News from SDCC 2010

[groundhog7s]

I gotta disagree with you guys. The peg warmer packs really tie the aisle together.

True. They do serve as a nice compass to lead me to where I should look. Without them, I'd have to search the whole TRU to see if they had decided to put more out.

[drgnrbrn316]

True. They do serve as a nice compass to lead me to where I should look. Without them, I'd have to search the whole TRU to see if they had decided to put more out.

Not for me.

What, new Ghost Busters Minimates out? Are they over here where the old ones were/are? No, they're in the middle of the Marvel Super Hero Squad display.

Anyone know if anything was mentioned at SDCC about this fabled Minimate section that's supposedly coming to TRU?

[TBT!]

A gentle nudge to remind everyone this is a SDCC topic, perhaps the conversation about which stores should have which sets should have it's own thread?

T.

[Lobsterman]

Back on topic, it was great to put some faces to names this weekend. BHM, Ivan, Aaron (didn't catch your handle), it was great meeting you. Sorry I missed the pub night.

[TM2 Dinobot]

This might partly explain the Pirates license. http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2010...d-on-the-mouse/

[TBT!]

Back on topic, it was great to put some faces to names this weekend. BHM, Ivan, Aaron (didn't catch your handle), it was great meeting you. Sorry I missed the pub night.

Hehe Aaron's handle is....Aaron... Amusingly by contrast despite many years of being led to believe otherwise Ivan's name is not actually Ivan! :biggrin:

I'm really surprised that you didn't recognise Aaron or Ivan from previous SDCC meetups and panels, I know for sure you were all in the same place when we had the room before the Harry Potter hoards!

T.

[MST3KFan]

I notice there aren't a heck of a lot of SDCC minimates up on ebay surprisngly unlike stuff like the Sgt. Slaughters or Plastic Mans.

I just pre-ordered both the X-Force and X-Men SDCC minimates sets from Luke's Toy Store, first time having ordered from him.

I'm just wondering, are both sets really expected to ship around the date mentioned? Seems like any site offered the SDCC minimates has a listing of August.

Edited July 26, 2010 by MST3KFan

[karamazov80]

Would-be-flippers probably realize by now that Minimates aren't in high demand (generally speaking), and are usually pretty easy to find from various retailers after they are released at SDCC. Hasbro and Mattel toys can be another matter entirely.

Edited July 26, 2010 by karamazov80

[storm 1:08]

Hasbro and Mattel toys can be another matter entirely.

If you'd like a loose SDCC Wonder Woman Invisible Jet, let me know. Just paypal me and then go directly to your mailbox. I've got an unlimited supply of them!

[TBT!]

Hasbro and Mattel toys can be another matter entirely.

If you'd like a loose SDCC Wonder Woman Invisible Jet, let me know. Just paypal me and then go directly to your mailbox. I've got an unlimited supply of them!

I assume you are shipping without packaging to save on costs ?

I'd also like to say a HUGE public thank you to storm: 1:08 for being MMV's official guy on the spot this year! - It may not have been obvious but he's been working behind the scenes for MMV's benefit & we appreciate his efforts very much.

T.

[karamazov80]

If you'd like a loose SDCC Wonder Woman Invisible Jet, let me know. Just paypal me and then go directly to your mailbox. I've got an unlimited supply of them!

PM sent!

[luke314pi]

I'm just wondering, are both sets really expected to ship around the date mentioned? Seems like any site offered the SDCC minimates has a listing of August.

The dates on the exclusives in our store are approximate - it all depends on how long it takes AFX and TRU to ship the items to us. I am sure AFX is swamped with orders right now, and they are probably still recovering from SDCC, so that is why I set our ship date as August 15th.

[Mnemosis]

For the record, the reason stores like Toys R Us DEMAND chase figures in low quantities is to keep us going back for more. Yes, selling 10 packs of Troop Builders would be great, but the logic is that if you go in ten times looking for one pack, you're likely to shop each and every time, and the store will make that much more money.

I'm not saying it's great, or that it's even logical, but it IS the idea.

[storm 1:08]

Note: I wasn’t able to attend the Minimate panel but below are a few interesting pieces of info from the SDCC floor. At least, what I could remember. Chuck even asked me how I was going to report all this info from all the questions we kept asking, if I was taking notes or whatnot. I basically said whatever I could remember, which seems to be very little compared to how long we talked in total. So after reading through the entire 15 page thread, here’s my yearly minimate report from SDCC. Credit also goes to buttheadsmate, Cappy, and Aaron who were part of most conversations and brought up certain issues. Sorry I didn’t see any other multiversers.

From Pat at AFX:

This is the only thing I have to report from Pat at AFX when we had a quick chat about the AoA stuff. The AoA set at AFX does include Cyclops. DST gave AFX the prototypes to display but Cyclops had the wrong hairpiece. Magneto’s cape wasn’t on because they didn’t know how to put it on. (I looked at it for a while too and from close up, there didn’t look to be any space to fit it on his shoulders.) Rogue apparently will have another outfit too. Pat seemed bummed that his display for his AoA set wasn’t perfect. (I forgot to tell Chuck about this.)

From Chuck at DST:

Uncanny X-Force. The box set will only have 4 figures. Chuck wasn’t sure why there was 5 figures and wasn’t sure which 4 would be in the set off the top of his head. He mentioned that the 5th is from somewhere else and again, wasn’t sure from where at the moment.

BSG Clearance. They weren’t selling at TRU so it was put on clearance. However, DST is the one losing the money on them while it is on clearance. This apparently is a common practice in the toy industry.

DST customer service. Customer service is just one guy at DST right now and that isn’t his sole focus. He shouldn’t be ignoring emails but it just happens when things are busy. Chuck will ask him to try to focus more on answering emails. Hopefully they will add another team member shortly to help out.

Various quality control issues. I showed Chuck many issues first hand and he was surprised to hear and see them when I brought them up individually. Red paint on Centurion Iron Man head was due to factory rushing and not letting the paint dry in time. DST knew this might happen but people do want masks on in the packaging since it looks better. Neo-Classic Iron Man shoulder pads being flimsy was a design issue and they will try to look into it. TRU Neo-Classic Iron Man front tampo on right pec being off center was a factory issue. Specialty market did not have this problem. Spider-Girl back boobs was surprising to him. Heroes Spidey and House of M Spidey having red bars on top of chest and black web showing in the eyes was the factory cutting corners. White/unpainted knee joints is another factory cutting corner move. Best way to let DST know about those issues is to email their customer service to let them know.

Spider-Man Friends and Foes. Just plain old factory cutting corner before Chinese New Year shutdown. They were rushed because TRU wanted the IM2 mates a certain number of weeks before the movie came out or they didn’t want them at all. So that added more work for the factory and the Spidey F&F suffered. Chuck didn’t know about it until he heard complaints and opened a box himself.

Only one factory in China does all minimates. Lowest production runs are typically 2,000 but could be lower if given favors.

Desperately Seeking Susan Minimates wasn’t worst selling mates. Quite opposite, in fact, due to Urban Outfitters wanting them. He doesn’t prefer certain stores having the same product of minimates if they mark them up a lot because the main buyers know where to buy them and therefore won’t buy them marked up. This leads to clearance and then DST losing money.

Reaction to Sentinel was very surprising. Chuck thought fans would hate the Sentinel minimate since it was out of scale but reaction was very positive. This showed Chuck that people are okay with it. The door is open for more out of scale figures, like Galactus.

Chuck said that Georg Brewer was asked about DC minimates at least twice during SDCC. The ball is in DC Direct’s court and not DST’s.

Chuck wasn’t happy with Heroic Age Iron Man’s head. It might change to regular head that is painted rather than a sculpted mask/head/whatever it was. It just looked off to Chuck and IM’s new armor should be sleeker looking. This came about from a discussion about Spidey getting the slip-on mask and Chuck saying he doesn’t like that on Spidey either.

Thought blank promo this year would be orange but it came in as blue.

Wanted GB poster to give away at SDCC too during GB day but couldn’t get approval.

Can’t do Marvel promo giveaways. Forgot why but I assume some licensing mumbo jumbo.

SDCC Battle Beast is the expected last Battle Beast minimate promo for this year. Chuck wasn’t 100% sure but pretty positive there’s no more for NYCC. Silver – Toy Fair. Black – C2E2. Gold – SDCC.

TRU sales are consistent. Not growing, not shrinking. Doesn’t see the 4:4:2:2 ratio going away. Keeps getting letters from kids saying they found their first minimate product through TRU and love it.

Chuck doesn’t want a sole minimate section at TRU. He specifically wants Marvel Minimates with the Marvel stuff. If it isn’t there, then it will be harder for it to sell.

TRU Marvel short pack issue. Is the short pack figures just cool figures that only collector’s will like? (Chuck posed that question or something similar to me and I unfortunately do kind of understand. Please don't hurt me.) Chuck is aware of the issue but doesn’t have a good solution. Minimates, in general, are selling well enough that they aren’t saturating the market. And he would rather be short than saturating the market. And yes, he does know Thor/Loki packs are pegwarming.

TRU is very happy with Marvel Minimates due to the fact that they keep getting new product quite often. They are also very happy with sales of IM2 minimates. And they love that they got new Iron Man armors in the latest TRU wave.

TRU used to want Spidey and Wolverine in every wave but due to the movie exposure of other properties, other characters (like Iron Man) are included in that list of what characters need to be in every wave now. However, TRU doesn’t tell DST specifically what to put in the TRU waves and specific characters/costumes are up to DST. TRU just signs off on it and lets them do it.

First TRU fan poll was Secret Wars box set. DST originally pitched Contest of Champions storyline. (Get it? Contest?) TRU specifically wanted next fan poll box set to be Cap themed due to the movie.

The TRU higher up who makes the decisions is actually knowledgeable of comics but knows what sells too.

Chuck wants TRU and specialty to not double dip unless it was some type of army builder. Like a civilian (I think) in the upcoming Universal Monsters wave.

TRU likes 2-packs. Specialty likes box sets. (And if you got this far in this post, you really must like reading about minimate news.)

MAX line is aimed at the younger audience to get them interested in the Minimate product. Future stuff will include add-ons. Thus, each mission has a specific set of tools that kids can play with and customize themselves. Once hooked, they will hopefully move into the current minimate lines at TRU and then hopefully other DST products.

TRU insisted the heroes wave to start the line and wanted pirates later. Chuck assumes they want pirates closer to the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Selling the MAX line was difficult to many retailers since many cared about what the product is tied into (movies, TV show) and MAX was just a concept that DST created. But TRU took a chance and it is TRU exclusive now. Production run on MAX line will probably be modest but Chuck wants people to pick them up to show support for it. It will be out winter of this year because that is when TRU sales are at its best.

Halo is the game changer and is what could be the line to break into new markets. Microsoft was very impressed that DST was actually knowledgeable of the product and knew the specific details to each character.

Chuck still likes simple and still is unsure about the new Thing figure. He is willing to try it out just to see how people respond and is willing to take creative chances.

Goblin glider and hover chair getting through was probably luck. Not sure if they will get approved all the time. DST keeps sending the proposal to Marvel, when relevant, in hopes the “vehicles” (hover chair, glider) would get approved. This time, it did.

Disney acquisition has had no effect on DST’s license with Marvel. If anything, it’s just more boring paperwork and lots of other uninteresting stuff.

About prototypes getting leaked out and sold online. Chuck is aware of issue. He mentioned that anyone who bought them online won’t get targeted and DST won’t take legal action and go after them. Not sure what he's going to do about the original people who took them, though. In certain cases, he knows who took them. Like letting employees take them due to them working on it and asking to have it. He is now forced to be more protective of the prototypes from getting out.

Chuck likes the minimate panel on Saturday because it's the busiest day. (I don't like it because I'm in Hall H. With people. Who have pens.)

Saturday night is 'family night' for the DST crew at SDCC and they don’t want to look at food in the morning on Sunday. They still will happily accept it, though.

All that being said, I didn’t read this entire thread until tonight since the wifi at SDCC sucks and because it got too long very quickly. If I remember more, I’ll post more. If anyone else who went has more to add/clarify/correct, please do. Looking forward to talking with Chuck next year and showering him with chocolate chip cookies!

[murderofcrows]

Wow thanks storm!!!

moc847

[MINI_MYTE]

Thanks for the incredible SDCC recap storm 1:08! What news (if any) on the Universal Monsters?

[Nessex]

Holy Cow! That was quite a wrap-up Storm 1:08.

Thanks for the information. And a big thanks to everyone who reported details back to us poor slobs who couldn't make it.

So - the Uncanny X-Force set will only be 4 figures? What's the bet we lose one of the 'new' figures for the Wolverine re-tread?

I'm hoping that the 5 figures means we'll see 2 box sets. An uncanny X-force (Archangel, Deadpool, Psylocke & Fantomex) and a previous line-up set (Wolverine, Domino, Rahne & Elixer).

I can dream, right?

[Danny]

Thanks for that comprehensive round-up Storm, and also thanks to Ivan, Lobsterman etc for the on-the-spot news, you guys know we all massively appreciate it!

Interesting to see TRU taking a punt with the MAX line. Shows how highly the regard Minimates currently if they are willing to risk non-licensed toys.

[karamazov80]

Thanks for all the news, guys. It is appreciated

[boyd]

Thanks for the recap, Storm 1:08. My thoughts -

- That new X-Force Wolverine (with new nose action!) will end up in a TRU wave.

- While I would have loved larger Sentinels, I really like how the shorter size turned out. So I'm kinda glad to hear that Chuck is considering other short characters. Short Galactus vs. short Statue of Liberty, here we come!

- Thought the promo was going to be orange but it was blue? Are the Chinese factories that much of a crap shoot for manufacturing?

- I find it interesting that TRU does have some comics knowledge, and that they requested the Cap set. Isn't Cap coming out after Thor? Does this mean no Thor set? When am I going to get my Simonson battle-armor Thor?

- Glad to hear they're considering changing the helmet on the new Iron Man.

[Killek]

So - the Uncanny X-Force set will only be 4 figures? What's the bet we lose one of the 'new' figures for the Wolverine re-tread?

I think from previous four packs we can assume that (Arch)Angel will be left out. :biggrin:

That was a great update Storm. Your questions were really well stated.

[Turtle]

Thanks for the massive update!

Best way to let DST know about those issues is to email their customer service to let them know.

That's just funny considering the previous info.

Chuck wasn’t happy with Heroic Age Iron Man’s head. It might change to regular head that is painted rather than a sculpted mask/head/whatever it was. It just looked off to Chuck and IM’s new armor should be sleeker looking. This came about from a discussion about Spidey getting the slip-on mask and Chuck saying he doesn’t like that on Spidey either.

That's great to hear. That IM head doesn't look right.

TRU sales are consistent. Not growing, not shrinking. Doesn’t see the 4:4:2:2 ratio going away. Keeps getting letters from kids saying they found their first minimate product through TRU and love it.

TRU Marvel short pack issue. Is the short pack figures just cool figures that only collector’s will like? (Chuck posed that question or something similar to me and I unfortunately do kind of understand. Please don't hurt me.) Chuck is aware of the issue but doesn’t have a good solution. Minimates, in general, are selling well enough that they aren’t saturating the market. And he would rather be short than saturating the market. And yes, he does know Thor/Loki packs are pegwarming.

I'm sorry, but does he seriously think a Mr. Fantastic/Hulk set or HB IM/Hulk set are appealing only to collectors? I can agree that one of the two sets seems more collector friendly and probably works at 2 per case, but when you've got cool versions of iconic characters, 2 per case is ridiculous... especially when you are also selling Stilt Man. 4:3:3:2 is probably a better ratio.

(And if you got this far in this post, you really must like reading about minimate news.)

I do. Thanks for putting forth the effort.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Turtle

[blacksun1520]

Storm 1:08... Wow, I don't know how you remembered all that I know I wouldn't have. Thanks for the awesome update! And to all the other attendees that provided news, info, updates etc. another big thank you

BS

[drgnrbrn316]

Weren't there orange and blue ones being handed out? I've seen them both on eBay.

Some interesting insight into the whole TRU thing, but I disagree about the Minimate section idea. Nice as it would be to browse the Marvel Super Hero Squad and spot a Minimate set on the peg next to it, wouldn't it work better for brand recognition to be looking at the MAX stuff and see Spider-Man hanging on a peg next to it, to show that they don't just do firemen?

If not a dedicated section, at least do an end cap on an aisle somewhere with a cross sampling of products to show what's available.

Besides, they aren't hanging them amidst the Marvel stuff in my store. That's where they put the Ghost Busters when they can be bothered to hang them on a peg at all.

On a side note, that was a smart idea bringing examples with you regarding the quality control problems. I'm surprised that so many of them can slip past the goalie though. At one point, I was under the impression that the factory sent samples to DST for approval. Maybe the whole process has become more streamlined?

[gambitron]

Thanks for all that info storm! That is a load of stuff to remember without having written it down!