Tag Archives: Minimates

Custom Action Figures and the Dilemma of the Replacement

Posted by Ethan Wilson in General and tagged with , ,

Having been an action figure fan pretty much my entire life, I perceive popular culture in, perhaps, a different way than some.  In many cases, my enjoyment of certain entertainment is almost directly linked to just how much I want to have its heroes and villains in articulated plastic form.  This in many ways stems from my parents willingness to whisk me to a nearby toy store shortly after seeing a movie so that I could acquire a figure of my favorite character.

However, while I may be willing to buy action figures of just about anything, toy companies are hardly going to risk producing such an item for every piece of entertainment.  Inevitably, there will be holes in the collection that cannot be filled with an official product.  Sometimes it’s a single character who is just too obscure to warrant a figure, or is tied up in some sort of rights issue.  Other times, it’s an entire property that gets overlooked.  And sometimes, it’s just that the property isn’t available in your preferred style.

For many, this simply means that there is an item you will never own.  But for the more intense, devoted collector, there’s another fix: the custom action figure.  Customization of action figures has existed for a good long while in the world of collecting, and it can take many forms, ranging from a simple part-swap or repaint to a figure with extensive uniquely sculpted pieces.  For many, how extensive you go is based purely on your own personal talent.

This far into this article, it’s probably not a huge surprise that I myself have ventured into the world of custom action figures.  I worked in a variety of scales and styles, but the largest focus by far was Minimates.  My love of the line is no secret to those that read the site, so it’s not really shocking that I felt the need to increase the ranks of my collection.  As a plus, the fact that parts were completely interchangeable and most of the design relied on painted or printed details made assembling them with quick speed a relatively easy task.

I’ve mostly given up customizing to focus more on pure collecting, and, of course, this very site.  However, I was quite proud of a few of my sets of Minimates.  One in particular was my set of custom Aliens-themed Minimates, which was one of the more expansive sets I completed, created over the span of a week or so in the summer of 2009.  There were 10 figures in all: Ripley, Hicks, Newt, Vasquez, Gorman, Hudson, Burke, a Xenomorph, and Bishop in both standard and battle-damaged varieties.

AliensCustoms1

If you’ve been keeping up with my reviews, you’ve probably caught the news that Diamond Select Toys is currently producing their own official set of Aliens Minimates.  This is a fact I couldn’t be happier about.  Aliens is my favorite movie of all time, and Minimates is one of my favorite toy lines.  Combine the two and I’m in toy heaven.  But, that does sort of bring up the lingering question: What do I do with my customs?

Well, I should definitely start off by pointing out that not all of the characters I made have been added to Diamond’s line just yet.  Hicks,Burke, and the Xeno are the only ones with direct replacements currently.  The line has a Ripley, but it’s not the same iteration of her costume as the one I made.  However, the version of Ripley I used, as well as Newt, Vasquez, and Hudson will all be joining the line with Series 2.  The “half Bishop” has already been shown as a prototype and is set to be included with the Alien Queen.  That leaves Gorman and regular Bishop, both of whom have been heavily implied to be in an upcoming assortment of the line.  All of these figures will have proper replacements soon enough.

For now, how about a look back at the three that have already been “replaced?”

AliensCustoms4Burke was really the first at the axe.  For the most part, my custom was assembled from unaltered pieces of official ‘mates.  The body was from one of the X-Men Origins Wolverines, and the vest was from another.  Throw in a hairpiece from one of the movie Tony Starks and a face decal designed by me, and there you have it.  Liberties were taken with the style of the shirt and vest, due to my not wanting to ruin the only copies I had of these pieces.  I also recall really not wanting to have to paint a flannel pattern.  I’m still really proud of the face on this guy.  The expression just turned out so well.  I don’t mind the face on the official version, but I do miss this guy’s more panicked look.  At the end of the day, the official version wins, and my custom will likely be disassembled so that the parts can finally make their way back to their rightful owners.

AliensCustoms5With the official version being one of the earliest released official ‘mates, the Xenomorph came under fire pretty quickly too.  My Xenomorph was a later addition to my set.  When I created the original figures, I still wasn’t entirely comfortable with sculpting new parts wholesale, as would be required by the Xeno, so I put it off.  I eventually built up my skill a bit, and this was the end result.  I won’t lie, this figure has aged the worst of the set by far.  I was happy with him at the time, but the sculpting really didn’t hold up, and  he is devoid of many of the proper Xenomorph details.  The figure is also essentially a statue and rather brittle, making this one of the easiest replacements of the bunch.

AliensCustoms2The last replacement is perhaps one of the most difficult to go through with.  Hicks was a custom I put a lot of thought into, and one of the figures with which I was most pleased after finishing.  Some of the details of the uniform are a little muddled, and the armor isn’t quite what it could be, but I was particularly proud of the head.  I love the official version, but I wasn’t sold on the included hair piece.  As you can tell from the pictures, I’ve already replaced it with the same piece I used on my custom.  I was also quite proud of the likeness on the face, something I feel the official version was just the slightest bit off on.  Ultimately, the sculpted armor of the official version wins it some serious points, and it has a much more polished look, but it hasn’t quite surpassed my original like the others here.

That’s all for this particular side bit.  More than likely, I’ll come back to this a few times, as DST replaces the rest of my customs.  Until then, I guess my Aliens Minimates collection is just a little bit more complete than everyone else’s!

#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.

AliensMarines3

#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.

#0578: Banshee & Pyro

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

BANSHEE & PYRO

MARVEL MINIMATES

Banshee&Pyro1

In the 90s, the X-Men were just the very biggest thing at Marvel. They were in everything, they had everything. They even had two rather extensive lines of toys running, offering pretty much everyone who showed up even for just a little while. After the 90s ended, that cooled down a bit, and they haven’t had nearly as extensive a hold on the market since. However, Diamond Select Toys, with their extensive Marvel Minimates line, is doing their very best to live up to the 90s X-Men toylines. The most recent round of ‘mates is once again centered around the team, and does its fair share to fill a few X-shaped holes. Let’s kick things off with my favorite set, Banshee vs. Pyro!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This two pack is part of Marvel Minimates Series 60. The series is an even split between the X-Men and their foes the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Each set includes one X-Man and one Brotherhood member, and, as an added bonus, three of the four sets feature parts to turn the X-Man into another member of the team.

BANSHEE

Banshee&Pyro3Banshee is a figure we’ve been waiting quite some time for. He started popping up on wishlists just a few series into the line, mostly due to his absence from the Giant-Size X-Men #1 boxed set. Then he showed up as one of the choices in the Series 50 poll, but was ultimately not one of the finalists. Now we’ve finally gotten him. Of course, he’s in his 90s Strike Force uniform instead of his traditional green and yellow, but let’s not split hairs here. We got Banshee! Focus on the positive! The figure stands 2 ½ inches tall and features the usual 14 points of articulation. As I noted above, this is Banshee’s Jim Lee design from the 90s. It’s not his longest lasting look, but he did wear it in a few noteworthy appearances. He uses the standard Minimate body, with the addition of a hairpiece, cape, gloves, leg straps, and boot straps. I believe that the gloves are new to this series, though they are used on all of the X-Men in this series. The rest of the pieces are some rather clever re-use. The hair is from the Infinity Gauntlet set’s Adam Warlock, the cape is from the Secret Wars set’s Photon, and the straps are all from Series 34’s 90s Cyclops. All of the pieces are well-sculpted and well-chosen for Banshee’s look. Banshee’s paintwork is generally pretty good. The colors are nice and bold, and the detail lines are all very well Banshee&Pyro2applied. There is a little bit of bleed over here and there on the changes from blue to yellow, and the belt buckle isn’t fully red like it should be. All minor things, but things that it would be nice to see handled just a bit better. Banshee is packed with a piece replicating his sonic scream ability, a flight stand, and a clear display stand. In addition to the Banshee parts, he also includes parts to transform the figure into Gambit. He has a head, hairpiece, set of card throwing hands, and a satchel. All of these pieces are very nice, and they translate the figure to Gambit quite expertly.

PYRO

Banshee&Pyro5Now, the wait for Pyro alone hasn’t quite been as extensive as it was for Banshee, but he and his fellow Brotherhood members have been waiting in the wings for a little while. Like Banshee, Pyro is about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. The collar piece is a little bit restricting of the head movement, but it’s still there, so that’s good. Pyro makes use of add-on pieces for his mask, collar, and gloves. All of these pieces are new to Pyro, and they’re all pretty good adaptations of his comic design. The mask is a little soft on the details, but it’s not too bad. The paintwork on Pyro isn’t quite as good as Banshee, but it’s still not horrid. The biggest issues seem to occur on the mask, where the paint is only in the same general area of where it should be, which is rather distressing. Aside from that, the colors are nicely chosen and the linework is all pretty clean. In particular, I really like the fully detailed face under the mask. It has a lot of personality. Pyro includes two flame constructs and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked this set up all by itself from my local comicbook store. They had three of the four other sets, but this was the only one I felt like I had to get right away. These are two of my favorite X-Men characters, and they turned out quite nicely. I can’t wait to get the rest of the series now!

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#0570: Age of Ultron Minimates Single Packs

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

BARON STRUCKER, ULTRON MK 1, SUB-ULTON – BLUE, SUB-ULTRON – RED, IRON LEGION 02, & 04

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Okay, today wraps up my reviews of the first “assortment” of Avengers: Age of Ultron-themed Marvel Minimates. For a while now, Diamond Select Toys has been doing “army dump” cases, where you have the chance to buy a few army builder figures in single packs, as well as one or two single-packed non-army builders. Just a few months ago, I looked at the army dump case for the Aliens line. They’ve also shown up a few times in the Marvel Minimates line, to tie-in with several of the movies. They’ve done it once more for Age of Ultron, albeit with a few differences. Technically, these are each single releases, but I received them all as one, and they sort of work as one entity. Also, there are some minor spoilers for Age of Ultron below. Nothing that would ruin your movie-going experience, but if you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to hold off.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These figures are all part of the first series of Marvel Minimates Age of Ultron blind-bagged figures. They ship in a case of 18 blind bagged figures. Previous army dump cases have not been blind-bagged and they have generally been cases of 12, so these are both changes. The ratio of the figures is 1x Strucker, 1x Ultron Mk 1, 3x Sub-Ultron – Blue, 3x Sub-Ultron – Red, 5x Iron Legion 02, 5x Iron Legion 04.

BARON STRUCKER

AoUSingles2Strucker, Strucker, Strucker. This guy was pushed pretty hard as being really important in AoU, and, truth-be-told, his part in the film is rather small. I mean, the guy still has an impact on the story, but I was sort of expecting more, given all the lead-up. His figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. While the line is based upon Age of Ultron, Strucker’s design here is actually the one he had in the post-credits scene of The Winter Soldier. Of the two, the chosen look is definitely the more distinctive, and it means he also goes pretty well with the various Hydra soldiers we’ve gotten. As far as structure, Strucker’s actually almost identical to Black Widow. Obviously, he doesn’t have the hair piece, but he has the same belt and holster. Seeing as they’re both pretty standard paramilitary pieces, they work just as well here as on Widow. The figure’s paint is generally pretty good. His uniform is done with two different tones of green, which adds some fairly nice depth to the design. The line work is also all pretty clean, and rather detailed. The uniform has some great detailing and texturing, and it looks like the one from the movie. I can’t say that the face looks a whole lot like the actor, but it’s not like it doesn’t look like the actor. Also, it seems like the hair may be a)too low set, and b) too dark. Strucker is packed with a handgun and a clear display stand.

ULTRON MK 1

AoUSingles3Hey, another Ultron Mk 1! Cool! It seems more than one toy company was influenced by that distinctive appearance. The fact that it played such a central role in the first trailer probably helped up the popularity of the design. Ultimately, it ended up with a little less screen time than I expected, but what screen time it did have was well-used. The figure is the same height as Strucker, but it only has 13 points of articulation, due to being down a hand. He’s built on the standard Minimate body with the damaged lower arm of the Battle-Damaged T-800 in place of his own lower left arm. The arm’s a good piece. It’s nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. The paint is this figure’s real shining point. The torso and waist are molded in clear plastic, with the actually body painted on. This allows for a more proper robotic appearance for the figure, and it works quite well. The detail lines are superbly handled, and this thing is just covered in texture. The only real drawback is that my figure has some paint rub on the back of the torso, presumable from being packed in with the stand. The stand, for the record, is this figure’s only accessory. That’s pretty much on par with the rest of the assortment, but I wouldn’t have minded getting an extra drone head or something to simulate the partial drone he crushes.

SUB-ULTRON – BLUE

AoUSingles6If you feel like you’ve seen this figure before, it’s because you have…essentially. This figure is effectively the same as the Sub-Ultron included with Winter Ops Hawkeye. If you really want my feelings about the figure, I’d recommend reading the review here. There is one notable difference between this version and that one: the blues of the single release are much paler than the two pack version. Oddly, I actually find myself liking this look a little bit more, for whatever reason. My only real fault with this figure is that there aren’t more of him! Seriously, there are like hundreds of these guys in the final battle, and all we get is three? That’s a little weak.

SUB-ULTRON – RED

AoUSingles7Remember all the stuff I just said about the Blue Sub-Ultron? Well, this is the exact same figure, aside from the blue accents being swapped out for red. Same head, same body, same basic detailing, same display stand. The red, of course, means that Ultron is directly controlling the drone. Thing is, we only see him control them one at a time, so having three seems excessive. Still, I like the red detailing, and this works as pretty decent classic Ultron.

IRON LEGION 02

AoUSingles4Oh boy, the Iron Legion. These guys. Look, I don’t hate them, but I do sort of resent them. See, it’s really their fault that I don’t have more Sub-Ultrons. Because, instead of more Ultron figures, we were subjected to five each (ten total) of these guys. There are a few issues with that. First off, the Iron Legion play kind of a small role in the movie. Secondly, there are only actually 5 Iron Legion drones in the film. How might I know this, you ask? Because, thirdly, the Iron Legion are NUMBERED! As in there is one 01, one 02, one 03, one 04, and one 05. You’ll notice that the figures here are labeled as “02” and “04.” That’s because they represent those numbers of the Iron Legion. So, not only do I have TEN of these guys, but they’re also evenly split between 02 and 04, so they actually aren’t army builders. So, I just have a bunch of extras of two rather specific figures. All that aside, how are the actual figures? Well, 02 is built on the standard body, with no add-ons. Just a vanilla ‘mate. This isn’t bad, because the Iron Legion are depicted as being rather sleek, and since they aren’t actual armor, they aren’t sized to fit a person. Now, being a plain Minimate, 02 relies on paint to convey the design. The paintwork isn’t perfect, but it’s still pretty good. The colors are nicely chosen, and the detail lines are clean and plentiful. The real issue here is that the colors tend to stray outside of the lines.  The 02 has a lighter blue as its accent color, which offers a little more brightness to the design. Iron Legion 02 includes a clear display stand as its only accessory.

IRON LEGION 04

Iron Legion 04 is essentially the same figure as Iron Legion 02. It too uses just the basic Minimate body, has the usual articulation, and includes a clear display stand as its sole accessory. The difference between the two is paint. Now, obviously, this one has a “04” in place of the “02” of the last one, but it also swaps out the light blue accents for black. It doesn’t look bad, but it does result in a slightly duller figure, color-wise.

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THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I purchased these figures as a full case from my favorite Minimate retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. Ultimately, I’m torn on these guys. Strucker is technically well handled, but isn’t the most exciting Minimate. I do like Ultron Mk 1 quite a bit, and he was certainly a well-chosen figure for this assortment. The additional Sub-Ultrons are certainly appreciated, but I really wish there were more of them, specifically the blue ones. The Iron Legion? Well, I like the figures well enough, but I really have a difficult time getting past how many of them were included in the case. They aren’t army builders, and even if they were, I really don’t see how anyone could see them being in greater demand than the Sub-Ultrons. It just feels like very poor planning.

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#0569: Hawkeye – Winter Ops & Sub-Ultron

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

HAWKEYE – WINTER OPS & SUB-ULTRON

MARVEL MINIMATES

HawkeyeWO&SubUltron1Alright, yesterday’s review did turn out quite as up-beat as I’d hoped. Not every set of Minimates can be a total winner, I suppose. Today’s review isn’t too far removed from yesterday’s. the same two characters are covered here, but I think this one might turn out a bit better. Let’s see if I’m right!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are part of Marvel Minimates Series 61. This set is the last piece of the first assortment of Age of Ultron-themed Minimates.  It’s one of the two specialty exclusive sets, and it’s the short-pack of the two.

HAWKEYE – WINTER OPS

HawkeyeWO&SubUltron2It’s Hawkeye again! Yay Hawkeye! The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation, although the hip articulation is a little restricted by the waist piece. Hawkeye is depicted here in his coated look from the film, which he wears during the opening and closing battles of the film. Since both of those battles take place in the more frigid Sokovia, I guess “Winter Ops” is a reasonable enough name. It’s actually a pretty nice design, and it works in a few more of the classic Hawkeye elements that were absent from the first movie’s design. While the majority of the figures in this series are complete re-use, this Hawkeye’s only re-used part is his hair, which is the same as the regular Hawkeye’s hair. The figure also has new add-ons for his collar/quiver and his belt/lower jacket. Both pieces are well sculpted and match up nicely to the design of the costume from the movie. The only real issue I ran into is that the quiver on my figure wasn’t very well affixed to the collar, so it fell out almost as soon as I took the figure out of the packaging. It was a quick fix, but it was still a little annoying. Hawkeyes’s paintwork is quite well handled.  From the waist down, it’s the same as the regular Hawkeye, which, given that the jacket of this version is just supposed to go over the regular version, adds a nice bit of consistency. The upper half of the figure is sharply and cleanly detailed, and it does a great job of capturing the jacket’s look. The face on this figure has a more intense expression than the regular, and I think it actually results in a stronger likeness of Jeremy Renner. Guess I just associate the guy with looking pissed off. Hawkeye features the same selection of accessories as his regular counterpart: a bow, three arrows, and a clear display stand.

SUB-ULTRON

HawkeyeWO&SubUltron3So, when you need Ultron, but the regular one calls in sick, you get a Sub-Ultron, right? Nah, not really. The Sub-Ultron is really just the name of the generic Ultron Drones from the movie. Interestingly enough, while Hawkeye never has much interaction with Ultron Prime, he does have a ton of interaction with the Sub-Ultrons, so this packing makes a lot more sense than the last one did. The figure has the same basic height as Hawkeye and he has 14 points of articulation, unimpeded this time. Design-wise, there was really only one real Ultron drone design in the film. I kind of like this one a little bit more, because it’s a more classically styled take on the character. Like Ultron Prime, the Sub-Ultron features a newly sculpted head on the basic Minimate body. It works better here, though, since the Sub-Ultrons aren’t meant to be big and imposing. The head is a fairly straight forward piece. It’s well-sculpted and it looks like the heads from the movie. Paint is really where the strong suit lies on this figure. All of the many pieces of the Ultron body are clearly outlined, and there’s plenty of great texture work. The lines are also all crisp and dark, which hasn’t really been the case with the AoU-mates I’ve looked at so far. The figure also has a few spots of nice, bright blue, which works as a great accent and (in-movie) indicates that Ultron is not in direct control of this drone body. The Sub-Ultron’s only accessory is a clear display stand, but I can’t really think of anything else that could have been included.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like yesterday’s set, I got this one as part of a complete set of Series 61, which I ordered through Big Bad Toy Store. This was actually the set I was looking forward to the most in this series, and I’m happy to say it didn’t disappoint. This Hawkeye design is a little stronger than the last one, and the figure translates it very well. I also like the more intense expression, and it was nice to get a few new parts for this one. The Sub-Ultron is a much more solid figure compared to Ultron Prime. It maintains the same level of paint detail, but without the issues with size. This set is a great addition to the line.

#0568: Hawkeye & Ultron Prime

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

HAWKEYE & ULTRON PRIME

MARVEL MINIMATES

Hawkeye&UltronPr1

Alright, now we get into the good stuff. I mean, sure, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were fun , and Iron Man, Widow, Thor, and Cap weren’t bad, but the movie was called Age of ULTRON. Dude’s in the title. That makes him a little important. Add in Hawkeye who got short changed by the first Avengers movie, both in Minimate form and in the film itself, and you’ve got what makes for quite a winning combination. So, let’s look at the basic Hawkeye and Ultron Prime.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Hawkeye and Ultron are part of Marvel Minimates Series 61, which is the specialty store portion of the first assortment of Age of Ultron Minimates. This set is one of two specialty-exclusive sets from the first assortment, and it is the heavier packed of the two.

HAWKEYE

Hawkeye&UltronPr3Hawkeye’s the requisite Avenger here, though I guess he’s the least “heavy-hitter” of the main six. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and he has the usual 14 points of articulation. This figure is based on Hawkeye’s no-sleeve appearance, which is pretty much the same as his main appearance in the first Avengers film. The figure shares his collar and quiver with the Hawkeye from the last movie, but this time around he’s got the Series 27 Ultimate Cap hair, which had been popping up with increasing frequency. It’s actually a better fit for Jeremy Renner’s hair than the previous piece, and a better sculpt in general. At first glance, Hawkeye’s paint isn’t much different than the last Avengers film version. However, a closer look shows that his paint is actually a fair bit more detailed, cleaner, and better aligned to the body. Hawkeye’s face is probably the biggest departure from the last one. I’m not sure that they’ve necessarily captured the Renner likeness any better, but I personally like this face a little more than the last. To be fair, the hair also plays a large part in how the face looks. Hawkeye is armed with his bow and three arrows, and he’s also packed with a clear display stand.

ULTRON PRIME

Hawkeye&UltronPr2And now we finally get to the titular villain, Ultron. It’s taken a little time, but here we are. The figure has 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall. That last bit is sort of an issue. Like the Hasbro figure before him, this Ultron Prime is simply too small. Now, it’s not unheard of for a Minimate to be slightly out of scale (just ask the Sentinels) but for a character like Ultron, who only needs to be a little bigger than the rest of the line, Diamond usually uses a few add-ons to bulk the character up just a tad. Characters like Groot have received a few pieces here and there to bring them to a more proper height. Ultron’s only additional sculpted piece is his head. Aside from that, he just uses the basic body. This makes him feel rather… unintimidating, especially when supposedly compact designs like the Mark 43 are so much bulkier than he is. The figure really would have benefited from at the very least a waist extender and a bulker torso piece. As is, he feels far too puny for the film’s version of the character. Now, moving past the issues with scale and sculpt, it should be noted that the paintwork on this particular figure is tremendously handled. All of his detail lines are nice and crisp, and his many textural details extend around almost the entirety of the figure. At the very least, on his own, he looks like Ultron. Ultron Prime’s only accessory is a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I got the last two sets from my local comicbook store, they sadly had already sold out of both of the Hawkeye and Ultron sets by the time I got there. To make matters worse, my other go-to retailer for Minimates purchases, Luke’s Toy Store, ended up not getting adequate supplies of Series 61 due to a mix-up with Diamond. So, I ended up having to order a complete set of Series 61 (extras of Iron Man, Black Widow, Cap, and Thor included) from Big Bad Toy Store. I don’t dislike this set. I can’t say it wowed me as much as I’d hoped it would, though. Hawkeye is a great update on the original Avenegrs design. From top to bottom, he is a superior figure to his predecessor. Sadly, Ultron ends up being the disappointing piece here. He isn’t terrible, but he’s been horribly undercut by the lack of any sort of add-ons. His head piece is the first new part we’ve seen so far in this assortment, which leads me to believe that DST were trying to get as much as they could out of re-used parts. Perhaps Ultron’s additional pieces just didn’t cost out. Or it could even be possible that DST was unaware of Ultron’s final scale until it was too late to change. I don’t really know, but the end result is a somewhat lackluster take on the movie’s primary villain. That’s unfortunate.