Tag Archives: Minimates

#0923: TRU Aliens Minimates Series 2

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

ELLEN RIPLEY, SCREAMING XENOMORPH, SGT. APONE, GLOWING ALIEN, PVT. DRAKE, & EXTRA-DAMAGED ALIEN

ALIENS MINIMATES

AliensTRU2a

Well, it’s been almost a week since Alien Day, and I’ve started to miss those scary acid-bleedy monsters. So, how about another Aliens review? And, for extra fun, why not some more Minimates? Yeah, that’ll be cool, because I just got this brand-new set of them from Toys R Us. Let’s have a look at them!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These six were released as the second Toys R Us-exclusive series of Aliens Minimates. The pack breakdowns are Ripley and the Screaming Xeno, Apone and the Glowing Alien, and Drake and the Extra-Damaged Alien. Typically, I review Minimates one two-pack at a time, however, all but one of these figures are slightly tweaked versions of previously reviewed ‘mates. Rather than drag them out for the better part of a week, I thought I might as well get them all out of the way, since there’s not much new to review.

ELLEN RIPLEY & SCREAMING XENOMORPH

AliensTRU2b

Ripley’s the real star of the franchise, so it’s not a huge shock that she’s also the human with the most variations. This Ripley is a slight tweak of the Alien 35th Anniversary boxed-set version, reviewed here. The only difference between the two figures is the facial expression, which is a slightly cleaned up version of the Hive Assault Ripley from Series 1. The new face definitely helps her resemble Sigourney Weaver a bit more, resulting in a AliensTRU2eslightly superior figure. That said, the issue with the incorrect hair is still present, and is made more glaring by the fact that this is the second time we’ve seen it happen. Aside from that issue, she’s a pretty solid figure, just like her predecessor. Ripley includes a flamethrower (no flame trail, though), Jonesy the cat, a facehugger, and a clear display stand.

Not to be outdone by Ripley, the Big Chap goes for his fourth variation. This one’s a combination of two of the prior figures: he’s got the paint scheme from the “Crew of the Nostromo” set, with the head from the first set (albeit with the inner mouth removed). Not really much to say about this one, other than to say it’s just as good as all the other Xenos in the line. The figure includes a closed egg and a clear display stand.

SGT. APONE & GLOWING ALIEN

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Well, I was wrong. In my review of the Series 1 Apone Minimate, I said he’d likely only get one Minimate appearance, and here he is with his second Minimate. Lucky him. Like Ripley, the only difference between this Apone and his prior ‘mate is his facial expression: he’s turned in his more collected (if still pissed off) expression for a more intense, teeth gritting one. This Apone’s clearly from his final moments in the hive, as he’s caught in a firefight. The resemblance to Al Matthews is lessened a AliensTRU2fbit by the new expression, but it’s not hard to figure out who it’s supposed to be, and the expression is worth the tradeoff. The rest of Apone’s details are identical to the last release, right down to the transposed letters on his USCM patch (it says “USMC”). Apone is packed with his baseball cap, an M41A Pulse Rifle, a newborn alien, and a clear display stand.

The other half of this set is the one truly new figure in this series: the Glowing Alien. No, you didn’t miss a scene in the movie; no aliens ever appear like this. He’s just a fun variant cooked up by DST. Sculpturally, he’s the same as any other Alien from the line (his head is the “Screaming” version). What sets him apart is the clear green plastic he’s been molded in. The figure isn’t just clear green, though; if you let him charge in sunlight for a while (and I mean a good, long while), he lives up to the adjective he’s given by the front of the box and does a bit of glowing. The Glowing Alien includes another egg, also closed.

PVT. DRAKE & EXTRA-DAMAGED ALIEN

AliensTRU2d

Okay, I had kind of figured that Drake might get a second ‘mate, and this one gives me pretty much exactly what I expected. This figure’s more or less the same as the Series 1 Drake; like Ripley and Apone, he just gets a new expression. Instead of the sly grin of the last figure, this one’s mid-yell, that honestly feels a bit more appropriate for Drake. Sadly, Drake is still lacking the flack vest under his armor, instead just sporting the normal fatigues. It wouldn’t be a big issue, if not for the extra pieces included. Drake comes with an extra head, sporting the acid burns he gets at the end of the hive attack. AliensTRU2gAt that point in the film, Drake had ditched his smartgun and its harness, which is when we see the flack vest. Of course, everything about this series points to them being put together as quickly as possible, so there probably just wasn’t time to do a new torso detailing. In addition to the extra head, Drake includes his smartgun, a hat without the headgear, a flamethrower (w/ flame trail), a newborn alien, and a clear display stand. It might have been nice to get a hairpiece without the hat, since Drake loses the hat at the same time as the harness, but he has enough extras that I don’t feel gipped.

We’ve gotten a number of Battle-Damaged Aliens over the course of this line. What makes this one different? He’s Extra-Damaged! No, but really, there are different blood splatters. Seriously, you guys probably don’t get how big a deal that is, but I’ve got like four of these already, all with the same damage. Some variety is much appreciated. Other than the slight change in blood splatters, this figure’s the same as the one included with Vasquez. The Extra-Damaged Alien includes another egg, open this time, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

On Alien Day, NECA released a re-deco of their Aliens Ripley figure through Toys R Us. I was busy during the day, but my Dad was nice enough to stop by a TRU during his lunch. He didn’t find the Ripley figure, but he did find these three sets. They’re not a bad consolation prize. Sure, there’s not a whole lot of newness to them, but each set has at least something exciting, especially for an Aliens geek like me!

#0921: Lobo & Ambush Bug

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

LOBO & AMBUSH BUG

DC MINIMATES

Lobo&Ambushbug1

So, let’s talk DC Minimates.  Two weeks ago, I discussed Play Along’s use of legal loopholes to get out the first DC-based Minimates in the C3 Construction line.  That line unfortunately ended fairly abruptly, leaving a very incomplete collection of characters.  A few years down the road, DC Direct teamed up with Diamond Select Toys, creating an official line of DC Minimates, which offered a more diverse selection of characters.  Sadly, it too was short-lived, lasting only eight series before ending, once again leaving certain groups incomplete.  The diverse selection of characters ended up as both a blessing and a curse; off the wall characters were fun while the line was running, but after the fact the likes of Lobo and Ambush Bug, who I’m reviewing today, seem like wasted slots in a line that didn’t get us important members of the Justice League.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Lobo and Ambush Bug were released in the seventh series of DC Minimates.  They seem like something of an odd pairing, since I don’t believe the two of them have ever interacted.  Of course, they’re both weird, occasionally fourth wall breaking characters with a tendency to parody popular comics conventions of the time.  So, maybe they aren’t such a bad pairing.

LOBO

Lobo&Ambushbug3Lobo is, by and large, a parody of grungy 90s anti-heroes.  So, of course, he had a large fan base who missed the parody bit and took him as a straight character.  I’ve never been much for Lobo, but I did have a soft spot for his teen-spin-off Slobo, who appeared in Young Justice.  But, that’s neither here nor there; let’s talk about Lobo.  The figure is a little under 2 ½ inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation (due to his boots removing the ankle joints).  Lobo has 5 add-on pieces for his hair, vest, hook-chain-thing, and boots.  All of these parts were new to Lobo, but several of them have seen re-use since.  The parts are pretty well sculpted, and do a suitable job of bulking Lobo up a little bit.  Also, the chain on the hook is a real chain, which is a nice touch.  In general, Lobo is a good example of how great the sculpted work was on this line.  Lobo’s paintwork is fairly impressive; he’s fairly monochromatic, but there’s a lot of detailing, especially on the face and torso.  Lobo included no accessories.

AMBUSH BUG

Lobo&Ambushbug2Ambush Bug is one of the weirder characters in the DCU.  He doesn’t really belong to any particular realm of the universe, and he’s almost entirely absent from normal DCU stories, tending to reside in stories set firmly in his own corner of things.  But hey, he was played by Henry Winkler once, which is pretty cool.  Ambush Bug is mostly a vanilla ‘mate, with one small exception: the antennae on his forehead, which are glued in place.  They’re a pretty good translation of his weird antennae from the comics, so that’s good.  Other than that, everything’s done with paint.  He’s actually surprisingly detailed; DCD could have easily just done a blank green body with only detailing on the face, but Ambush Bug has small wrinkles (just like the ones he has in the comics) on just about every surface.  That’s really nice to see and keeps him from being too boring for the average fan.  I suppose they could have done him in his casual wear he’s known to wear in the comics, but this is his classic look, so it’s understandable.  Like Lobo, Ambush Bug includes no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with every figure in the DC Minimates line, I picked these two up from Cosmic Comix on the first day they were available.  I’ll admit that I was split on this set; I love Ambush Bug way more than I should, but Lobo’s not my thing.  At the end of the day, both ‘mates are pretty awesome, for totally divergent reasons.  It might be easy to say that these two are part of the reason the line ended so early, but given that the Marvel line just released Dazzler and Howard the Duck together, it’s hard to say.

#0913: Vision & Hawkeye

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

VISION & HAWKEYE

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Civil War is almost upon us (well, some people have already seen it. Lucky ducks…) and the tie-in product is starting to hit, though not as explosively as in prior years. Still, there’s notably more stuff then we got for Winter Soldier. As with all the recent Marvel Studios films, there are some Minimates based on the movie, and the Toys R Us assortment just started showing up. Today, I’ll be looking at two of my favorite Avengers, Vision and Hawkeye!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Vision and Hawkeye are the Toys R Us-exclusive set from the first series of Civil War Minimates (which are Series 66 of the specialty Marvel Minimates line). It’s actually fairly amusing that their packed together, since Vision and Hawkeye’s very first Minimates (from way back in Series 20) were also packed together.

VISION

VisionHawkeyeCW2With the exception of the face detailing, this Vision is the same as the Series 63 version of the character. That was a pretty nice translation of the film version of Vision, and since his design hasn’t changed between the two movies, the new figure’s pretty accurate to Civil War as well. He gets a new, more detailed face, which has a better likeness of Paul Bettany, and adds some of the detail lines that were absent from the last figure’s face. There’s actually a pretty good rationale for this almost total re-release: Vision was a specialty exclusive in the AoU assortments, meaning he was one of the two Avengers not available to TRU consumers. Now everybody gets a Vision! Vision includes both a clear display stand and a flight stand.

HAWKEYE

VisionHawkeyeCW3Of all the costumes in the first Avengers movie, Hawkeye’s was the one that most disappointed me. Hawkeye’s got one of the coolest costumes in comics, and the movie version sucked a lot of the originality out of it. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, since Hawkeye’s gotten a slightly tweaked design in both subsequent reappearances. In AoU, he added a pretty cool coat to his look, but he still seemed to lack some of his comics counterpart’s flair. Civil War seems dead set on amending that, as it’s given Hawkeye possibly his coolest look yet, taking major cues from his West Coast Avengers/Heroic Age design. This ‘mate replicates that design. He has add-on pieces for his hair, quiver, and holster. All of these parts are re-used pieces (being mostly fairly generic parts), but they certainly fit what we’ve seen of Hawkeye’s look so far. Hawkeye’s paintwork is pretty impressive, with a whole ton of great detail work on his uniform, giving him a lot of dimension. His colors also pop; I think this is my favorite shade of purple that I’ve seen on a movie Hawkeye. The likeness on the face bears a resemblance to Jeremy Renner, but I think the Winter Ops Hawkeye still has the closest resemblance. Hawkeye includes a bow, three arrows, a pistol, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I came across this set at my local TRU. Shocking, right? For whatever reason, this was the set I was most looking forward to in this series. Vision’s essentially a re-release, but the minor changes go a long way, at least for me, and I prefer this one to the AoU version. The new Hawkeye design is pretty strong, and it translates quite nicely to the ‘mate aesthetic, resulting in what is probably the best MCU version of the character so far. This set might be easy to overlook, but it’s definitely one I’m glad I got.

#0911: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Minimates

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

LI MU BAI, YU SHU LIEN, JEN YU, & LO

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON MINIMATES

CTHD1

And now for something completely different…

In the year 2000 (and early 2001), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon became a rather surprising success. Despite being entirely in Mandarin, the film was a smash hit in the United States. It was so much of a success that its director Ang Lee even nabbed a job directing 2003’s Hulk (the less said about that, the better). The measure of true success, in my book at least, is how many action figures you got. Art Asylum picked up the license. They released a set of four 7-inch figures, as well as releasing a few of the characters in this little line they were starting, call Minimates. Despite the film’s success, the figures just did alright, not great, and not enough to get more than the same four characters released in two styles. Today, I’ll be taking a look at the four Minimates based on the movie.

Also, I feel I should note at this time that I’ve never actually seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Yeah, yeah, bad Ethan. Let’s just see how this goes.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These four make up the first (and only) series of Art Asylum’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Minimates. They were released in September of 2002, right around the same time as the Bruce Lee Minimates and Rock Minimates, making them some of the very first Minimates.

CTHD6All four ‘mates are built on the original, 3-inch body. Unlike the 2 ½-inch body, which is a pretty straight up-sizing of the 2-inch body, the 3-inch body is actually a little different: the peg hole in the head is not centered, but rather towards the back; the torso is made up of three pieces, fixed together, rather than being a single molded piece; the elbow and knee joint are in the center, and have a separate pin going through them; finally, the hands are side specific and look more like actual hands. Functionally, it works about the same as the smaller bodies, with the same basic 14 points of articulation. It’s just a tweaked structure.

LI MU BAI

CTHD2Okay, so Li Mu Bai is Chow Yun-fat’s character from the movie. I know that much. Yay me! Mu Bai gets 6 add-on pieces for his hair, shirt, sleeves, and footwear. The older ‘mates are a whole different level of detailing than what we see today; stylization was pretty high, and they made do with as few details as possible. This is most evident in his hair, which is fairly flat at texture-less (and ends abruptly at the top of his head), though the braid is pretty well detailed. The rest of the pieces are actually surprisingly detailed; they’re still fairly simple, but there’s a fair bit of detail on the shirt and feet, and the sleeves are nowhere near as static as some of the later, smaller-scale pieces. Mu Bai is mostly molded in the appropriate colors, but he has a bit of detailing on his shirt and feet, as well as the expected detail lines for his face. The face is made up of just of black line work (no additional colors for his eyes or teeth), and his face is very, very stylized and geometric. There’s definitely not a real likeness in that face. Mu Bai includes his sword, the Green Destiny, as well as a weird puzzle piece thing that was included with all the early Minimates.

YU SHU LIEN

CTHD3Yu Shu Lien was played by Michelle Yeoh, who, amongst other things, was a Bond girl during Pierce Brosnan’s tenure in the role, as well as being in the criminally under-rated Sunshine. She was also a pretty big deal in Hong Kong action movies during the 1990s, which one assumes is what got her a role in Crouching Tiger. Her figure has 7 add-ons: hair, shirt, skirt, sleeves, and leg wraps. Where Mu Bai’s hair was rather square and stilted, Shu Lien’s has a nice flow to it, and looks pretty organic, if still stylized. The rest of the parts are all pretty good too. The chest cap presents a fairly unique feature amongst Minimates: a sculpted bosom. Well, sculpted suggestion of bosom, anyway, similar to what Palisades did on their Palz figures. The actual chest cap seems a little bit bulky, but nowhere near as bad as some of the smaller ‘mates. Shu Lien’s paint is a little more complex than Mu Bai’s. The base colors are okay, but a little fuzzy in some spots. Her face is still pretty simple, but she at least gets one extra color for her lips. Yu Shu Lien includes a sword and the weird puzzle piece.

JEN YU

CTHD4Jen Yu was played by the relative newcomer Zhang Ziyi. The only thing I know her from is 2007’s TMNT, where she played Karai (who also has a Minimate, but it’s not from the movie). Jen Yu has 7 add-ons: hair/mask, robe, skirt, wrist bands, and boots. They’re all pretty decent pieces, though they don’t seem to sit as well as the parts from the other two. That doesn’t mean she looks bad, though. It appears to be a pretty good recreation of the look from the film, and she’s a pretty neat, basic ninja. The paint is fairly basic. Mostly she’s molded in black, with a bit of red and gold detailing here and there. Under the mask, she’s got a fully detailed face, on par with the rest of the set. Jen Yu included a sword and sheath (as well as the puzzle piece), but mine doesn’t have them.

LO

CTHD5Last up is Lo, the dude I know the least about. He was played by Chang Chen, whom I’ve never actually seen in anything. Apparently Lo’s a desert bandit, which sounds pretty cool, and he’s got one of the cooler looks. Lo has 7 add-on pieces: hair, jacket, sleeves (my figure lacks one of them), skirt, and boots. His sleeves are noticeably a bit more geometric than the others, but the rest of his parts still have a pretty decent flow to them. As a whole, the pieces look pretty good together, if slightly dated. Lo has one of the more detailed paint jobs seen here. It’s nice and clean, and all of the colors work together pretty well. His face is once again pretty basic, but at least he gets a mustache to change things up a bit. Lo had the most accessories of the set, with a sword, an extra wristband (w/ mounted eagle, though, once again, my figure lacks this), a cape, and the previously mentioned puzzle piece. Sadly, my figure lacks his extra pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I’ve not seen the movie, it’s not a huge surprise that I didn’t get these four new. I will admit to at least contemplating getting them a few times over the years, due to the whole “some of the earliest Minimates” thing. Of course, they aren’t the easiest things to come across anymore. So, when I found them back in January at a flea market (on the same trip that netted me Gimli, the Orc Scout, Big Guy, and Perseus), a snapped them up pretty quickly. They were pretty filthy when I got them, so I had to spend a good two hours cleaning them up. Despite not having seen the movie, I find myself really enjoying these four. They’re definitely a different style of ‘mate, but it’s really fun to own figures that are an important step in the evolution of Minimates.

#0908: Bruce Wayne & Pilot Batman

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

BRUCE WAYNE & PILOT BATMAN

DC C3 CONSTRUCTION

Bruce&PilotBat1

After the rousing success of the Marvel characters in the Minimates format, other comicbook companies wanted in on the action, including their main competition DC Comics. However, thanks to all sorts of licensing mumbo jumbo, Diamond Select and Art Asylum couldn’t directly produce DC products. Fortunately, Play Along, who also worked with Art Asylum on the Lord of the Rings Minimates line, had the rights to produce DC-based construction sets, which they were able to leverage into a way to produce Minimate versions of DC characters as part of the sets. The line was only moderately successful, but it did manage to produce a nice handful of prominent DC mainstays. Today, I’ll be looking at two of the figures the line offered, Bruce Wayne and Pilot Batman.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Bruce and Pilot Batman were included with the SDCC 2004 Stealth Batwing set. The set was a re-deco of the main line’s regular Batwing set. Batman was similarly a re-deco of that set’s Pilot Batman, but Bruce Wayne is wholly exclusive to this set.

BRUCE WAYNE

Bruce&PilotBat3This was one of the two Bruce Wayne Minimates offered by the C3 line. The figure is a little under 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. While the more widely released version (included with the Batcave set) opted for a more traditional Bruce, this figure is based on Bruce’s more modernized design from 2004’s The Batman. Bruce has add-on pieces for his hair and jacket, both re-used from prior ‘mates. The jacket is the same piece used on the Batcave Bruce and the hair comes from Marvel Minimates Series 1’s Hulk. The pieces are pretty close matches (if you want to get really picky, Bruce’s jacket was always buttoned on the show, but that’s pretty minor). They’re far less detailed than most modern pieces, and have a much more squared-off appearance, but that actually works well in the context of his cartoon-based design. Paint is used fairly sparsely on Bruce, but what’s there is both clean and sharp, and he makes for a good translation of the animated design. I like the decision to give him a grin, as it gives us a Bruce that truly sells the whole millionaire playboy charade. Bruce included a cowl, cape/torso cover, and gloves, which allow him to be quick-changed into a pretty decent Batman Minimate (though he’s smiling, which is slightly odd).

PILOT BATMAN

Bruce&PilotBat2The C3 line ended up doing what most Batman-based lines do, and included a bunch of non-canon Bat-variants. On the plus side, Pilot Batman is actually a pretty sensible idea, especially when the Batwing is in question. Pilot Batman has add-ons for his helmet (with hinged visor), torso, and gloves, and at one point there was also a cape attachment for the back of the torso, but mine’s gone missing. All of these pieces (aside from the cape) were shared with the normal release version of Pilot Batman, but aside from that they were all-new. They aren’t based on anything in particular, but they fit pretty well with the line, and they look pretty cool. They also feature a lot more sculpted detail than most Minimate pieces of the time, meaning that this figure doesn’t look too out of place, even with current ‘mates. The difference between this figure and the regular release version is the paintwork. Mostly it’s just swapping out yellow accents for the blue ones, but there are also some slightly different details on the legs. Under the helmet, there’s a pretty Bruce Wayne face, clearly meant to be comics based, and under the torso piece, there’s a bat symbol, which could have easily been left out. Pilot Batman included no accessories, though I suppose an argument could be made that the normal Batman parts are for him, since they were also included with the regular Batwing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Well after the C3 line had ended, Cosmic Comix, who had not carried any of the sets up to that point, received a case of this set, and was selling them for well under their original price. I bought one, mostly for these two figures. Over the years, I lost most of the parts to the actual Batwing portion of the set, but I still have these guys. They’re both pretty solid ‘mates, though neither of them is exactly a necessity for anyone’s collection.

#0890: Captain America & Scarlet Witch

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA & SCARLET WITCH

MARVEL MINIMATES

Cap&ScarletWitch1

When Minimates first started out, getting just one Avenger was a pretty big deal.  It’s less of a big deal now, especially when it comes to heavy hitters like Captain America and Iron Man.  That said, it’s still kind of cool to get those slightly less well-known Avengers, like Scarlet Witch.  Although, it’s hard to imagine Scarlet Witch being quite as overlooked following her fantastic appearance in Age of Ultron and upcoming appearance in Captain America: Civil War.  Time will tell.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Cap and Scarlet Witch were released as part of the 16th series of Toys R Us exclusive Marvel Minimates.  They were done to sort of tie-in with the release of the Marvel Now!-themed Series 51.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

Cap&ScarletWitch2This figure is Cap’s 29th foray into the world of Minimates (although it’s only the 27th for Steve Rogers as Cap) and it showcases Cap’s redesign following the Marvel Now! relaunch.  The design still shares most of the pivotal details of Cap’s traditional costume, while also working in a few more movie-esque parts.  Cap makes use of add-on pieces for his helmet, gloves, and belt.  Each of these is a brand-new sculpt, and they are all quite well handled.  The helmet is a very adept recreation of the comics design, and it features etched in lines for the ‘A’ and the head wings.  The gloves are bulky, but not overly, and they offer a more intricate, stylized take on the character’s traditional flared gloves.  The left glove has a peg allowing it to be used with the shield, and it can be swapped out with a non-pegged hand for display sans-shield.  Lastly, the belt is a fairly straight forward piece, which does its job without being obtrusive.  Isn’t that what belts are for?  The painted detailing on Cap is really quite good.  Some of the white areas on the helmet miss their mark just a slight bit, but the detail work, specifically on the figure’s torso which features an intricate hexagonal design, is very sharp and brings a lot of dimension to the figure.  Also, even after all this time, I still marvel (heh) when Diamond gets the eye placement perfect on a figure.  The eyes here line up exactly with the painted face, and it just looks really cool.  For accessories, Cap includes the standard clear base, as well as his mighty shield, and a hairpiece that allows him to be displayed unmasked.

SCARLET WITCH

Cap&ScarletWitch3Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, hasn’t received anywhere near as many Minimates as the good Captain.  However, this was her third Minimate and it was even released in fairly close proximity to the second.  That’s not bad for a character most people hadn’t heard of before Avengers: Age of Ultron.  Like Cap, Wanda is presented here in her first Marvel Now! costume.  Unlike Cap, it moves a bit further away from the “classic” design.  YMMV on how well that works out, but there were far worse redesigns during Now!  Wanda has additional sculpted pieces for her hair/headpiece and the bottom of her jacket.  These are new to the figure.  The headpiece is similar to the two prior Wandas, but it sits a little lower, and the hair is a little fuller.  It makes for a good rendering of John Cassidy’s illustrations of the character in Uncanny Avengers, which I feel certain is what they were going for.  The bottom/skirt of her jacket is similar to Cap’s belt; it’s not the most thrilling piece ever, but it does what it’s supposed to.  It’s nice that it has a more organic shape and flow to it than a lot of skirt pieces, so there’s that going for it.  Wanda’s paint is mostly a mix of reds, befitting a character named the Scarlet Witch.  The metallic red of the head piece certainly pops, although there’s a fair bit of bleed over from her hair, made more noticeable by the aforementioned popping of the metallic red.  Aside from that, the paintwork is relatively clean.  The detailing on the torso block is fairly sharp and does a fairly nice job of giving her a more feminine figure.  Wanda is accessorized with a clear display stand and a pair of spell-casting hands, which were first introduced on the AvX Scarlet Witch.  They were cool there and they’re cool here.  They’re a great representation of her powers as they are usually depicted in the comics, and they make the figure stand out a bit more on the shelf.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got these two from TRU’s online store.  Things actually went pretty smoothly that time.  Generally, I overlook variants of A-listers, and I wasn’t super thrilled then Cap’s Now! redesign was unveiled, but I find myself very impressed with the quality of this figure.  He reminds quite a lot of the original Wave 5 Cap, and that’s a very good thing.  Wanda is one of my favorite Avengers, so I’m always happy to see her turn up in the various Marvel toylines.  The Now! look isn’t my favorite, but it’s unique and it is certainly a valid choice for a figure.  Being released in close proximity to a more classically inspired Wanda, this one comes across as a little less exciting.  Still, it’s a solid Minimate and a decent version of the character.

#0881: Captain Kirk & Yeoman Rand

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

CAPTAIN KIRK – “THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES” & YEOMAN RAND

STAR TREK MINIMATES

Kirk&Rand1

Star Trek has had rather a storied history with the Minimates brand. It was one of the earliest licenses Art Asylum picked up (back when the figures were on the much larger 3-inch bodies), and it’s a license that DST and AA do really try to keep going. The era of the show with by far the most representation is The Original Series, which not only got the entire main bridge crew, but also a few variations of the “power trio.” Today, I’ll be looking at one of the variations of series lead Captain James T. Kirk, along with one of the show’s less prominent regulars, Yeoman Rand.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released in Series 5 of the first 2-inch Star Trek Minimates line. Series 5 was the last series of the line, and this was actually the last TOS set to be released.

CAPTAIN KIRK

Kirk&Rand2This was Kirk’s sixth (and final) Minimate, but it’s probably his second most important look to be released. It’s officially titled “Trouble With Tribbles Kirk,” signifying that he’s based on the episode of the same name. Of course, there’s not really anything that makes him specifically from “The Trouble With Tribbles,” so he’s really just a basic figure of Kirk in his “casual” uniform. The figure is 2 ½ inches tall and has the usual 14 points of articulation. He uses the standard ‘mate body, with add-ons for the hair and the pant-cuffs. Both these pieces are re-used from the first Kirk ‘mate, which is certainly a good re-use. They’re noticeably more geometric and less detailed than later pieces, but they certainly fit with the rest of the line. The painted details are pretty sharp. By the end of the original line, the figures had actually started getting pretty detailed. Kirk’s whimsical expression was a nice change of pace, and the details of his uniform are nice and sharp. There are some nice subtle touches, such as the shoes being shinier than the rest of the blacks. Kirk included a basic phaser, a communicator, and a phaser rifle. What he does not include is a single Tribble, which seems like a missed opportunity.

YEOMAN RAND

Kirk&Rand3Rand isn’t as well remembered as other cast members from the show, due to her being written out and pretty much never mentioned again following the show’s first season, after only appearing in 8 episodes of the show’s run. Also, not in “The Trouble With Tribbles,” making this an odd pairing, but hey, at least she got a ‘mate. She’s built on the usual body, with add-ons for the hair and skirt. The skirt is the same piece used for Uhura and Chapel, which keeps the uniformity going, even if it is oddly boxy. The hair is unique to Rand, and does an alright job of translating her hair from the show into the ‘mate aesthetic. The details seem a little rough and unfinished, truth be told, but it’s not terrible. The paint on Rand is pretty clean overall. The face is a bit generic, but doesn’t look unlike Grace Lee Whitney. The rest of the details are fairly basic, but what’s there is sharp. For some odd reason, the arms are painted red, rather than being cast in red plastic. In addition, the paint doesn’t seem to have held up very well to time, resulting in some slight scraping here and there. Rand was packed with a tricorder and a data pad.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Just before Record & Tape Traders started their downhill turn, I found these two, along with the rest of Series 4 and 5, as well as several other lines of Minimates, at a pretty large discount. I was never a super faithful collector of Trek Minimates, but ended up with a full set, which included this pair. They’re not super exciting, but they’re a pretty solid offering, and probably one of my favorite sets from the line’s original run.

#0879: Orc Scout

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

ORC SCOUT

LORD OF THE RINGS MINIMATES

OrcScout1

Though it was rather short-lived in the grand scheme of things, the Lord of the Rings Minimates line certainly had big dreams. After the pretty huge success of Toy Biz’s line of more realistic figures, I guess AA and DST thought they’d get a lengthy run. This resulted in a number of rather important characters getting left out (Why couldn’t they get to the Witch King? Why?), but it also meant we got some more minor characters and looks we might not have seen otherwise. This included several different varieties of Orcs, such as today’s focus figure, the Orc Scout.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

OrcScout2The Orc Scout was released in the second series of Lord of the Rings Minimates two-packs. He was originally packed with Grishnakh, one of the few named Orcs. Unlike the first series, the second round of figures were mostly new, so collectors weren’t forced to double up on previously released figures. The figure stands just shy of 3 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Yes, you read that height right; as a “normal” sized person in the LotR line, the Orc Scout uses a larger scale body. More or less, it’s the same as the regular body, but scaled up. In addition to the scaled-up body, the Orc Scout has add-ons for his cap/ears, and torso cover, as well as unique pieces for his gloves. When I reviewed Gimli, I noted how, as an earlier ‘mate, he was lacking in a lot of details. This isn’t the case with the Scout; his extra parts are actually quite nicely detailed, if perhaps not as jam-packed as some later figures. The pieces fit nicely, and generally do a nice job of capturing the Orc’s design, which is really great. Paint-wise, this figures a bit on the drab side, but that’s actually accurate, so you can’t really complain. The general application is pretty clean, and there are some nicely detailed bits, with the full face under the cap being a real standout. The Orc Scout included a bow and arrow, which are a bit difficult for him to hold the right way, but still cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The first series of two-packs from this line were a bit of a turn off, being somewhat hard to find and half made up of figures I already had. The second series fixed the line-up issue, but sadly was even more difficult to get, resulting in me never getting a single one of them. I found the Orc Scout at the same flee market that got me Gimli, Big Guy, and Perseus. I can’t say I’d had an undying need for the figure, but he’s actually pretty fun, and I’m glad to have found one.

#0874: Gimli

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

GIMLI

LORD OF THE RINGS MINIMATES

Gimli1

Over the years, Minimates have covered a whole ton of different properties, of all sorts of differing genres. The Marvel line has been DST’s flagship for quite some time, but they’ve experimented with other potential “seconds” at various points. One such experiment was Lord of the Rings, which they launched right after the release of Return of the King, in hopes of striking while the iron was still hot. At the time of the Lord of the Rings Minimates, DST/Art Asylum were still figuring out exactly what was the best way to distribute ‘mates, so they were available a few different ways. Initially, they were released as boxed sets of four, but the line eventually re-configured into the more standard two packs to which we’ve all become accustomed. Unfortunately, the characters from the boxed sets ended up getting re-packed, resulting in extras of those figures for the more faithful fans who still wanted the new characters in the packs. Today, I’ll be looking at one of the unique figures from the two-pack assortments, Gimli.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gimli2Gimli was released in the first series of Lord of the Rings Minimates two-packs. His original pack-mate was Legolas (a logical choice), who was a repack from one of the larger boxed sets. The LOTR line is an oddity amongst Minimates, in that it isn’t in scale with the Marvel Minimates body that would go on to become the standard body for the brand, or even the earlier Star Trek/Music/Bruce Lee ‘mates. They were a scale all their own. However, being a dwarf, Gimli is actually an exception to this, and makes use of the body we’re all so familiar with. As such, he stands roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation (though the movement is restricted a bit by some of the sculpted parts). Gimli has sculpted add-ons for his helmet/beard, cape, skirt, and boots. Given how early on in the life of Minimates these figures came, the sculpts on the add-ons are a fair bit simpler than more recent stuff. That said, they capture the general look of Gimli pretty well, if perhaps in a more cartoonish style. Whether or not that particular style works for Gimli is another story entirely, but he certainly fit well with the rest of the line. He does seem a bit on the lean side for Gimli, especially at the arms and torso. Gimli’s paint is also pretty simple; it’s pretty clean and sharp, which is good. The colors are a bit brighter than you might expect, but it does the simplistic style some favors. The detailing on the helmet is pretty cool, and is definitely one of the stand out parts of the figure. Under the helmet/beard, there’s a full face, complete with…another beard. Hey, dwarves are supposed to be hairy. He doesn’t have the most striking resemblance of John Rhys-Davis, but he doesn’t not look like him either. Gimli included an small axe, which could be stowed on either side of his belt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I had both of the boxed sets from the LotR line, I never actually got any of the two-packs. It was in part due to not wanting to double up on the characters I already had, but also due to the two-packs being a bit harder to find. So, I never had Gimli, which was a darn shame. Fortunately, I found him on his own at a flea market last month, allowing me to get one more member of the Fellowship for my collection. Sure, he’s not quite as exciting as some more recent ‘mates, but he’s certainly not bad either.

#0871: Captain Marvel & New Thor

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

CAPTAIN MARVEL & NEW THOR

MARVEL MINIMATES

ThorCapMarvel1

Change is kind of a constant thing in comics. However, as quickly as things change, they’ll just as quickly revert right back, because status quo trumps just about everything. Seriously, for all the times a popular character has been replaced by another iteration, you can probably keep count of the ones that actually stuck on one hand. So, today, let’s look at two new(ish) incarnations of classic Marvel characters, Captain Marvel and Thor. One of them’s likely to be one of the few changes that sticks, while the other’s probably only got until Chris Hemsworth’s Thor graces the big screen next year.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain Marvel and Thor are part of Series 64 of the main Marvel Minimates line. This is one of the two sets only available in the specialty assortment of figures. While Carol and the new Thor don’t have a ton of history together, they are both Avengers, so the pairing certainly makes more sense than Howard and Dazzler. Plus, how often do you get two female characters in one set? That’s pretty cool.

CAPTAIN MARVEL

ThorCapMarvel2Captain Marvel is a title that Marvel has passed around a lot over the years, mostly because none of the characters really hit it big and Marvel was reeeally determined not to let the name lapse. Carol Danvers spent a large portion of her career as Ms. Marvel, and after managing to hold her own series under that title, Marvel finally realized that easiest way to keep the Captain Marvel name going would be to give Carol a much deserved promotion. She’s actually been Captain Marvel for a while now, so it seems like this one’s gonna stick. Carol’s had pretty much the same look during her entire tenure as the Captain, so that’s the look here. The figure is the standard 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. She uses the basic body, with add-on pieces for the hair and sash. Both pieces are new to this figure and they do a pretty good job of capturing her in-comic look. The hair’s peg is a little long, so it sits just a bit high, but other than that, it looks okay. The paint on Captain Marvel is pretty decent overall. The only real issue is that the dark blue is the base color, so the red and gold are just a touch murky in a few spots. Other than that, the colors look pretty smooth, and everything’s nice and clean. For accessories, the good Captain includes her helmet (which she only seems to wear very occasionally), as well as a flight stand and a standard clear display stand.

NEW THOR

ThorCapMarvel3New Thor seems like an odd idea. While the concept of someone else wielding Mjolnir certainly isn’t new, and New Thor hit right in the midst of change-ups to other popular characters, it was weird to see another person called “Thor” since it’s not a title, it’s his actual name. However, the character seems to have been pretty well-executed, and I’ve especially loved her in Mark Waid’s run on Avengers. While she’s sure to be a temporary replacement, she’s certainly a fun take on the character. Thor makes use of four add-ons for her helmet/hair, cape, gauntlet, and belt/skirt. The cape is re-used from the MvC Thor (which is certainly appropriate), but the rest of her add-ons are new. The helmet is a pretty awesome piece, with some really cool detailing, and the skirt and gauntlet are pretty cool too. Thor’s paint is nice and sharp, and has some nice, bold work. Under the mask is a nice depiction of Jane Foster’s sickly appearance, with a nice, stern look to it. Thor is a bit light on the accessories, but she has what’s important: her hammer Mjolnir and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I wasn’t quite as excited for this set as I was Dazzler and Howard, I do really like both of the character designs included. Captain Marvel is a long time coming, and she turned out very nicely. Definitely worth the wait. And Thor is a solid ‘mate of a pretty cool design, and a very good choice for this set.