ToyFare Issue #153

[Jatta Pake]

ToyFare Issue #153 has an article on pages 54 and 55 called "The Whole Wide Worlds: The most varied toy lines of all time, all in the same scale and all awesome!"

Minimates gets a fifth place ranking behind Sideshow 12-Inch, Neca, McFarlane, and Kubricks. With 17 licenses (according to the magazine) Minimates beats out Microman (13) and Mego (16). The licenses listed are as follows:

24

Back to the Future

Battlestar Galactica

Dawn

DC

Desperately Seeking Susan

Ghostbusters

Kabuki

Man With No Name Trilogy

Platoon

Rocky

Speed Racer

The Spirit

Star Trek

Street Fighter

Terminator 2

Top Cow

What is the point of this post? Well, Kubricks was crowned the winner with 88 licenses and the Minimates count does not even count MARVEL! They counted not only Marvel for Kubricks, but also Spider-man!

I think the fans here at MMMV need to send the staff at ToyFare a reminder that Minimates includes many other properties, like Spider-Man 3 and The Incredible Hulk. Not to mention a little movie called Iron Man.

Sideshow 12-Inch has 24 licenses and they hold the fourth place spot. Can we get Minimates to beat that? List the non-included licenses here.

[karamazov80]

I don't see Chef Duff or Silence of the Lambs, and though the 3 inchers might not be included, they are missing several of those licenses.

Medicom truly is the king of licensed toys, though. Not just Kubricks, but the RAH figures, as well. If Hot Toys was included, it must have had more licenses than Sideshow at this point (though nothing approaching Medicom). They crank out so much stuff. But maybe not.

Edited March 28, 2010 by karamazov80

[buttheadsmate]

CTHD,Kiss/Rock,Battle Beasts. Just for a start.

[karamazov80]

If 3 inchers are included, there are also Bruce Lee, Celebrity Death Match, ADV (Soapmate) and Kung Faux.

[Trekker 42]

The Lord of the Rings as well. How did they forget LOTR?

Oh yeah... I'm basically the only guy who remembers LOTR anymmore...

[buttheadsmate]

Kubricks (Medicom) would take some beating......I doubt that anybody has a complete collection. If they had a complete collection today then it would be incomplete tomorrow.

[karamazov80]

I was recently reading up on the 1st Medicom RAH Kaneda (from Akira) release. Apparently 300 were produced and released at raffle at the Wonder Festival in 2000. There were 100 each released of two police guys. According to the best English language Kubricks list out there, no Kubricks were released at Wonder Festival previous to 2004. I bet that is not the case. There are probably some obscure-o, insanely rare Kubs released previously that nobody in this country even really knows about.

[drgnrbrn316]

ToyFare Issue #153 has an article on pages 54 and 55 called "The Whole Wide Worlds: The most varied toy lines of all time, all in the same scale and all awesome!"

Minimates gets a fifth place ranking behind Sideshow 12-Inch, Neca, McFarlane, and Kubricks. With 17 licenses (according to the magazine) Minimates beats out Microman (13) and Mego (16). The licenses listed are as follows:

24

Back to the Future

Battlestar Galactica

Dawn

DC

Desperately Seeking Susan

Ghostbusters

Kabuki

Man With No Name Trilogy

Platoon

Rocky

Speed Racer

The Spirit

Star Trek

Street Fighter

Terminator 2

Top Cow

Can we get Minimates to beat that? List the non-included licenses here.

Depends on how much we split hairs. If Marvel movies are separate entities, then we've got Spider-Man, X-Men/Wolverine, Iron Man, Punisher, and Incredible Hulk.

You could also split BSG into classic and modern, Star Trek into TOS, TNG, DS9, and the movies, Ghostbusters into the movies and the game, and DC into the comics and the Justice League show. It all just depends on how separate you consider each part of the license.

Then there's Ace of Cakes/Charm City Cakes and Silence of the Lambs.

If we dip outside the standard 2" body, then we've also got Lord of the Rings, Celebrity Deathmatch, Rock n Roll/KISS, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Bruce Lee, and Dark Angel.

Then you fall into the questionable category. We've got a Goth Girl promo and a Battle Beast promo, which are separate licenses, but nothing that's been for sale yet. And if we look into the future, we've got Universal Monsters, Halo, Tarot, plus some unique items in the whole Pirates/MAX/Elite Heroes stuff.

[MINI_MYTE]

The other funny thing about the neglected Marvel mention is that there's an obvious picture of Marvel's Ultimate Avengers right above the license list. Proof readers ToyFare, proof readers!

[MST3KFan]

I just thought it was funny how they show Marvel Minimates on this silly article yet don't list them in the list. Toyfare and it's usual writing at work...

Seriously, I get the magazine only to look at the pretty pictures nowadays. If I were to note all the errors in the writing that would give me a headache given I went through a lot of English related college courses and stuff. O_o

*Doh* MINI_MYTE beat me to it on the Marvel mates shown but not mentioned...

Edited March 29, 2010 by MST3KFan

[karamazov80]

With Minimates, though, the Marvel movie-mates are integrated alongside the other Marvel releases. With Medicom, they really seemed to be distinct licenses--one set-up to deal with Marvel comics (there were a couple of waves), a separate deal to do the Spidey 3 figures, and separate deals to do the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and X-Men 2 films. This may not have been the case, but it seemed that way. Medicom apparently never had a blanket DC license, but they had the rights to do several DC-based films, Batman comic figures, and Batman: the Animated Series.

Edited March 29, 2010 by karamazov80

[Jatta Pake]

The only reason I think we get to split up the Marvel licenses under the ToyFare counting paradigm is because they counted Top Cow, Kabuki, and Dawn as three licenses even though they were only a single "Indies" boxset. And if you count DC, then you are opening up to the non-2" size restriction. LOTR had 2" mates.

Point being that Minimates should hold the second spot only to Kubricks. McFarlane's aren't toys - more like statues, and NECA's lacks diversity in anything other than movies. Horror movies at that.

And really, Kubricks? Half the licenses are things like "Yugen Mantama" and "Nikki".

Minimates win again.

[battlecat]

When the Spider-Man 3 mates came out I remember Chuck telling us in a Q&A that they couldn't do a Gobby/Otto 2-pack because they weren't allowed to go beyond the scope of SM3. So I'd imagine they have a separate license for each Marvel movie outside of their regular comics contract...

All the Ghostbusters/Eastwood/BTTF sequels, on the other hand, appear to be lumped into one blanket license per property. Not that I actually know what I'm talking about -- just my impressions.

[karamazov80]

Whatever the case, it certainly seems that this list was a bit inaccurate and hap-hazardly thrown together.

[cdubya]

a bit inaccurate and hap-hazardly thrown together.

That blurb alone pretty much sums up the ToyFare creed (and don't even get me started on their self-serving "price guides").

[buttheadsmate]

And really, Kubricks? Half the licenses are things like "Yugen Mantama" and "Nikki".

Yes .....& the other half is Star Wars,Metal Gear Solid,Halo & Evangelion. I'd concede that there are some (many) awful kubricks & that Medicom are ruthless manipulative b*stards but you can't fault their quality & diversity.

I've often said this but I'll say it again .....I never loved Star Wars movies even in the days when I was meant to !Luke ,Vader & Co. just do nothing for me although I do realise how important the movie was to just about everybody else. Having said all that I was offered a complete Star Wars kubrick collection nearly 3 years ago & decided to buy it as an investment.....what a mistake because I'll never ever sell them & despite the insane cost of keeping it complete it is actually worth it,they're (mostly) beautiful

I love Minimates but it doesn't stop me liking kubricks which don't need to be sold with a hobby knife,a paint brush & a tube of glue .

Edited March 29, 2010 by buttheadsmate

[Danny]

I think the Marvel movies ARE different from the blanket Marvel comics license. Chuck has mentioned stuff like Ghost Rider being a separate entity to the comic, and similarly to Spidey 3, when asked about other X-Men movie characters they couldn't do them.

Also, splitting hairs I know, but if they are including Street Fighter 2, then surely Darkstalkers should count also.

To summarise: Toyfare know sod all.

Minimates have many diverse licenses

[karamazov80]

a tube of glue .

Paint brush and hobby knife for Kubricks? Perhaps not. Tub of glue? Not so long as you don't look at them funny, so an arm or leg goes flying off.

And to support Rob on this point, Kubricks have a crap-load of licenses--some good, others kind of weird and/or bad, but so have Minimates, and if Minimates had the following, I think many of us would be very happy:

Aliens, Alien, Star Wars, Dark Knight, Batman Begins, various films starring Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean, Willy Wonka, Alice in Wonderland, Edward Scissorhands, Sweeny Todd, etc.), Indiana Jones, Metal Gear Solid, Mega Man, various Disney figures, Sex Pistols, Beatles, MUSCLE, Gi Joe (albeit the 60s/70s version), Green Hornet, Gumby, Muppets, various cereal mascots, Lost, Maschinen Krieger, Matrix, Planet of the Apes, Sesame Street, Peanuts, Smurfs, Spawn, Watchmen, and the figures that could be the greatest Minimates of all time if made--Tron.

[Jatta Pake]

And really, Kubricks? Half the licenses are things like "Yugen Mantama" and "Nikki".

Yes .....& the other half is Star Wars,Metal Gear Solid,Halo & Evangelion.

I can't argue with this. If we were assessing quality of licenses held, along with quantity, Kubricks would still come out on top. And Sideshow 12-Inch would probably be a strong second place.

But let's add "fun" to the mix. Kubricks are stiff-armed corpses with weight management problems compared to Minimates. And blind boxes are only "fun" for pachinko addicted gamblers with toy fetishes. And dressing up 12-Inch Sideshow figures can only be considered "fun" to nine-year old girls.

So, ranking lines by quantity and quality of licenses AND fun factor, Minimates win.

Take that, ToyFare!

[drgnrbrn316]

So, ranking lines by quantity and quality of licenses AND fun factor, Minimates win.

Take that, ToyFare!

We've also got them beat in the choking hazard category! Minimates have far more small parts that can be swallowed.

[karamazov80]

But let's add "fun" to the mix. Kubricks are stiff-armed corpses with weight management problems compared to Minimates. And blind boxes are only "fun" for pachinko addicted gamblers with toy fetishes. And dressing up 12-Inch Sideshow figures can only be considered "fun" to nine-year old girls.

So it is OK for grown adults to play with their toys--posing them in various positions, often for comical or lewd pictures, putting together dioramas of various sorts, switching out their plastic clothing and hair, etc., but it is not acceptable to play dress-up with bigger dolls wearing fabric clothes?

Not that I do much of it personally, but there are lots of folks who spend a lot of time "kit-bashing" their military figures, or "futzing" with their Jokers and Aliens Marines to make them screen accurate, or as interesting to the owner as they want them to be. I think that is as legitimate as any other toy-collecting-related behavior.

I like my dollies.

[NorthRaider]

So, ranking lines by quantity and quality of licenses AND fun factor, Minimates win.

Take that, ToyFare!

We've also got them beat in the choking hazard category! Minimates have far more small parts that can be swallowed.

Sad but true

Then again, I've seen way too many "revived" toy lines these days become but mere shells of their former selves due to the eschewing of thoughtful detailing and "dammit it was here a minute ago" accessory extras for oversimplified forms and googly-eyed grotesquery. To cite all the annoying girl's toys examples (shaddup) one need only look at Littlest Pet Shop, Polly Pocket and Strawberry Shortcake. "Hazardous" construction aside, it seemed like children's playsets from ten years ago actually were playsets with so many intricately designed, mind-boggling bells and whistles, but now they just seem like glorified, overpriced dioramas to me

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I want some poor unsuspecting 3-year-old to choke on a mini-sized machine gun or something. However...

Edited March 29, 2010 by NorthRaider

[Turtle]

And blind boxes are only "fun" for pachinko addicted gamblers with toy fetishes. And dressing up 12-Inch Sideshow figures can only be considered "fun" to nine-year old girls.

So, ranking lines by quantity and quality of licenses AND fun factor, Minimates win.

Take that, ToyFare!

The blind boxes and insane shortpacks are what kill Kubricks for me. I would be way more inclined to buy Kubricks if I actually knew what I was buying and didn't think I would have to buy, like, 200 figures just to get the one I wanted. There's the thrill of the hunt and then there's the blind box. And Bearbricks? Puh-lease.

So add in availability and Minimates take a huge leap forward.

[arnim zola]

Toyfares staff changed up a little bit in the last few years and toyfare theatre hasnt been as funny. Then you have new staff witers that write about stuff they clearly dont know enough about. To be clear, Chuck did at one point confirm that each marvel movie has its own license. And since the article was talking about diverse licenses in the same scale, I would knock down NECA and Mcfarlane right away since both have used multiple scales, although I havent read the article to see what licenses they listed to support the decision. But I would definately count DC at least 2 times, for comic and JLU mates, and maybe a 3rd time since the dc direct line was a different deal/setup.

I'd also include LOTR b/c the were awesome and had plenty of 2" mates as well. And I would have definately counted the new licenses they showed at toyfare, plus stuff they've shown and canceled like bev hills cop/godfather because technically the article is about scale and license amount.

Ive been reading toyfare since the first issue years ago and I can say the write of this article is probably just hard up on Kubricks. Behind the scenes politics are brewing I'm sure of it.