Diamond Select Toys is Shutting Down

I can't imagine a factory going ahead with fulfilling an order if the company who ordered product went out of business. The only hope would be Annihilus being on the water already, but I think we would have heard that from Zach. Even if Annihilus was on the water now. How would he get to stores? Who would receive the shipment if DST doesn't exist anymore? Watch, Annihilus will just somehow pop up at Ross. Maybe some enterprising overseas folks will use the molds and release a knockoff.
 
Ashtalon said:
I can't imagine a factory going ahead with fulfilling an order if the company who ordered product went out of business. The only hope would be Annihilus being on the water already, but I think we would have heard that from Zach. Even if Annihilus was on the water now. How would he get to stores? Who would receive the shipment if DST doesn't exist anymore? Watch, Annihilus will just somehow pop up at Ross. Maybe some enterprising overseas folks will use the molds and release a knockoff.
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Yeah, I mentioned earlier that EB Games moved UP the Eowyn and Witch King dates to May 30, which doesn't jive with Zach's comment earlier about not even being sure of the alt head final decision.

Real time edit: I just double-checked and now it's June 13th. Still doesn't track.
 
Ashtalon said:
I can't imagine a factory going ahead with fulfilling an order if the company who ordered product went out of business. The only hope would be Annihilus being on the water already, but I think we would have heard that from Zach. Even if Annihilus was on the water now. How would he get to stores? Who would receive the shipment if DST doesn't exist anymore? Watch, Annihilus will just somehow pop up at Ross. Maybe some enterprising overseas folks will use the molds and release a knockoff.
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We've bought other companies before and the answer is business as usual, really. You can shutter an entire company - but a company is just a name (and sometimes people, unfortunately). You still have all the legal authority to do things like take control of shipments and all that. DST is shuttered, but the warehouses, people, arrangements, etc - all still exist. They just won't be operated under the name DST. That's the important distinction between a company just going out of business and disappearing, and a company that was bought out and closed by its new parent organization.

I suspect the parent company will take control of any shipments that were already on the water or were being packed up at the factory. No point in not doing so.
 
And even if Ad Populum did immediately shutter all Diamond warehouses, they still have their own. The only gray area would be anything a factory produced without receiving full payment on. In that scenario, Ad Populum would have to fulfill the invoice to get the product and I suppose it's possible they could look at something and say "No, thanks." I doubt it though since it would probably be a small bill and anything they're not that interested in could probably still be sold off at wholesale prices to someone. They own all of the unsold product (barring any licensing quirks) so it's in their interest to now sell it.
 
Damien said:
We've bought other companies before and the answer is business as usual, really. You can shutter an entire company - but a company is just a name (and sometimes people, unfortunately). You still have all the legal authority to do things like take control of shipments and all that. DST is shuttered, but the warehouses, people, arrangements, etc - all still exist. They just won't be operated under the name DST. That's the important distinction between a company just going out of business and disappearing, and a company that was bought out and closed by its new parent organization.

I suspect the parent company will take control of any shipments that were already on the water or were being packed up at the factory. No point in not doing so.
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Misfit said:
And even if Ad Populum did immediately shutter all Diamond warehouses, they still have their own. The only gray area would be anything a factory produced without receiving full payment on. In that scenario, Ad Populum would have to fulfill the invoice to get the product and I suppose it's possible they could look at something and say "No, thanks." I doubt it though since it would probably be a small bill and anything they're not that interested in could probably still be sold off at wholesale prices to someone. They own all of the unsold product (barring any licensing quirks) so it's in their interest to now sell it.
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Thanks for the replies with insights that are giving me more hope we'll get some of the pre-orders. Although, I am curious about the licensing issue. I've read many posts here about licenses not transferring, although some were supposed to be included when Alliance Entertainment was the buyer, but I'm not clear how that applies to products that have already received licensor approval vs new products. For example, I'm curious if the Disney license will allow for products to be released now that there is a new owner and potentially new name on the package. I guess we'll have to wait and see if specific products come out and then speculate on reasons why certain products don't get released.

For more of my grasping at straws, I'm taking it as a good sign that I recently received a promotional email from DST and their website still has product pages. Maybe it's just cost effective for Ad Populum not to take down pages or stop automatic emails, but I'm choosing to interpret it as a good sign. It does seem like Minimates may live on, based on comments on that forum.
 
Usually with licenses, if something is already completed and done it still gets released. It basically applies to development of new products. If it's something that never went into production then it probably gets cancelled. It also just all depends on how the bankruptcy thing was resolved too. It's possible if Disney was owed a lot, or if they included some provision in their agreement, that they received unsold inventory of their products to do with as they please. Knowing how they do business, they'd probably rather Ad Populum take it and sell it for them though. Maybe we'll see some weird distribution where some Marvel Select figures end up as Disney Store or parks exclusives, or maybe not. It would be great though if someone on the inside could confirm what was produced or in production at the time of the sale to figure out what's still coming and what's not.
 
Last night, on their YouTube stream, the guys from Hella Dope Toys said they've received an email indicating their DST pre-orders already in production are likely to come out. They did caveat to say plans could change. I think this is particularly good news for Marvel Select collectors because Archangel and Annihilus are the only two DST pre-orders available at Hella Dope Toys. I'm still holding out hope for, at least, some of the Muppets, LOTR, and Walking Dead pre-orders.

They start talking about DST closing around 17 minutes into the video.

 
Damien said:
We've bought other companies before and the answer is business as usual, really. You can shutter an entire company - but a company is just a name (and sometimes people, unfortunately). You still have all the legal authority to do things like take control of shipments and all that. DST is shuttered, but the warehouses, people, arrangements, etc - all still exist. They just won't be operated under the name DST. That's the important distinction between a company just going out of business and disappearing, and a company that was bought out and closed by its new parent organization.

I suspect the parent company will take control of any shipments that were already on the water or were being packed up at the factory. No point in not doing so.
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True. But for items not already produced and shipped, their future could be grim. We've heard that Diamond Select staff has been let go, so it seems like Diamond Select isn't just going to be under a new name. They still have a website and are selling stuff, but it could just be clearing out existing product. It's a little too early to tell at this point. I just wouldn't count on any preorder figures, like Annihilus delivering.

If Diamond Select ceases to exist, what about Marvel Select? They were kind of grandfathered in when Hasbro got the license. Their ability to create Marvel figures may not transfer to whatever the new entity is called.
 
Bills all day said:
Last night, on their YouTube stream, the guys from Hella Dope Toys said they've received an email indicating their DST pre-orders already in production are likely to come out. They did caveat to say plans could change. I think this is particularly good news for Marvel Select collectors because Archangel and Annihilus are the only two DST pre-orders available at Hella Dope Toys. I'm still holding out hope for, at least, some of the Muppets, LOTR, and Walking Dead pre-orders.

They start talking about DST closing around 17 minutes into the video.

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I suppose that's promising to an extent for things that were coming out soonish. But for LOTR, for instance, I doubt that means we'd see anything beyond the Eowyn/Witch King wave, which is a major bummer. Part of me hopes they could churn out Gandalf the White, since he was obviously shown off so long ago, but I don't know if he ever actually made it to the production stage or was just a one-off prototype. Part of me is also hesitant to even get the Eowyn wave anymore, since that just means I'd forever want- and forever not have- figures from those other movies. As-is, there's a decent enough FOTR collection (minus Arwen, Elrond, Bilbo, and Galadriel), so opening the can of worms for other movies would only lead to disappointment
 
Ashtalon said:
True. But for items not already produced and shipped, their future could be grim. We've heard that Diamond Select staff has been let go, so it seems like Diamond Select isn't just going to be under a new name. They still have a website and are selling stuff, but it could just be clearing out existing product. It's a little too early to tell at this point. I just wouldn't count on any preorder figures, like Annihilus delivering.

If Diamond Select ceases to exist, what about Marvel Select? They were kind of grandfathered in when Hasbro got the license. Their ability to create Marvel figures may not transfer to whatever the new entity is called.
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Oh no, I was definitely saying whatever is completed and either ready to ship or on the water will almost certainly still be sold under the Diamond umbrella because that name is still owned by someone else and can be operated under those people. I do not, in any way, expect operations of Diamond Select Toys to continue in any other capacity.
 
It looks like Diamond Comic Distributors is getting some additional competitors. Bleedingcool.com has a couple articles about Universal (one of the bankruptcy winning bidders) and Alliance Entertainment (the initial bankruptcy winning bidder) potentially looking into pursuing distribution in the US. They report that several former Diamond employees headed over to these new competitors. I'm curious the impacts this will have on comic and collectible distribution.

I wonder if this could cause Ad Populum to re-evaluate their plans for DST. Maybe they'll decide that Diamond Comic Distributors won't be as profitable as originally estimated, and they will do more with DST? Maybe?
 
When do folks think we'll get a clearer idea about the fate of DST pre-orders? I have no sense of timing.
 
I suspect we'll know within five months, and more like two or three. My guess is about a six-month turnaround from factory production to U.S. store shelves.
 
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