Tag Archives: Minimates

#0049: Wolverine & Harada

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

WOLVERINE (PRISONER) & KENUICHIO HARADA

MARVEL MINIMATES

The Wolverine was released this summer.  It was a sequel to X-Men 3, and it was one of those few times that a movie actually manages to make its predecessor better, not by making it look better by comparison, but by retroactively adding some emotion to a lackluster film.  The Wolverine was not a perfect movie, but it wasn’t bad either.

Like most of the recent Marvel movies, Diamond Select Toys did a selection of figures from their Minimates line in order to tie-in with the movie.  Like previous movies, this one was given a comic book store assortment, and a Toys R Us assortment.  I’ll be taking a look at one of the sets from the Toys R Us assortment today.

The characters featured are, of course, Wolverine himself, and somewhat antagonist, Kenuichio Harada.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Like I said above, these guys were released as part of the Toys R Us tie-in series for The Wolverine.

WOLVERINE (PRISONER)

First up is the titular character.  Wolverine is depicted here in his “prisoner” look, which is what he’s wearing during the WWII era flash-backs in the film when he is a POW in Japan.  There’re some important scenes that feature him with this look, so it’s not surprising to see it pop up here.  It’s a bit odd to see it packed with Harada, but it’s not a huge deal.  The figure is once again built on the basic Minimate body, standing about 2 ½ inches tall and featuring 14 points of articulation.  He features sculpted hair and claws and a sculpted belt.  I’m not 100%, but I’m fairly certain that the claws are a reuse from a previous Wolverine.  The other pieces are new, although the hair piece was also used on two of the three other Wolverines in the wave.  Wolvie is mostly molded in the appropriate colors, but the paint still makes up most of the detailing.  It’s well done and fairly intricate.  The face on this version is fairly calm, which is okay, since Wolverine kept pretty calm during the captivity scenes.  The Hugh Jackman likeness is better than some of the one’s we’ve seen in the past, but not quite dead on.  Wolverine includes the sword he was presented by Yashida, a display stand, and three sets of hands:  one regular, one clawed, and one bone clawed.  The Adamantium claws aren’t scene accurate, but I appreciate that they give people the option to choose.

KENUICHIO HARADA

Next is Japanese Hawkeye  Kenuichio Harada, technically an antagonist, but an unwilling one, making him more of an anti-villain.  He’s shown here in his ninja gear from the film, which is what he spends most of his screen time in, so it makes sense.  Like Wolverine, he’s built on the basic Minimate body, meaning he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has the standard 14 points of articulation, although his hair restricts the neck joint a bit.  Harada has a sculpted jacket and hair, as well as wrist pieces to simulate the ends of his gloves.  The hair and jacket are new pieces, although the jacket is shared with the Black Clan ninjas also in this wave.  The hair seems a bit off for the character, whose hair was far less bulky in the film.  It looks right in the control art on the box, but something seems to have been lost in translation.  Paint wise, he’s really only got the detailing on his face, which is passable.  The likeness isn’t as good as Wolverine’s, but it isn’t too bad.  Harada is rounded out with his trusty bow, two arrows, an alternate masked head, and a clear display stand.  The Bow and arrows appear to be reused from one of the Haweyes from last year, and the head is identical to the head on the Black Clan ninja.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Oh boy.  Hold on tight guys, it’s another tru.com story.  Yeah, so I’m always uncertain as to whether my local TRU will get their exclusive wave, so I tend to order online.  I’ve mentioned before that tru.com has a tendency not to put up pictures or label their sets correctly, making online ordering difficult.  But it’s okay, as long as you have the proper sku code, which allows you to go directly to the corret product page.  And that’s how I ordered this set and the other exclusive set from this wave.  Unfortunately, I seem to be smarter than tru’s online store, as they still sent me Wolverine and Shingen in place of this set.  And that’s not cool because Shingen kinda sucks.  Anyway, I ended up having to drive to my local TRU and exchange it.  Which is what I was trying to avoid.

Oh well, I have them now.  Which is good, because Harada was my favorite character in the film and I’d be bummed to have missed out on him.

#0047: Iron Man & The Thing Minimates

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IRON MAN & THE THING

MARVEL MINIMATES

Look!  It’s more Minimates!  Yes, I’ll be looking at even more Minimates, once again from the Marvel line.  This time I’ll be looking at a set from the “Best Of” sub series.  The idea behind this sub set was keeping the definitive versions of the main Marvel Heroes and villains on the market, while trying to produce the best possible minimates of those looks.  I’ll be taking a look at Iron Man and the Thing from that line.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These guys were released as part of the first “Best Of” series of Marvel Minimates.

IRON MAN

First up is Iron Man.  He’s depicted in his classic red and yellow armor he wore for most of the 60s and 70s.  Unlike previous minimates of this particular look, the yellow is actually yellow on this one, instead of Gold.  Iron Man is built on the basic minimate body, so he’s about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He features a sculpted helmet and belt, as well as sculpted boot and glove cuffs.  Paint-wise, the details are all well done, though some of the red paint is a little thin in places, and seems a bit fuzzy on the edges of the boots and gloves.  But since those are meant to be covered by the cuff pieces, it’s not really an issue.  Iron Man also features an extra left hand in a repulsor pose, a flying stand, and a hairpiece to display him sans helmet.  These are all reused pieces, but they work well here.

THE THING

Next is Benjamin J Grimm, The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing.  Ben’s look is a bit more difficult to nail down than IM’s.  I think it’s meant to be Ben in his look from the mid 2000s, after he switched back to shorts from pants, but I can’t be certain.  The “4” on the belt buckle is throwing me off.   Anyway, he’s built on the basic minimate body, but with sculpted hands and feet instead of the regular ones.  As such, he stands a bit taller than IM and has 12 points of articulation.  In addition to the sculpted hands and feet, Ben’s other sculpted pieces are: Headpiece, upper arms, torso, waist and upper legs.  These are all slip over pieces, and have been used on previous Thing figures.  With that many sculpted pieces, the paint work on Ben is minimal.  He’s got detailing on his face, and on his belt and that’s about it.  They’re both clean and well done.  Ben also includes a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t buy this set when it was initially released, as I already had a few classic Iron Men, and my default version of the Thing is the look John Byrne gave him in the 80s.  However, my comic book store was having a sale on minimates, and had these guys for about 40% off, so I decided to pick them up.  While the Thing is still not my go to, I think the Iron Man may very well become my new default Iron Man.

#0042: Tony Stark & Heartbreaker

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TONY STARK & HEARTBREAKER

MARVEL MINIMATES

Hey, look!  It’s review number 42!  And it’s doubly funny, because the not only  is 42 the answer to life, the universe, and everything, but it’s also a significant number in this year’s Iron Man 3.  Today, I’ll be taking a look at another selection from my large Minimates collection.  This set once again comes from the Marvel Minimates line.  It’s Tony Stark and the Heartbreaker from the Iron Man 3 tie-in Minimates.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as a Toys R Us exclusive set in Diamond’s Iron Man 3 series.

TONY STARK

Tony is depicted in his workshop gear from the film.  He’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands just over 2 inches tall and has either 14 or 12 points of articulation, depending on which pair of feet you decide to display him with.  He features sculpted hair, boots and gloves.  The hair piece is a generic piece that’s been used a few times before, but it’s accurate to Tony’s look from the film, so it works.  The boots and gloves are reused from the Mark 42 armor from this same wave of figures.  It’s a sensible reuse, given that they were just the boots and gloves from the Mark 42 in the film anyway.    Tony also includes a spare set of hands and feet.  They’re the basic Minimate pieces, molded/painted in the appropriate colors.  The rest of the detail on the figure is conveyed through paint.   The face is an okay depiction of RDJ, and is unique in that it has him wearing his control visor.  The detailing on the torso is also really cool, especially the texturing on the gray parts of the shirt.  Tony’s rounded off by a clear display stand.

HEARTBREAKER

The Heartbreaker armor is one of the many armors shown during the climactic battle in the film.  It’s a unique look, and one of my favorites from the film, so it was a good choice for the line.  The figure’s built on the base Minimate body, but with newly sculpted upper arms and legs.  He stands about 2 inches tall and has 12 points of articulation due to his sculpted boots.  Heartbreaker features a sculpted helmet, torso-cover, waist-armor, gloves and boots.  As far as I can tell, everything but the boots is a new sculpt.  The sculpt is nice and clean, if a bit bulky in places.  The paintwork is a bit less detailed than most Minimates, relying mostly on the sculpted pieces.  Heartbreaker also includes a hair piece to trade out with the helmet to show the Tony head underneath.  It’s the same piece as the one featured on the Tony in this set which makes for good consistency.  Like his pack mate, he’s rounded off by a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These were yet another TRU.com purchase.  Like many TRU purchases, it was far from smooth.  In fact, if it weren’t for a very helpful poster on the Minimate Multiverse, who posted the SKUs for each set in the wave, I wouldn’t have been able to get this set, because TRU.com had every set in the wave labeled “Iron Man 3 Minimates Assortment”!  I’m really glad that I did get this set because I think it might be my favorite from the Iron Man 3 line.  In fact, one could say not getting this set would have been …heartbreaking!(Badumsh)

#0037: Mandarin & Dreadnought

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MODERN/CLASSIC MANDARIN & DREADNOUGHT

MARVEL MINIMATES

Today, it’s another look at the behemoth that is Marvel Minimates!  This time, we’ll be looking at Iron Man’s number one foe Mandarin in both his Modern and Classic looks, as well as his villainous robo-minions, the Dreadnoughts.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The two Mandarins and the Dreadnoughts were released as part of the 36th series of Marvel Minimates, in order to tie in with 2010’s release of Iron Man 2.  Modern Mandarin was the regular set, with the Classic version as the one-per-case variant.

MODERN MANDARIN

First up, it’s the look that most would consider the definitive Mandarin, the “Modern” version.  This figure is based on his appearances from roughly the early 90s onward.  As usual for the line, Mandarin is built on the basic Minimate body.  He stands roughly 2 ½ ‘’ tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Instead of regular hands, Mandarin features sculpted claw like hands featuring his ten rings.  Mandarin also has a sculpted hair piece, robe, and sash.  I believe the sash is a reuse from an earlier figure, but the robe and hair are new pieces.  They are well done enough, though with the robe on, Mandarin is pretty much limited to standing with his arms raised, due to the robe’s solid construction.  This is less an issue with the figure itself, and more an issue with translating the design.  The ToyBiz Marvel Legends figure based on this design has the exact same issue.  Regardless, the robe can be removed, revealing a completely detailed torso underneath, if you desire to show off Mandarin sans robe and shirtless.  Whatever floats your boat…

CLASSIC MANDARIN

Next is the alternate look for the Mandarin.  This is the original design for the Mandarin from when he first appeared in the 60s.  I’m much more of a fan of this design and the resulting figure.  I know some people would find this design cheesy, but that’s the Mandarin for me.  Over the top cheesiness.  The figure’s the same basic body, standing about 2 ½ “ tall and featuring 14 points of articulation.  This Mandarin features the same sculpted hands as the previous one, which is fine as they suit the same purpose here.  Classic Mandarin features a sculpted mask, cape, wrist bands, sash/tunic combo, and cape.  All but the mask is reuse here, with the cape comic from Mephisto, the writ guards from Ocean Master, and the sash from Dr.  Strange.  This isn’t a bad thing, though, because all the reused parts work very well for their intended purpose.  The mask is well done, and accurately depicts Mandarin’s mask from the early comics.  The detailing on the figure is nice, especially the face, which has a nice crazed expression which really works great for the character.

DREADNOUGHT

Last up is the robotic Dreadnought!  A dreadnought was included with both versions of the Mandarin, which is great for those who want to do the whole army building thing.  Like the other two figures, the Dreadnought was built on the basic Minimate body.  He stands about 2 ½ “ tall and features 14 points of articulation.  In place of the basic parts, the Dreadnought features a sculpted head and hands.  The head is an all new piece, but the hands are a reuse from Viggo the Carpatian.   The Dreadnought also features a set of sculpted boot tops which I believe are a reuse from the Dark Avengers Ares.  The paint is relatively basic, but it is well done.  Plus the metallic blue is just so awesome!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These guys were picked up at their time of release from my local comicbook store, Cosmic Comix.  I think the Mandarin is meant to be the main draw of these sets, but I actually really like the Dreadnoughts a lot.

#0033: Alpha Flight Minimates Part 1

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

GUARDIAN, PUCK, NORTHSTAR & MARINA

MARVEL MINIMATES

Did somebody say I should review more minimates?  No?  Oh…well, too bad ‘cause that’s what I’m doing, whether you like it or not!

Today’s review focuses on another set of the greatly expansive Marvel Minimates line.  This is also another set of characters from Canada’s premier super-hero team:  Alpha Flight!

Guardian is (was?) the leader of the group, husband of fellow member Heather Hudson, and all around generic hero guy!  Puck’s a short guy!  Northstar’s a guy who’s powers can only be activated by holding hands with his twin sister!  Also gay.  And Marina does water stuff!  There, now you know the characters as well as I do.  Let’s get to the review!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These four were released as a boxed set available through online retailer Action Figure Express during San Diego Comic Con 2012.

GUARDIAN

Guardian is depicted in his basic red and white, Canadian flag costume.  He’s built on the basic minimate body, so he stands a bit over 2 inches tall and features the standard 14 points of articulation.  He has a sculpted mask, with an alternate hairpiece to swap out to display James Hudson unmasked.  The detailing on the figure is well done, with little slop or bleed over.  James also doesn’t suffer from the same red paint bleed that Heather did, which is nice.  Lastly, Guardian includes an alternate robot head, so that you can depict the artificial replacement Guardian from after James’s death, which is a neat little throw in.

PUCK

Puck is shown here in pretty much the only uniform he’s ever had: Black unitard with boots and wrist bands.  It’s certainly an odd look, but I guess he looks fairly unique, so there.  Puck is built on the basic minimate body, with one slight deviation.   To simulate Puck’s diminished stature, he’s been given a set of “slipper” feet in place of the regular ones.  This brings Puck’s articulation down to 12 points, and only really reduces his height in a very subtle way.  It does help to make him appear a bit more stocky, however, so it’s not too bad.  Puck’s got a sculpted cowl, as well as a new hand that is sculpted to let him do hand stands with the included stand.  Puck’s detailing is well done, and fairly detailed, especially the hair on his arms and legs.  And I really like his face for some reason…

NORTHSTAR

Ah, Northstar.  This guy.  He’s probably the best known of the characters featured here, due to also being a member of the X-Men and, most likely, his status as one of Marvel’s  few long lasting gay characters.   He’s depicted in what is his best known, and in my opinion best designed, costume.  The simple black and white is rather striking, and it looks pretty good in Minimate form.  Northstar’s only sculpted piece is his hair, which he includes in both black and white.  This is a nice touch, given the variance in the coloring Northstar’s hair has received over the years.  I think I prefer the black just because that seems to be the way he’s depicted most often.  His details are handled with some pretty good simplicity, which really fits the character’s design.  Lastly, Northstar includes a stand to simulate his flying abilities.

MARINA

Marina was a later addition to the team, and she honestly didn’t stick with them for too long.  She married the Sub Mariner and joined the Avengers, where she was turned into a giant monster and killed by her husband.  Which is a bit of a bummer.  She’s depicted in what I believe is her only costume.  She’s built on the basic minimate body, though she has a set of specially sculpted hands to depict her webbed fingers.  She also has a sculpted hair piece, which is nicely done.  The entire figure is painted, no molded colors, which is a bit of a rarity for a minimate.  It looks nice, though, and helps to set her apart from the others.  She is certainly a unique looking minimate.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this set, like so many other “Action Figure Xpress exclusives” from my very favorite minimate retailer: Luke’s Toy Store.  I do really like this set, which is really saying something, because I only have a passing familiarity with the characters it features.

#0031: Heather Hudson & Box

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HEATHER HUDSON & BOX

MARVEL MINIMATES

Look at that!  More Minimates!  What a rarity!  Okay, not really.   Today, I’ll be looking at two more minimates from the ever growing Marvel Minimates line.  It’s Heather Hudson & Box, members of Canadian super team Alpha Flight!  If you’re unfamiliar with Alpha Flight, they’re like the Avengers, but more ….Maple-y?

Heather Hudson is one of the more prominent members, though she typically operates under the code-name of her sometimes dead husband Vindicator.  Box is a guy who can control technology.  They’re just great!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were part of the 14th Toys R Us Exclusive series of Marvel Minimates.

HEATHER HUDSON

Heather is shown here in her Vindicator costume, based on that of her husband, James Hudson, the original Vindicator.  She’s built on the basic Minimate body, so she’s about 2 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Her mask is a sculpted piece, and she includes it with two different colored visors: Blue and Red.  I prefer the blue mostly because the red plastic of the red visor bleeds through the white paint of the mask.  Heather also includes an alternate hair-piece so that she can be displayed unmasked and a stand to simulate her flying.  Her paint is decent, though she does have a recurring issue of red plastic bleeding through the white parts of her costume.

BOX

Box is depicted in his armored up form.  I don’t know which version because I’ve never really followed the character that closely, but I feel certain that he’s had more than one look.  His built on the basic Minimate body, though he’s got some extra pieces that make him a little taller, and his sculpted boots restrict his ankle articulation, leaving him with 12 points.  Box has a good selection of sculpted parts:  Helmet, chestplate, gloves, belt and boots.  He also includes an alternate gun hand, a blast off stand and an alternate hair piece to show Box’s ghostly operator Madison Jefferies.  The paint on Box is nicely done, with little slop and no issues with bleed through.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set is important because it marks one of the first times I was able to purchase minimates from Toys R Us’s online store.  Of course, I had to know the sku’s because all of the set in the wave were listed as “Marvel Minimates Wave 14: Figure” but that’s beside the point!  Man TRU sucks…

#0025: John Stewart

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JOHN STEWART – GREEN LANTERN

DC MINIMATES

So today is yet another Minimate review.  I promise to take a bit of a break from the Minimates, but they do make up a fairly large chuck of the collection, so they’ll tend to pop up fairly often.

We’re looking at a Minimate from the DC line today.  This figure is Green Lantern John Stewart, the first Minimate produced in DC Direct’s attempted revival of the DC Minimates line after the initial Lego inspired C3 line failed.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

John was a San Diego Comic Con give away, meant to drum up interest in the full DC Minimates line.  Like many Minimate give aways, he features no additional parts, but that’s not an issue with this design.  John is built, unsurprisingly, on the basic Minimate body.  He stands about 2 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  John is based on his appearance from the Justice League cartoon, which is a good look.  The lines are all very clean and sharp looking.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Although he was released a while ago, John is a fairly recent addition to my collection.  I don’t know why, as I’m a huge Green Lantern fan and a pretty big fan of John himself, but I’d say it’s mostly to do with him only being available at SDCC.  Anyway, I’ve got one now, and he’s a great addition to my collection.

#0024: Betsy Braddock

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BETSY BRADDOCK

MARVEL MINIMATES

Today, we’re looking at another Minimate.  Once again, this one if from the extensive Marvel line.  The character in question is Betsy Braddock, sister to Captain Britain, and future X-Man(well X-Woman) Psylocke.

For those of you unaware of who Betsy is:  She’s a telepathic mutant.  There, you’re caught up.  Okay, actually there’s a lot more, but I’ll cover all that on the next Psylocke Minimate…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Betsy is depicted here in her first “Psylocke” outfit.  She’s obviously meant to be a mid-80s Psylocke, from before she started joining in on the fighting.   She’s built on the basic Minimate body, so she stands about 2 inches tall, and has 14 points of articulation.  She has sculpted hair, though I do believe it is reused from an earlier ‘mate, and a set of unique upper arms to depict the poofy sleeves of her early look.  She’s painted in mostly variations of purple and pink.  She’s a fairly decent interpretation of the character, though she does end up looking a bit dull.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Not much to report here.  This is admittedly my favorite look for Psylocke, but it’s not like there’s a large number of them to choose from.  I guess I like that this one kinda treads the line between her other two most prominent looks, not too covered up(the armored look) and not too skimpy(whatever the hell that was that Jim Lee put her in).  So, yeah…

#0023: Photon

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

PHOTON

MARVEL MINIMATES

Today’s review is another Minimates item.  This time the figure comes from the Marvel Minimates line.  It’s a Minimate of Photon.  I know what you’re thinking: “Who’s Photon?”  Allow me to provide an answer! Photon, aka Monica Rambeau, actually started her career under the name Captain Marvel.  She was the second (well, technically third if you count Billy Batson, now known as SHAZAM!, but Marvel Comics would prefer you didn’t) character to use the name.  She was introduced in the 80s, and was somewhat prominent for a while, joining and even leading the Avengers for a short period.  However, the character was depowered in the early 90s and fell into obscurity for a bit, until writer Warren Ellis brought her back in his series Nextwave.  Recently, she’s had a slight resurgence, but nothing major, mostly owing to the fact that she can’t seem to hold on to a code name for very long.  Anyway, she was also in 80s cross over series Secret Wars which is why the figure I’m reviewing got made in the first place.  Yeah…I know way too much about Photon.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Photon was released as part of the Toys R Us exclusive Secret Wars boxed set.  Like the Captain America set I reviewed earlier, the set was decided by an online poll.  Guess who I voted for.  Photon is depicted in her debut costume.  She’s built on the basic Minimate body, so she stands a little over 2 inches tall.  She has 12 points of articulation, 2 less than usual for a Minimate, due to her sculpted boots.  She has sculpted hair, boots, and cape.  They’re all handled well.  The design is nice and clean, which is fitting for her character.  The black/white contrast really helps to make her stand out on the shelf.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, you’ll notice that I mentioned that she’s part of a 4-pack, but I’m not reviewing the others from the set.  That’s because I don’t own them.  Photon was the only character I really wanted from the set, but that’s actually not why I don’t have the others.  I’ve bought a whole set for one figure in the past, so I probably would have again if I’d been given the chance.  But…I wasn’t.  Yeah, my Toys R Us has never carried the fan poll Minimate sets, and this set predates tru.com carrying said sets, so I was never able to find this figure.  Apparently, this was a common problem with this set, given its fairly high value on ebay now.  So, still really wanting a Photon figure (The only Photon figure ever, mind you) I tracked down Photon loose, for probably a little too much money.

#0022: Lord of the Rings Minimates Part 1

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

GOLLUM, GANDALF THE WHITE, URUK-HAI BERSERKER & FRODO BAGGINS

LORD OF THE RINGS MINIMATES

The figures in question today are another set from the Minimates masses.  This time they come from Lord of the Rings, one of the first licenses to be attempted after the booming success that was Marvel Minimates.  They were released initially as to 4-packs: 1 containing Frodo, Gandalf, Gollum and an Ork; the other Aragorn, Legolas, Saruman and Twilight Frodo.  Today, I’ll be looking at the former set.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

FRODO

First up is the story’s lead character, the hobbit Frodo Baggins.  Frodo is built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands a little over two inches tall, and has 14 points of articulation.  His sculpted pieces include:  Hair, elven cloak, belt, and his trusty sword Sting and a scabbard.  These minimates are from an earlier time in the line, when the figures were more simplistic, so Frodo is sculpted to match this style.  As such, he’s a good deal less detailed than a modern ‘mate.    All in all, Frodo’s a pretty solid Minimate, but he represents one of the recurring issues with minimates as time has passed, and the line has evolved:  the older offerings don’t fit in with a lot of the new figures.

GOLLUM

Next is Gollum, or is it Smeagol.  I guess he’s technically both.  Gollum/Smeagol is also built on the basic Minimate body.  His only sculpted piece is his loincloth-thingy.  All of his other details are painted.  Admittedly, the figure captures the character’s look rather well, but I can’t help but feel that this guy’s a little bit on the boring side.

URUK-HAI BERSERKER

Next is one of the more straight forward villains of the films, the Uruk-hai Berserker.  For brevity’s sake, I’ll just refer to him as Uruk.  Now, Uruk here is technically an army builder*.  His purpose as an army builder is a bit defeated a bit by packing him in a boxed set with 3 other “non-army builders,” but that hardly impacts the quality of the figure.  Uruk has two sculpted add-ons:  his loincloth and his helmet.  Both are well done, especially the loincloth, which has a very nice sculpted texture.  Uruk’s paintjob is probably the most complex of the set, with detailing on practically every surface.  Of particular note is the full face detailing under the helmet, allowing Uruk to be displayed sans helmet.  Though he’s the only non-named character in the set, Uruk is, in my opinion, the most standout ‘mate in the set.

GANDALF THE WHITE

Last up is another of the main characters from the films, as well as a major character in the current Hobbit films, Gandalf.  In particular, this is Gandalf the White, depicting the wizard in the garb he wore after his assumed death at the hands of the Balrog in the first film (umm…spoilers?).  Unsurprisingly, Gandalf is predominately white.  Well, off-white, but that’s splitting hairs.  Gandalf is built on the larger (But not largest!) minimate body, but still features all the same articulation as his smaller counterparts, although his hair and skirt pieces do restrict the neck and legs respectively.  Gandalf features the most sculpted pieces of the set: Hair and beard, cape, skirt-piece, and two pieces that slide over the wrists to simulate Gandalf’s longer sleeves.  As far as painted details, Gandalf is fairly basic, with his only real detailing being on his torso and face.  The torso is fine, but the face is nothing short of amazing.  The designers managed to capture Sir Ian McKellen’s likeness perfectly in just a few simple lines.  Wrapping things up, Gandalf also features his wizard’s staff.  It’s decently sculpted, although it does have a tendency to bend in the middle over time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, all in all this is an okay set.  It’s definitely a product of its time, when Minimates were much more simplistic.  While that worked well for characters such as the Marvel super heroes, who thrive on simplicity, I don’t feel that it works quite as well with characters like these, who don’t have particularly dynamic designs.  The strongest figure in this set by far is Uruk, who is the one figure that I feel comes closest to the modern standards of minimates.

The other big issue this line has is that it doesn’t really fit in with any of the other Minimates lines.  In order to accommodate the smaller size of the hobbits, they made the human characters larger, putting this line in a scale completely its own.

I got this set for my birthday the year it was released.  I remember enjoying it, but not quite as much as my other minimates.  In this set’s defense , I am a lot more of a Marvel fan than a LOTR fan.

*For those not in the know, an army-builder is a figure, typically of a nameless character, that can serve as a generic member of an army of similar characters.  Army builders are meant to help you build an army at a greater speed, by letting the collector have a figure they can buy a large quantity of at once.  It is also beneficial to the toy company, as they get greater sales without having to tool new figures.  A good example of an army builder is the Stormtroopers from Star Wars.