Art Asylum has announced the line-up for the 8th assortment in the  Toys R Us Marvel line. In the coming weeks, you’ll be able to lay your hands on these Fantastic Four themed sets:

The pairings are:

Namor & Atlantean Soldier (TRU Exclusive)
Mole Man & Sue Storm (TRU Exclusive)
Mr Fantastic & First Appearance Doom
Human Torch & Thing

While only the Namor and Sue Storm sets are labeled exclusive, so far, none of these figures have appeared anywhere else, so Toys R Us will be your best bet on obtaining these. And good news for Canadians, its rumored that these will be available in Canada’s Toys R Us stores as well.

Art Asylum has unveiled the packaging for the Toys R Us version of  the upcoming Universal Monsters Minimates.

The pairings are:

Wolfman & Larry Talbot
Creature from the Black Lagoon & Dr. Reed
Glow in the Dark Creature & Transformation Wolfman
Black and White Creature & Black and White Wolfman (TRU exclusive)

No official word on a release date, but you can probably expect these in stores around October.

The San Diego Comic Con is winding down, so let’s take a look back at all the news.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

On display at SDCC were the upcoming Time Machine vehicles, featuring two versions of Marty McFly. The Time Machines are expected to ship in August.

Unveiled at the show was a new box set featuring Doc Brown in his white jumpsuit, Marty McFly, a young Biff Tannen, and Principal Strickland. The 25th Anniversary box set is expected to hit shelves in October.

BATTLE BEASTS

An exclusive Battle Beast figure was handed out to the first 1000 purchasers at the DST booth, which are now showing up on eBay for outrageous prices. It is another repaint of the exclusive figure handed out at C2E2 and Toy Fair, with a different weapon.

GHOST BUSTERS

Two exclusive box sets were on hand at this year’s event: the Action Figure Xpress Ghost Busters 2 box set, featuring the boys in their GB2 duds, and the Toys R Us/Entertainment Earth exclusive We’re Ready to Believe You box set, featuring Peter, Ray, and Egon in their famous commercial outfits, along with a non possessed Dana. Exclusive to the show, these sets will be commercially available to the rest of us once the show ends.

An exclusive blank Minimate sporting the Ghost Busters logo was handed out to attendees of the Friday show. These are now available on eBay, just shy of organ harvesting prices.

While nothing new was on display at the show, it was announced that DST would be pursuing the Real Ghost Busters license.

HALO

A large assortment of Halo figures were on display, though no specific pairings or groupings were announced. The first box set, featuring Master Chief, Assault Armor Elite, UNSC Marine, and White Spartan, is expected to hit shelves in November. The first army dump assortment, featuring Green Mark VI Spartans, Kahki Elite Assault Troopers, Olive ODST, Battle-Damaged Cyan CQB Spartans, and a Gold Assault Armor Elite, will arrive in January.

The new Halo product may herald the return of Minimates to Target stores.

MARVEL

Exclusive to this year’s event were two X-Men themed box sets. The Action Figure Xpress exclusive set featured four from the classic X-Force team: Cable, Deadpool, Domino, and Feral. The Previews exclusive set featured four from the 90′s era X-Men: Bishop, Magneto, Jubilee, and a battle-damaged Wolverine. Exclusive to the show, these sets will be available to the rest of the world as the show draws to a close.

Unveiled at the show were a few more box sets featuring members of the X-Men, X-Force, and the Avengers. The Heroic Age box set, exclusive to Toys R Us, will feature Captain America (Bucky), Iron Man, Thor, and Spider-Man. It is expected to release in November. The Uncanny X-Force box set will feature Psylocke, Deadpool, Archangel, Fantomex, and Wolverine. Retailer and release date have not been announced. The Previews exclusive Age of Apocalypse box set, featuring Beast, Weapon X, Jean Grey, and Apocalypse, will be on sale at New York Comic Con. The Action Figure Xpress exclusive Age of Apocalypse, featuring Cyclops, Rogue, Magneto, and Sunfire, will likely be on sale at the same event. The Captain America Through the Ages box set, exclusive to Toys R Us, will feature World War II Cap, Reanimated Cap, Armored Cap, and Reborn Cap. It will be on sale in November.

On display at this year’s event was also Marvel series 37, featuring 6-Armed Spider-Man and the Lizard, Professor Xavier and X-Force Warpath, and Thing/Trenchcoat Thing and Doombot, along with the parts to make a 2-Armed Spider-Man, Safari Jacket Professor Xavier, and a human Ben Grimm. Series 37 is expected to hit specialty shops in November.

Announced but not shown were assortments based on the upcoming Thor and Captain America movies, comic themed sets based on Thor and Captain America, 2-packs based on Age of Apocalypse, and a Daredevil based on his Shadowland appearance.

MOBILE ACTION XTREME

An exclusive MAX pilot was given out to attendees of Thursday’s show, now available on eBay for prices hovering just below ridiculous.

On display at the show were the upcoming stealth jets, expected to release in August, as well as a variety of police, firemen, and military. Missing were the various other vehicles and mechs that were last seen at Toy Fair. What this means for the line is undetermined. MAX figures are expected to start appearing in stores in early 2011.

Announced but not seen were villains for the MAX line, which will be appearing as the line grows.

PIRATES

The DST original Pirates were also on display, minus the ships seen at Toy Fair. The first assortment of Pirate sets are expected to appear in February 2011.

TERMINATOR 2

The previously announced Hunter Killer Tank was on display, with a release date expected in August.

UNIVERSAL MONSTERS

The Universal Monsters were also on display. Expected to sell in both 2-pack and box sets, the first assortments, based on the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Wolfman, are expected to hit specialty stores and Toys R Us stores in October. Future assortments will feature Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, the Mummy, and the Invisible Man.

Also in Attendance…

A series of colored translucent blanks were handed out to attendees of the Saturday show. Blue and orange ones are showing up on eBay for almost reasonable prices, though there’s no indication on if there are any other colors to be sought, or whether or not these differ from the 2008 exclusives in any way other than packaging.

Edit: It seems that the differences between the blue one from this year and the blue one from 2008 are little more than the copyright stamp and typical factory variances in color quality. Packaging variant collectors will need to find it, but anyone who only needs one of a figure can probably let this one pass.

That’s it for this year’s San Diego Comic Con. Special thanks to Toy News International, Cool Toys Review, Marvelous News, and the happy gang over at Minimate Multiverse for all the reports from the floor.

Action Figure Insider has some highlights posted from the Minimates panel. Sadly, there isn’t much to tell.

• It was reported that there would be upcoming ‘mates based on the Thor and Captain America movies (which isn’t really a surprise, seeing as we’ve gotten all the Marvel movies since Spider-Man 3 (minus the second Fantastic Four)).
• Age of Apocalypse is coming (no surprise at all, since we’ve already seen the prototypes).
• Daredevil in his Shadowland garb is coming.
• Looking into the animated Real Ghost Busters for next year.
• Minimates MAX will be getting villains eventually.

…

That’s pretty much all we’ve seen.

Multiverse member funkguerilla was in attendance and pretty much confirmed that there wasn’t much else to bring from the event. Marvel series 38 isn’t in stone yet, so there’s nothing to report there.

Edit: Multiverse member battlecat has discovered another blogger who was in attendance who had a few more details to share.

• Ghost Busters out performed Marvel at Toys R Us (which should come as no surprise to anyone seeing as nobody can even find the Marvel sets, yet the Ghost Busters ones have been readily available for preorder and purchase on their website)
• There will be 2-packs based on Age of Apocalypse to correspond with the box sets.
• Corresponding with the Marvel movies will be comic-themed sets based on Thor and Captain America, similar to the recent Iron Man comic-based series.
• The upcoming Halo stuff may springboard Minimates back into Target stores.

Cool Toy Review has a gallery posted of some of the wares on display at DST’s booth, including a closer look at the Universal Monsters.

The Universal Monsters will be available in box set form for the specialty market, and in 2-pack form for Toys R Us, each with their own exclusive figures and some crossover between the two assortments. The black and white figures will be exclusive to Toys R Us, with one of the secondary characters filling that slot in the box sets.

Sets based on Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Wolfman are expected in stores this October.

Also on display is a nice shot of all the Halo figures together.

It looks like DST is going to milk this franchise for all its worth. I’m not familiar with Halo outside of the Red vs Blue series, but I’d say you’ve got a good cross sampling of characters to choose from.

Big Bad Toy Store is offering preorders for an army building dump that’s estimated for release in January. So, between these army builders and the various box sets coming down the pipe, have fun constructing your favorite moments from the games.

Thanks to Cool Toy Review for the pictures, and Mini Myte for the heads up.

Head over to Minimate Multiverse for the discussion.

Marvelous News has posted a gallery of some of the Marvel wares on display.

Confirmed in these shots were the second Age of Apocalypse set, featuring Rogue, Magneto, Sunfire, and Cyclops.

Also confirmed is the Uncanny X-Force set, featuring Psylocke, Deadpool, Archangel, and Fantomex. On display with them was what looked to be a different X-Force Wolverine, so I’m unsure if this is a 5-pack, a tie-in to this set, or just the old one on display, only it looks kinda different. Time will tell.

Also on display were the classic X-Force box set, the 90s X-Men box set (with glowy accessories for everyone minus Wolverine), and the Iron Man 2 Battle Tactics set.

A new Back to the Future box set was also on display, which appears to feature Marty, Doc in his white jumpsuit, a young Biff, and possibly Principal Strickland.

Thanks to Marvelous News for the pictures, and Luke314pi for the heads up.

Join the discussion over at Minimate Multiverse.

The 2010 San Diego Comic Convention is here! And my tickets go unused as I sit here at work!

MMHQ is not in attendance this year (here’s hoping for next year though), but plenty of others in the Minimates community are roaming the floors and bringing all sorts of news. Check the Multiverse for up-to-the-minute coverage, and we’ll be sorting through all the chatter to bring you the highlights.

That being said, the preview night is concluded and day 1 will begin in a few hours, but here’s what we’ve seen so far:

Marvel

All sorts of Marvel products were on display, starting with Marvel series 37.

In addition to what we’ve seen before, we now know that Warpath will come with his signature knives, Professor Xavier will come with a new Cerebro helmet, as well as his jumpsuit, and Thing will have a Ben Grimm look hidden underneath all that bulk.

Marvel series 37 is expected to hit stores in November.

The Captain America Through the Ages set was also on display, indicating that World War II Cap, Suspended Animation Cap, Armored Cap, and Re-Birth Cap were the poll winners for this TRU exclusive set.

Captain America Through the Ages will hit Toys R Us shelves in November.

The rumored Heroic Age set was also on display, with Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, and Thor.

It’s worth noting that, with the exception of Iron Man, we’ve pretty much got all these before. Cap is the Bucky variety, though this one seems to sport a cutout mask as opposed to the full slipover one. Thor seems like the Thor Reborn version, though this one comes with a new flight stand. Spidey may be different than what we’ve seen before, but there’s only so many versions of the red and blue that people need. He does not feature a slipover mask. Iron Man is basically a blank Minimate with one of the new Iron Man helmets and one of the flight stands we’ve seen before.

The Heroic Age set is expected to hit Toys R Us shelves in November (popular month).

Something new on display was the Age of Apocalypse set, featuring Wolverine, Jean Grey, Apocalypse, and reportedly Dark Beast.

The Age of Apocalypse set will be a Previews exclusive box set for the New York Comic Con.

Though nothing has been displayed yet, there’s a rumored second Age of Apocalypse set coming from AFX. Also rumored is an Uncanny X-Force set, based on the upcoming comic book lineup.

Halo

All sorts of Halo characters in all sorts of colors were on display.

The first Halo box set is expected in stores in October.

Universal Monsters

The Universal Monsters were also on display. It seems that these will be available in 2-packs, though I’m unsure if this will be in place of the box sets or complimenting them.

The Universal Monsters are expected to hit shelves in time for Halloween.

Vehicles

The non-TRU assortment of Minimate Vehicles were on display: the red MAX jet, the damaged Hunter Killer Tank, and the frosted Time Machine.

These vehicles are expected on shelves in August.

MAX and Pirates

The MAX line and the Pirate line were also on display.

Missing were the Mechs and Vehicles, but there were a few more cops, firemen, soldiers, and pirates on display than what we’ve seen previously.

These are expected to start showing up in stores in February.

Back to the Future

Though only the Time Machine was on display, there’s a rumored box set on the horizon. More news as its discovered.

Giveaways Galore

Being handed out this year are exclusive MAX figures, Ghost Busters blanks, transparent blanks, and Battle Beasts, as well as some prize packs to a few lucky collectors. While the MAX figures and the blanks are being handed out each day, the Battle Beasts are being handed out with the first 1000 purchases. Basically, these will be no easier to find on the secondary market than the ones at the previous shows this year.

Special thanks to Toy News International for the pictures, Gambitron and Cesium Salami for the heads up, and Ivan, Luke314pi, Lobsterman, Cappy, and Funkguerilla for the additional news.

A whole host of packaging shots have surfaced on the Art Asylum website.

First up, we have a few giveaways from the upcoming San Diego Comic Con. Seems there will be transparent blanks available once again, with a blue one confirmed. Also available will be another Ghost Busters blank, similar to last year’s but without the 25th anniversary text.

Will there be more blanks? Battle Beasts? They aren’t saying yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more than just these two.

Next up, we have the exclusive Marvel box sets, featuring some of your favorite 90s X-Men as well as classic X-Force. The line-ups haven’t changed (and sadly, neither have the designs), but these will be available at SDCC.

Finally, we have our first look at the Toys R Us exclusive Minimate vehicles, and an answer to the question of who comes with the Back to the Future “Time Machine”. The Hunter Killer tank comes with an Endoskeleton, no surprise there. The MAX Stealth Tank comes with a pilot, again no surprise. The Time Machine comes with…Marty? We know the Previews exclusive version comes with Radiation Suit Marty, so its odd to see an essential rerelease of the first series Marty in this set (though good news if you missed out on the character, as that set proved to be pretty popular and has been hard to find since).

As for when these are released, break out your calendars and your calculators, since everyone has their own formula on when these things start appearing in their local stores.

On a regular basis, the gang over at Art Asylum compile questions from their fans and present them to DSTChuck in a segment they call Ask DST.

In the 95th installment, the topic of conversation is, of course, Minimates. Below are the highlights:

• No plans for Prince of Persia.
• New Marvel poster will be on display at SDCC. They may add it to the Art Asylum gallery, but they have other plans for it first.
• Talk of having some sort of accessory pack for their website, but nothing in the works right now.
• Lucas Arts are currently not interested in Minimates, though they’ve been told that DST will keep asking.
• Apple (owners of most anything Beatles related) are not fans of the cylindrical heads of Minimates.
• Stan Lee is not covered by the Marvel license.
• No plans to change Nightcrawler’s feet.
• Marvel has asked that no more Marvel Zombies be made.
• DST hasn’t ruled out a chance for Spider-Man Noir or 2099 in the future.
• Jubilee will have her glasses painted on. Maybe they’ll do another version with the glasses as an actual object down the road.
• If they try for a James Bond license again, it’ll likely be closer to the release of a new movie.
• No plans for fingers and toes on Minimates.
• No plans for 6-foot tall Minimates.
• Since there are only so many 2-packs that can go into an assortment at Toys R Us, DST feels that the slots are better served to compliment other box sets and teams than including more army builders. (Editor’s Note: Then why do they fill half the sets with the exact same assortment from the LCS releases of approximately the same time?)
• Chuck isn’t sure he’s onboard with the new Thing Minimate.
• No plans for made up variants, like Scuba Spider-Man.
• No plans for “Best of” releases for harder to find TRU exclusives, but it has been discussed and not ruled out.
• DST sought out Dragonball Z at one time, but they went with I-Men, and DST has lost interest since then.
• Horsemen of Apocalypse possible, but no plans right now.
• No plans for Marvel playsets, because the license doesn’t cover it, and making playsets are expensive.
• DST has tried numerous times to find distributors in Europe, but no one is interested. TRU has allowed the sale of their exclusives overseas, but no one is biting. (Editor’s Note: Which is a shame, since it would open the door for our overseas friends to get these without jumping through a lot of hoops, and even make the exclusives more available than they already are. If any of our readers runs a retail business overseas, even if its in bathroom fixtures, you should look into carrying Minimates. You might be surprised how many customers are waiting to give you money. Or you might find there isn’t much demand, which is what DST is suggesting.)
• No plans for a second Defenders box set. More likely, they’d just include the characters in future assortments. No plans for Nighthawk, Gargoyle, Hellcat, Hellstorm, Jocasta, or Tigra right now though.

Been busy these past couple weeks, which means naturally, there are things to report. I’ll be updating throughout the day to try and catch up.

Feel free to use the comment section here to ride us for our poor journalism and toss in the occasional comment about our mothers.