Day 31: January 31st
Scolari Brother Nunzio
One of the pair of ghosts that show up in the courtroom scene of the second movie, the Nunzio minimate looks great! DST likes to make use of a ‘slipper’ type foot piece for minimates of characters that are shorter and while it does the job I am not entirely sold on it. My biggest beef with them is that they take away the hole in the bottom of the foot that can be very useful with foot pegs and flight stands.
Day 30: January 30th
Courtroom Egon Spengler
Rounding out the trio of Ghostbusters in the courtroom scene we get a great looking Egon minimate. DST really captured his quirky facial expression from this scene and the detail of the fact that he doesn’t fully do up his straps of his proton pack in the movies isn’t lost as there are straps dangling down from the pack on the minimate as well. The accessories DST has put into these minimates are awesome and with this one we get Egons giga meter and a ghost trap that is open with the cable extended to the foot pedal activator!
Day 29: January 29th
Courtroom Ray Stantz
Again we have DST giving us the characters from a great scene of the second movie! The detail of having Ray wearing the proton pack over his suit is fantastic! As with most of the Ray minimates released this one also comes with the closed capture trap accessory which looks very accurate even in the tiny scale!
Day 28: January 28th
Subway Ghost
This is another great example of DST going all out to make use of new and existing parts to give us a very unique looking minimate that is spot on the source material! The ghosts in this series have been great fun to see and look fantastic; in fact I think I may put together a ghost group picture just for fun – once I have fully caught up of course!
Day 27: January 27th
New York City Mayor
One of the biggest debatable issues surrounding minimates based on movie or TV properties is whether or not the more ‘plain’ looking characters will translate well in minimate form and if there is enough interest in them compared to the brighter and colorful costumes of the comic book based properties. Ghostbusters has proven that, in this case, the more ‘plain’ looking minimates can sell as the sets consistently sell quickly. Some may look at this minimate and think it’s not a big deal but I disagree. First off it captures the look of the character that appeared in both movies and secondly for any Marvel fans he provides some very vital parts to do a part swap custom of long time Spider-man hater J. Jonah Jameson! I know I have a spare for that reason!
Day 26: January 26th
Ghostbusters 2 Peter
While I dig DST making sure they give us the complete team in each uniform I find myself not too enamored with this one. I think it is because the SDCC version with the sunglasses looks much cooler in my opinion. Still I love this line and all the great accessories they have made to capture the essence of the movies.
Day 25: January 25th
Slimer
We have received many versions of Slimer over the course of the movie Ghostbusters releases and quite honestly I enjoy each one and have not ever felt they were going to the well too often with him.
Day 24: January 24th
Ghostbusters 2 Egon Spengler
DST’s commitment to giving us complete sets of the Ghostbusters in their various outfits’ shows a desire to give the fans the best possible toy line based on these movies possible! Most fans have looked at the new hair sculpt on this minimate and are calling it the best hair piece of 2010 since it better captures the wackiness of Egons hair in the movies.
Day 23: January 23rd
Titanic Captain Ghost
DST really went all out adding various ghosts to this line, which makes it all the more fun because what fun is it to have Ghostbusters but no ghosts to bust! I love the face on this one and the overall use of the clear parts lightly painted really gives it the ghostly look.
Day 22: January 22nd
Ghostbusters 2 Slime blower Ray
In the second movie the Ghostbusters get some new gear and the slime cannons were a big part of that. Only Ray and Winston carry them in the movie and oddly DST only gave us Ray with the slime blower in this color version of the second movie outfits. Great facial expression on this one as well!
Day 21: January 21st
Theatre Ghost
One of the greatest things that the movie Ghostbusters line has brought to the minimate table is some great reuses of parts as well as some fantastic new pieces and the theatre ghost is a prime example of both points! This is one great looking ghost!
Day 20: January 20th
Ghostbusters 2 Louis Tully
Released as part of the second ‘Best of’ series of Ghostbusters 2-packs at Toys R Us stores, this version had some minor tweaks like the changing the name tag on the chest to be more movie accurate. The only thing that could have made this minimate perfect would have been the inclusion of earmuffs!
Day 19: January 19th
Vigo the Carpathian
The main antagonist for the second Ghostbusters movie, Vigo is portrayed in the movie with a Viking-esque leather amour and this minimate captures that look so well that I may have to try and get another for customizing a random character in a Thor action scene. Another nice touch is the inclusion of the more demon looking slip over headpiece to depict the other look Vigo has in the movie.
Day 18: January 18th
‘World of the Psychic’ Peter
This minimate was a bit of a stretch I felt…it is a rather plain looking minimate but the inclusion of the hairless cat sells it! This was the first planned minimate animal made and it’s a fun little addition to the line.
Day 17: January 17th
Possessed Janosz
A nice addition to the Ghostbusters assortment, the additional hairpiece with the ‘Happy New Year’ party hat adds some fun to this minimate! It wasn’t until I was setting this minimate up for this photo that I realized he has the ‘rolled up sleeves’ cuffs, which was something I had been looking to use for a custom for another project…might have to get me another to use!
Day 16: January 16th
Statue of Liberty
This is one cool minimate brought to us from the movie Ghostbusters line! The likeness is great, nice attention to detail and the translucent orange flame adds a great touch. Speaking of great touches, under the gown/robes is a piece of movie detail too – the pink slime portrait of the four Ghostbusters inside the statue ties it right into the second movie!
Todays minimate is dedicated to my son Kye, since it is his 8th birthday today and he loves this minimate...in fact one of them in the picture is his and he didn't even know it! Happy Birthday buddy!
Day 15: January 15th
Warpath
This version of Warpath has him in his X-Force black and gray/silver costume. While the previous Warpath looked pretty good I find myself very happy with how they stepped this one up. Most notably is the new belt and his knives, which are a rather signature piece to the character. The new belt has dual sheathes on the back to store both knives in a comic accurate fashion!
Day 14: January 14th
Professor Xavier
Another variation I never thought would see the light of day as a minimate, this version of Prof X in his hover chair is awesome! This chair folds open in the front so a full minimate can sit inside it and the arm rests fold open, a nod to the 90’s Toy Biz version. Prof X has a suit jacket piece which, as you can see from the pic, can be removed to show the more casual look he sported a lot in the 90’s. I may try to switch out the arms for the rolled up sleeves look which would better suit this look. There is also a little stand that the hover chair sits on which actually raises it off the ground a bit, what a great little add on!
Day 13: January 13th
Six armed Spider-man
This was a great surprise when they announced him since I, and I am sure many others, were wondering how they were going to do the six arms. The extra body piece added to hook up the 4 extra arms was a great idea and lends itself to many future uses. This is a very welcome Spider-man variation to my collection!
Day 12: January 12th
Doombots
The great feature of the comic book shop waves is the army builders packed with the variants and the Doombots are the army builders for this wave. Generally the army builders help fill in some of the henchmen or helper/minion ranks of the Marvel universe, although there have been good guys too such as the Shield soldiers and, in my opinion on of the greatest army builders yet, Multiple Man. These guys are the robotic henchmen of Dr. Doom and will look great in a set up with Doom facing his favorite foes the Fantastic Four!
Day 11: January 11th
The Lizard
One of Spider-mans most request foes shows up in minimate form finally!! I am very happy with how DST pulled this one off, it looks amazing! I know some people complained about the lack of a sculpted head but I think it looks great just the way it is. The tattered lab coat looks awesome and having the tail attach to the coat helps keep some of the articulation of the minimate and keeps the bulkiness down.
Day 10: January 10th
Thing
This minimate is yet another version of the ever loving blue eyed Thing. This is the 9th version of this character with each one being a little different and having different add-ons to increase the bulk of the character. Many complain that this type of adding on takes away from the core of what a minimate is but I personally think if it is done right it looks great, and this one hits it dead on for me!
Day 9: January 9th
Trench coat Thing
Wave 37 hit comic book stores in the last week of December, just coming under the wire of being the last minimates of 2010. Of course with no comic shop here they had to wait for me to be back at school in Saskatoon and became the true first minimates of 2011 for me. The trench coat Thing is the variant of the wave and I think they did an amazing job of him. The increased bulk and add on pieces really work for me. The sunglasses don’t stay on his face and I am not sure I’ll go as far as some have suggested and glue them on, but he does look pretty good just holding them.
Day 8: January 8th
HALO Warthog
Now I have no problem admitting to the fact that I have no knowledge about HALO at all. I think I may have played the very first game once maybe twice but it didn’t hold my interest at all. So when they announced that they were making HALO minimates I was happy to feel no qualms about not buying any of them. That is until the Warthog came along. The biggest thing for me is that finding vehicles in the minimate scale is not an easy thing to do so I pretty much jumped at this one! It has great size, holds up to five minimates and looks good for any kind of military/soldier or special ops type display or play. I loved vehicles for my toys when I was a kid so vehicles for minimates are a no-brainer for me and I will likely buy them even if I don’t collect the rest of the minimates from that line. Case in point here, the Warthog comes with a Spartan but I don’t even plan on keeping him since he holds zero interest for me.
Day 7: January 7th
Doug Ramsey/Douglock
Doug Ramsey was a minor role character at best, then they killed him and merged him with Warlock to create Douglock…and that is the limits of my knowledge on him lol! As a bonus to the previous days Warlock minimate, there are pieces included to make Doug, more techno than plain so I am basing him to be Douglock. I went a step further and using parts from the New Mutants box set made a more customed look for him, something a bit more fitting then the extra pieces limited me to. Over all I am quite happy with how it turned out and a bonus minimate is always a welcome thing!
Day 6: January 6th
Warlock
Again this falls to a character I don’t know much about but that’s what the internet and the Marvel encyclopedia are for! As far as the look goes DST really went all out on getting this look down and they did a fantastic job! On top of the great sculpts and tampos they added a little bonus to this minimate which leads me right into day 7…
Day 5: January 5th
Cannonball
Working on the 90’s X-Force team look Cannonball fits right alongside Shatterstar as two more members of that team are added to the roster. While this is our second Cannonball figure, the first being in the New Mutants box set, this is a great representation of the evolution of the characters look. The jacket and head/goggle headpiece look dead on to the source material and the best part is the blast effect. While the NM version Sam reused a blast effect seen with many Iron Man minimates this blast effect is brand new and attaches at the base of the torso block, in place of the legs. This is the near perfect, proper representation of how his blast effect power is shown in the comics and elevates this minimate to a great looking one!
Day 4: January 4th
Magik
While I really don’t know much about the character, having read very few comics that she was a big part of somehow in all my years collecting X-Men comics, I do know that I consider this minimate to be the sleeper hit of this wave for me! I love the look, so classic yet very workable, not too much extra yet enough to nail the look. The powered up sword is a great piece, looks fantastic! The big selling point for me was her teleportation base…this pieces is a work of art!
Day 3: January 3rd
Shatterstar
When the pics of this wave first surfaced and I saw Shatterstar I knew I was going to be very happy to get him. It’s not that I am overly fond of this look, the costume design is not really that great or anything, but I really dig the dual bladed swords and was hoping they would be cool in minimate form. I was not disappointed! The only downside I see with this mate is the gloves; I think this mold needs some retooling as the ‘claw’ is so narrow that he can’t hold his swords! I subbed in a pair of plain white hands and it looks just fine and best of all works!
Day 2: January 2nd
Dark Magneto
What a great character to pack with Wolverine, other than the obvious host of his own villains. This Magneto quickly became one of my fave minimates solely because of the fact they included the blacked out face with red eyes! Such a killer visual right there! Toss him on a flight stand so he is hovering above and it’s a great look of a fierce villain full of rage and power.
Day 1: January 1st
Brown Wolverine from Toys R Us wave 9
The package with my trade for the 3 exclusive sets arrived on New Years Eve but I held out opening them so I could have brand new minimates on the 1st of the 2011, plus I had already hatched the idea for this project and thought these would be great lead offs for it! It only seems fitting that I start with the Wolverine from this wave, since he is one of my all time fave comic book characters, don’t know why just something about him keeps me interested. This is a great looking minimate overall, the new mask, new hair and of course the piece that I think sells the piece for me – the folded down mask that can hang on the back of the character so it looks like Logan has pulled his mask back off his face like he does in the comics! Little improvements like these make it great to collect this line!
Portrait of an Addiction/Collection
A Minimate a day for 2011
This is going to be one of those 365 pictures over the course of the year kind of projects that I like and dislike all in the same breath…I don’t know why I feel that way and have thought a lot about it before starting this project but have not come to any conclusion aside from that I like/dislike the concept.
My first minimate was Gene Simmons from KISS, a gift from my wife for Christmas 2002. We had saw the KISS and Star Trek minimates in Wal-Mart and thought the 3 inch blocky little figures were neat looking. My being a KISS fan, my wife thought the Gene minimate was a great gift.
Flash forward a year and the company making minimates, Art Asylum, was again making a show at the toy aisle in Wal-Mart but this time they are in 2 packs, have dropped in size to 2 inches and are based on Marvel comic book characters. Well actually, while writing this I can recall seeing the Marvel minimates first in single packs while grocery shopping at Safeway. Again I thought they were pretty neat looking but had stopped collecting toys at this time. The smaller scale was very appealing and for Christmas in 2003 my wife surprised me with the Hulk/Bruce Banner 2 pack. It was the start of the addiction!
A lot has changed since that first 2 pack but here we are in 2011 and my minimate collection is still going strong. This project/blog will showcase one new, or at least new to me, minimate for everyday of this year. While they may not be posted daily, due to my already busy life, there will be individual posts for each day…it just might be that updates happen with several days going up all at once. To add a bit more than just a picture I will also have a little write up each day too…just my thoughts on the picture nothing too mind blowing…maybe lol. Thanks for joining me on this journey and I hope you all enjoy!!
