This week DSTChuck talks Minimates and reveals the future of the Battlestar Galactica line, discusses the possibility of Mortal Kombat vs DC Minimates and clarifies the lineup of the Avengers #1 box set!

Charlie Phillips
Hi I’m very excited about the new Minimate products that are coming up. But I was hoping for some news about a Red Hulk Minimate. I was thinking he could come with an A-Bomb Minimate. Thank you for your time.

DSTChuck: Red Hulk is going to become an ongoing character in the Marvel Universe so he’s a character we’re looking at for a Minimate for sure..

Bill MacKay
Hi, why are the larger Marvel characters, like The Hulk, The Thing, Apocalypse, and The Juggernaut made as larger Minimates, like DC characters, such as Kilowog, Gorilla Grodd, and Ares? Thanks!

DSTChuck: What DCD decided to do for scale was 100% their vision and if fans liked that and responded to it — that’s cool. Digger and I always believed that the MM should be all one size as much as possible (we did add the big chest later). The idea behind the design was always to minimize the character and look as much as possible and make the parts as compatible as possible so thus the one size. We have no plans to ever change that.

Bradley Stuart
Hello all at Art Asylum. Loving the Minimates, a bit hard to come by in the U.K. You probably get emails like this all the time but any chance of you guys releasing a A-TEAM set of Minimates? Every 80’s kid loved the show and I think it would sit nicely along side your Back To The Future and Rocky Minimates set. Thanks for your time p.s Knight Rider and Dukes of Hazzard would be very cool!!

DSTChuck: Yes we’ve discussed many times some of the more “cool” 80’s properties but just doing a one-off Minimate license is many times not to practical so even if we love the property it might not be feasible.

Sammy Washington
I was stoked a few years ago when I saw that your BSG Minimates were going to come with buildable Vipers and Cylon ships. Fast forward and after an exhaustive search I found you guys nixed it. WHY???? I find it strange that you can do Desperately Seeking Susan (?????) Minimates which MIGHT sell versus a product that would probably do pretty well. For me I decided not to bother with BSG Minimates since you dropped the ships. Why did you opt to go with lines nobody was chomping at the bit for i.e. the above mentioned Madonna line, Platoon, Back to the Future, Rocky, instead on the BSG ships?

DSTChuck: Sammy I am not sure I see the connection between the products in your question but I’ll try and explain a little. The ships were shown by Art Asylum at Toy Fair several years ago in an effort to attract the attention of a large buyer like Toys R Us or Target. Those buyers were not interested in the product at that time. In order to go into production with something that unique and with that many parts, the expected sales have to be pretty high. For Desperately Seeking Susan and the others you are wondering about, each one is unique and the reason for doing them is unique. I think I’ve said before, while DSS might not pique some fans’ interest — that’s ok… We have pre-sold MANY of them to stores and the 2 pack has done very well for us. More importantly they will be in some stores that have NEVER bought Minimates before, hopefully bringing some new fans to the line. BTTF as a line has done very well for us there are LOTS of fans out there - our Flux capacitor has been a complete sell out as were the BTTF Series 1 Minimates. So the great thing about Minimates is there is hopefully going to be something for everyone, just like you would expect of a mature toy line. So I hope you find something you like in the line, even if the ships are not made.

Brandon Giles
Will we be seeing anymore Battlestar Galactica Minimates after Wave 5 and the Razor Wave? Any chances we could see any more of the classic BSG Minimates in future wave Count Iblis, an Ovian and Admiral Cain would be cool. Any chances that Classic BSG could be done as 7″ figures too? When will the Doctor Who Minimates be released?

DSTChuck: Time will tell for BSG but we do have another box set and more figures planned - so as long as sales are there we’ll create more figures. Honestly we’re very proud of the way the series have come together. We think the first three series gave a good selection of characters that were featured on the show at the time and Series 4 covered the rest and a good selection of other looks to round out. The Razor box set was a nice addition to the line just as the movie was a nice addition to the show. With Series 5 we’re going to fill in some characters that have been added and have risen to prominence. We would do the same with Series 5 and Series 6, so if those were to happen they would feature characters that were a bigger part of the end of the last season. As for classic I think we are done for now. There are no plans for more Minimates or any 7″ figures. For Dr. Who you have to ask Underground Toys. We did those designs for them so they could gauge interest in possibly making the line.

Brian Petersen
Any chance we’ll see Minimates of Cavill, Aaron, Simon, Leoben or any of the other Cylon characters from BSG?

DSTChuck: YES, there is a chance.

Richard Benjamin
ive been hearing around the internet of people requesting a mortal kombat selection of Minimates, to be sold along with the new MK V DCU game scheduled for release. (like with the marvel dvds), i was also wondering if art asylum an diamond select toys would be interested in launching the mortal kombat characters in Minimates form . you surely could see the potential of series/waves that are possible with the great mk roster available you could even release the waves based on tournaments(mk1 only 7-8 people), and the continuous changes to characters could pose as a good base for variant figures. (e.g. liu kang-zombie liu kang) however I understand a large company like yourselves would have to work extremely hard to design, produce and discuss the new sets of Minimates with other companies. Maybe in the future? good luck with the production of new series. P.S when’s the marvel weapon x box set coming out lol, just a joke

DSTChuck: We have no plans right now for Mortal Kombat but you’re right that there are lots of cool characters and versions that could be done, so you never know. I’ll see what I can do about that Weapon X box set, lol, NOT a joke!

John Charles
Looking over your ship date update I noticed that the Rocky 3 set wasn’t listed. Simple mistake or something worse? Really looking forward to that set.

DSTChuck: Good eyes John! Yes, it IS a good idea to look around the site when you visit, you can find news everywhere. As much as we’d LOVE to do the Rocky 3 set and as much as we pushed for it, the sales are just not there at this time to warrant going forward BUT we’re not giving up just yet.

James White
I love the new TNG Minimates and the upcoming DS9 Minimates look great too. Can we expect to see more from the TNG and DS9 era? What about Minimates from Enterprise? As always thanks.

DSTChuck: Now that the waves are “mixed” everything is POSSIBLE but sales will need to stay strong for us to go much further then the waves we have announced.

Frank Kark
Hi, I really love what you’ve done with the Star Trek Minimates, particularly in series 4 and 5. You started off the most important crews that you hadn’t done yet (Nex-Gen, DS9, Movies 2-6), and finished off the only other important TOS bridge crew members. I think most everyone agrees that the only things left from TOS (show, not movies) are aliens and other background members, with no more Kirks/Spocks/McCoys. There are only 6 (Technically 7) slots in a wave, and only about 4 waves a year. There are also many more characters to be done than have been, and, especially in a line so particularly finite, every superfluous figure is really wasted space. I think you have an inkling to which figures I’m talking about (although there really haven’t been that many yet, this is a friendly warning) Just because TOS is quite possibly the most popular show, it doesn’t mean fans only want to buy the same 2 or 3 characters redone a dozen different ways. Maybe, in a few years, when all bridge crews are space-worthy, and all aliens and secondary characters are also done, then figures like “A Piece of The Action” Gangster Kirk, or “The Cage” Smiling Spock could be justified. As such, when can we expect to see lists/pictures of the next wave or two of figures from the line? Keep up the good work! –Kark

DSTChuck: I’m not sure there is a question here but I will say that yes, we look at the strongest characters first but that’s regardless of which show or version they are from. SO, for instance, if we see from retailer responses and past sales that (using your example) Gangster Kirk is more popular than a Jem Hadar warrior then in most cases the Kirk will take that slot. Does that help?

Karl Sherrel
Any plans to continue BSG Minimates? We are sorely missing Anders but could also use the other Cylon models. Also, will you ever release the Minimates Vipers or Raiders?

DSTChuck: I covered both of these topics in an earlier question.

Dan Nash
Hey DST. I love your stuff! Are we going to see an announcement about BSG Wave 5? I love these figures and have bought multiples of pilots and officers from earlier waves and can’t wait to see new stuff. Will the 12 Cylon models all be released as Minimates? I’d love to have them all together. Thanks for answering!

DSTChuck: Glad you like the stuff! We’ll announce the next BSG Minimates VERY soon, maybe even right here on the Blog. I think we’d LOVE to get all the Cylons out but I’m not going to tell anyone who the final Cylon is so we’ll have to wait and see.

Sean Patterson
What ever happened to Minimates series 15 for the ghost rider movie? will it ever get released?

DSTChuck: Pre-sales for MM 15 were VERY light and I’m sure part of that was due to how late we were in announcing the product BUT while it is technically canceled we’re still trying to find a way for it to happen.

Steve Anderson
When will we see the Doctor Who minimates that we saw at toy fair this year

DSTChuck: See earlier question.

Maria Perez
What are the chances of seeing Marvel horror characters like Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, Werewolf by Night, Man-Thing, etc. Maybe a boxset?

DSTChuck: That’s something personally I’d LOVE to do but just not sure it would be that popular so we’ll have to see.

Brian Petersen
With Vision 2.0 out, is there any chance of minimates shifting on a focus of the expanding universe of Marvel’s younger heroes? I’d love to see some more of the Young Avengers– Runaways and New X-Men would also be good choices for comic fans. Why are there so many Spider-man minimates? He seems to dominate the releases.

DSTChuck: The choice of Vision 2.0 was more of convenience then a shifting of direction. I don’t see any change that would come up to have us change the way we mix the character selection so yes, some of the newer younger characters could be done but they would simply be mixed in as appropriate. As for Spider-Man, he’s the key the line is really built around. He’s the most popular character and the most iconic as well as the one most likely to bring a new fan to the line. (PLUS he’s my favorite.)

Kevin Thomas
Thanks for taking the time to do this. On to my question: What is up with the Modern Battlestar Galactica mates? Are we gonna get some new ones or have they been put on the back burner?

DSTChuck: There are more BSG MM on the way!

Dean Andre
Any plans for more X-Men? Especially the Jim Lee early 90’s lineup. Wolvie (not necessary, but unavoidable), Cyclops, Jean Grey, Psylocke, and Jubilee would make a great boxed set! This wouldn’t include my favorite X-Man, Storm. Any plans for Storm to show up in future waves? She’s had many different costumes over the years, and only two of these done in the MiniMate format (not counting the movie version). Come to think of it, there hasn’t been a standard Black Panther yet. How about him and a modern Storm? Finally, I know you’ve been asked a million times, but I gotta ask: Any chance DST could get the license for DC Comics characters? Is the existing license tied up with DC Direct for a while, or is the license tied up with Mattel if DC Direct doesn’t make them any more? I would love to see a New Teen Titans boxed set to include Perez Nightwing, Wonder Girl (Donna Troy), Changeling/Beast Boy, and Kid Flash (with Terra for a 5 figure boxed set).

DSTChuck: We have more X-Men in the plans for SURE, though I can’t comment on specific characters. As for DCD that was never a DST or AA license so the fate of that line rests with DC.

Jeff of the Miniacs
Ok we have seen several conflicting reports on this including the packaging art on your site, so I have to ask. Will the Avengers #1 boxset include Thor? Will he be re-done or just a straight re-release? Thanks for making the coolest toys around!

DSTChuck: Glad you like the toys! Sorry, Thor will NOT be in the Avengers #1 set. That’s all for this week, so start thinking up questions for the Ask DST Q&A #7!