Diamond Select Toys posted the next round of fans questions for their Minimates line:
Scientifically, a megaquestion should be equally to exactly one million questions, and while there may not be that many Minimates questions in this week’s Ask DST, it comes close! People submitted two, four, as many as six questions each about Minimates, and Diamond Select Toys president DSTChuck took the time and effort to answer each and every one (to the best of his ability). Prepare for megaresponse!
Jared A.
I was just wondering what the status/release date for the Gamestop exclusive Mass Effect Minimates was?
DSTChuck: They will be hitting the warehouse any day now. I’m not sure how fast Gamestop’s distribution is, but I’d expect them in stores by middle of November.
Joel F.
I was both shocked and thrilled at the announced Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Minimates. My inner 11 year old is jumping with glee. Are the chances good that we’ll at least see the rest of the characters that Mego did (Dr. Huer, Kane, Draco, Guard)? Beyond that what are the chances of season two characters (Hawk, Dr. Goodfellow, Admiral Asimov, Crichton) or some minor characters (The Vorvon, Brigadier Gordon, etc.). Any chance you’ll also go for the Flash Gordon license if these sell well? Keep up the great work. My sons and I love Minimates!!! Thanks. (now off to bug DC again about getting back in the Minimate game).
DSTChuck: Right now, we’ll have to wait and see how the first box set does. We tried to set it up so if we never made another fans would be happy, but still have enough cool stuff to do a second set if sales warranted.
Matthew H.
Any chance of seeing additional crew members for your Star Trek minimates line? (TNG, DS9, Enterprise characters other than the captains?)
DSTChuck: Right not we are not working on more Trek Minimates, but we’d like to, so don’t give up.
Kevin S.
Greetings! Even though Marvel and Walking Dead are my main Minimate collections, I do enjoy branching out now and then. I have all the recent Star Trek sets, the Alien sets are on order from my local comic shop, and I recently picked up the Invincible 4 pack from Luke’s (having only recently begun to read that book). Which leads me to my question – Any chance we’ll see more Invincible Minimates? The 4 pack is excellent, and if I was only ever going to get 4 figures, I guess they’d be the ones. But it sure would be nice to see more of the characters. I haven’t picked up the Thief of Thieves set yet. Any plans for Minimates based on Kirkman’s other book, Outcast? Thanks, by the way, for taking the time to answer our questions! – Kevin
DSTChuck: Kevin, we’d love to do more MM based on Roberts books so you never know.
Matt S.
Hey there, fellas! Marvel question/request. I know you can’t give me a “Yes” answer even if he’s in the planning, so I’d just like to put the suggestion out there. So, classic Falcon. You know, the 1970′s look that everybody associates with the character. The one that the character had a figure made of in the mid-1980′s for the classic Secret Wars toy line. With his taking up the mantle of Captain America soon and his popularity in the second Cap movie, do you think we could get this version? Pretty please? Either as a variant for a All-New Marvel Now Cap-version… or in a swell boxed set? And while on the subject of needing new Marvel characters, let’s have a quick look at the incomparable inhumanness. We’ve got Black Bolt and good ol’ Lockjaw. So, how’s about giving us the rest of the Royal Family? Medusa, Crystal, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton, Maximus the Mad and even a swell Alpha Primitive army builder?
Again, the classic looks… please! I think these’d really make the diversity of the Marvel line pop and as classic, well-known-by-fans characters that are getting more attention in recent film and storyline stuff in the comics it’s a win-win. Pretty please? Also, Heya! Regarding that “Deadly Foes of Spider-Man” boxed set that’s an exclusive to Luke’s Toy Store. Can you guys keep doing that kinda thing with Luke? More much needed characters? Because that set (I bought 6) is the best thing that’s come outta DST in the last year and then some. Fantastic character choices, accessories and the quality control is top notch.
DSTChuck: Classic Falcon is one we’d consider if the planning worked out. I think there is a chance we’d do some more Inhumans, but going as deep as you suggest might be difficult. It was a big risk for Luke to take on that set, and when DST gives someone a set it takes a good bit of time and effort to set up for our staff. So it’s not that easy, but if Luke does well with this set and it all works out, we’d be open to working together again.
Brandon D.
Just wondering if there’s any chance of a possible Mockingbird minimate?
DSTChuck: Never say never.
Paul W.
Hi Thanks for your time. 2 quick questions:
1. I recently read Original Sin and wondered what the chances are of a Watcher minimate in the near future?
2. With Avengers 2 coming out next year what are the chances of some new unmade classic comic avengers being released, eg moondragon, mantis, swordsman or hellcat? Or even a classic falcon?
DSTChuck: Right now none of those are planned, but they have not been ruled out for any reason.
Gavin H.
What other Marvel zombie villians are you planning to make:) p.s. Would you be interested in a Deadpool movie minimates wave? Thanks.
DSTChuck: I think we’d be happy to do a Minimate Marvel Zombie set every Halloween. We can’t even consider the DP movie until something solid moves forward on it.
Cabe G.
Will you guys ever make magic the gathering minimates? I was just wondering since funko just released action figures for them. I also asked about some TV accurate ultimate spider-man stuff a few ask DSTs ago and they never got answered. Thanks.
DSTChuck: I don’t think we have plans right now to look into MTG. MANY year ago I worked on a toy line for MTG that never came out so we know it’s a cool property. We have not done MM for the animated shows before but certainly its possible.
Nathan T.
Two things. One: Are you sick of people asking you about DC minimates? lol I wish they’d open them back up, but know they don’t want to. Two: Are you planning on doing Axis or more cosmic styled minimates like the original guardians?
DSTChuck: No, not sick of it. I know, or maybe hope, that every week more fans come to discover Minimates and have questions about things like that. But sometimes I do wish folks would look back at past Q&A. We’re always looking at current editorial for ideas, so Axis would make sense. Right now we are staying away from the original GoG.
Robin D.
Would we ever get a Minimate of Jennifer Lawrence? Thanks!
DSTChuck: Not of Jennifer Lawrence, but of a character she plays in a movie, sure, why not. We recently did a Days of Future Past Mystique.
Joe D.
Just loving the NYCC 2014 reveals. Especially the NBX and X-men minimates.
I have a few questions I wanted to raise:
1) Did the Expendables Minimates do well enough to merit a new set from the recent film? Like with Wesley Snipes, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford and the new blood?
2) How hard is it to get movie rights? You guys have been pumping out cool movie related minimates. BTTF, Ghostbusters, Platoon, Silence of the Lambs, Rocky, Clint Eastwood movies, etc… and now with the Kevin Smith films, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Aliens, followed by the upcoming NBX and Predator lines, it got me wondering if there’s still another chance for that Godfather set from way back.
3) Also, any chance we might see Usual Suspects? Indiana Jones? The A-Team?
4) Speaking of movies. Any particular reason why there wasn’t a “Quicksilver” minimate from X-men DOFP?
5) With Peter Pan and now Nightmare Before Christmas from the Disney line-up, I can’t help but ask… Rocketeer?
6) Whatever happened to the Big Bang Theory minimates announced earlier this year? Are they still on track.
Thanks guys! Keep up the great work!
DSTChuck: Cool glad you like what you saw!
1) The first sets of MM did fine , but for the action figures we had hoped to get more actors cleared, and we were not able to, so we decided to stay away from the third movie.
2) It’s different in every case, but once we’ve worked with a studio or a creator it gets easier to do another deal with them. I don’t think Godfather will happen, but never say never.
3) I do not think any of those will happen; we have asked about Indy in the past, though.
4) You can’t do everyone.
5) We have no plans for Rocketeer at the moment.
6) They should be in stores for holiday.
Ben H.
Dear DST:
I really like the Minimates figures you have made so far, but I wanted to ask the following questions:
1. Since you have the rights to make figures based on the Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series, I was wondering if you also had the rights to make figures based on the classic TMNT Cartoon series from the 80s or any of the TMNT Comic series that have been made over the years by Mirage Studios, Archie Comics, Image Comics, Dreamwave Productions, & IDW Publishing?
2. Any chance we might see some figures made based on the Cartoon Parody TV shows seen in the Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series like Space Heroes (a Parody of Star Trek), Super Robo Mecha Force Five (a Parody of Voltron), & Crognard the Barbarian (a Parody of Thundarr the Barbarian)?
3. Do you guys have any plans to make figures based on Marvel Comic’s Spider-Verse crossover series (like Spider-Gwen)?
4. Now that you guys are making new figures based on the Marvel Zombies, are you going to make a Zombie figure of Thor?
DSTChuck: I will do the best I can.
1) Our grant is pretty expansive, but we would not want to get into super specifics in public.
2) There is so much cool stuff to do, we have honestly not even asked about that, and I ‘m not sure that’s a direction we’d want to take the line.
3) Spidey is never far from my thoughts.
4) We have no plans to make any product based on zombie versions of the heroes.
Jesse S.
Now that we’re branching out into Japanese cinema with Godzilla and Toho, any chance we’ll see some other Samurai like Yojimbo or Zatoichi?
DSTChuck: We’d never say never, but the chance to do Godzilla is something epic. It’s a true source of pride for everyone here, and it has no relation to any other Japanese cinema, or the chance that we would look in that direction.
Justin B.
Hello, with the announcement at NYCC that DST is making Ecto-1 now, as well as more Ghostbusters related Minimates, is there a ghost of a chance (pun intended) of getting a Minimates themed Ecto-1 or Ecto-1A to fit the awesome Ghostbusters Minimates?
Also, when can we expect to see what you have in store for GB minimates in the future (as far as characters, ghosts, accessories, etc…)? Thanks once again for your time. Justin B.
PS: LOVE the NYCC Green Blank you offered, it looks amazing!
DSTChuck: I think for the most part, some of our plans for Ghostbusters going forward are still being locked in and need more preparations. Hopefully we’ll have plans ready for Toy Fair.