Ah, Minimates. The collectible figures that are so small, yet super detailed and articulated. These guys have been on the market for over a decade now and have produced figures based on dozens of your favorite licensed brands and characters, and they’re showing no signs of stopping anytime soon! This year at New York Comic Con 2014, Diamond Select Toys (DST) and their Minimates crew were on hand to discuss some of the amazing new product they’ve got in store for collectors over the next year, and the ScienceFiction.com Crew was there to capture all of it! As per usual, Diamond Select’s Marketing Supervisor Zach Oat was on hand to moderate their annual Minimates Panel and talk to us about all of the big reveals you’ve all been waiting for!
So what’s the big news you need to know about the next years worth of Minimates from Diamond Select Toys? Here’s the rundown-
GhostBusters
This year was the 30th Anniversary of the ‘Ghostbusters’ franchise, and DST certainly didn’t forget it! Fans can expect a reissue of the highly sought after ‘I Love This Town’ 4-Pack of figures to satiate the demand for their four favorite paranormal exterminators! Oat also announced that they are currently planning more Ghostbusters Minimates, with both new characters and new verisons of your old favorites!
ALIENS
The new single-pack ‘ALIENS’ figures are already in stores now, with characters like Burke, Wierzboiwski, Spunkmeyer, and three different variations of the Alien Xenomorphs themselves! On top of all of these single release figures, the ‘ALIEN’ figure 4-pack is coming soon and will feature Kane, Parker, Ripley and the ‘Big Chap’ Alien Xenomorph. Further ALIENS Minimate 2-packs are also expected to hit a little further down the road.
Predator
Well, we’ve already got ‘ALIENS‘, so how could we even think about continuing without ‘Predator’? DST’s Zach Oat announced that they had acquired the license to make Minimates based on all three films in the ‘Predator’ film series. We should be getting our first ‘Predator’ based sets on 2015!
View Askew
Earlier in 2014, DST dove into writer-director Kevin Smith’s ‘View Askewniverse’ with their Jay & Silent Bob figure 2-Packs, then further expanded it with a Blunt man & Chronic figure 4-Pack, and the Mooby & Buddy Christ figure 2-pack more recently. This fall fans of Kevin Smith can pick up the all new ‘Clerks’ figure 4-pack featuring fan favorites Dante Hicks, Randal Graves, Jay, and Silent Bob in both color and the classic black and white color scheme (as seen in the original film). The color version of the ‘Clerks’ box set is exclusive to Toys R Us stores, while the black and white version is exclusive to specialty stores.
Besides just the ‘Clerks’ box set, Oat revealed new figure two packs from the movie ‘Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back’ featuring Justice and Officer Willenholly, as well as heist versions of Jay and Silent Bob. The ‘Heist’ Jay & Silent Bob 2-pack will also include a smaller Minimate of Suzanne the orangutan.
Kill Bill
The first two 4-figure boxsets based on Quentin Tarantino’s ’Kill Bill’ are already in stores, with one set featuring The Bride, O-Ren Ishii, Gogo Yubari, and Sofie Fatale; and the other featuring four different figures based on the ’Crazy 88s’ gang. Luckily for fans, two more figure 4-packs based on ’Kill Bill’ were announced at the Minimates Panel! One of the two new sets will feature the Masters of Death- Pai Mei, Hattori Hanzo, Beatrix Kiddo, and Bill himself! The fourth set is going to feature the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad and includes Beatrix Kiddo, California Mountain Snake, Sidewinder, Copperhead. Both of these new sets should arrive sometime in 2015.
Pulp Fiction
While many ‘Pulp Fiction’ fans already picked up the Vincent and Jules 2-pack that was released earlier this year, most of them are clamoring for more Tarantino figures! DST is quick to rise to the occasion with the reveal of two brand new figure 4-packs based on some of the films iconic scenes! First up is the ‘Bonnie Situation’ set, which looks to contain Bloody Vincent, Bloody Jules, Jimmy, and The Wolf! The second set is based on ‘Mia’s Night Out’, and will come complete with Vincent, Mia, Lance, and Jodie! Dreams are coming true for people that have been waiting all these years for an Eric Stoltz action figure!
Sin City
Fan boys (and girls) have been crying out for ‘Sin City’ Minimates since the first film hit the big screen back in 2005. Now, just a short nine years later, Diamond Select Toys is finally answering them with three 4-pack sets of figures! The first set (which is already in stores) is based on ‘That Yellow Bastard’ and includes Nancy, Hartigan, That Yellow Bastard, and Senator Roark! The second set scheduled to hit will be based on ‘The Hard Goodbye’ and includes Marv, Kevin, Wendy, and Cardinal Roark. The third (and potentially final) set will be based on ‘The Big Fat Kill’ and includes Dwight, Gail, Jackie Boy, and Miho.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The TMNT have made one hell of a comeback in recent years, and it’s not hard to see why! These heroes in a half shell haven’t seen this much exposure since the early 90s, so it’s no surprise that they’re now taking over the Minimates line as well. The big difference here, is that these new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates will initially be sold as blind-bags rather than the standard 2-pack releases. Aside from the four turtles themselves, you can also expect to find April O’Neil, Shredder, and Foot Soldiers in your blind bags when they hit shelves next year! Don’t forget to look out for these guys specifically as K-Mart locations, as they will also have an exclusive Krang Alien figure mixed into their blind-bags! These figures will also be available in 2-packs exclusively at Toys R Us stores at a later date.
Godzilla
He spent all summer wrecking the box-office and now he’s bringing the destruction to your Minimate collection! The first ‘Godzilla’ Minimates set should have hit stores this week, containing Mothra, Gigan, Titanosaurus, and of course the King of Monsters, Godzilla himself! Series 2 should be hitting in March and will include Mechagodzilla, Hedora, Jet Jaguar, and Atomic Godzilla.
Mass Effect & Dragon Age
Just one of many brand new licensed properties for DST, ‘Mass Effect’ Minimates will be available soon exclusively at Gamestop! These figures will come packed in blind-bags, so you never relaly know who you’re going to be getting! RPG fans can also expect a brand new series of Minimates down the line based on another hit Bioware RPG, ‘Dragon Age’!
The Walking Dead
After several successful waves of figures, ‘The Walking Dead’ is returning for a sixth series of Minimates! Wave 6 is set to be a specialty store exclusive, so it’ll be a bit harder to get than the last few waves that were also available at Toys R Us. This wave is also a little smaller than usual, but it more than makes up for it in awesomeness! This series comes with figure 2-packs of Constable Rick with Douglas, our first ever Carl Minimate packaged with a Burning Zombie, and Constable Michonne with Winter Zombie! Also included in this wave is a rare one-per-case variant pack containing Michonne in her party dress! This wave should be hitting stores now.
Pathfinder
DST is please to announce their new series of Minimates based on the popular RPG ‘Pathfinder’! Their initial release is going to be a 4-pack boxset of figures, with furhter 2-packs of figures releasing down the line. The initial 4-pack includes Human Fighter, Dwarf Ranger, Elf Rogue and Goblin Warrior! These figures are set to hit in January.
Grimm Fairy Tales
Zenescope Entertainment has been publishing their fan favorite comic series ‘Grimm Fairy Tales’ for well over a decade now, and to help celebrate publishing the series 100th issue earlier this year, Diamond Select Toys is releasing a brand new figure 4-pack of Minimates based on some of the series lead characters! This set is due to release anytime now and will include important characters from the series like Belinda, Nissa, Sela Mathers, and Red Riding Hood.
Buck Rogers
This series is a bit of a throw back, but for the first time ever DST is announcing they have obtained the license for classic sci-fi epic ‘Buck Rogers’! We’ll be seeing a 4-pack box set based on the first season of this classic space adventure. This 4-pack will include Buck Rogers, Colonel Wilma Deering, Princess Ardala, and the Tigerman! It will also come with a bonus micro-figure (standing just 1” tall!) of Twiki!
Valiant Comics
While Valiant Comics was long thought to have gone off to the great longbox in the sky years ago, but over the last few years they have been making strides to bring forth their great comeback! They’ve been publishing new stories featuring some of their classic brands and characters since 2012, and show no signs of slowing down! DST is excited to reveal that they have a two-pack coming up soon featuring fan-favorite Valiant Comics heroes Bloodshot and X-O Manowar! There is no release date currently set for these figures, as they were only just revealed as existing at the convention.
Marvel Comics Minimates
Diamond Select and Marvel have been working together since the early 2000’s to bring as many characters as possible from Marvel’s vast comics history to life in 2” plastic Minimate form. It’s no big surprise to see some of big announcements coming regarding new waves of Marvel Minimates, so here’s the rundown of what kind of new awesome you can expect to see down the pipeline in 2015!
Marvel Minimates Waves 57, 58, & 59
We hope you’re ready for a ton of new figures, because these three new waves of Minimates are all hitting at once! Wave 57 is the specialty store wave of Minimates based on this summer’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, and includes the previously unreleased Gamora, Nebula, and Nova Corps Trooper figures! Wave 58 is based on the ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ film, and is a completely new series of figures including movie versions of Mystique, Storm, and both past AND future versions of Professor X, Magneto, and Wolverine. Wave 59 is based on Marvel Comics current series ‘All New X-Men’ in which the original first class of X-Men have been transported to modern times! This series includes 3-two packs including Cyclops with Marvel Girl, Beast with Angel, and Iceman with a Sentinel. There is also a variant pack featuring a de-iced Bobby Drake Minimate with a Sentinel. These figures should all have just hit stores now!
Marvel Minimates Wave 60
It looks like it’s a great time to be an X-Men fan, as Marvel Minimates Wave 60 is another series based on Marvel’s Mutants! Wave 60s theme is ‘X-men vs. The Brotherhood’ and includes a ton of fan favorite characters that have never been made as Minimates before! What’s even better, is that many of the figures in these packs will come with alternate swappable parts so that they can quickly swap out to be a completely different character! The X-Men in these packs are wearing their classic 90s blue and yellow ‘strike-team’ uniforms, so it isn’t hard to swap one character for another with a simple head change. This wave is comprised of foure 2-packs of figures; The Blob with Wolverine (includes parts to turn Wolverine into Forge), Pyro with Storm (includes parts to turn Storm into Psylocke), Avalanche with Banshee (includes parts to turn Banshee into ), and Destiny with Jubilee (includes alternate heads for both characters).
Best of Marvel Minimates Series 3
After the success of the last two waves of ‘Best of Marvel Minimates’, it’s hardly surprising to see another wave hitting stores! These series are a way to release definitively best versions of key characters in the Marvel Universe and bring them to fans who may have missed previous versions of the characters. This wave includes Luke Cage with Iron Fist, Spiderman with Hawkeye, Antman with The Hulk (Gray Hulk), and Captain America with Iron-Man.
Nightmare Before Christmas
In one final huge reveal, DST announced that they had acquired the license for the cult classic brainchild of Disney and Tim Burton, ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’. This series will comprise of several 2-packs (characters to be announced later after licensing approval), with one figure releasing well in advance! Diamond Select recently released a special edition Jack Skellington Minimate as a part of Halloween Comicfest 2014! Some of you may have been lucky enough to snag one, but if not don’t worry! He will certainly be part of the main release of these figures next holiday season!
So with all of these huge reveals and product announcements, what Minimates are you most looking forward to over the next year? There looks to be a ton of cool new stuff coming our way, and there’s likely even more that DST hasn’t told us about yet coming our way before the end of 2015! Let us know which cool new Minimates you plan to snag this year in the comments section below!
