Diamond Select Toys is Shutting Down

Justice

Justice

for Starhawk!
Joined
Apr 2, 2025
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Since this is currently being discussed in about 3 different threads I thought we should have a centralized place to talk about it to keep the discussion together. It seems like details are going to be unfolding for a bit. Is it possible for a mod to move the other posts about it from those threads to this one?
 
Shouldn't this thread be titled "Diamond in the Rough"?

Kidding aside, this sucks. The last thing I purchased was the Morph Animated Bust back in March (though it had been out a few months). Have they been shipping products lately?
 
I'm so bummed about this! I feel terrible for Zach and all the employees. I hope they all find new opportunities quickly. No time is good to get laid off, but now seems like a particularly tough time for folks in that industry. Good luck to them!

I was really looking forward to many of the solicited figures, like all the Muppets, LOTR, and Walking Dead. Maybe some of them will come out under NECA?
 
First and foremost my thoughts and prayers go to the former employees and their families. I would rather they have kept their jobs than me get more toys.

In regard to the toys, losing those preorders and whatever was in the pipeline for LOTRs is really sad. I was looking forward to that line the most. The next would be Minimates. Seeing that line end after all these years and all those licenses is very sad. My one day Zach or someone else from the inside can share the unmade GI Joe character sheets. I’d love to see them although it will make not having them even sadder.
 
This is such bullshit, both in regards to jobs lost (hang in there, Zach, hope you'll figure out a path forward for yourself soon), and the figures that will never see the light of day. Archangel, Annihilus, War Machine, Hobgoblin, Wolverine and the best Deadpool I've ever seen.
 
Writing was on the wall. Acquisitions don't usually work out best for the acquired. I hate talking about layoffs of real people with actual voices we hear. It's so much harder than hearing about corporations closing locations, eliminating thousands of positions. I hate that it was so public, people's careers hanging in the balance while all we could do was watch. I truly wish Zach and everyone else involved the best, that you find new work quickly. It's a shame about the unreleased stuff, but this wouldn't be the first time that disappointment would come around. (I recently started following Ken Lilly of Palisades Toys on IG, and he posts so many figures that never made it to production). These will be a distant memory, eventually. I'm proud to say I supported Marvel Select, Marvel Minimates, the Muppets and LotR lines as best I could. Especially Marvel Select. It's crazy to come to the realization that these collections are now complete.
 
I hate to hear this. Both for all the employees, and as a fan and collector. I buy the occasional Marvel Select, Select figure, or MiniMate, and I have been all in on the Select Lord of the Rings figures.

As far as LotR goes, I'm sure we won't get anything past Witch King and Eowyn. But, weren't Witch King and Eowyn themselves already in production and nearly done? Is there any chance we get those two, or are they just scrapped too?

At least we got the main villains and the Fellowship.
 
Super Camel said:
I hate to hear this. Both for all the employees, and as a fan and collector. I buy the occasional Marvel Select, Select figure, or MiniMate, and I have been all in on the Select Lord of the Rings figures.

As far as LotR goes, I'm sure we won't get anything past Witch King and Eowyn. But, weren't Witch King and Eowyn themselves already in production and nearly done? Is there any chance we get those two, or are they just scrapped too?

At least we got the main villains and the Fellowship.
Click to expand...

Yeah, not to be insensitive, but I am curious what the cut off is on product.

I'm still unclear on Eowyn and Witch King because even as of this week the cost out and alt head were still being decided, per Zack.
 
No use in pretending -- I've been very vocal in my belief that DST was a bad toy company that made mediocre toys. I can't think of a single thing they've done (within my general scope of collecting) that I even liked in the past decade. The last figure I thought was actually good was Coipel Thor, and even that was good mostly in comparison to what other companies were making at the time.
Since then, DST backslid and stopped even making things comparable in quality/features to what other companies were doing. They felt like they got stuck in 2008, and had no interest in being better that that. Often under the ridiculous pretense of 'this is just how we make toys.' Or whatever. So purely from a hobby standpoint, I really don't think much is lost with DST gone.

That being said; I don't advocate for well-meaning people to lose their jobs and be potentially shoved into financial uncertainty during already uncertain times. It's a shame. It didn't need to happen. And in a just world (if we can have one and still have Capitalism) DST would have been purchased by someone that wanted to make it better, not pull it apart. It's awful, and I feel terrible for everyone that lost their jobs - almost certainly just due to someone else's greed and incompetence. I hope they all quickly find happiness and success elsewhere - sincerely.
 
Damien, if you left off at Coipel Thor, you really missed out on the golden era of Marvel Select. They made excellent figures after that Thor, which I also held in pretty high regard at the time.
There were modern versions of Captain America and Hawkeye (I think their prefixes were "Avenging Cap" and "Avengning Hawkeye", Winter Soldier, Mighty Thor (not Jane Foster from the movie, but one inspired by the sleeveless look of the Coipel design), Beta Ray Bill, Drax, Gamora, Rocket, Groot, Thanos, "Immortal" Hulk (not based on the comic of the same name) and Red Hulk on that same mold, classic versions of Taskmaster, Vision, Silver Centurion, Titanium Man, Crimson Dynamo, Destroyer, Sandman, Colossus, Rogue, Psylocke, Iceman, Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, and what I believe was the last MS figure I bought, classic Captain America that had extra parts for his Golden Age, Silver Age, and modern looks. These figures ranged from great to excellent. Full range of articulation for most, swappable parts, energy effects, etc. DST was firing on all cylinders with these figures, which makes it sting so much more because it looked like the best was yet to come with War Machine, Hobgoblin, Archangel, and Annihilus. That's not even mentioning MCU figures. In some cases, these are the best representation of the character to exist.
 
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