TM2 Dinobot Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Did this ever happen? Did we get any new information? Sorry if this got discussed, it's crazy around here with all the SDCC threads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBT! Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Did this ever happen? Did we get any new information? Sorry if this got discussed, it's crazy around here with all the SDCC threads Yes, No and that's ok I'll accept your apology T. p.s. got to love it when you dont ask direct questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Vox Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Coolest thing that happened in the panel is someone in the audience randomly won a complete Avengers set (1 to 2 months before they hit your LCS.). And it was cool to meet TBT and the crew. ...oh and Chuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MINI_MYTE Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 So.... What happened at the panel? What's coming out soon? Any reshuffling concerning release dates? What new properties (if any) were touched upon? What does the future hold minimatewise? Was there a slide show? If yes, what was shown? Was there any control art shown? Who won the Minimate hunt? Tell, tell, tell! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
storm 1:08 Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 I was going to start a thread, but let's just keep this one. Note: I tried to be as accurate as possible, but I’m not a reporter. I just took some notes that are sometimes illegible and/or illogical and things go by so fast that I didn't catch some details. Also I sometimes wander off in thought. If I misrepresent/forget anything and you were at the panel, please go ahead and clarify what I reported. I just hope I made some sense since I'm still in SDCC hangover stage. SDCC 2007 Panel Diamond Select Toys: Minimates Moderator: Jaycen (SillyGooserTC) Panelists: Chuck, Donna, Eddie Contest Host: Mike First up, Mike announced the winners of the Minimate Scavenger Hunt. There were four categories: most creative, best nemesis, best use, and overall points. The Minimate Multiverse forum took 2 of the 4 categories (well, members we knew of). Most creative went to the one man team of Ivan! Best use went to the team of TBT, Nervous, and Shanester! Photos will be posted on Diamond’s website. Congrats to all the winners! Mike then announced that for all attendees of the panel, there was a raffle for an entire set of the Avengers wave (Series 16)! Fill out a form (name, email, what minimates you buy like Marvel, DC, BSG, etc) and winner will be announced at the end. Next, moderator Jaycen took over to ask DST a few questions. Q: How do you decide what minimate to put in a wave? A: There’s no real formula. Just common sense. For example, if a Daredevil movie is coming out, it makes sense to have a Daredevil minimate. Logic like that. Also some market research. Q: Any new licenses? New film minimates? A: Basically all the stuff shown at the booth is what is coming up, like Back to the Future Minimates. DST is busy with minimates and will be for a while. Q: How do you decide on a block style chest (normal square shape) or sculpted chest (like Smart Hulk) and solid head or fully sculped head? A: DST has been playing with sculped parts for a while. Things have evolved from the beginning of the line from the Rob Zombie 3 inch minimates to what they are now. They wanted to keep things more realistic without cutting back. One example of a fully sculped head making sense was Doc from Back to the Future. His receding hairline would be hard to represent so they decided to just fully sculpt the head and not have an attached hairpiece. Q: What minimates would you like to make? A: Chuck – Indiana Jones, Star Wars Donna – Girly stuff Eddie – Smurfs (Note: I think he was joking partly in response to Donna’s answer, I think…) Q: Where did minimates come from? A: Digger wanted to recreate things. Kubricks were a big influence and he wanted to bring them to the U.S. with more articulation. He also wanted to keep it simple, but now, there’s accessories and minimates are getting overdesigned. Also, before minimates received their name of “Minimates”, they were initially called “Blockos” (sp?). Q: Is it possible to rerelease older minimates, perhaps in a “best of” type set? A: Yes it is possible, but not for show packs (exclusives) or chases. Those could be put in a box set or be re-released in waves. An example of being re-released in a wave is the Silver Surfer. Q: Will there be more giveaways like the Gold and Silver Spider-Mans? A: Probably. They were stopped because of San Diego Comic Con. There was too much crowding during the event and it became like a circus. However, blanks seem to always be a favorite. Giveaways are always on the list every year. This year they had Cylons at the Sci Fi booth and John Stewart Green Lantern last year at the DC booth. Q: More team based boxed sets? A: Yes, probably. Q: Is there a minimate you can’t make? A: Howard the Duck. It’s a sensitive issue with Marvel. It had happened before and Howard the Duck appeared in the Marvel Legends line. Also, a statue was made of Howard the Duck, but both items were due to Chuck’s stubbornness on getting it done and it was a hard process. Q: What is the hardest minimate to paint and why? A: Spider-Man from the movie line. Spider-Man has dual layer web decals. The decal for the webs had another decal for the outline of the webs that went full body to the hands and feet. Then more texture was added for color and repaint webs for shine. The process is not difficult, just very time consuming. Donna then reiterated that the Spider-Man 3 preview pack figures from Wizard World LA will not be the exact same figures in the Spider-Man 3 waves. The process is just not going to work for the production of the full waves. Q: How is the transition from 7 inches to 2 inches? A: It’s hard to say. Every project just has its own challenges. Q: Do actors give approval for their figures? A: Some do, but not all. Most don’t care, but there are some that do and don’t approve of their likenesses. One note was that in the 24 minimates, they wanted Tony to look less like Tony. That concluded the questions from moderator Jaycen and the fan questions began. Q: Is it possible for 2.5 inch bodies to be included in the Marvel line? A: Not going to happen. Q: Is it possible to have minimate vehicles, oversized minimates, minimate playsets? A: Vehicles – No vehicles for Marvel. For Battlestar Galactica, it would be okay. Speed Racer had vehicles. For DC vehicles, don’t think so. Oversized minimates – it was done with the Marvel Minimates Max line, but wasn’t a huge seller Playsets – There was a playset that they tried to sell in the past, and even at cost price, it didn’t seem to get much support. Q: How about a Flash or Martian Manhunter minimate? It was done in the C3 line, but what about the current DC minimates line? A: Flash just got announced. However, DC dictates their own line. Q: How can someone who is a customizer become part of your team? A: It’s like applying normally with a resume. You just have to make a portfolio and show it off to people like Chuck at shows like the San Diego Comic-Con. Show what you can do. That message was reiterated a few times. Show off customs of figures or resin molds, anything that shows your talent. There is no one specific way to become part of DST. Q: Why the scale change on the Star Trek line? A: 2 inch is the norm now and the 3 inch minimates are obsolete. Price point is another factor. Best part of Marvel is everything is in one scale. As for DC, again, they call their own shots with different scales. Q: Any redos of minimates that you would like to do? A: Donna and Chuck both agreed on the Mary Jane minimate. Eddie chimed in and mentioned that no one is ever 100% satisfied with what they do but he would rather do new stuff than go back to redo figures. Q: What is the limitation on vehicles and accessories? Silver Surfer’s board, but no Goblin Glider was pointed out. A: Chuck again mentioned stubbornness. They try to get them, but in the end, Marvel decides if it is okay. Also too many accessories and huge vehicles can overfill the packaging box. Q: Any chance on minimates such as the Rocketeer, the Mask, or wrestlers? A: No, those lines found a different direction. Rocketeer is Disney and is hard to get in the sense that if they do it, they have to do the entire cast of Rocketeer. Another example Chuck cited is that he would love to do a Godfather minimate, but can’t just do the Godfather character himself and be done with it. The entire family would have to be made. Q: Were there any resin figure (Marvel Minimates Max line) issues? A: The resin figures need to have locked joints and be posed. The resin figures are actually fully articulated like a minimate, but then are glued at the joints. It was also noted that licensing for Marvel figures is up to 2.5 inches, otherwise it would be in direct conflict with the then-Toybiz/now-Hasbro action figure line. Q: The issue of Nightcrawler’s stiff joint was mentioned and the question that was asked was how to loosen a figure that has a similar problem? A: First of all, the prototype uses an acrylic based paint. The factory uses a petroleum based oil so the quality is a little different once the figure comes back from the factory. Sometimes, the factory is just overwhelmed and makes figures too quickly and the paint goes into joints. There was no specific trick that they knew would be 100%, but suggested to go online forums where they have many helpful tips regarding these issues. On a side note, Nightcrawler was a factory problem. If anyone still has issues with Nightcrawler’s joints or with any other figure, please email DST customer service which can be found at this webpage: http://www.diamondselecttoys.com/contact/staff.asp Also, variants are harder to replace since there are fewer made. Q: How do we know what variants are out there? This was asked in response to variations such as the different shade of color for the Iceman minimates from the specialty market line and the Target line, different Spider-Woman expressions, different color Professor X suits, etc. A: DST doesn’t know when Target puts their products on their shelves. Quickest way to find out the information is on the forums. DST usually finds out their stuff is in stores from the forums. Also, the different shade of color for Iceman is a factory problem. The exact material to make the figure could have run out so the factory may have used a similar material instead. Q: The status of Target minimates? A: There currently are no plans for products to be at Target for now, including the exclusive Spider-Man wave. Also, DST is planning to do most of the minimates on the minimate themed posters displayed at the booth, like Silence of the Lambs and Platoon. One noted exception was Rain Man. Rain Man minimates are not going to happen. On that note, the Q&A ended. Then the winner of the Avengers wave was announced and the panel ended. If the winner is part of the forum, please let us know who you are so we can congratulate you and hassle you for images! On a side note, the status of the Ghost Rider wave was asked. The answer from Chuck was that it is currently on hold. The reason is that production costs are high due to new molds but preorders for the wave were not as high as expected. Chuck is trying to find ways to make this wave feasible. On the floor, Matt gave the official names of the new waves. Check out this thread for images: http://www.minimatemultiverse.com/index.php?showtopic=3102 Series 19 (from left to right): Death Archangel, Mysterio, Apocalypse, Ms. Marvel, Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man, Ultron, Archangel. Series 20 (from left to right): Smart Hulk, Abomination, Vision, Polaris, Vision 2.0 (from Young Avengers), Hawkeye, Havok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heatwave316 Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Storm....thanks for the great update!!! I'm hoping to make it to the SDCC next year. Silence of the Lamb mates sound very interesting. 1 quick question: Did they give any clue about what they were going after next: GI Joe, Transformers??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBT! Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Good job Storm!! - that list will save a lot of random questions I hope, I will no longer mock your clipboard and the 3 pages of notes you took in that panel.... Storm 1:08 gets my most helpful person of the show award for tis and over services to the MMMV members. T. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanester Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Thanks Storm!! (just so you folks know, this guy sat and took handwritten notes of the entire panel so MMMV members could know what was said/happened) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyd Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Thanks for taking all the notes and sharing, Storm!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drgnrbrn316 Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Thanks storm! I was hoping we'd get an idea of what went on at the panel, but you really went above and beyond. Some interesting stuff in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Awesome work Storm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodbender875 Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Hey Storm, Thanks for the effort!! It's really appreciated by guys like me who just has no way of making it out to the big cons. Cheers!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rad Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Great report Storm, your hard work in transcribing it is much appreciated. (we really need a thumbs up or hat doffing emoticon for thread like this). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke314pi Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Thanks Storm, that was very helpful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amazing.JL Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Great notes storm! Thanks. Great notes storm! I appreciate it. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bilbofett Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Huzzahs for Storm, thanks for the info. It's nice to have a wrap-up of the panel. And many BIG Huzzahs to the rest of yous for all the pics,info, and everything else. I hope to make it next year. (I NEED TO START SAVING $$$$ NOW!!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fujis Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Thanks storm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viciousvink Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Thanks Storm, this is great info for those of us who couldn't come out and play Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
storm 1:08 Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Don't worry about it guys. If I wasn't at SDCC, I would have wanted this info too. I didn't have much time to take pics of the panel so you could see the people who help make great minimates and the moderator extraordinaire. But I'm sure they will pop up sooner or later. I just envy TBT getting a hug from *wink wink*. I won't embarrass this person by mentioning a name, but lets just say it rhymes with duck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MINI_MYTE Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Thank you Storm 1:08 for being the official MMMV sternographer at the SDCC minimate panel. You did a bang up job and I'm sure you've answeared a lot of questions for everybody here (me included). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cappy Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 Wow, thanks for the coverage, Storm. Sounds like a good panel and you brought it right into our homes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychopanda Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 Wow, very informative! Thanks Storm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM2 Dinobot Posted August 1, 2007 Author Share Posted August 1, 2007 Storm, you frickin rock! Remind me to buy you a drink if we ever meet up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blacksun1520 Posted August 1, 2007 Share Posted August 1, 2007 Awesome info Storm !!! Thanks for doing this. Very sad to hear about the Target minis though. BS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxcarnage Posted August 1, 2007 Share Posted August 1, 2007 thank you very much storm this was very helpful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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