What will take Minimates to the next level of awesomeness?

[Jatta Pake]

What will take Minimates to the next level of awesomeness? Meaning, what innovations or changes would you introduce to Minimates to make them more awesome? To get the juices flowing on Minimates innovation, here is a list of past "improvements" to Minimates.

* Move to 2" standard body size

* Altered ball peg and socket size for more flexibility and a greater range of motion

* Added C3 (LEGO) hole to feet

* Added peg hole to head to allow hair accessories to stay on

* Made torso peg longer to accommodate size extensions

* Introduced translucent plastic Minimates

* Released ever more detailed tampo printing

* Iron-Cow's brilliant "dog" design innovation

* Army Builders

* Added dozens of new themes: movie, tv, video game, etc.

* Blister packaging that displayed product content

My recommendation to Robert Yee and artists Uriel Caton and Barry Bradfield would be this: Amalga-Mates. My pitch below:

Amalga-Mates:

Minimates were made to be taken apart and recombined into new figures. What if Minimates were designed to be taken apart into and formed into new characters? There has been a baby step in this direction with the release of figures that can be changed into different costumed versions of themselves. But the next step is to make Minimates that can be re-purposed into entirely new characters.

This should be planned out at the Wave level and not officially sanctioned. Amalga-Mates would be semi-official Easter Eggs for collectors to discover. For example, each pack in a wave would contain various pieces and hidden tampo printings that allow collectors to combine and reform figures from the same wave to make new entirely new unreleased characters. The obvious benefit for DST: Collectors will buy multiple packs of the same thing to build their Amalga-Mates. DST could sell a Spider-Man pack but include the ability to repurpose the figure into someone more obscure like Spidercide.

DST could even spread some pieces and printings out along several Waves.

What is your new big idea for Minimates?

Edited June 25, 2011 by Jatta Pake

[buttheadsmate]

You have some great ideas there ! I have long been an exponent of the removal of the pointless hole in the head & I believe were ready for hands with fingers .

[cylonchaney]

You have some great ideas there ! I have long been an exponent of the removal of the pointless hole in the head & I believe were ready for hands with fingers .

You believe WHO were ready for hands with fingers?

Wow! If only there were some kind of pun to be made. Sigh.

[youbastards]

I would love to see a swivel point in the upper arm ala GIJoe's 'swivel arm battle grip'. It would be a relatively small change, but I don't think it would affect the overall 'block figure' design too much.

I think JP is onto something with the 'hidden character' thing, but I would prefer build-a-figures with parts needed contained to a single wave. This would help sell some of the peg-warmers.

An annual 616 Marvel army dump is a no-brainer...I'm not sure why they haven't done this yet. Each release could focus on 2 army builders and then a single unique character.

- 6 SHIELD soldiers

- 5 HYDRA soldiers

- Baron Strucker

I would buy the hell out of something like this every year.

[buttheadsmate]

You have some great ideas there ! I have long been an exponent of the removal of the pointless hole in the head & I believe were ready for hands with fingers .

You believe WHO were ready for hands with fingers?

Wow! If only there were some kind of pun to be made. Sigh.

We are (we're) ready for hands with fingers Thumb kind of pun will come to you.

[cylonchaney]

I always thought it would be cool if the packaging backgrounds could be cut up and assembled into dioramas for posing the mates from that wave or it could be done by including pieces of printed cardboard. I like the idea of it being the actual packaging though. It's also kind of green as less of the packaging would end up in the garbage.

I also love the mates that come with parts to do costume or character variations. More of those would be great. e.g. Gul Dukat / Damar from the Star Trek waves, Wasp, Giant Man / Ant Man, etc.

Edited June 25, 2011 by cylonchaney

[murderofcrows]

build a figure. proven it works. DCU and Marvel Legends.

make it happen dst!!!

[MINI_MYTE]

build a figure. proven it works. DCU and Marvel Legends.

make it happen dst!!!

Seconded!

[mrjasontodd]

online customization! You pick the parts and colors and they make it for you!

build a figure. proven it works. DCU and Marvel Legends.

make it happen dst!!!

Even Star Wars did it with regular scale droids. With three packs in a wave not including variants so we can have a legs, arms, torso/head in those three. Variant pack can have the add-ons & accessories.

[karamazov80]

Not so much an innovation with Minimates themselves, but with each wave, have a corresponding 8" tall Minimate-styled bank that fits with the wave. FF wave could have Watcher. Avengers wave could have Giant Man. Cosmic wave could have Eternity. Etc. If they wanted to get really fancy, they could even give them limited articulation in the necks and shoulders.

I've advocated this for awhile as a way around the restriction on Marvel Minimates outside of 2" scale. It'll never happen, but I can dream!

[youbastards]

That would be an acceptable solution to the 2" scale limitation, as long as they looked like Minimate-styled banks.

It'll never happen though.

[Nessex]

Better pairings for the 2-Packs!

This isn't always a problem, and in fact - most of the 2-Packs are great . . . But every now and then, AA/DST seems to pack 2 heavy hitters in the same pack together.

Why pack Wolverine WITH Deadpool when they are both strong enough to carry a pack each on their own?

Deadpool could have been packed in with Hydra Bob?

Wolverine could have been packed with Silver Samurai?

And the Upcoming Bulked Up Hulk & FA IronMan? Seriously?

Don't get me wrong, i'll buy the 50th IronMan & the 38th Wolverine . . . but pack em in with someone new/different.

If AA/DST can justify putting out a Menace/Anti-Venom 2-pack and be sure it'll sell, then surely we don't need to put Hulk & IronMan in together in the same pack?

[hellpop]

I would love to see a swivel point in the upper arm ala GIJoe's 'swivel arm battle grip'. It would be a relatively small change, but I don't think it would affect the overall 'block figure' design too much.

That was the first thing I thought of also. Remember when we were talking about the possibility of MLB Minimates? Well, they wouldn't work very well right now, because you couldn't have a Minimate hold a bat with two hands. But the arm swivel would change that.

There have been a lot of great suggestions in this thread so far. Mine's actually an old one: C3. I know these didn't work out the first time around, but I still think the idea has merit. It's a shame that the (unquestionably, IMHO) best block figure on the market isn't being supported by vehicles and playsets of equal quality. I'd love to see an aisle of Minimates featuring, say, an Avengers Mansion playset, a Halo battlefield, and- if I'm dreaming already- maybe Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Hey, if Mega Blocks can do it, why not Minimates?

[karamazov80]

I actually don't care for block-based vehicles and dioramas, nor do I care for the "Super Deformed" vehicles and dioramas that DST is currently giving us. . .though I do like vehicles and dioramas.

[MST3KFan]

I would like to see those MAX mech suits they showed off a few Toy Fairs ago if possible as they could be used as cool suits for AIM or Hydra in my Marvel stuff.

[jcastick]

Would be a good thing for them to maybe pack Peg-warming characters as variants or exclusives and the characters people actually want as more widely available.

And I'd love to see Build-a-Figures as long as the packs they are in are evenly distributed, no variants or exclusives.

I dunno, just my thoughts

[Mamba]

Personally, I feel that the idea of variants kinda kills the main lines, and just make another 2 pack. Preferably, an army builder 2 pack.

Sure, we get to have a cool variation of an existing character, but sometimes this doesn't work that well, and we end up with an unrelated mate, and two of another figure.

The TRU packs do just fine without variants.

I feel that there need to be 2.5 and 3 inchers brought back.

Also, get rid of the "4 pack only" rule. I don't see why so many box sets have to be 4 packs. While this works for groups like the FF, it hurts teams like the classic X Men, the Age of Apocalypse packs, and others. Battlestar Galactica had a few 5 packs, nothing bad happened. The Giant Size X Men set is considered to be one of the best older sets. Hell, who else got the 10 pack that was out at TRU for a while?

I also would love to see a Shield vs. Hydra 8 pack, with Nick Fury in proper Agent attire, 3 Shield Agents, Baron Strucker in Hydra gear, and 3 Hydra Soldiers.

[Turtle]

With the new variant+army builder method, I think that even packs/god cases should become the norm.

There are three big changes I would like to see:

1. 2.5 inch 'mates. I don't like the completely covered and sculpted thing. I would prefer to see those characters in 2.5 inch form. The insistence on preserving the 2 inch body, imo, is hurting the overall aesthetic nature of Minimates. I want mostly unsculpted block figures.

2. Accessories don't need too much detail. A lot of accessories, for instance the Terminator endoskeleton gun and the Cap HYDRA guns, are fantastic little replicas, but they do not work for Minimates. DST needs to lose some of the detail and make something items that work better with the product.

3. More comic book lines. MAX, Pirates, Terminator, BSG, Trek, Rocky, video games... they're all fine, but my main interest is the comic book lines. DC was too short lived. I would of course love to see that come back. I would also love to see Image and Dark Horse brought into the mix. Who wouldn't love to see Invincible and the Guardians of the Globe team up with Hellboy and the BPRD in order to stop Lex Luthor from unleashing Marvel Zombies? That would be a game changer for me. There are plenty of minimates that I can pass on now, but I could not resist more comic book 'mates.

Edit: There are a lot of great ideas in this thread. Very interesting reading.

Edited June 27, 2011 by Turtle

[AdyCarter]

Bit late now as 10001 other companies are doing it, but $2 blind bagged mates in a variety of places. Could even have Gold/Silver Wolverines as super rare chases.

(Last I checked, my nearest supermarket here in the UK had - Mega Blocks, Lego, Halo, Doctor Who and Transformers versions of these!)

[luke314pi]

I think that alternate faces on the back of the heads would help people get the exact look they want for a particular character, and would also encourage multiple purchases for some collectors.

[Mirymate]

Well, I've seen several good ideas for the Marvel series (Annual 616 Army dump being my favorite), but few ideas for minimates in general.

Otherwise I like the idea mrjasontodd had of pick you part customization, similar to what lego offers online. Sure it would by its nature expensive. (and probably the main hurdle to cross is working out reasonable cost) But it could also be a boon both to the hard core customizers who intend to scuplt and paint over the base pieces, and to folks who just want to parts swap together a Clint Barton civie figure.

My 2 cents.

P.S. Mamba- there's not a four pack rule per say. It's just that after some experimenting, four packs are the best mix of costs, price point, and profit for DST. And we do want them to continue making a profit don't we?

[DaveOMac]

Playsets.

Sure Vehicles are nice and with more and more original licenses. Perhaps a line of play sets could give us some cool potential for dioramas and give kids a great play experience to get more minimates in their hands.

For example, a generic Super Heroes headquarters, that could be the Hallo of Justice or a level on Stark tower, depending on how you populate it. Include a unique MAX super hero maybe a couple of cool aliens and a "butler" that could be Alfred or Jarvis depending on how you look at him.

Include 3-5 minimates and depending on size of the playsets you could sell them for 15, 20, 30, 60, or whatever.

[hellpop]

Also, get rid of the "4 pack only" rule. I don't see why so many box sets have to be 4 packs.

Well, I can answer that one, at least: cost. Anything more then four figures pushes the price point of the set beyond what DST feels is reasonable. I would guess they've found that the higher priced sets, like BSG Razor and Secret Invasion (which didn't have an extra figure, but the extra heads pushed the price up) didn't sell as well. Personally, I think that having a box set supplemented with a two pack is a decent solution... though I don't really understand why they'll sell one in one market (the specialty shops) and one in another (TRU).

[hellpop]

3. More comic book lines. MAX, Pirates, Terminator, BSG, Trek, Rocky, video games... they're all fine, but my main interest is the comic book lines. DC was too short lived. I would of course love to see that come back. I would also love to see Image and Dark Horse brought into the mix. Who wouldn't love to see Invincible and the Guardians of the Globe team up with Hellboy and the BPRD in order to stop Lex Luthor from unleashing Marvel Zombies? That would be a game changer for me. There are plenty of minimates that I can pass on now, but I could not resist more comic book 'mates.

Totally agree. I think IndieMates are a huge lost opportunity, and would help reignite 'mate interest among specialty shops, which have never embraced 'mates beyond the Marvel and DC releases. Chuck said that the first IndieMates box set was a pain in the @$$ to do, and didn't sell all that well, but I don't think that one failure should sink an entire idea.

Follow the strategy of Universal Monsters, releasing a box set focusing on a different property every year (though I'd suggest a bi-annual release schedule in this case). Start with a Hellboy box set. Follow that up with Grendel. Follow that with Invincible. Follow that with Nexus and make me the happiest guy in the whole Minimate Multiverse. How is that not a great idea?

[monkeycrumb]

How about a return to TV/Movie / Comic properties, and less Video Game characters??

Every one of us here can list more of those properties we want over Video Games properties!

And YES on the 616 Marvel Army Builder Dump Case! Geniius idea!!

Also, the blind-packs sound neat as an extension for what we already have, NOT a change! Continue the current model, but give stores like Target, etc packs like the Lego ones! the cellophane bags are far cheaper to produce than the little dump-boxes so DST should be able to either make more profit or preferably lower the price on the blind packs to stimulate sales. Mix in heavy hitters with army builders and a few fan-requested (Songbird) or Movie mates (movie Hogun, Fandral & Heimdall for example)

I like the different pieces we're getting, and would love to see a skeleton *sculpted* minimate

Also, bring back the 2.5 inch bodies! And DC minimates!