Tag Archives: Diamond Select Toys

#0648: Strike Force Storm & Avalanche

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

STORM – STRIKE FORCE & AVALANCHE

MARVEL MINIMATES

Storm&Avalanche1

Man, I’ve sure gotten a lot of new stuff lately. So much that certain things have gotten pushed to the side, sometimes for a lot longer than I intended. Case in point, Marvel Minimates Series 60. I’ve had them for two whole months, and I’ve still only reviewed half of the series. Sorry everybody! In an effort to fix that, I’ll be taking a look at Storm and Avalanche today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of Series 60 of Marvel Minimates, which was designed as an X-Men vs the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants set-up. As an added bonus, three of the four X-Men included an extra head to let them double as a second character.

STORM – STRIKE FORCE (PLUS PSYLOCKE)

Storm&Avalanche2Storm’s definitely one of the better known X-Men, so it’s no surprise to see her show up for another turn in the Minimate form. Like the rest of the X-Men in this particular series, Storm is presented here in her Strike Force uniform from the 90s. Like Wolverine before her, she didn’t wear it for very long, but she did wear it long enough to make it a valid variant. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Storm has sculpted parts for her hair, gloves, and the two sets of straps on her legs. Everything is re-use, but this is an example of just how well it can work. The uniform pieces are the same as the rest of this series’ X-Men, and the hair is a traditionally male hairpiece, first used in the Platoon boxed set for Pvt Gator Lerner. Storm’s paintwork is decent, if not without issue. Storm&Avalanche3The colors are nice and bold and the detail lines are nice and sharp, so that’s good. She also has my personal favorite Storm face we’ve seen so far. That said, she still shares the same thin yellow paint on the shoulders and missing bit of red on the belt buckle with the rest of this set’s X-Men. It’s not really surprising, but it is a little annoying. Storm gets two distinctive sets of accessories: those for Storm and those for the alt character Psylocke. Storm includes a pair of electricity attachments and a flight stand, allowing for a nice representation of her abilities. Psylocke gets her extra head, which features a hairpiece first seen on the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 line’s Jill Valentine, as well as a Psi-Knife attachment and a basic clear display stand.

AVALANCHE

Storm&Avalanche4Avalanche is a longstanding member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, but he always seems to get overlooked. He’s gotten a few toys before (but no Minimates), but he always seems to fade into the background. My only real exposure to the guy was on X-Men: Evolution, where he was merged with Rictor and played as something of an anti-villain, who was conflicted about being a bad guy. That was a cool take on the character, but the comics have always just played him as a rather generic thug. But, he’s important to the team, so here he is. The figure has 7 sculpted parts, for his helmet, chest piece, gloves, belt, and boots. All of these are parts we’ve seen before, but they’re all pretty good matches for the character’s design from the comics. The torso is just a basic powerhouse piece painted to match his armor, which is a little bit Storm&Avalanche5jarring next to the more highly sculpted parts elsewhere, but it looks okay in person. Avalanche’s paintwork is pretty decently handled. The colors are nice and bold, and the detail lines are pretty sharp. His face is a more extreme expression than a lot of others, which is nice to see for a change. Under his chest armor, there’s a fully detailed torso, with a big ol A on his chest, which makes for a neat alt look. For Accessories, Avalanche includes two chunks of road, which are a lot of fun, as well as a set of shoulder pads, should you want to display the giant A look, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was part of the full series 60 set I got via Big Bad Toy Store. Storm/Psylocke doesn’t really represent a standard look for either character, but it’s a well-made figure, and it offers those who missed out on the first Jim Lee Psylocke another chance at the character. Avalanche is an important, if somewhat overlooked and underdeveloped part of the Brotherhood. He’s necessary to round out the team, and he’s a pretty well made figure to boot. This set is probably my least favorite of the four sets available, but it’s not a bad set by any means.

#0645: Hudson & Screaming Alien

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

“CPL” HUDSON & SCREAMING ALIEN

ALIENS MINIMATES

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The first series of Aliens Minimates covered a lot of bases in terms of major characters, but there were definitely a few key characters missing. Fortunately, the Toys R Us assortment and Series 2 are doing their part to fill some of those holes. The TRU series has added two new marines, including today’s focus, the shell-shocked Marine Hudson, who is packed with another Alien Warrior variation.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the TRU assortment of Series 1 of Aliens Minimates. As of now, both figures are exclusive, but Hudson is already slated to appear in Series 2 at specialty stores.

“CPL” HUDSON

HudsonXeno2So, let’s get something out of the way right now: Hudson isn’t a Corporal, he’s a Private. The package totally gave him the wrong rank. But, I’m probably one of the few people to actually notice such a thing, so, whatever. Hudson is probably one of the film’s more memorable Marines. He’s got a fair bit of screen time, and, whether you like it or not, his panicky personality sets him apart from the rest of the crew. Anyway, he’s pretty important to the film and the line would feel very incomplete without him, so it’s good to see him turn up here. The figure stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Hudson features additional sculpted parts for his helmet, chest armor, and boots. These parts are all the same as those used on the Series 1 Marines and Weirzbowski. This is sensible, given that the armor was standard issue in the film. Hudson continues the trend of the removable shoulder lamp, which is a nice option to have. His is a little looser than previous versions, but it stays in place alright. The armor is all stuff we’ve HudsonXeno3seen a few times before, but it’s no less impressive than it was before, and it still does a great job of translating the real deal into ‘mate form. Hudson’s paintwork is pretty decent, but it does have a few nits here and there. The basic armor detailing and underlying fatigues match up with the rest of the Marines, which is good. The chest armor has most of Hudson’s distinctive graffiti; it’s cleanly applied for the most part and helps set him aside from the others. Hudson wore a cover on his helmet in the movie, which featured a slightly different camo pattern and an 8-ball on the back. However, the figure just has the standard issue helmet. It’s not the worst thing ever, but it is just a little disappointing. The likeness on the face isn’t spot-on to Bill Paxton, but it’s a lot closer than the other Marines in the line, so that’s good. On the accessory front, Hudson has an extra hairpiece, a standard issue pulse rifle, a facehugger, and a clear display stand. The rifle and facehugger are the same ones we’ve seen before, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The hair is one of the standard male hairpieces, first used for Marvel Series 27’s Ultimate Iron Man. It’s too long to really work for Hudson, and it’s definitely painted too lightly to be Paxton’s hair. But it’s the thought that counts, I suppose.

SCREAMING ALIEN

HudsonXeno5Well, I guess it wouldn’t really be an Aliens set without another Alien, right? So, here’s this one. But this time he has a new hat—err, I mean, he’s screaming! That’s sort of different. Different enough when you’re dealing with army builders, anyway. For the most part, this figure is more or less the same as the other Aliens. It has sculpted pieces for the head, torso, tail, hands, and feet. The pieces are as well sculpted as always, so that’s good. This figure uses the “attacking” head, but it lacks the inner mouth piece, giving it the screaming appearance hinted at in the name. The figure’s paint is pretty much identical to all the prior Warrior and Attacking Aliens the line’s offered. There’s plenty of painted texturing and such, which keeps the figure visually interesting.  As far as accessories go, the Screaming Alien only includes a clear display stand. However, this is totally on par with prior Aliens, and it’s totally reasonable, given how many sculpted parts the figure has.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When it was announced that Hudson and Vasquez would be available in both this line-up and in Series 2, I had planned to just wait for the later release. Then I saw these guys at my local TRU and I caved. Big shock, right? Hudson’s a pretty good addition to the line. He has a few minor issues, but he’s an important character, and he’s good overall. I’m curious to see if the Series 2 release might fix one or two of the issues here. The Screaming Alien isn’t really that different from the other Aliens, but it’s different enough to add a little bit of variety to your horde of Aliens. And isn’t that the dream?

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#0638: Wolverine & Blob

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

WOLVERINE –STRIKE FORCE & THE BLOB

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Man, I haven’t reviewed many Minimates recently. There’s no denying that the X-Men, particularly the 90s incarnation of the team, have gotten quite a bit of love from DST. The latest comics-based series of Marvel Minimates has done its best to fill some important holes in the team (and give them a few more foes to fight) while also trying out a new way of distributing some of the characters. Today, I’ll be looking at the guy who’s easily the most well-known X-Man, Wolverine, as he faces of against Brotherhood of Evil Mutants member the Blob!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of Marvel Minimates Series 60.

WOLVERINE (& FORGE!)

Wolv&Blob2Wolverine is no stranger to Minimates, with this being his 57th foray into the line. Hey, a heavy hitter’s a heavy hitter. There has to be at least one in every series, right? The figure depicts him in the standard Strike Force uniform that several of the X-Men wore during the 90s. Wolverine didn’t really stick with it, but he did wear it a few times. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. He has sculpted add-ons for his hair, gloves, and the two sets of straps on his legs, as well as a standard pair of clawed hands. The hair is a piece that’s been used several times before. It first showed up on the TRU Series 9 Brown Wolverine, and has been used fairly regularly since then. It’s definitely a good piece, and it’s accurate to that wacky hair of his from the comics. The leg straps are the same as those used on Series 34’s 90s Cyclops, which is fitting, seeing as they’re meant to be the same design in the comics. The gloves are the same as Banshee, released in this same series. They’re a good sculpt, and they sit nicely on the Wolv&Blob3figure. The paintwork on Wolverine is passable, but not the best. The detailing on the face is top notch; all the lines are nice and sharp and the facial expression feels perfect for the character. The torso detail is also pretty good, though it’s hampered a little bit by the sloppy edges on the change from blue to yellow. The real issues with the paint are on the shoulders, where the yellow hasn’t been consistently applied, resulting in the underlying blue bleeding through, and on the pelvis, where the red of the belt does not continue down through the whole buckle. The accessories are what sets this figure (and the rest of the series) apart. In addition to the standard clear display stand, the figure also includes an extra head, hair, hands, and right leg, as well as a shoulder harness and a large gun, allowing the figure to be re-configured as Forge, a previously un-released X-Man. The pieces are all nicely handled and match up well with the regular parts, resulting in a figure that is just as much Forge as it is Wolverine. Also, I really like that the skin tone on the head is different from Wolverine, thus properly denoting Forge’s Cheyenne ancestry, which is far too often overlooked.

BLOB

Wolv&Blob4Fred Dukes, aka the Blob, is actually one of the X-Men’s oldest foes, first appearing in X-Men #3. This isn’t the first time he’s appeared as a Minimate, however, his last figure was based upon his film appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which wasn’t the comics-inspired look most were hoping for.  Blob is no slouch when it comes to sculpted add-ons. He features pieces for his hair, torso, upper arms, lower arms/hands, thighs, and feet, as well as a torso extender hidden under that torso piece. The last Blob figure was somewhat on the small side, but this one moves to correct that, making use of a combination of pieces from the Marvel line’s various Hulks and the Street Fighter vs Tekken line’s Rufus. The pieces all mesh together quite well, resulting in a Blob that accurately represents him as the wall of mutant we know from the comics. One small issue with my figure: one of the shoulders on my figure has a chip missing out of it. It isn’t terribly noticeable, but it’s still annoying. Blob’s paintwork is generally pretty well handled, though it isn’t without issues. The colors are all of the proper shades for the character, which is always good, and the detail lines on his torso and face do a tremendous job of bringing the character to life. However, some of the more base level paint is a little off. The straps on the shoulders don’t quite line up with each other, and the gold bands on the wrists are rather uneven and sloppy, with gold paint ending up a few places it shouldn’t. For accessories, Blob isn’t quite as loaded as Wolverine, but he’s certainly no slouch. He includes a spare set of hands and feet, without wristbands or boots, allowing for the figure to be displayed as the Blob from some of his earlier appearances. This offers a nice bit of extra value, and gives the buyer two possible looks, should they end up with a second Blob while completing their Strike Force X-Men. He also includes the standard clear display stand, which is always appreciated.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, this is actually my second set of these two. When my full series set arrived from Big Bad Toy Store, I opened these two up first, and they seemed fine. Then I took a closer look at Wolverine’s torso and noticed he had…boobs. Seems my figure got a Storm torso by mistake. Hey, secondary mutation, right? Or maybe they were just easing us into X-23 taking over the title. Anyway, I ended up buying a second set from Cosmic Comix, so, there’s that!

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Guest Review #0032: Liara

Posted by hodgeppodge42 in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , ,

LIARA

MASS EFFECT MINIMATES

Liana1

The following is a guest review from my Super Awesome Girlfriend Jessica.  Take it away Jess!

Heyo! Today’s guest review will be the next installment of the Mass Effect Minimates. Honestly, I should have done this sooner, but oh well! Last time I reviewed Wrex and now I will talk to you guys about the last alien companion in this series.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Liana2Liara is part of the first series of Mass Effect Minimates, exclusively released at GameStop. The series features an assortment of the main characters from the Mass Effect franchise, including some of the alien companions that Shepard picks up along the way.

Liara T’Soni is a pureblood Asari researcher who has dedicated her life to studying the mysterious, and long gone, Prothean race. Commander Shepard first finds Liara on the planet Therum, where the young Asari had been researching the Protheans before the Geth arrived. After being saved by Shepard, she is the last to join the Normandy’s crew and she is the third character with biotic abilities, after Kaiden and Wrex. In the first game, she is used to find her mother, Matriarch Benezia, and she utilizes her abilities to aid Shepard in deciphering the Prothean “vison” that s/he received earlier in the game. Her character is very innocent in the beginning, but by the time you run into her again in the second game she has lost her innocent shell. In Mass Effect 2, she is still your ally but no longer a part of your team. Instead, she gives you information relevant to the mission. By the third installment of the series she is once again fighting by your side to save the universe from the Collectors and the Reapers. By this point, her innocent researcher demeanor has been replaced by a hardened badass biotic fighter.

For the figure itself, the Minimate is about 2 ½ inches tall with 14 points of articulation. The figure has a standard body with a skirt-like add-on. Liara’s head, however, isn’t very standard because of the sculpted hair tentacles, and yes that is a thing. I actually rather enjoy the detailing on her head, it’s well done and they even gave her really tiny freckles! For accessories, she was given a tiny heavy pistol and a clear blue plastic hand piece that is supposed to represent her biotic power. The costume that they used for the figure is one of the options for Liara in Mass Effect 3, and personally my favorite of her costumes. The detailing on her chest and leg pieces are pretty awesome, except for some places were the paint didn’t quite make it in between the lines. Her skirt has some of the same issues, where the paint isn’t quite perfect but as long as you aren’t holding the figure right up to your eye, you don’t really notice. The figure is still pretty cool and well done, especially with the costume design and hair tentacles.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was a present to me from my amazing boyfriend, Ethan, this past Christmas. As a character, I find Liara’s transformation pretty interesting. She starts out as a little naive scientist/researcher who needs saving from the game’s early villains, after tackling the galaxy over and over, she hardens into resourceful battle-ready companion that has done a lot behind the scenes to help Shepard and the galaxy. Honestly, she kind of freaked me out at first because she is a possible lover for both Shepards, and some of her actions made a younger me very nervous. After a while though, she grew on me and by the time I started playing the third game she had become one of my favorite characters. I loved that she broke out of the typical female scientist mold and became a strong, independent woman who didn’t always need help getting out of a sticky situation. Her Mass Effect 3 character design is very much her ‘butterfly’ form, or finale stage of development, and I’m happy to have her on board!

#0596: Karai

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

KARAI

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINIMATES

Karai1

Not too long ago, I finally got around to getting the last main figure from the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. I took my sweet time getting that set finished up. Not really sure why, but I just kept putting it off. What finally encouraged me to finish up the set was actually the fact that Series 2 had made its way to release. I haven’t taken the full plunge on the second set just yet, but I did manage to pick up one figure, Karai, daughter of the main baddie Shredder!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Karai2Karai was released blind-bagged, as part of the specialty assortment of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates Series 2. I’m not 100% sure, but I think she might be one of the two figures in this series that is specialty-exclusive. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. She is, obviously, based on Karai’s design from the latest TMNT cartoon. I haven’t really kept up with the cartoon, so I’ve not actually seen any of this incarnation’s appearances, but she seems to have kept at least a few key elements from prior incarnations of the character. She’s built on the standard Minimate body, with add-ons for her hair, gauntlets, and belt/sheath. The gauntlets first saw use on Marvel Minimates Series 36’s Silver Centurion Iron Man, and they seem like a decent enough match for what she has on the show. They could Karai3maybe stand to be a little more elegant, but they work in a pinch. The hair and belt pieces both look to be new to the figure, and both seem like pretty good matches to the show’s design. The hair in particular is a pretty spot on translation of her ‘do from the show. Karai’s paintwork is decent enough, though, like most of the TMNT Minimates, she’s not perfect. The detail lines are nice and sharp, and actually on the plentiful side, which you don’t always see with animated characters. The armor on her upper arms and thighs in particular are quite nicely handled, and the thigh armor even wraps around the sides. I also love the fully detailed sash, which even features detailing on the clips keeping it in place. However, some of the base paintwork is a little on the sloppy side, most noticeably on the gauntlets and the back of the hair. Karai comes packed with a short sword, an alternate masked head, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Karai as part of a large order from Luke’s Toy Store (the same one that got me my Aliens Minimates and my Age of Ultron singles). I actually wanted a Casey Jones, but Luke’s was out of those, so I ordered one Series 2 blind-bag at random. Big shocker: it ended up being Karai. Not quite what I wanted, but truth be told, I kind of wanted her too, so I wasn’t too bummed. Karai isn’t the most exciting Minimate ever, but she is a bit more exciting than April, and she certainly goes nicely with the other TMNT Minimates we’ve gotten so far.

#0591: Cpl. Dietrich & Colonist Mary

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

DIETRICH & COLONIST

ALIENS MINIMATES

Deitrich&Mary1

There’s just one more review left from the first wave of Aliens Minimates! You might not quite realize at first glance, but this particular set is one of those rare instances of two female characters packed together. Of course, one of them is wearing heavy body armor and the other has that whole chest burster thing going on, so it might be easy to miss. Still, it’s at least a little nifty. So, let’s have a look at the Colonial Marines’ resident field medic, Cpl. Cynthia Dietrich and her pack mate, the ill-fated Mary.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are another set from the specialty store assortment of the first series of Aliens Minimates. This set is the short-pack of the series, which is pretty understandable, given the more obscure nature of the two figures included.

CPL. DIETRICH

Deitrich&Mary2Dietrich is one of the Marines in the film who’s easy to overlook if you aren’t paying super close attention. She’s got a few scenes of note, but she fades into the background when compared to the more cartoonish personalities of characters like Ferro or Drake. Still, the team would hardly be complete without her, so here she is. The figure stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 12 points of articulation. Dietrich is pretty much the same as the other Marines when it comes to construction. She features the same helmet, body armor, and boots/shin guards as Weirzbowski, Hicks, and Apone. The sculpts of these pieces are just as well handled here as they were on the other figures, so no complaints there. As an added bonus, the slightly long hair visible at the back of the helmet doesn’t look quite as out of place here, which is good. The paint on Dietrich is pretty much on par with the rest of the Marines we’ve seen so far. Overall, it’s not bad, but there are a few issues here and there. The torso armor is probably the worst, with some sloppy paint on the buckles near the top and an off-center name “tag.” The camo application under the armor is essentially the same as what we saw on Hicks. The lack of camo on the backs of the legs is still a little glaring, but it is what it is. It’s nice to see that they’ve given Dietrich a different set of detail lines on her torso to indicate her gender a bit better. It seems like a given, but it would have been easy for DST to overlook it. Dietrich’s face is rather generic, though, to DST’s credit, actress Cynthia Dale Scott doesn’t have the most distinctive face either, so it’s a reasonable approximation. Cpl. Dietrich includes an alternate hair piece, a pulse rifle, and a clear display stand. The hair piece was originally used for Tomb Raider’s Roth, and it’s not one of my favorites. It seems too short on the top and too bunchy at the sides for Dietrich. I almost feel like she’d look better with something closer to what we saw with Hicks.

COLONIST MARY

Deitrich&Mary3We don’t see much of the colonists in Aliens. Heck, in the theatrical cut of the film, we really don’t see them at all, except for poor Mary here. She only speaks three words and has less than a minute of screen time, but she does an amazing job of reestablishing for the audience just how frightening the life cycle of the Xenomorphs truly is. As a result, she’s pretty darn memorable. Add in that her small part is one of the few times that Dietrich gets any sort of focus in the movie, and you’ve got a pretty great second half to this set. Mary’s construction consists of the basic Minimate body with two sculpted add-ons: a hairpiece, and a chest burster. The hair is one we’ve seen a few times before. To be truly movie accurate, it should probably look a little more wet, but it works well enough as a re-use. We first saw the chest burster piece in the Alien boxed set. It’s pretty well sculpted piece. The collar portion of it is maybe a touch on the bulky side, but it works pretty well, and does an effective job of translating the rather gory design of the film to a more mass market-friendly look. The paint is definitely a big piece of what makes Mary…Mary. She actually exhibits some of the best work from the series. Everything is applied pretty well, with no real issues with bleed over or fuzzy line work. She’s got the appropriate level of grime, and they’ve even gone the extra mile to give her a properly sickly-looking skin tone. Throw in an expression with just the right level of “I so wish I weren’t here” and you’ve got a pretty great summation of Mary from the movie. Mary’s only extra is a clear display stand. It kind of would have been nice to get some sort of bit of hive wall to have her stuck to, but that would undoubtedly have to be an all-new piece, and I imagine the budget was already pretty high on this series.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This pair is the last piece of the full set of Aliens Minimates Series 1 that I picked up from Luke’s Toy Store. Dietrich is an alright figure, but she’s not a terribly interesting one. The Marine armor is still cool, but she’s the Marine in this series with the least character, which doesn’t do her a whole lot of favors. Mary’s actually a surprisingly well put together figure. Still not super exciting, but to an Aliens geek like me, she’s actually pretty cool. To be honest, this is probably the one set in the series that most people can afford to skip. It’s not bad, but nothing here’s going to blow anyone away.

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#0590: Pvt. Drake & Battle-Damaged Attacking Alien

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

DRAKE & ALIEN WARRIOR – BATTLE DAMAGED

ALIENS MINIMATES

Drake&Xeno1

Aliens is one of those movies where, even though some characters are much more minor than others, to the hardcore fans every character is just as important as the next. This is particularly true of the Colonial Marines, a group that just looks cooler if you have every member, even the ones with no lines or even particularly distinguishing features. However, some of the Marines are more distinct than others, such as Private Mark Drake, one of the squad’s two smartgun-wielding soldiers. Let’s have a look at him as he faces off against yet another pesky Xenomorph!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are part of the specialty assortment of Aliens Minimates Series 1.

PVT. DRAKE

Drake&Xeno2When you get right down to it, Drake here is kind of the Boba Fett of Aliens. He’s a character with a limited amount of screen time, who is ultimately inconsequential to the overall plot of the movie. However, he’s a got a certain following, mostly due to the fact that he’s pretty cool looking. Clearly, going by my theory, there’s a whole ton of Expanded Universe stories starring Drake that are just waiting to be written! The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Drake includes two main sculpted add-on pieces. He’s unique in the fact that he doesn’t use the same armor pieces as the rest of the Marines (though, presumably, Vasquez will also be making use of the armor). He does still have the standard issue shoulder lamp, but it’s plugged into an all-new torso piece, which is a pretty great recreation of Drake’s armor from the film. It features two different ports to plug in the smartgun’s arm, allowing a little extra poseabilty. The other piece on this figure is his hat/headset combo, which is another new piece. It’s pretty well handled; the hat is a little on the simple side, but the headset is fantastically rendered, and even features an articulated eye-piece that can be moved away from his eye for the less battle-ready look he sports a few times in the movie. In terms of paintwork, Drake is very well-handled when viewed from a technical standpoint. Everything is nice and clean. The fact that his boots are painted on means that they go around the back of his legs, which makes the lack of camo in those areas stand out less than on the other Marines. The likeness is a pretty good match for actor Mark Rolston, however it seems a little too smiley for Drake. I mean, he did grin a few times in the movie, but a grimace of some sort feels like more his speed. He’s also missing the scar from under his left eye, which is pretty prominent in several shots of the movie. There are a few bits of graffiti missing from the armor, though they’re Drake&Xeno3pretty small and easy to miss in the film. The biggest issue is what’s under Drake’s body armor. He has the same standard fatigue shirt as Hicks and Apone. It’s well-detailed and it looks good, but in the movie, Drake is actually wearing a flak jacket under his armor (you can see it in the hive scene after he ditches the smartgun harness). It’s a minor thing, but it’s one of the character’s more distinctive uniform deviations, and it would have been nice to see it here. For accessories, the main event is, of course, Drake’s smartgun. It’s a very well sculpted piece that is accurate to the source material. It includes an arm with a ball joint at either end, allowing it to be attached to the figure’s chest piece, and once in place, he can actually hold it pretty well. Drake also includes a spare hat without the headset and a clear display stand. It might have been nice to get a hairpiece and an extra acid-burned head, but the smartgun is plenty.

BATTLE-DAMAGED ATTACKING ALIEN

Drake&Xeno4And the award for longest name for an alien variant goes to this guy! Wow, that’s a lot of lead in words. Ostensibly, this alien is more or less the same figure as the battle-damaged Alien from the single-packs, with one notable change. Like all the other Aliens in the line, the Battle-Damaged Attacking Alien has add-on pieces for the torso, head, hands, feet, and tail. This particular Alien uses the open-mouthed head, and what differentiates him from his single-packed counterpart is the presence of the second mouth/tongue piece used on the Attacking Alien. This offers a little bit of variety among the Aliens, so there’s no complaints there. The paintwork on the Battle-Damaged Attacking Alien is almost identical to that of the first battle-damaged alien, which in turn makes it pretty much the same as the regular warrior alien with the addition of the acid blood splatters. The blood splatters here are exactly the same as the ones from before, which is a little disappointing. It would have been nice for the splatters to be on the opposite limbs or something, just to mix things up. This Alien, like all the Aliens, includes only one accessory: a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked these two up as part of a full set of series one that I got from my favorite Minimate retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. Drake is the star of the set. He’s a surprisingly well done figure. Sure, there’s a couple of inaccuracies, but the figures is fun enough to distract from these issues, and he’s just incredibly well put together. He makes for a great taste of how Vasquez will turn out. Despite the relatively short review, and slightly disparaging remarks about the paint, the Alien is a very well-handled figure. It’s a little disappointing to those who already have the singles, but on its own, it’s a strong figure, and it accents Drake quite well.

#0589: Sgt. Apone & Warrior Alien

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

APONE & WARRIOR ALIEN

ALIENS MINIMATES

Apone&Xeno1

After a little bit of a wait, the first wave of Aliens Minimates has finally found its way to all the various Minimate retailers. Things started off with a bang with heavy hitters Ripley and Hicks, but the rest of Wave 1 is decidedly a bit more low-key on character selection. Today, let’s look at Apone, the most prominent of the also-rans, as he faces off against one of the movie’s titular creatures.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Apone and the Warrior Alien are part of the specialty release of Aliens Minimates Series 1. Apone seems to be remaining exclusive to this set, but the Alien is sure to turn up elsewhere (and kind of already has…)

SGT. APONE

Apone&Xeno2“Where’s Apone?” Here’s Apone. The ill-fated Marine Sergeant isn’t a stranger to toys (though he hasn’t had quite as many as other Aliens characters), but this is the first, and likely only, appearance of the character as a Minimate. He’s presented here in his standard Colonial Marine armor, which is nice for consistency’s sake, though he’s probably the one Marine in the movie who gets most of his key scenes before suiting up. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 12 points of articulation. Apone features sculpted add-ons for his helmet, chest armor, and boots/shin guards. These pieces are the same ones we saw on both Hicks and Weirzbowski. It’s standard issue armor, so that certainly makes sense. The pieces are still impressively sculpted and quite accurate to the source material. Like Hicks, Apone’s shoulder lamp is removable. He isn’t seen without it, but it’s nice to have the option. The issue with the hair on the back of the helmet is a little more obvious here, given how close cropped Apone’s hair is supposed to be, but it’s relatively easy to overlook. Apone’s paintwork is decent overall, but there are a few glaring issues. I’ve already addressed the shade of the armor, so I won’t get into that again. The armor does have a few other issues, though. The black areas are a little sloppy, and his name on the front of his torso is off-center and a little angled. He also has the same issue with the misaligned helmet camo that Hicks had, so it seems that wasn’t a one-off. Under the Apone&Xeno4armor, the figure is very well detailed. His uniform’s camo extends all around the torso, however, it’s still absent from the under sides of the arms and the backs of the legs. He has an assortment of insignias running down his sleeves. They’re well-defined, however, his Marine patch actually says USMC instead of the proper USCM. It’s a minor thing, especially given the size, but it’s still not right. Apone features a pretty great likeness of actor Al Matthews, and his hair is painted onto the basic headpiece, so as to replicate its close-cropped nature. This does leave him with an exposed peg hole, however, DST has provided a few solutions to that. Sgt. Apone includes a baseball cap, a standard issue pulse rifle, a facehugger, and a clear display stand. Apone sports the hat in most of his early scenes, so it’s good to see it here, and it provides a way to show him sans helmet, without showing off the peg hole on the head. We never actually see Apone with a facehugger, but it’s implied, and I certainly won’t turn down another opportunity to get a facehugger.

WARRIOR ALIEN

Apone&Xeno3It wouldn’t be much of an Aliens toyline without a few of those pesky Xenomorphs, now would it? After being the big focus of the single-packed figures, it looks like the different varieties of aliens are finding their way into the two-packs as well. The Warrior Alien is, in essence, the same figure as the single packed Alien Warrior. It stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 16 points of articulation. The Warrior Alien has sculpted add-on pieces for the torso, head, hands, tail, and feet. This is the same selection of parts from the Alien Warrior, but that’s hardly an issue. These pieces are quite well sculpted, and the aliens should look the same anyway. The closed mouth is a little more open here than it was on the previous release, which adds some variety, I guess. The paint is about the same as the last release. Lots of details that really sell that whole bio-mechanical thing. It’s worth noting that the lines are bolder on this release, making the details a little easier to see. The Warrior Alien only includes a clear display stand, however, this seems acceptable, given the quantity of sculpted parts present.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got the two of these from my favorite Minimate retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. This isn’t the most exciting set in the bunch, but it’s not bad. Apone is a decent addition to the line. He’s not quite up to the same level as Ripley or Hicks, but he’s a good accent figure. The Warrior Alien isn’t anything new if you’ve already got the single release. However, it’s still on par with the single release, which was a pretty fantastic Minimate. And it’s not like you can’t have another Xenomorph hanging around…

Apone&Xeno5

#0588: Ripley & Cpl. Hicks

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

RESCUE MISSION RIPLEY & CPL. HICKS

ALIENS MINIMATES

Ripley&HicksMM1

The Aliens line of Minimates started off a little bit differently than other lines; instead of getting right to the principle characters, things were kicked off with a case of single packed Xenomorphs and a few of the film’s more minor characters (and Burke, but who wants that guy, right?). It was certainly a fun start to the line, but it was a little odd to have all those aliens and not have a Ripley to face off against them. Fortunately, DST has followed up the army builder case with a more conventional set of Aliens Minimates, including a set with everyone’s favorite Warrant Officer turned space-faring action hero, Ellen Ripley. And, to top things off, she’s also brought along Colonial Marine Corporal Dwayne Hicks for the ride!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are part of the specialty assortment of Aliens Minimates Series 1. Both figures will also be available in the TRU assortment, but they will each be packed with a Xenomorph.

RESCUE MISSION RIPLEY

Ripley&HicksMM2This figure ends up actually being the second Minimate of Ellen Ripley, however, it’s the first one from Aliens. As the name denotes, the figure represents Ripley during her rescue mission to save Newt from the alien hive, towards the end of the film. It’s generally the look most people associate with her character, especially for this movie, as it featured prominently on the film’s poster and was the look she was sporting for many of the film’s definitive Ripley moments. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Ripley has add-on pieces for her hair, watch, and “suspenders.” The hair is a piece we’ve seen a few times before (it first cropped up on El Indigo from Fistful of Dollars). It’s a near perfect match for Ripley’s hair from the movie, and it well-sculpted to boot! The watch is also a piece we’ve seen before, most recently on the Alien set Ripley, this line’s own Carter Burk. It’s a pretty standard watch piece and it does its job well. The suspenders appear to be new to this figure. They have some fantastic texture work, and you can even make out the grenades that are strapped in place. Ripley features some grade A paint work. The colors are all pretty great matches for what we see on screen, and the detail lines do a great job of outlining all movie-Ripley&HicksMM4details. Her pants feature all the proper stitching and pockets, and her shirt even has darker coloring near the top of her chest to simulate sweat stains. I bet that smells lovely. The face isn’t a 100% spot-on likeness of Sigorney Weaver, but it’s not far off, and it even has some red scuff marks to show the beating she takes over the course of the movie. I’m also happy to see she hasn’t been saddled with a vacant expression. Ripley should have an intense look about her, and this figure does. Ripley includes a standard clear display stand, as well as her signature pulse rifle/flamethrower combo. The combo piece is actually reversed from how it’s assembled in the film, but it’s still pretty well-sculpted. Also, the set includes two of them. Ripley only had the one and Hicks never carries such a thing, so I’m not sure which figure the second is meant to go with.

CPL. HICKS

Ripley&HicksMM5Hicks makes his debut into the world of Minimates with this figure, however, actor Michael Biehn has actually had two Minimates before, courtesy of the Terminator2 line. While Ripley has a couple of distinctively different looks over the course of the movie, Hicks’ looks are all more or less just slight variations on his basic Marine armor, so this figure effectively encompasses all of those looks. Hicks features an impressive selection of sculpted add-ons, with pieces for his helmet, chest armor, boots/shin guards, and shotgun holster. We were given a preview of a lot of this figure’s parts with the single-packed Pvt. Wierzbowski figure. The Colonial Marine armor is generally quite well rendered in the Minimate style. The details of the armor are all pretty well defined, and it’s quite accurate to the source material. The chest armor is a little on the bulky side, but it isn’t terrible. The helmet is pretty good, although the little bit of hair we can see towards the back is a little too long flowing to really be accurate for any of the Marines we see in the movie. Hick’s armor load out has a few differences from what we saw on Wierzbowski. The most obvious, of course, is the addition of the holster, which is well sculpted and fits snuggly over the chest armor. Also, while Wierzbowksi’s shoulder lamp was fixed in place, Hicks’ is Ripley&HicksMM6removable. Given that the character doesn’t have the lamp for the whole film, this was a nice choice. The paint on Hicks is generally impressive, however, there are a few minor issues. The color of the armor really feels too light for the source material, which reduces the contrast between armor and uniform. To DST’s credit, the same issue was present on Wierzbowski, so it’s likely that they just want to keep the Marines consistent. Also, the additional details on the torso armor and helmet are a little sloppy, and on the helmet in particular, it seems as though the camo screen was a bit misaligned, causing it to run over the black of the camera strap. The paint isn’t all bad, though. Under the armor is a (mostly) fully detailed set of camo fatigues, which are very nicely detailed, even if the camo pattern doesn’t Ripley&HicksMM7continue to the back of the legs. Hicks’ chest armor also features his signature heart and lock detail, which is nice and sharply defined. The face detailing presents a decent depiction of Michael Biehn, though I’m not sure it’s quite as good a likeness as the second Kyle Reese. As far as accessories go, Hicks makes out pretty well. He gets a clear display stand, a pulse rifle, his signature shotgun, an alternate hair piece for an unhelmeted look, and an extra bandaged head to depict him from towards the end of the movie, after he takes some acid to the face. Generally, these accessories are quite nice. The hair piece seems a little too… Elvis-y? for Hicks, but it works alright.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got these two (after a fair bit of waiting for the cases to make their way to retailers) from my favorite Minimate retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. Ripley’s the figure I was most eagerly awaiting from this wave. There are a few minor nits here and there, but overall, this is a fantastic translation of one of the most distinctive characters in cinema. Hicks is one of my favorite movie characters of all-time, from my favorite movie of all-time. So, the bar was set pretty high on this guy. The final product isn’t without issues, but there’s more than enough good about this figure to make up for it!

Ripley&HicksMM8*This review was originally published at Minimates Central

#0582: April O’Neil

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

APRIL O’NEIL

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINIMATES

 

AprilOneilMM1A while back, I reviewed the majority of the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. I picked up that set from K-Mart, so it didn’t include a few of the figures that showed up in other assortments. Of the three figures not represented there, two were “Mutagen” variants of the Turtles, so I didn’t feel an undying need to track them down. However, I was missing out on April O’Neil, who’s a rather important piece of the Turtles mythos. I finally got around to tracking her down, so let’s have a look at the figure, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

AprilOneilMM2April is part of the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. As I noted above, she wasn’t part of the K-Mart assortment, however, she was in both the Toys R Us and specialty assortments. At TRU, she was packed with Raphael, while she was packed alone in a blind bag for the specialty assortment. For posterity, it should be noted that my figure is from the specialty release, so she doesn’t have the TRU’s keychain piece. The figure stands roughly 2 ½ inches tall and features the usual 14 points of articulation. Just like the rest of the line, April is based on her appearance in the current Nickolodeon cartoon. She’s probably got one of the more unique looks from the show (what with having to keep her appearance “modern” and all), but it retains a lot of the character’s signature traits. April is built on the standard Minimate body, with an add-on piece for her hair. The hair is new to this figure, and it does a very nice job of translating April’s show appearance to the ‘mate form. It’s simple, but effective. The rest of the design is handled via paint, which is….mixed at best. The detail lines are generally pretty good. They’re sharp and relatively clean and do a good job of conveying what April’s supposed to look like. The real trouble, like with so many of the other figures in this series, lies with the base paint. The colors themselves are all fine, but the application is pretty bad. Most of the edges are seriously wavy and uneven, and many spots, such as the eyes and lips, don’t stay within the detail lines. The worst paint is definitely on the hair piece, where the head band is merely hovering in the general area of the sculpted piece, with incredibly uneven edges. It’s pretty bad. April includes a fan and a clear display stand. A sword or something would have been nice, but these are both acceptable pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I ended up buying April loose from Luke’s Toy Store, while ordering a bunch of other figures. I’ve been meaning to get her for several months now, but kept putting it off. In my defense, she’s hardly the most exciting figure in the line. I’m glad I finally got her, as she’s a key piece of the collection, but I can’t say my less than excited opinion of the figure has really changed. She’s an okay figure, but she’s more heavily hit by the bad paint than others in the line due to her design already being a slightly boring one. At the very least, I think it’s worth noting that April’s design does work a little better in ‘mate form than it does in any other figure form, so the figure has that going for it.