"Minifigs USA" Topic

It has been about six months since the collapse of GFI, and the Minifigs USA miniatures have not been available since. Most of them can be ordered from the UK, but there were a few items that were unique to the US seller, and they are currently out of production. It would be a loss for the hobby if they never came back. I wonder whether there is any update about the future of the range. Clearly, to keep the molds idle in storage is not the best strategy to make money out of them. Is there any white knight at the horizon to rescue Minifigs out of oblivion?

Ask Tom Dye. He just posted on here the last day or so.

Thanks,

John

One guy locally was talking about picking up the line, but from what I heard, the current owner(s) wanted too much for the molds. Read into that what you will…

Damon.

Obtaining the entire company as it was would be hard. Minifigs rights are owned by Minifigs UK. The moulds were owned by GFI who had reworked at lot of them.

He made moulds for other companies. Some moulds cast for other companies, like mine, were returned to their owners.

Some masters and casting moulds had been bought by Tom or commissioned by him. The AIM I beleive fell into this category as well as some 25mm.

Would he consider providing the moulds to a company for a 'holding fee' and let the company cast and paying him royalties until the payment amount is reached? I do not know.

I've had problems reaching Doug at GFI, and I have some 60+ 15mm and a few 54mm (sic) molds to recover.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can arrange to have my molds returned? The sculptor of the figures on them lives just outside Denver and could take custody if he can get to GFI's shop and load them up.

Any help would be appreciated!

TVAG

Hi, Guys. I don't know who said we wanted too much because I have NOT spoken to anyone about dollar figures! I have been corresponding with potentially interested folks, but we have not yet discussed figures. The original potential customers were provided a desired dollar figure but never counteroffered. That was a year ago, now!

I, personally, put in too much blood, sweat, tears and years to see it all fall into oblivion. Believe me, there is NO profit in paying some rental space company when you have no income from the company to pay for the space!

"MY" requirement is for any potential buyer to provide a letter of consent from Mr. David Higgs, that this new owner has his permission and license to produce Minifigs in North America. Until that happens, I will not be selling any "Minifigs" mold, product or the like that remains the IP of Dave.

AIM belongs to my wife and myself. They are NOT Minifigs or Caliver's lines. Also, the N scale Moderns belonged to Neil, Liz and GFI as we produced the models. There was an arrangement with Dave that he would do the figures in exchange for the WWII masters the 3 of us added to the WWII range, which remained his. The WWI N scale molds are in the posession of it's designer. He plans to make them available later with an enlarged range of offerings.

That leaves the ex-Reaper 25mm Dungeon Dwellers and Diamyo ranges, 25mm Fantascenes, some old Minifigs USA rules sets (Still lots of fun playing after all these years!) and the start of a liquid plastic range of scenery. I think that's all we had in production. We have masters for the 1/144th Red Cloud and a range of sailing ships (metal) from our friends at Skytrex, but never released them. The ships were great, but we always had higher priority needs for the mold rubber! The planes were a challenge to master modellers! Beautifully sculpted but it was the multitude of individual small parts and separate struts that frustrated all the locals when provided test shots for assembly. After their input, we decided not to release until we could "master" a solution for assembly. Again, sales of those molds will not happen until the potential buyer produces the rights from Skytrex. We always respected (and still do) other people's copyright/IP.

The ranges is simply HUGE! While we remade all the ranges production molds, there were still literally over 1,000 more molds that could be remde, releasing dozens of ranges. Most were as close to being complete as practical!

I did my best to ensure all the molds that belonged to our casting partners got returned or had a chance to get back. Those that didn't have been stored until I can come back to the States and go thru the storage rooms.

That's the real intel on the status of GFI as I type this. We are looking for serious offers from dedicated, potential new owners that have legally obtained the rights from Mr. Higgs. I wish I could make things available, but I can't from where I am and without Dave's approval.

I thank all our customers for allowing us to be a part of your miniature gaming lives. I hope we broght more joy than sorrow under the Minifigs Banner. We did our best to put the quality and some excitement back into the line. Folks still looking for sources of the figures a year and a half after I left confirms by faith in the ranges. I thank you all, personally, for your support, friendship and yes, even those of you who only bought a pack every once in a while.

I have stepped back into the ranks of you, the gamer, and am hoping to get a few games in now and then. Until then, see you on the boards here on TMP!

v/r
Tom Dye
in Stutgart, Germany

Tom,

Great to hear you're still with us.

Vince

Tom! You're Alive!

Does this mean I can ignore the story about you being hauled off by Amazons to train them in modern secretarial skills?

I hope our 15mm "Splendid Little Warriors" SP-AM War molds are among those "in storage." Do you have a contact number here in The States for someone who can help us get them back--and out of GFI's hair?

I hope we'll see more evidence of you here--and elsewhere--soon.

Welcome Back, Kotter!

TVAG

Does this mean I can ignore the story about you being hauled off by Amazons to train them in modern secretarial skills?

No, but it does sound interesting! Tell me, did I have a great adventure? That really sounds like a "Type-cast" role, to me! 8>)

Am planning a trip home soon. Will contact you when I get back. Yes, they are all sitting in one place per Bill.

Thanks, Vince!

Weldome Back Kotter…now there is a blast from the past!

Across the street from where I live are a few still functioning -firing cannons for the Garden rules! Also a nice selection of old Lionel and Elastolin (circa WWII) including a Hermann Goering figure. Whowsa on the prices, though! There is also a Franco-Prussian home cast mold set there too! (Never seen the likes of these molds, ever!)

Man do I miss casting and mold making….

v/r
Tom

Man, do WE miss your casting and mold making!

I'm starting to work with another Gent as contract caster, and I hope for the best--but since that was YOU, I can only realize so much.

Yeah, PM me or whatever when you get back for a visit--I'd really like to pick your brain, and find out about your future plans.

TVAG

Oh, and the way I heard about the "great adventure," the Amazons brought you back after two weeks with an E-mail address in Canada for Viagra. So maybe they're coming back later…?

Man, I like how you write scenarios! You know you are old when you order Viagra and get Geritol in the post as a substitute! Somehow, that just doesn't seem to measure up….

Thanks for the nice words. My future plans are to just survive the pressures of the next day, right now.Except for one day when my wife was visiting, this will be my first vacation time off in a year!

Am hoping to score some goodies to keep my modelling/figure painting skills honed over the winter. It, unfortunately keeps those Amazons at bay, though….

Best
Tom

Tom,

great to hear from you! You are definitely missed.

Please, make sure that the special additions you had to the SYW and WSS Minifigs range will be back soon. I love those figures!

Adolfo

Sorry to join this thread so late, but if you are still there, Tom, I am wondering about the 20mm Great War in East Africa range.

I only had the opportunity to get a few British KAR, and I would like some more. The figures are great and fit well with 1/72 plastics.

I am very late to this conversation, but does anyone have contact information for the sale of any of the minifig lines?

thank you,

The last I heard was that the license to manufacture the Minifigs lines in the US has been rescinded. I do not know if another license will be issued.