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Larger Sized and Powerhouse Minimates


Lostkhance

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When I first heard about the about the Zombie 2 pack with Giant Man and Daredevil, I was psyched. With DC starting to us the larger original sized scale for some of their bulkier characters ( i.e. Killer Croc, Brainiac, Ares, etc.), I was hoping we'd get a larger scaled Giant Man. No such luck. I was wondering if there was any official reason why that didn't happen. Conversely I noticed that DC doesn't have any "Powerhouse" figures ( i.e. Powerhouse Thing, Powerhouse Venom, Powerhouse Sandman, etc.). Powergirl does have the chest expansion but not a "Powerhouse" by name. Now with Apocalypse on the way and still set on the smaller scale of mates it's a little disappointing.

I'm curious if there's any legal reason/official statement as to why no cross over on these stylistic variations. I understand the matter of the C3 constructible playsets but this seems different. Then again it might just be that Art Asylum has a specific size license.

So please if anyone has a definitive answer please let me know.

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When I first heard about the about the Zombie 2 pack with Giant Man and Daredevil, I was psyched. With DC starting to us the larger original sized scale for some of their bulkier characters ( i.e. Killer Croc, Brainiac, Ares, etc.), I was hoping we'd get a larger scaled Giant Man. No such luck. I was wondering if there was any official reason why that didn't happen. Conversely I noticed that DC doesn't have any "Powerhouse" figures ( i.e. Powerhouse Thing, Powerhouse Venom, Powerhouse Sandman, etc.). Powergirl does have the chest expansion but not a "Powerhouse" by name. Now with Apocalypse on the way and still set on the smaller scale of mates it's a little disappointing.

I'm curious if there's any legal reason/official statement as to why no cross over on these stylistic variations. I understand the matter of the C3 constructible playsets but this seems different. Then again it might just be that Art Asylum has a specific size license.

So please if anyone has a definitive answer please let me know.

It's a License thing, the license with marvel specifies that DST can only do 2" Marvel Mates ( another quirks is they cant call them action figures). The big chest thing is DST's way of bulking up the same heighted figures to make them look 'bigger'.

DCD on the other as they own the licenses can pretty much do as they please, hence the bigger figures.

It's a pretty well documented fact if you want to delve deeper then probably the best place to start is the Q&A threads there's a Ton of semi usefull info there.

T.

p.s. welcome to the boards...

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The license says they cant sell 2 inch mates, but has it ever been asked if they could do a promo mate of a bigger size? like giant man? I remember at one point they got away with something they were not supposed to do by making it a giveaway. Whats the stance on this?

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The license says they cant sell 2 inch mates, but has it ever been asked if they could do a promo mate of a bigger size? like giant man? I remember at one point they got away with something they were not supposed to do by making it a giveaway. Whats the stance on this?

The answer is nope they are very much tied to the 2" scale, givaways get around some of the rules but at the end of the day they have to get marvel to say yes... and they dont say yes because they dont want to piss off the people who hold the other licenses.

T.

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A specific example of the giveaway loop hole not working is the Ultimate Avengers 2 DVD at TRU and K-Mart. DST wanted to do an Ultimate Giant-Man to go with the DVD as a promotional figure, but Marvel nixed the idea.

As far as why the size restriction, it wouldn't surprise me if Kubricks or more recently the Super Hero Squad isn't at least partly to blame.

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At SDCC I asked Chuck about the Goblin Glider and he said they had created one and tried to get it approved and received a NO. He was pretty short and to the point, and I think that is how the license is.. pretty precise and to the point with very little room (or none at all) for negotiation.

I felt a bit silly asking as I guess it was common knowledge for most people there but I always had wondered about whether there was a size issue that allowed Silver Surfer to have his board and Movie Goblin to have his glider.. and the response was, "we tried and they said no" followed by "we also try and find a balance so we are not packaging a huge chunk of plastic in with the figures..". Obviously these licensing contracts are pretty precise and fickle. When you think of ALL of the companies producing things that use the likeness of Marvel Characters there are bound to be companies paying big money for exclusivity on a certain size and type of figure to avoid competition and thusly we have 2" Block Figures with light accessories. I for one, don't mind. :)

Vox

p.s.

Come to think of it, the MaxiMates were address at SDCC as well. To avoid license conflicts at that size they had to be without articulation and of a certain material just to be able to make them. Makes total sense to me.. With hundreds of companies creating Marvel things you would have to limit who did what to add value to your individual product.. If the toy isle had 12 different 6" Spiderman action figures by 12 different companies the market would be saturated and all the companies would suffer. (It's bad enough seeing 2 or 3 lines right now) :P As usual, just my 2 cents.

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I agree that all minimate licenses should be contained to the same scale, but I wouldn't say they should only be 2". If everyone can do the 2.5" then there should be differing scales, if not, then none of them should use it.

As for killing the 2.5 license, that won't happen. It's DC's license, they can do what they want with it. If they want 14" minimates, in theory, they could do it.

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I don't mind the 2.5". I just don't like it. I prefer the 2", and I wish every one would use it. But DCD doesn't and DST does. Oh well, fact of life. I'll just have to deal with it just like every one else will have to deal with 2" only in Marvel. Which, IMHO, is the main reason Marvel Mates will always be better then DC Mates.

Although, Salak isn't the first non-standard MM head. There was Leader way back in wave 4, and even Venom w/ tongue. But yeah, I don't want to see a habit of odd shaped heads. <_<

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I agree that normal sized characters (Magneto, Spider-man, Iron Man, Gambit) should be in the 2" scale. But for huge people like Juggernaut, Hulk or Strong Guy, I think 2.5 would be cool.

But on that note, I think people like Giant Man should be made Maximate style. I don't care if they're articulated or not. As long as they're sculpted with their arms in some sort of pose, them I'm fine. I don't need Giant Man to be in kneeling down or doing ballet style poses. I don't need the articulation for him. But that's just my opinion.

Also, I'm not really feeling the sculpted chest on apocalypse. Someone mentioned, it looks to much like a kubrick, and less like a minimate. I hope this isn't something that happens on the regular.

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I hope that DCD's 2.5" licence isn't taken away. I really like the bigger mates, esp Ares. He's one of my favs.

As is known I'm not that big a DC fan and much prefer Marvel. I had lost faith in Marvel til I saw the new waves. I love the Apocolypse! I wish it was 2.5" but this looks great. I would love a poseable 8" Giant-man. That would be awesome!

Hulk and Juggernaut look so rubbish in 2". It's a disgrace, but what can you do?

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Although, Salak isn't the first non-standard MM head. There was Leader way back in wave 4, and even Venom w/ tongue. But yeah, I don't want to see a habit of odd shaped heads. <_<

While not the first to have a head that deviates from the standard round head (Leader would be the first in the 2" category, and probably one of the Orcs in the 2.5" category), Salak is definitely amongst the first to deviate so far from the normal mold (Kellogg's, be damned!). At least with Leader, Smart Hulk, etc, you still maintain some sort of round shape to the head. Salak doesn't even resemble the normal shape, though to be quite honest, I can't think of a way they could have done him to where he did keep the normal head.

I was actually wondering how they got away with The Leader

I'm thinking there's a little play in the 2" rule. After all, adding the hair piece or a belt to the standard minimate does make it a bit taller than 2". I imagine Leader just fit in under the limit.

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There's only even a few bigger characters we need.

Rhino, Juggernaut, Hulk, Giant Man, and a few more.

Marvel needs to let them make bigger 'mates.

If my Rhino stays tiny, my life will crumble.

*sniffle*

And, DC.

I hated their comics and their Minimates already, and now THEY get the 2.5 'mates.

DC is the spoiled younger brother of the Minimate universe.

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