Barry’s Blueprints of Hits and Heartbreak

[elhonez]

1 hour ago, Barry said:

 

Servbot!!! Wow this would have been amazing. 

[nandoninny]

2 hours ago, Barry said:

We definitely wanted to use as much of the base body as possible, even if it's not very visible, it would at least act as an armature.  I often joked with Robert - at what point are we going to make a standard action figure, hollow out the chest, throw a blank MM body inside, and call the whole thing a Minimate?

 

No, she didn't get very far before she was changed.  I began mocking her up but shelved the design.  Her face and chest tampo were the only thing completed, and they became Mockingbird's in the end.  So, you have an idea of what she'd look like.

 

That's exactly how she was designed.  One lower body was the robot's, the other was hers, so you could swap them out.  Then you could still have the robot standing around without her in it. 

i'm looking at this like Charlton Heston at the end of Planet of the Apes.   "You bastards! You finally did it! You blew it up! Damn you all to hell!"
not sure its the appropriate quote but its how i feel.

i think the human body makes it a little redundent.  could probably work with just molded shoulders or something.  but damn.....what could have been.  and the servbot.....damn.

MVC is what took minimates from a fun line of toys to buy to MUST OWN THEM ALL.

it started me buying legos so i could make scenery for the fights......which started a whole nother addiction.

[Navaan]

1 hour ago, elhonez said:

Servbot!!! Wow this would have been amazing. 

I would have bought four packs of these just so I could have a small army of the bots.

[nandoninny]

@Barry i gotta ask, are there any designs you did just for fun even knowing they'd never get made?

(and my apologies for posting this in the wrong thread the first time -- i shouldn't be checking at work)

[minifigvig]

@Barry so for a character like Sugar Man

would you have gone for a new sculpt on a torso like with spongebob, or more of a covering that would go over the normal torso

and i guess from there that would determine how the extra arms get set up

gotta have some short legs though!!

[thereasonsy]

@Barry did you ever explore more Power Rangers? Perhaps the villains? 

[Strider]

On 7/16/2025 at 1:34 PM, Barry said:

Agent 13 was the BAF for 80 for a long time, but Silver Sable ended up being used since she felt absent from the Maximum Carnage wave.

 

 

Nooo! I would have loved to have gotten Agent 13!

[Barry]

On 7/17/2025 at 12:06 PM, cylonchaney said:

If you were allowed to scale up for certain characters, who would you most want an upscaled Minimate of?

Krang does come to mind, as that Season 1 episode where he grows was probably my favourite one as a kid.  He probably would have made a nice Vinimate too.  When he's normal sized, he's really not that large.  I remember him being a lot bigger, and his size does vary through animation error, but in general he's only usually a head taller than Shredder.  He'd still be a cool scaled up figure.

 

On 7/17/2025 at 5:22 PM, nandoninny said:

@Barry i gotta ask, are there any designs you did just for fun even knowing they'd never get made?

(and my apologies for posting this in the wrong thread the first time -- i shouldn't be checking at work)

Believe it or not, no, actually.  I was so busy with work that there just wasn't time.  On top of my own designs, I coloured, composited, created tampo, and directed sculpts for every MM since 2007.  I also worked on pretty much every other product category to some extent, designing statues mostly, and was involved with a lot of creative decisions on projects I wasn't otherwise involved in.  So at the end of the day, drawing was off the table as a form of relaxation.  I used to draw for myself multiple times a day and was constantly doodling.  When you sit down and draw for 8 hours straight though, relaxing by drawing isn't that fun anymore.  It's something I hope to be able to do again.

If I was stalled on a project, waiting for approval or something, there was always something else to work on.  In the rare case that there wasn't anything to do for an hour or so, I'd redraw old parts I used frequently to clean them up or have them look more like the actual sculpted pieces for easier approvals.  That, or make lists of characters to make someday or 'What If' line plans for licenses we didn't have, but lists were a dime a dozen.

 

On 7/17/2025 at 6:18 PM, minifigvig said:

@Barry so for a character like Sugar Man

would you have gone for a new sculpt on a torso like with spongebob, or more of a covering that would go over the normal torso

and i guess from there that would determine how the extra arms get set up

gotta have some short legs though!!

Most likely he would have been a semi-rounded chest cap, something like Arnim Zola, that had additional ball joints.  

 

20 hours ago, thereasonsy said:

@Barry did you ever explore more Power Rangers? Perhaps the villains? 

There was a list of possibilities, but nothing serious.  Nothing shocking either, probably the ones you'd expect -- Putties, Rita, Zedd, Goldar, Finster, Scorpina.  But again, lists are a dime a dozen, I wouldn't lament over them.  The only unused Ranger design was Megazord, but after it was completed it felt better as a Vinimate.  It was replaced with Alpha 5.

Edited July 19, 2025 by Barry

[nandoninny]

@Barry Great answer!

thanks!

[thereasonsy]

@Barry did you design the Alpha Flight box sets? I’ve long wondered if there were plans for a Talisman to finish us off or an Inverted Guardian! Would you ever post the design sheets? 

[Barry]

Uriel was the lead on this set, Box was the only figure I designed completely.  There were no plans for Talisman or an Inverted Guardian. 

Here's Box's design, but I’m still figuring out how to approach sharing work that’s primarily not mine.  I handled the compositing, editing, clean-up, colouring, tampo, and revisions - same as I did for all Minimates after 2006.  So, while my fingerprints are on all designs, the basis is sometimes someone else’s.

It doesn’t feel quite right to be the one posting it, but at the same time, I’m the only one who has the finalized colour versions.  So, I’m in a bit of a grey area here.

[Trekker 42]

15 minutes ago, Barry said:

Uriel was the lead on this set, Box was the only figure I designed completely.  There were no plans for Talisman or an Inverted Guardian. 

Here's Box's design, but I’m still figuring out how to approach sharing work that’s primarily not mine.  I handled the compositing, editing, clean-up, colouring, tampo, and revisions - same as I did for all Minimates after 2006.  So, while my fingerprints are on all designs, the basis is sometimes someone else’s.

It doesn’t feel quite right to be the one posting it, but at the same time, I’m the only one who has the finalized colour versions.  So, I’m in a bit of a grey area here.

If you can contact them, just ask them if you can share. If they have the passion you did for these little buggers, they'll probably understand our forum's obsession with the design process.

[Navaan]

3 hours ago, Barry said:

Uriel was the lead on this set, Box was the only figure I designed completely.  There were no plans for Talisman or an Inverted Guardian. 

Here's Box's design, but I’m still figuring out how to approach sharing work that’s primarily not mine.  I handled the compositing, editing, clean-up, colouring, tampo, and revisions - same as I did for all Minimates after 2006.  So, while my fingerprints are on all designs, the basis is sometimes someone else’s.

It doesn’t feel quite right to be the one posting it, but at the same time, I’m the only one who has the finalized colour versions.  So, I’m in a bit of a grey area here.

I can personally see it two ways. As long as you're not getting any kind of legal trouble for sharing these designs, which has been a concern that I have, because I don't know if the new owners might view this as a breach of company secrets or whatever, I would argue that if you helped with the designs, you're within right to post it as long as you list the names and credit, the people who otherwise worked on it as well.

 

But I'm no lawyer, just a concerned fan. ^-^

[buttheadsmate]

Pure self-indulgence ......was there ever talk of a Mimic or Super-Adaptoid figure ?

I'm hoping that the answer is "No" & please don't even think of posting anything that resembles either 

 

 

[thereasonsy]

4 hours ago, Barry said:

Uriel was the lead on this set, Box was the only figure I designed completely.  There were no plans for Talisman or an Inverted Guardian. 

Here's Box's design, but I’m still figuring out how to approach sharing work that’s primarily not mine.  I handled the compositing, editing, clean-up, colouring, tampo, and revisions - same as I did for all Minimates after 2006.  So, while my fingerprints are on all designs, the basis is sometimes someone else’s.

It doesn’t feel quite right to be the one posting it, but at the same time, I’m the only one who has the finalized colour versions.  So, I’m in a bit of a grey area here.

Thank you for sharing and it is a grey area indeed. Maybe ask the other person and share credit?

[Trekker 42]

37 minutes ago, buttheadsmate said:

Pure self-indulgence ......was there ever talk of a Mimic or Super-Adaptoid figure ?

I'm hoping that the answer is "No" & please don't even think of posting anything that resembles either 

 

 

Two of the biggest and most painful missed opportunities in Marvel Minimates.

[Navaan]

57 minutes ago, buttheadsmate said:

Pure self-indulgence ......was there ever talk of a Mimic or Super-Adaptoid figure ?

I'm hoping that the answer is "No" & please don't even think of posting anything that resembles either 

 

 

My friend, I would bare knuckle brawl for a Super Adaptoid...

[Chooch]

I feel like Thundercats got a nice complete set, but curious if there was ever any talk or designs past them.  Also, Invincible which left a lot open.

[Trekker 42]

And if we're requesting, hell I'd like to have my heart broken by those Godzilla designs that didn't happen. I've seen Ghidorah somewhere, but I feel like there were more. Plus, well, I might as well see that Ghidorah again. I could use a good cry today.

[Barry]

4 hours ago, buttheadsmate said:

Pure self-indulgence ......was there ever talk of a Mimic or Super-Adaptoid figure ?

I don't believe Mimic ever came up, at least in any list beyond spitballing characters.  Super-Adaptoid was on some lists briefly, but nothing was ever drawn.

 

3 hours ago, Chooch said:

I feel like Thundercats got a nice complete set, but curious if there was ever any talk or designs past them.  Also, Invincible which left a lot open.

Thundercats only had Ro-Bear-Belle and a Mumm-Ra sarcophagus designed.  The former was because it was an easy design based on the other bears, and the latter ended up being too much in include in a 4-pack.  Both were primarily designed by Yuri Timg, so as above, I'll have to figure out something before I'd post them.

 

1 hour ago, Trekker 42 said:

And if we're requesting, hell I'd like to have my heart broken by those Godzilla designs that didn't happen. I've seen Ghidorah somewhere, but I feel like there were more. Plus, well, I might as well see that Ghidorah again. I could use a good cry today.

Wave 4 had a very loose plan of "Kaiju" Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Anguirus, and Rodan, but only the first 2 were designed.  The latter two I laid out the base bodies for but never drew anything.  Ghidorah was always going to be a problem because he was way too parts heavy.

[Trekker 42]

While I recognize that Ghidorah just… ain’t a Minimate… I still must say that I regret that he never made it to shelves. RIP king. 

[hellpop]

Barry's been posting some designs on his Instagram too!

So Barry, I need to ask you the big one...well, the big one to me at least: was the Rocketeer ever designed? How close did we come to getting a box set or at least a two pack? Is the answer going to make me cry?

[Barry]

No Rocketeer ones were ever designed, just the Vinimates.  Alas, we were never close.  I wanted a Timothy Dalton with exploding action!

[BuffaloDelorean]

Were designs done up for the packs for the Thor movies that never made it out? Are there two sets of unreleased Hoguns and Fandrals?

[thereasonsy]

5 hours ago, hellpop said:

Barry's been posting some designs on his Instagram too!

So Barry, I need to ask you the big one...well, the big one to me at least: was the Rocketeer ever designed? How close did we come to getting a box set or at least a two pack? Is the answer going to make me cry?

Seriously it’s the main reason I e been opening my instagram. The work is just unbelievable. I want a tee shirt! 
 

@Barry did you do any work on the Spider-Man Homecoming movie?

Also is there an Minimate you designed that got cut that you loved?