DSTChuck has released a new Diamond Select Toys Q&A over on their
Art Asylum website for your viewing pleasure.
In this weeks edition focuses on Minimate questions like what are the odds of seeing Alpha Flight set or what type of Ghostbusters figures and Minimate vehicles might we see in the future. Check out all out the entire Q&A below:
Marcelo Cury
Hi… my name´s marcelo, I´m 29, from Brazil… huge Minimates fan. 2 questions about possible upcoming releases / Marvel-related:
1) Any chance of ever seeing a KANG figure?;
2) The BSG Flyers are terrific, any chance of an Avengers Quinjet flyer? — thanks and keep up the great work guys!
DSTChuck: Right now we do not have a Kang figure in any of our line plans. We are not allowed to do Marvel specific vehicles, for example we could do a jet but not the Avengers jet.
Luke Porter
I was wondering if your Ghostbusters license include vehicles? I would love to see an Ecto-1 in your new Minimates MAX vehicles line!
DSTChuck: The current GB license does not include vehicles.
Pedro Leite
I love Minimates. Why is not sold in Brazil? I had to buy it on Ebay.
DSTChuck: We have offered and continue to offer Minimates to all comic stores and distributors that do business with Diamond Comic Dist. The buyers much not see the demand. Please feel free to tell your store that if they brought in Minimates you would buy them.
Jason Yeung
Hi, I’ve recently started collecting Marvel Minimates. I used to collect the C3 Minimates as well as the DC Minimates. I have a few questions for you guys.
1. I know the Ghost Rider movie minimates are canceled but are their any chances that they can have a boxset?
2. I know there’s been at least 2 Ghost Rider minimates already but they lack motorcycles. Now that Art Asylum is beginning to have minimate vehicles, any plans for a bike for Ghost Rider?
DSTChuck: Right now we do not have rights to the past Ghost Rider movie so that is not possible. If they do a second movie, that would put the idea back on the table. Our license does not allow vehicles.
Zac Finkenstein
As a toy fan who grew up in the 1980s I was thrilled to hear about the old Battle Beasts line being revived as Minimates. Since the announcement information has been scarce, would you mind sharing a bit more? Some reports talked of you guys outright buying the Battle Beasts property from Hasbro rather than just licensing it, is that true? A major facet of BBs in the original line was the Water vs. Wood vs. Fire rub-stickers. Will these stickers, or at least the three factions also be a part of the new line? When might we see more of these new Battle Beast designs?
DSTChuck: Right now we have no hard set plans for Battle Beast its something we’re working on and taking our time with. We have several designs across several lines that we’re reviewing.
Senior Rodriguez
I saw the new Minimates vehicles, and they look AWESOME!! Are they going to be packed with new minis and are you going to make the Ghostbusters ecto-1?
DSTChuck: Glad you like the designs. The full idea of the vehicles and what we want to do will be more evident with series 2.
Tony Shilling
Hey guys!! Thanks for taking the time,
1. Thank you thank you thank you for the 90s Jean Grey!! OMG I cannot describe how happy I am with her; she’s my favorite character from any comic company, and this is one of my fav looks for her. :)
2. With 90s Jean, any chance of her getting a ponytail hairpiece, like in the cartoon??
3. Is it too late for Beast to be modified?? His hair looks a little long, and he was more squat than bulky. Perhaps give him a tampo underneath like Ult. Hulk??
4. Lastly, in the last Q&A, you made a comment about BSG Miniflyers. There was some confusion…did you mean there would be another wave of BSG Miniflyers or another wave of the new Terminator, BttF, and MAX Flyers?? Thanks for taking the time guys!! Oh, almost forgot:
5. With the success of the Through the Ages Sets, any chance of a Jean Grey/Phoenix Through the Ages?? :D
DSTChuck:
1. Your welcome
2) There are no plans right now for a new hair piece.
3) Final production has not been completed on this series.
4) We do not have any more waves of BSG Miniflyers planned at this time.
5) I am not sure I would call the through the ages set a success but we do want to do more box sets in 2010 and they would revolve around different themes. Maybe include the through the ages idea.
Brian Felgar
Looking forward to the coming year, I wondered if you could give us any hints about new licenses. The Man With No Name series was terrific, in my opinion, because it not only gave us characters from some great movies, but a slew of great new parts like boots, hats, and guns for western-themed Minimates in general. Any chance we’ll have some medieval- or swashbuckling-themed parts - e.g. swords, shields, cloaks, armor - filling our parts bins at the end of 2010 (coughprincessbridecough)? Thanks, and, as always, great work!
DSTChuck: There are several new ideas and lines planned to happen for Minimates in 2010 including new directions and even surprising categories. Much will be revealed at Toy Fair.
Zack
Dear Art Asylum, I have a couple of questions:
1: Have you considered making an Ecto-1 for Minimates?
2: Have you considered making slime packs for Ghostbusters?
3: Have you considered a “make Your own Minimates” set?
4: when can we expect the Minimates DeLorean to come out Thanks, Zack
DSTChuck: Yes we have considered the slime pack. There are some on the team that are really pushing for it. We need to balance the desire to do every possible figure with this line with the depth of demand. In the past DST has at times made the mistake of going maybe one wave too far and we do not want to do that with GB.
Harley Meeks
I highly commend you guys for starting to add accessory pieces like flight stands, energy crackling (like 90’s Storm and Cosmic Surfer), but I was wondering about other “power pieces” that have yet to be made, and would fit perfectly for already established figures. The main piece that I think alot of Minimate fans would love to see is Cyclops’ eye beam. There would be a pretty big demand, I think for other pieces like “muzzle flashes” for the weapons, like rifles and pistols that are already out. Is there any kind of chance that new “power pieces” or accessories like that will be in the works?
DSTChuck: You know to be honest I don’t think we’ve ever considered those. We do want to put the flight stand in more figures to get more out there - so I hope that helps a little.
Dominique Cordero
Have you guys ever considered expanding the Minimate brand by tapping into the designer vinyl market? For the last couple of years art toys had been pretty popular with the “young crowd”, with companies like Kidrobot, Medicom and Toy2r putting out limited-edition minifig series based on the works of different urban-inspired artists. Is it possible for Minimates to make a similar transition?
DSTChuck: I think Medicom has that ground pretty covered with their Bearbricks so we’ll leave that to them for now.
Scott Tinloy
Hi I recently saw one of your Bruce Lee minimate. Do you have more in the works? Where can I buy them? I looked on ebay and other various sites and didn’t have any luck. Thanks! Happy Holidays. p.s. Do you have any firefighter minimates???
DSTChuck: The Bruce Lee figures were done back when Art Asylum first started and are not in scale with the current line. We no longer hold that license and right now have no plans to go back into that line- but we are all big Bruce Lee fans here so you never know.
Sean Wang
Is there any chance you’ll make a Classic Black Panther in the Marvel Minimates line? The details were halfway there with the Marvel Zombies Panther (with the old belt and gloves), and you did do a Classic Wonder Man a while back for us old-schoolers. It’d just be nice to have the slick and streamlined original look instead of the blinged out, Mr. T-style, gold-laden current version.
DSTChuck: No plans right now and since we recently released a version of the character I think it would be a while before he came around again.
DSTMatt: Actually Sean, by removing the cape, belt, gauntlets and waist piece, you can transform Black Panther into a classic version that might be closer to what you’re looking for.
Charlie Phillips
I know that you guys don’t have the license to make Dragon Ball Z minimates but are you considering purchasing the license?
DSTChuck: I don’t think that’s a license we’ve ever discussed.
Daley Venner
is there any web shops you know of that sell the two pack with wolverine and deadpool when the deadpool is in his suit
DSTChuck: I do not know what each store has in stock, but Big Bad Toy Store, Action Figure Xpress and Stuck-A-Kid are pretty big supporters.
Adam Debolt
Dear DST, Thank you for another great year of Minimates and consumer products in general. When a new Minimate Box Set is been creating how is the line up decided? Have an agreeable day. A
DSTChuck: I ‘d like to think we go about a year ahead and we do try for that. We leave some gaps for editorial trends and such. For example we have all of 2010 planned up until October right now. Some of the box sets for summer and beyond need to be filled in but we’re literally doing that right now.
Alex Jefferson
I’m brand new to minimates. Are you guys planning on releasing any alpha flight minimates? If so can you give us a hint to which characters are being discussed? Alex in Ohio
DSTChuck: Alpha Flight has made several first draft line plans but does not seem to stick so I would say as MM keep going there chances get better every day.
David K.
I’m loving the Minimates product we’ve seen for 2010 already! A couple questions:
1) The flight stands with Slimer and Silver Surfer are to die for, but both of these are hard-to-find Minimates which makes getting extras of these flight stands even harder. Are the flight stands planned to be released with more Minimates this year? Because there are SO many great Marvel characters who could really use them…
2) The wings on Vulture would be great cast in clear pink for wings for a Songbird Minimate, don’t you think?
3) We got tons of great box sets in 2009 including X-Factor, Original X-Men, Champions, Thunderbolts, Dark Reign, Dark Avengers, Ghostbusters, and more! Were these successful enough that we should expect more great box sets this year? Some X-Force or New Mutants would be super…
4) Was it intentional that Kitty Pryde, Lockheed, Captain Britain, and Rachel Summers are all having Minimates come out in 2010? Are you aware that Meggan is now the only member of the original Excalibur without a Minimate (hint)? Thank you!!
DSTChuck:
1) Glad you like them and yes we’re going to try to get more stands out there.
2) I suppose but to be honest I have not done a side by side to be sure they are the same style wings. I think a Falcon reuse might be more likely.
3) Yes I think we’re getting close to picking which properties work as 2 packs and which as 4 packs and how to use each release to supplement each other. Doing more 4 packs was a big part of that and focusing the line.
4) Somewhat intentional , also as you lock in one character then two you get on a mental vibe and your thinking flows from there IE Excalibur or Jim Lee X-Men. Once we get close there is some thought given to fleshing out a team or set.
