T2 Cyberdyne Assault 4 pack.

Includes:

Cybernetic T-800

Sarah Connor

Scorched Endoskeleton

Myles Dyson

Get it at SDCC!

DSTChuck answers your pressing Minimates questions in the latest installment of AskDST Q&A! Find out what the future holds for Battlestar Galactica, Godfather, mini-vehicles, playsets and more - plus news on the former Amazon.com exclusive Ghostbuster Video Game Minimates! (more…)

Mirror, Mirror Enterprise in package.

Wolverine movie Marvel Select figure in package.

Coming to Action Figure Express.

Dawn in packaging.

Join DSTChuck as he gets flooded with your Star Trek questions - ranging from well-written analysis of our latest Star Trek items to a rant worthy of a Klingon! So activate the inertial dampeners and brace for impact! (more…)

The battle continues at SDCC!!!

What follows a Lighting Bolt?

Thunderbolts Packaging!

Exclusive to SDCC!

Miniflyer Schematics and CAD Drawings

Miniflyer Cylon Raider Sculpts

Miniflyer Mk7 Colonial Viper Sculpts

Miniflyer Package Art

Flash back nearly 4 years ago to the Summer of 2005, development on the  BSG Mini-Flyers project began, roughly coinciding with the airing of Galactica’s critically acclaimed second season run.

The Battlestar Galactica Mini-Flyers project encompassed a series of ships from both the Classic series and the Modern Galactica series and were intend as a follow up to the C3 Mini-Flyers.  However, because the C3 Line was cancelled due to the dissolving of Art Asylum’s partnership with Play Along, the concepts of the new Min-Flyers differed greatly from the original C3 line.

Unlike the original C3 line, which was composed of building blocks, the intent of the new Min-Flyer line was to have the ship composed of predominantly vehicle specific pieces.  This design sensibility insured show accuracy and eliminate added expense of a vehicle composed of building blocks.  As shown in the original concept boards, the Mini-Flyer pieces were intended to snap onto a core block piece which was to be designed to fit with all current block building lines.

This build up feature was to also allow the ship to be assembled in multiple configurations using either other ships in the series or using building block pieces from other lines.  This play pattern also paid tribute to the play pattern of the original Battlestar Galactica toy line made in the late 1970’s.  However, even this build up concept was too costly to develop and a solid piece Mini-Flyer under the Minimates Banner was created.

The final prototypes of the one piece Battlestar Galactica Mini-Flyer were unveiled during February Toyfair 2006 featuring the Colonial Viper and Cylon Raider from the Classic BSG series and the Viper MK 7 and Raider from the Modern BSG series.  Though boards for the build up feature were shown, the intention was to market and sell the ship as a solid piece vehicle, as realized in the Speed Racer Mini-Racers line..  Unfortunately at the time the BSG show was still untested and mass buyers were skeptical on how a mature themed Sci-Fi show would fair in the children’s toy aisle.  So the Mini-Flyer line was cancelled….until now.

Flash to the present time and the interest in Battlestar Galactica show and product is at an all time high.  Strange as it seems that the popularity of a show can increase with a series finale.  Thankfully for all the people who wanted to see the Mini-Flyer line produced, toy retail giant, Toys R Us,  was looking for a vehicle line to be sold with our various Minimates.  The Galactica Mini-Flyers made perfect sense, especially since TRU was exclusively carrying the BSG Minimate Line.

The BSG Mini-Flyers are almost exactly the same as their original 2005 prototypes with the main differences being the size and the wings on the Cylon Raider.  Due to the time frame for Toyfair, the original mini-flyers were sculpted much smaller than they were intended to be and could not even fit an unaltered Minimate inside the cockpit.   The cylon raider wings on the prototype were originally sculpted wrong and were fixed to match the wing shape of both the original source material and the original ship design.  The differences between the early prototype and final tooling models of the Mini-Flyers can be seen attached to this article.

Where does this lead the Mini-Flyer line now?  Will the Mini-Flyers take their place amongst the various Minimate brand as a staples category?  Will there be other Minimates licenses which will have a Mini-Flyer or Mini-Racer joining their ranks?   Well let’s say the Minimates adventure is just beginning and as with all things, we hope you will be pleasantly surprised.