Minimate fans, assemble!
I met Tim in the pub after following some great directions from Rad on how to get there. Tim was sat on a bar stool right by the door, and as I was blinking foolishly trying to get my eyes adjusted to the lower light level in the pub, he asked "Danny? Want a beer?". I had found the right pub! We retired to a table in the corner, where I proceeded to pull a Chun-Li Minimate out of my pocket and set her up on the table. I explained to Tim that she would allow the others who were going to join us to know they were at the right table. Strangely Rad, who was next in, didn't even see Chun-Li, instead correctly realising that the two geeks drinking and laughing in the corner were in fact Danny and Tim. Hands were shaken, rounds were bought and then Ady, travelling down from Yorkshire, joined us about 2 or 3 pints in. Again, he never even noticed the Chun-Li set up specifically.
Minimates and the community
I hadn't realised that all the people sitting with me drinking hadn't been around since Marvel wave 1, they seemed such a fixture on the Art Asylum Forums. The question was asked, what was your first Minimate? Ady's was the Civilian Logan/Juggernaut pack in wave 5, Tim's was the Iron Man/Ghost Rider pack in wave 6, not a surprise given his quest to create a custom "Hall of Armors". Tim assured us that an Ultimate Iron Man was in the works. Rad started with the Giant Sized X-Men set.
Being UK-based, Rad, Ady and myself were incredibly grateful to several US-based members of the Art Asylum board for helping with our collections. Shanester, Amazing.JL and Tim himself had all helped us in the past, and we were all in agreement that on the whole the Art Asylum forum community were a great asset to us and that there seemed a very genuine spirit of trust and co-operation between the members which made it a very nice place to be. Glasses were raised and more beer was drunk. Tim decided to see what underwear Chun-Li was wearing. I was glad she wasn't "doing a Gwen Stacy!"
Minimates: The past and present ranges
Marvel
We all felt that the ball was being dropped in a big way when it came to the Marvel license. Too many reuses of parts in the last few waves, making it seem like that was the primary focus for character selection rather than the other way around. The Astonishing X-Men wave we thought was a good idea, but silly things like Astonishing Wolverine not having a mask and a "Days of Future Past" Wolverine chase take the shine off of it. I mentioned that the wave had Emma Frost so that was a plus point, but then Tim rightly pointed out that it had only been two waves since the last one.
The New Avengers set seemed skewed to characters that could easily be created. We were all a bit disappointed about Luke Cage's silly hat being painted on. Even worse that he's the non-chase pack in for the chase figure, so you'll get two of him. Pleased to get new characters like Nick Fury, Sentry and Ronin but less pleased to get more Spider-Man and Captain America.
Street Fighter
People generally weren't into Street Fighter (as a license) a great deal but still thought they made good Minimates, especially with the energy blast accessories which really puts the Marvel stuff to shame. Ady backed me up on one of my problems with the line - a lack of stands for the characters so that they can actually use the blasts in an actiony-type way.
IndyMates
It was agreed that poor quality control on the IndyMates sets had killed what should have been a good idea. I hadn't had any problems with mine, but Ady and Tim both confirmed that people had had terrible problems with the set with broken limbs prevalent. We all felt that there was definitely scope to get another 4-pack or 2 out in the future.
C3
We all liked C3 except for the Batcave. Tim reaffirmed that he had had no trouble whatsoever putting the Batcave together and ribbed my inability to put it together, saying that the two articles I had done on MMC really conveyed a high level of frustration with the building set. He wasn't wrong! I was very frustrated by it. The UK-based trio thought it a good thing that Toys R Us had stocked the Mini-Flyers, and that £5 a pop was a good price for them, whereas the earlier C3 stuff stocked by Woolworths had come in 6 months later than US retail and about twice as expensive. I said that while the concept of the vehicles for heroes such as Superman or the Flash didn't make a great deal of sense, the Flyers themselves were clearly designed to be bright, bold and small. Ady mentioned that the Flyers had done really well in the States and that was one of the reasons the DC Direct deal went ahead.
Lord of the Rings
Of all of us, Rad didn't collect this line, however everyone agreed that the first waves should have come out earlier. Timing is so crucial in the harsh retail market for toys now. Also making a new scale for the human-sized figures was a mistake when the 2" lines were really picking up steam. I still believe they should have pushed the 2-pack army builders better too. Waiting until wave 3 to bring out a Ringwraith 2-pack when the line is in serious trouble was a bad decision. Get that one out in the first wave and you have an absolute guaranteed seller, and one that people will buy multiples of. It also seemed like the Elven Warriors AFX-Exclusive sold pretty well because it was an army builder. The Orcs in the normal waves had mostly been split up with other characters and that may have put off people who wanted to buy loads of them. This led in to the next topic...
Minimates: Exclusives, Blanks and Promos
At this point Ady got his Gold Spidey out. It was in a clear plastic case, and then bagged, whilst never being removed from its original bag. I tried several attempts of sleight-of-hand and the old "Look over there, a dancing badger!" misdirection but he wouldn't fall for it, so instead I just had to take pictures. Holding this tiny figure in my hands, I was informed that it had cost Ady several hundred dollars. That didn't put me off wanting one. Actually seeing it sparkle in the sunlight, the colour scheme looking great... Yeah, I want one. Would love to see a Silver Spidey too. Ady and Tim both said that they were after one, and that all gloves are off next time one surfaces on eBay. It's a battle I await with interest. I took a couple of shots of the Gold Spidey, and then it went straight back into its prison. I mused if I ever got one, would I be able to open it to take pictures of it in the usual Minimates Central style. I think a Gold or Silver Spidey review would make a great centrepiece to the site, opened or not. Tim has one too, and like Ady would never dream of opening it. As it's in the usual clear baggie that promos come in, you do get to see it OK in the bag.
The talk drifted to the other exclusives. There was a bit of discussion over the non-appearance of any convention exclusives this year, but it was noted that historically these have sold poorly. The same for most of the Marvel exclusives from places like Tower and AFX, these online companies seemed to get stuck with a lot of excess stock - "Which is how I built my Skrull army!" said Ady proudly. We pointed out that he must also have an army of Thing's too, which wasn't quite as good. We thought that the upcoming DC Minimates had a good chance at getting a convention exclusive or two, if not this year then certainly in 2007.
We had an interesting discussion around the blanks and promos, and how they fit into the "complete collection". I don't view them as essential, but more as "nice to haves". I praised Jaycen and his ECCC blank idea, which I thought had been very well executed, but we all sadly believe he will run into the same problems as the other retailer exclusives - that there isn't the interest to sustain a 5,000 run like that.
Minimates: The future
DC
Everyone was stoked about the DC announcement. Everyone loved the 3 waves and the fact that most of them paired hero and villain, something I think is very important. Ady professed a desire to build an OMAC army, unsurprising considering his avatar. Tim questioned why I didn't yet have an avatar of Power Girl, given my seeming obsession with Minimate bosoms. I'm thinking about making one, don't worry. Power Girl is my most anticipated DC Minimate, going ahead of Wonder Woman. We all can't wait til August. The feeling was that the DC line could be huge, and with a seemingly more character-focused lineup in the first 3 waves, with little character reuse, could easily eclipse Marvel by next year. This will be a flagship line for Minimates.
Battlestar Galactica
Certainly a programme that has its fans at the moment, but if the figures don't hit the scheduled October date then they may find that the sales opportunities are limited. Should do well in specialty markets but we didn't feel it had the mass-market appeal of something like Marvel or DC.
Speed Racer
Obviously more of an American thing than an international one, we thought that Art Asylum had put a lot of work into reviving this franchise but can't see more than a niche audience for it, with sales figures to match.
The UK Meetup: The verdict
For me, it was great to see people that had helped the site in many different ways, and having people to actually talk to about Minimates made a nice change. Norwich seemed a nice place and it had several comic and collectable stores that I made good use of afterwards!
My thanks to Tim, Ady and Rad for making it such an enjoyable time.