

1 hour ago, Barry said:

I’d love to have corresponding photos with my designs but having worked on over 3,500 Minimates it’s just too much work.  As it is, cutting the front view out to paste in a new frame is a lot to do!

I really should dig through some old boxes to take SOME pictures though.  I have those cereal mascot protos, amongst others from that era, like the unreleased C3 DC ones (Alfred and the like).

Well I feel like I speak for everyone by saying we appreciate how much you’ve shared. It’s such an impressive body of work. 

[minifigvig]

i never got anything from kingdom hearts, but i’ve gotta say that the unused designs would’ve been really crazy to see and i could’ve had fun grabbing a few disney characters

 

the “timeless” b&w figures are my fav of the bunch, and then mike & sully 

[Barry]

On 9/7/2025 at 12:19 AM, thereasonsy said:

Well I feel like I speak for everyone by saying we appreciate how much you’ve shared. It’s such an impressive body of work. 

Thank you, I just don’t want this work to go quietly into the night.

 

21 hours ago, minifigvig said:

i never got anything from kingdom hearts, but i’ve gotta say that the unused designs would’ve been really crazy to see and i could’ve had fun grabbing a few disney characters

the “timeless” b&w figures are my fav of the bunch, and then mike & sully 

Yeah, it's a shame those didn't go forward.  I think we would have had interest from people outside of the KH fan base with some of the characters.  The Timeless ones are my favourite too.  We actually got to carded sets of Mickey and Donald, but they were a TRU casualty.

[hellpop]

Jeez those Kingdom Hearts designs are so nice.

I don't remember that Buffy was ever talked about, but Heroes was announced once upon a time and then scrapped because of the writers strike, right? Which always seemed a little weird to me but I know there's a lot of timing things behind the scenes that we aren't really privy to. Anyway, it's probably a bit of a blessing in disguise, since that show fell off a cliff creatively and I imagine we might still be seeing clearanced sets out there for it.

I do think Minimates had a nice little niche there of making figures for genre TV shows in the early 2000s with things like BSG and 24. I would have liked to have seen more of that; Lost would have been amazing (though I did have fun making customs when we rewatched the show a few years ago).

[Barry]

20 minutes ago, hellpop said:

Jeez those Kingdom Hearts designs are so nice.

I don't remember that Buffy was ever talked about, but Heroes was announced once upon a time and then scrapped because of the writers strike, right? Which always seemed a little weird to me but I know there's a lot of timing things behind the scenes that we aren't really privy to. Anyway, it's probably a bit of a blessing in disguise, since that show fell off a cliff creatively and I imagine we might still be seeing clearanced sets out there for it.

I do think Minimates had a nice little niche there of making figures for genre TV shows in the early 2000s with things like BSG and 24. I would have liked to have seen more of that; Lost would have been amazing (though I did have fun making customs when we rewatched the show a few years ago).

Thank you kindly!

There was a singular Hiro design done for Toy Fair 2007, I believe to garner licensor interest.  After the show, no further designs were produced though.  The writers strike was late in 2007, so I don't believe it had an effect, but I could be wrong.  I just feel that we would have had more designs done after Toy Fair if it was going to happen only to be cancelled later.  I could be very wrong though, as I'd only been working for 3 months at that point, and may not have been looped in to what was happening.

That was a strange little niche Minimates had long before it was popular to make toys of licenses that weren't toyetic.  It's a very big trend now, but even I forgot how ahead of the times Minimates were with the idea of toys for random shows and movies.  (Desperately Seeking Susan, anyone?)

[Smashmaster12]

Those KH Minimates hurt to see, that’s my favorite game series and to see so few figures is heartbreaking. Were designs ever made of the KH-original characters? Or at least talks of them being in the line? Riku, Aqua, Roxas etc etc. I still genuinely believe that what killed the line was a poor roster choice, KH fans are really only interested in the original characters and not the Disney stuff. It’s been one of the big points of contention with the series, especially with KH3. I get from a marketing perspective the idea of an almost all-encompassing Disney line is tantalizing but that’s not what people buying Kingdom Hearts merch want

Edited September 8, 2025 by Smashmaster12

[Padrino]

these are beautiful! Really liked the characters in this set overall and these unmade figures look amazing! Love that Baymax and Maleficent!  Who is the woman with the sword? The details on that figure are outstanding! 

[Trekker 42]

4 minutes ago, Padrino said:

these are beautiful! Really liked the characters in this set overall and these unmade figures look amazing! Love that Baymax and Maleficent!  Who is the woman with the sword? The details on that figure are outstanding! 

I think it’s Pirate King Elizabeth Swan.

[Padrino]

26 minutes ago, Trekker 42 said:

I think it’s Pirate King Elizabeth Swan.

Thanks!

[NerdyTrev]

Mike & Sully???

HUNKules???

Oh, be still my aching heart...

[Barry]

1 hour ago, Smashmaster12 said:

Those KH Minimates hurt to see, that’s my favorite game series and to see so few figures is heartbreaking. Were designs ever made of the KH-original characters? Or at least talks of them being in the line? Riku, Aqua, Roxas etc etc. I still genuinely believe that what killed the line was a poor roster choice, KH fans are really only interested in the original characters and not the Disney stuff. It’s been one of the big points of contention with the series, especially with KH3. I get from a marketing perspective the idea of an almost all-encompassing Disney line is tantalizing but that’s not what people buying Kingdom Hearts merch want

I only designed Roxas, but a few others were designed by Uriel.  The final lineup reflected the approvals that we had.

48 minutes ago, Trekker 42 said:

I think it’s Pirate King Elizabeth Swan.

It is!  Since she wasn't in the PotC line it was nice to get her included.  But then, y'know... 

"And now?" 

"Not."

[cylonchaney]

2 hours ago, Barry said:

I only designed Roxas, but a few others were designed by Uriel.  The final lineup reflected the approvals that we had.

It is!  Since she wasn't in the PotC line it was nice to get her included.  But then, y'know... 

"And now?" 

"Not."

Not ... yet.

As long as the moulds exist and someone owns the Minimate IP, they can come back. 

[Smashmaster12]

2 hours ago, Barry said:

I only designed Roxas, but a few others were designed by Uriel.  The final lineup reflected the approvals that we had.

Ohhhh my god AND he had oblivion/oathkeeper? It’s official, some divine force has it out to get me. Not having other keyblades was such a missed opportunity, master form Sora coulda had anything (especially since that’s a dual-wielding form in kh2), Tron-Sora didn’t even have the dedicated Tron Keyblade. This would have been huge

[Barry]

Tooling restrains prevented further Keyblades, unfortunately.

[thereasonsy]

16 hours ago, Barry said:

Tooling restrains prevented further Keyblades, unfortunately.

Is this what happened with AIM soldiers? 

[Barry]

35 minutes ago, thereasonsy said:

Is this what happened with AIM soldiers? 

Sorry, I'm not sure I follow.

[hellpop]

On 9/8/2025 at 10:37 AM, Barry said:

Thank you kindly!

There was a singular Hiro design done for Toy Fair 2007, I believe to garner licensor interest.  After the show, no further designs were produced though.  The writers strike was late in 2007, so I don't believe it had an effect, but I could be wrong.  I just feel that we would have had more designs done after Toy Fair if it was going to happen only to be cancelled later.  I could be very wrong though, as I'd only been working for 3 months at that point, and may not have been looped in to what was happening.

That was a strange little niche Minimates had long before it was popular to make toys of licenses that weren't toyetic.  It's a very big trend now, but even I forgot how ahead of the times Minimates were with the idea of toys for random shows and movies.  (Desperately Seeking Susan, anyone?)

My memory is that Heroes was announced at a panel at a convention. I feel like we might have even seen designs (I seem to remember seeing the cheerleader) but it was so long ago and Googling "heroes minimates" isn't very helpful! 

[Padrino]

30 minutes ago, hellpop said:

My memory is that Heroes was announced at a panel at a convention. I feel like we might have even seen designs (I seem to remember seeing the cheerleader) but it was so long ago and Googling "heroes minimates" isn't very helpful! 

someone posted a link somewhere above to an ad that contained a pic of the cheerleader (and i just reread that three times and it looks like "my friend's friend's friend saw it somewhere" but it really is true this time!)

[Barry]

The Cheerleader featured on Matt’s website in a ToyFare magazine was a custom showing the writers wanted a Heroes line.  It wasn't an official design, or an announcement of the line coming.  It’s possible they were announced at a show as something in the works, but only one design was created for that 2007 Toy Fair.  To my knowledge we didn't have the license either, unless it was an add-on to an existing NBC one.  Since they were never on the schedule, I wouldn’t describe them as cancelled.

[buttheadsmate]

https://www.ironcowprod.com/claire-bennet-heroes/

[Barry]

14 minutes ago, buttheadsmate said:

https://www.ironcowprod.com/claire-bennet-heroes/

Yes, that's the custom one in ToyFare Magazine.

I just went through all the pre-2007 files and there's nothing on Heroes.  I think it's safe to say Hiro was the only one, sorry.

[thereasonsy]

4 hours ago, Barry said:

Sorry, I'm not sure I follow.

Sorry you were ,entirely I g tooling restraints and I was curious if that is why we only got one AIM solider. 

[Barry]

7 minutes ago, thereasonsy said:

Sorry you were ,entirely I g tooling restraints and I was curious if that is why we only got one AIM solider. 

No, we just tended to only have one army-builder of each type.  I think we only really duplicated Sentinels and HYDRA soldiers in their comic forms.

[Lobsterman]

On 8/24/2025 at 3:45 PM, Barry said:

Pretty sure these were known about, but here's the unreleased TRU W3 Muppets, plus an attempt at a full Robin figure.  He would have been gigantic though.

 

One of the fringe benefits of working on paint masters was that, every so often, Robert would send me a big box of goodies. These were usually prototypes for figures that would soon be released, but on occasion I would get some that made it to proto stage but didn't go into full production. These are obviously among the most treasured items in my collection.  

Spongebob wave 2:

Pearl broke the "Minimate standard" right over her knee, but I love her for it.    

[Barry]

I forgot how wild that Pearl design was.  That was a tough one to crack!