Everybody loves an army-builder: that two-pack (or three-pack or four-pack) that gives you nameless grunts who can be purchased over and over to build a massive army of soldiers for your toy collection. But when your battles are being fought at sea, what need do you have for an army? To fill out their Calico Jack’s Pirate Raiders line of Minimates mini-figures, Diamond Select Toys is releasing the first box set for the line, and it’s got a little of everything: A pirate, an evil pirate, an evil skeleton pirate, and a British Royal Navy officer, complete with powdered wig! With just one of these sets (or two, or three, or four), you can assert your dominance over the seven seas! Coming to specialty stores and comic shops in December — pre-order yours wherever comics and toys are sold!

The first ship is available now at toysrus.com, and the second is also available for pre-order. Get regular DST updates on Facebook and Twitter!

Diamond Select Toys likes to think of its convention appearances as one long goodwill tour of America, bringing sneak peeks of its products and new, exclusive toys to different parts of the country. And this year’s journey, from Chicago’s C2E2 to San Diego’s Comic-Con, is now coming to an end in New York City, at the 2011 New York Comic-Con! Taking place at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan from October 13-16, the convention is the East Coast’s biggest pop-culture gathering, and in addition to our famous Minimates panel (2:45 on Saturday, in Room 1A15), this year will be the home to four very cool exclusive DST products, including the first offerings from a brand new line of Minimates!
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Once upon a time, Anne Bonny sailed the seven seas with Calico Jack and his crew, and was known as one of the most ruthless pirates in the business. She would not hesitate to pillage and plunder all over the Caribbean, and called Jack a quitter for not fighting to the death. Luckily, you don’t have to worry about crossing Anne and incurring her considerable wrath, since she’s long gone. But DST has shrunk her down and boxed her up for you! Right now, this 9-inch Femme Fatales PVC statue of Anne Bonny is currently sailing on a mighty cargo ship out of China, heading toward your favorite specialty store. Look for her soon, but beware — she may look like a delicate flower, but she will strike as quickly as the deadliest viper! Coming in September!

Get regular DST updates on Facebook and Twitter! And see the other upcoming Femme Fatales here!

Halloween is fast approaching, and we wanted to do something special to celebrate. (Well, something more special than release a ton of awesome monster-themed action figures — we’re already doing that!) Then it hit us — we want to see your Halloween costumes! Specifically, we want to see you dress up like your favorite Diamond Select Toys action figure! We’re going to have four categories to enter, and four big prizes for the winnners!

Category 1: Universal Monsters
Dress up like any Universal Monsters character who has (or has been announced as getting) a 7″ action figure from DST: The Wolfman, the Mummy, the Creature, Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, the Bride, the Invisible Man, the Phantom and the Metaluna Mutant. Re-create the look and costume of any version of the character we’ve shown or made.
PRIZE: The winner will get a set of the Toys R Us AND Select versions of Universal Monsters Series 2 in preliminary packaging, plus a set of the Universal Monster Series 2 Retro figures!

Category 2: The Munsters
Dress up like any of the five Munsters family members: Herman, Lily, Grandpa, Eddie or Marilyn.
PRIZE: The winner will get a set of Herman and Lily unpainted prototype figures in preliminary Toys R Us packaging, plus a painted set of Munsters Select Series 1, also in preliminary packaging.

Category 3: Femme Fatales
Dress up AND pose like any character from our Femme Fatales statue line: Dawn, Alice, Tarot, Little Red, Darkchylde, Snow White, Lady Death, Anne Bonny, Medusa or Bo Peep. (Remember, the goal is to re-create the appearance of the statue, so the outfit and pose must match. See examples here.)
PRIZE: A sold-out Alice Femme Fatale statue, an unpainted Anne Bonny prototype, and our limited NYCC 2011-exclusive variant of Anne Bonny.

Category 4: Minimates
Dress up like a Minimate — ANY Minimate. It can be a blank Minimate, or a re-creation of any Minimate character we make, as long as your head and arms are cylindrical and your chest and legs are boxy. You should clearly be a Minimate, or the Minimate version of whatever character you do.
PRIZE: The winner will get a set of all four Universal Monsters Minimates Box Sets, the first two Ghostbusters Minimates Box Sets, all eight SDCC giveaway figures, a Battle Beast, a Minimates carrying case and an original Minimate design sheet.

OFFICIAL RULES:

- Enter as many costumes in as many categories as you like, but only one photo of each entry is allowed, so make it a good one.

- The photo should show the full costume, from head to toe.

- Entries will be judged on the costume, not the photo, but the photo should be in focus and well-lit.

- Photos can be indoors or outdoors, but no really busy backgrounds. You should be able to tell where the costume begins and ends.

- No photoshopping of photos is allowed. This includes text.

- By submitting the photograph to the contest, you give us permission to publish them on our Website.

- Post your photos on the Diamond Select Toys Facebook wall at http://www.facebook.com/diamondselecttoys between now and October 7 at 9 AM EST.

Start sewing, gluing, stapling, etc.!

This Christmas, you’re getting a car. Not just any car — the Knight Industries Two Thousand, or “KITT” to his friends! That’s right, our third assortment of Minimates Vehicles will include not only a new Pirate Raiders pirate ship and a Minimates MAX Armored Personnel Carrier, but also KITT himself, star of the Knight Rider TV series in the 1980s along with some guy named Hasselhoff.

The 4-inch-long vehicle will come with a two-inch Michael Knight, with opening doors and room for a passenger, and it will only be available at Toys R Us in late November, along with Robert Deal’s pirate ship with Undercover Anne Bonny. But, since KITT needs his nemesis, we’re also releasing the evil KARR with Garthe Knight in that wave’s specialty-store and comic-shop-exclusive assortment, along with a British Navy ship with officer! Order both through your local retailer!

And if that’s not enough? A special-edition version of KITT, featuring his Super Pursuit Mode transformation, will be available a month later, just in time for the new year and only through Diamond Comics Distributors’ Previews catalog. Which means you should tell your local comic book shop to order it in! Don’t get left in the dust!

Get regular DST updates on Facebook and Twitter!

Since we had all eight ladies of Femme Fatales Minimates Sets 1 and 2 all in one place, we decided to take them on a field trip! Here’s a look at the women of both 2-inch mini-figure sets in their natural habitat, and be sure to pick up your own sets this fall!

Our Minimates photo contest is over, and we got a ton of great entries! Over 50 shots from around the world, featuring Marvel, Halo, Universal Monsters, Pirate Raiders, Ghostbusters, Minimates MAX, Back to the Future, Terminator and Playstation characters! While we loved them all, only one could win, and that was Les Koting of the Philippines. He’ll be getting Minimates from every line we make for his shot of Captain America and the Red Skull brawling, above! We’ll also send swag to the three runners-up — Don Brosius, Philip Mailloux and Brad Martin — but there were so many great shots we had to share some of them here!

Check ‘em out in the gallery, then head over to Facebook to enter our Marvel and Universal Select Photo Contest, starting soon!

Having trouble keeping track of everything you need to see and do at San Diego Comic-Con? Of course you are. It would take a computerized brain to remember everything that’s going on, so we thought we’d help you remember the important stuff — namely, everything Diamond Select Toys is doing at the show! Use this as your handy-dandy checklist for all things DST-related! Exclusives, giveaways, panels, events… Consider this your Diamond Select field guide!
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Hey, all you Minimates lovers out there. So, you know how I said there were gonna be free Minimates at San Diego Comic-Con? Well, there are. Four, to be exact. A specially packaged Pirate Raiders Minimate will be given out at the Diamond Select Toys booth every day at noon: Robert Deal on Thursday, Jonathan Barnet on Friday, Charles Vanes on Saturday and Calico Jack on Sunday. They’ll all be distributed in bagged trays, so, on Sunday, you can put them all in a special box (distributed with Jack) to create your own four-pack! It’s pretty cool, as you can see below, but they’re gonna go fast, so don’t be late! And hit up the Minimates panel on Saturday from 1-2 PM in Room 9, for more info and giveaways!

After getting inspired by a swashbuckling pirate movie last night, I took the Pirate Raiders down to the lake this morning, and shot some pictures of Calico Jack and friends (and foes) surfside. Next time, I’m bringing the ship. Check out the gallery here, then hit your local Toys “R” Us to pick up a set! Only available in TRU stores!

Get regular DST updates on Facebook and Twitter! And pick up an exclusive pirate here!