New Q&A stuff from AA's site

[MrClean]

Does anyone else just scroll down to read Chuck's answers first to see if the answer is positive enough to actually read the questions? I do that and seem less disappointed.

[karamazov80]

I actually just come here, where anything remotely promising will be discussed

[hellpop]

Does anyone else just scroll down to read Chuck's answers first to see if the answer is positive enough to actually read the questions? I do that and seem less disappointed.

I definitely do that when someone goes on one of those "have you ever considered..." questions.

[Lobsterman]

Does anyone else just scroll down to read Chuck's answers first to see if the answer is positive enough to actually read the questions? I do that and seem less disappointed.

I definitely do that when someone goes on one of those "have you ever considered..." questions.

"Holy crap, no! We have never actually thought of doing a figure of (that X-men character or Spider-Man villain that gets brought up in every Q&A, and is a major recurring character in the monthly book)! That is some amazing insight into retail licensing you have! Here, let me give you my home phone number; I'd love to get together for coffee some time and pick your brain on what we should do with the line plan next year!"

[Kostisfire]

Does anyone else just scroll down to read Chuck's answers first to see if the answer is positive enough to actually read the questions? I do that and seem less disappointed.

I definitely do that when someone goes on one of those "have you ever considered..." questions.

"Holy crap, no! We have never actually thought of doing a figure of (that X-men character or Spider-Man villain that gets brought up in every Q&A, and is a major recurring character in the monthly book)! That is some amazing insight into retail licensing you have! Here, let me give you my home phone number; I'd love to get together for coffee some time and pick your brain on what we should do with the line plan next year!"

[Nessex]

Good news about Young Avengers. I'd love to see some of the younger characters in the MU get a shot.

[groundhog7s]

New Q&A is up:

http://www.artasylum.com/2013/07/ask-dst-216-marvel/

I don't know who this Kostis guy is, but he sure is asks a lot of questions...

It would seem the questions about Thor 2 didn't make it in in time. :sad:

And it seems things have changed from DST not being a video game company to not being a huge video game company. Hey, it's a step in teh right direction.

[monkeycrumb]

Meh.

Trek has been out for about a month now. How much longer do we need to wait before we hear what the "fan and retailer response" was before we hear any more about Trek's future?

I know, I know, it's basically up to TRU wanting to order more.

Because they already have their initial sales data, and word of mouth sounds very positive on sales as well.

[groundhog7s]

I'm not sure I totally agree with you on Trek. I would've agreed up until recently, but I think Battle Beasts showed that TRU can be on board for one wave, have it sell well, not be on board for wave 2 and DST will still move forward. I wouldn't be so certain that there's a pattern any more to how to predict how things go.

[monkeycrumb]

Exactly. Which really makes me wonder. Does BB just have a higher profit margin? I know they own the license, but there's a lot of tooling costs. The only thing that would make Trek more expensive would be if they have to pay a percentage of sales, since they've already paid for the license.

I really believe Trek is profitable, but it's the degree of profitability that's the key question. Why chase pennies when you can make dollars instead? That is the Mattel / Hasbro / everyone else model, so it's logical to assume it's in play here. And IIRC, DST had stated they do what they can to keep all the manufacturing done at the same 1-2 plant(s), so resources are a factor. And I'd sacrifice BB to get more Calico Jack, but if BB is more profitable than CJ, it's understandable why they make the decisions they make. That LCBS CJ 4-pack never got enough presales to get it produced and it was a DST-owned license.

I guess our Trek salvation comes mainly from TRU. I really hope that should TRU pass, DST will continue to make Trek for the LCS market. If Trek fails, the only future it has at retail is with another TV series. Otherwise, we'll probably just get more Captains with the 3rd movie . So DST needs to stop holding back and just give us the fan requested stuff. (And by holding back, I mean the great ones they hold back to "Anchor" waves with, such as Data, Worf, Locutus, etc.)

[MisterPL]

Exactly. Which really makes me wonder. Does BB just have a higher profit margin? I know they own the license, but there's a lot of tooling costs. The only thing that would make Trek more expensive would be if they have to pay a percentage of sales, since they've already paid for the license.

Generally speaking, there are two costs associated with a licensed property. There's the royalty, which is a percentage of sales. That can be as high as 15% for a property like Star Wars. Then there's the annual guaranty. That's a dollar amount the licensor (in this case CBS) gets no matter how poorly the product performs. It's an amount the manufacturer (DST) has to pay out anyway. (There can be other costs as well but those are the big two.)

This is why companies like Hasbro and Mattel put a lot more effort into their in-house properties like G.I. Joe and Barbie; the sales margin is much better because they can charge just as much as they would if it were a licensed property. It's my understanding that DST's BattleBeasts line isn't licensed at all, that DST scooped up the trademark when Hasbro let it lapse. So yes, without the licensing fees, Battle Beasts should be more profitable than any licensed line.

[monkeycrumb]

I thought that generally (but not always) royalties on merchandise are paid after a certain minimum sales figure? Perhaps it varies license by license? (Thank goodness not everyone can demand the percentages that Star Wars can, or we'd be missing out on a ton of niche properties!)

And yes, BB is DST-owned, but there is a lot of new tooling which eats into profits. I'm sure they have some kind of "sweet-spot" figured out to maintain a good margin.

[MisterPL]

Yeah, licensees are always concerned about making that minimum so they can at least pay the guaranty. Once they hit that guaranty, they're golden. The tricky part is speculating how much that property is going to earn so DST needs to know their market.

As for new tooling, that's to be expected for any new line. But DST can amortize the costs over future series just like they do with licensed lines. I'd be surprised if we didn't see parts being reused for Battle Beasts but at the same time the money saved by not having to pay licensing fees can go toward tooling costs or additional paint operations.

[hellpop]

I was very surprised to see what looked like newly sculpted parts for the bear in BB wave 2, rather then just reusing the SFvT bear.

DST has unfortunately not had very good luck with their original properties, with both Max and Calico Jack dying early deaths and Battle Beasts seemingly endangered (pun intended). And, of course, they chose to go with Walking Dead instead of Maximum Zombies (which was undoubtedly the right choice). The problem with the in-house lines will always be, I think, that they'll never get any support from comics and specialty stores, outside of those few like Luke and BBTS that really cater to Minimates. I can't imagine that my local comic book store will be ordering anything they've not heard of previously. Doing the comic tie-in with BB was a good idea, but I just don't think it's enough to generate buys from comic shop owners. Personally, I don't think Battle Beasts are going to survive without TRU, with is a crying shame. I wonder if Chuck would consider doing them as an exclusive for a specific retailer, or just as con exclusives?

[monkeycrumb]

Perhaps the non-reuse of the bear sculpt was due to licensing issues? IIRC nothing sculpted for DC was allowed to be used outside of DC (for a certain time frame, as stuff has made it's way into use but it took a few years)

As for BB surviving at LCBS instead of TRU, I'm reminded of all the Calico Jack that was shown but never produced. Also, wasn't it the LCBS market that highly discounted BB wave 1?

I think TRU likes to hit a certain point before completely refreshing. Calico Jack was meant to cater to the Pirate market timed with the last Pirates of the Carribean movie, same with Trek and Into Darkness. Because you'll notice that TRU caters thematically to the big season blockbusters (biggest case in point are those generic 3 3/4" figures & playsets that take up one whole side of a TRU aisle which also did pirates that year, did western in time for Lone Ranger, Fantasy for Hobbit, and always have the police & military stuff). So I can see TRU feeling like they've done "enough" business with BB and moving on before it got stale for them. Not my favorite strategy but it seems to be what works for them.

And Hellpop, as for MAX not having good luck, it seemed to sell through pretty well. I still see the occasional MAX jet, but I don't think DST lost any money at all on the MAX stuff. I suspect TRU just felt they'd hit their saturation point and chose to move on. I really hope that's the case because I'd love to see them revisit MAX every few years, it's still a viable line.

[MisterPL]

I'd like to see AA/DST take a stab at doing their own sci-fi property. That might seem redundant after offering licensed properties from Halo and Back to the Future to Star Trek and now Aliens but if it's something that complements other lines, it could work. There might even be a lapsed property out there that, like Battle Beasts, has a small, built-in audience to help spread awareness and build the brand.

[Kostisfire]

Some very interesting answers this time around.Did anyone catch the Typhoid Mary answer? Chuck said that she's very possible at some point. Do they have a street levelers wave planned? And he expressed interest in a symbiote family 4 pack. He could just say never say never but he specified that it's very possible in the future. This doesn't say much but i hope an updated carnage will be realeased next year.

[MisterPL]

I'd be down with a "Foes of Hell's Kitchen" assortment.

[karamazov80]

I know some were advocating DST-created licenses even before Max was on the radar, but I never thought they seemed like a great idea from a sales POV. Too many people collect for the sake of having characters they know from some other medium (usually in the pop culture context). I'm in that boat, despite being a hardcore fan of Minimates in general. Maybe those kinds of things would have more appeal if they sold for a lower price point than licensed stuff, but. . .whether its police, pirates, zombies, military, sci-fi, monsters, mutants, or anything else, the lack of familiarity (and effective marketing, which really is going to be cost prohibitive with Minimates IMO) seems like it's going to keep any of those kinds of things from really taking off. LEGO can get away with it a bit more because, one, it's LEGo and they can sell anything with that brand, but two, the really small kids that make up their primary demographic aren't going to care so much as the older kids/teens/adults that would potentially be into Minimates.

[hellpop]

And, even so, Lego seems to have really moved towards the license stuff. It's a shame, because I think the Minimate design team is really talented and creative; I probably would have bought lots of Maximum Zombies, and I've only bought Walking Dead sets to use for customs. But you're right, the brand's just not strong enough to get most casual buyers to buy a cool toy because it's cool, rather then a cool toy of a particular character.

[TM2 Dinobot]

I keep telling DST they just need to do a TV show. A web series. Something. Send Robot Chicken a box of parts and get on a sketch, at the very least.

[Lobsterman]

Lego has spent decades establishing their brand as a unique "building" play pattern (which other brands like Mega Bloks have basically piggybacked onto), not just a licensed toy. Minimates kind of straddles that line, but has never committed to either side fully. It's always been a toyline that's more about the licenses they hold than what you actually do with them, at least from a retail standpoint.

Thus:

Lego – I build with them, and happen to be able to build these licenses I love

Minimates – They have licenses I love, and happen to be able to build with them

Upon buying them, you eventually discover the "building" aspect, but that's very rarely been empasized as a unique selling proposition for them. I think the only time I've seen it approached is in that Battle Beasts stop motion video where the bad guys blow up and reassemble, and even then it was only obliquely addressed as a play feature.

[Zak Katz]

On the packaging of BB it tells you you can make your own beasts. So in that particular case they do.

[hellpop]

They also paid some lip service to that idea on the MAX boxes. But I agree, emphasizing that "build your own creation" aspect of the Minimate play pattern would be a good idea.

[youbastards]

There's a new "Marvel" Q&A up, and while it isn't dedicated to Minimates, there are a few questions that got interesting responses from Chuck:

Gavin G.: Hello DST, I was wondering if you guys are going to make Minimates from these huge Marvel events like Age of Ultron and Infinity?

DSTChuck: Gavin, for sure we have a track record of making Minimates from current editorial events but for now nothing is planned for Ultron & Infinity. But it has not been ruled out.

______________

ToyHype: Hi Chuck, Great to see a new Marvel Zombies Minimates set coming out. Do you think the Marvel Zombies will ever get the Marvel Select treatment again? The three that came out are going for some hefty prices now and I would love to see additional characters like Zombie Iron Man, Magneto, Wolverine, Hank Pym, The Vulture and others made. Any chance of this happening?

DSTChuck: Right now not sure how much Marvel is going to allow us to do, but for sure I know the heroes are off the table.