Day 181

Day 181: June 30^th

Tower Records Exclusive Silver Surfer

My first look at the Marvel minimates came when I found single carded ones at the Safeway grocery store we shopped at. Much like my thoughts with the Gene Simmons I had I thought they looked pretty cool and very well done considering they were even smaller now! This Surfer is the only single card minimate I have MIP and that is only because he was re-released in a two pack with Spider man 2099 and I already had that one when the chance to get this one came around. I still like it because it is a neat reminder of where they started.

Day 180

Day 180: June 29^th

3 inch Gene Simmons from KISS

This was my first ever minimate and I still hold it in the same high regard as I did when I got it. I had been out of the toy game for awhile by this point but was amazing at how they made some so small so awesome! The details are all there right down to the demons great platform boots!! The only thing that was missing aside from his axe bass was his crazy tongue!

Day 179

Day 179: June 28^th

3 inch Paul Stanley from KISS

I love the fact that not only did they get his tattoo on his arm but they also got Pauls shaggy chest hair! Now that is attention to details!

Day 178

Day 178: June 27^th

3 inch Ace Frehley from KISS

Another great job by Art Asylum to nail down the costume and face make up on the ‘Space Ace’ minimate. He even has that slightly glazed over facial expression he is known to get while he is really in the zone while playing.

Day 177

Day 177: June 26^th

Sundays with my Son

I like this set up. I named this one Attack on Asgard based on the book. The asgardian guards V.S. frost giant one and two is great!

Day 176

Day 176: June 25^th

3 inch Peter Criss from KISS

One of my all time favourite bands is KISS and there was never a doubt in my mind that I had to keep all four members of the band when I thinned out the minimate collection. I love how well Art Asylum did with the production of these right down to the tattoo on Peters chest!

Day 175

Day 175: June 24^th

3 inch Immortal Dragon Bruce Lee

When the time came that I decided I no longer needed to be a minimate completist I sold many of my minimates that were outside the core of what I truly enjoyed to collect and this included many of the 3 inch minimates. I sold all 4 of the Bruce Lee minimates and almost immediately regretted it because they are some of the neatest of the 3 inch lines. I did manage to get this one in a trade and keep my eyes open for any of the other ones to show up so I can re-add them to my collection.

Day 174

Day 174: June 23^rd

3 inch Mr. T

I pity the fool you doesn’t have a Mr. T minimate! And yes, yes I truly do because Mr. T is one awesome minimate! I can freely admit to enjoying both The A-team TV show as well as the Saturday morning Mr. T cartoon as a child. When the third box set of Rocky minimates was cancelled I was saddened by the fact we were denied a 2 inch Mr. T minimate! This Mr. T was released as a promo item for the MTV Celebrity Deathmatch video game.

Day 173

Day 173: June 22^nd

3 inch Art Asylum blank

This is one of only a handful of minimates I own that is still in package. There is no special reason for this one to be in package still aside from the fact that I already have one opened and just happened to get a good deal on this one still sealed so I have it. I love the towering presence of the 3 inch blanks, almost more than I like the 3 inch scale minimates in general, there is just something cool about the blanks in this size! I have always loved the Art Asylum logo, Asylum Jack!

Day 172

Day 172: June 21^st

Radiation suit Marty McFly

Here is another great look from the first BTTF movie. I love how they did the helmet/hood bit. The look of this minimate is dead on to the movie and I love that he even came with the movie camera! My only gripe comes at the hands of no extra hairpiece since he doesn’t really fit in the time machine with the hood on.

Day 171

Day 171: June 20^th

Frozen Time Machine

Another great vehicle in DST’s new line of minimate vehicles the frozen time machine captures a fun moment from the first Back to the Future movie. I had such a good time playing with this while doing the photo shoot I had to pop the movie to watch as well!

Day 170

Day 170: June 19^th

Sundays with my Son

Odin and Loki are my favorite in the Thor minimate wave. The pose Thor is in I like a lot. Laufey is my second favorite from the Thor minimate wave.

Day 169

Day 169: June 18^th

Kay Lawrence

Here, in all her bathing suit glory is Kay Lawrence, the object of the creatures’ attentions in the movie – The Creature from the Black Lagoon. The white of her swim suit is clean and crisp, no bleeding over at the edges and she looks perfectly to how she looks in the film. Great job DST!

Day 168

Day 168: June 17^th

Gwen Conliffe

Gwen is the quote damsel in distress from the Wolfman movie and it is her friend that Larry tries to save when he is bitten and infected. This minimate captures the look of the era the movie is from right up to her hairstyle.

Day 167

Day 167: June 16^th

White Tiger

I know next to nothing about who this character is but I do like the way her costume looks. The black lines just jump off the while body and the red eyes really pop! I look forward to doing some reading and seeing what her character is all about.

Day 166

Day 166: June 15^th

Red Skull in Hydra uniform

This version of the Red Skull was not revealed until the Captain America single pack assortment was released. We had no idea what he looked like until he was for sale. I have to say this is one great looking minimate! The uniform looks fantastic and the colours are deep and rich. He also comes with the new Lugar-esque hand gun which looks great! I love the intense look in the Red Skulls eyes on this minimate.

Day 165

Day 165: June 14^th

Captain America

When Marvel first announced the Captain America movie I was not too sure how they would translate his costume to the big screen. After seeing a few previews and now holding this minimate I can see that they did a pretty good job with it. Best of all DST did a great job translating it into a minimate! The only thing I find weak with it is a production point, the white on his shield is too light and the red bleeds through it. Other wise this is all win, especially the back of the shield which actually has straps sculpted on it!

Day 164

Day 164: June 13^th

Red Skull

The first minimate I got from the Captain America movie assortment was the set of Cap and Red Skull. I love how DST gave Skull a slip on mask to mimic what has been seen from the movie previews. The black long jacket is accented nicely with red and silver and with the Hydra logos. DST gave him a new sculpt for his gun so it looks more like a traditional Lugar handgun.

Day 163

Day 163: June 12^th

Sundays with my Son

The hammer in the rock - I like how the rock looks. DST did a good job designing destroyers armor it looks great. The pose Thor is in I like a lot. I like Sif, Vollstagg I called vollstagg66. I like the Thor movie.

Day 162

Day 162: June 11^th

Dark Reign: The Shattering

I have mentioned my comic project several times in this blog I am sure so here is a little more about it as well as a few of the pages I have finished for it.

It began with the superhuman registration act which incited a civil war that divided the superhuman population, pitting hero against hero.

While that spectacle held the world’s attention a secret invasion of Earth by the shape shifting Skrulls escalated. The heroes put aside their differences and united against the Skrull invasion but it was an unlikely ally who saved the day, Norman Osborn – fully pardoned from his criminal past as the Green Goblin and leading the Thunderbolts initiative.

The president rewarded Osborn by stripping Tony Stark of his command position with S.H.E.I.L.D. and giving to Norman. Osborn renames it H.A.M.M.E.R. and creates his own teams of Avenger and X-Men, mostly made of villains masquerading as heroes. Under Osborn’s dark reign many of the real heroes choose to retreat into hiding while others mysteriously just disappeared. Osborn’s ‘heroes’ kept the peace while many villains took part in revolving door deals and were having back room meetings with Osborn himself which would keep them out of prison. There were rumors of heroes and teams even still standing in the shadows, opposing H.A.M.M.E.R. and Osborn chased these whispers with a determined resolve.

Under the influences of Loki, god of mischief, Osborn led a siege of Asgard using the powerful Sentry to lay waste to the mythical city. Loki was slain by the Sentry after attempting to stop Norman’s attack when he realized that it was going further than he had originally wanted it to go. When the dust settled, Asgard lay in ruins and Thor and all other surviving Asgardians had vanished. Ares, the god of war, also felt betrayed by Normans actions and attempted to stop the Sentry but has not been seen since part of the city collapsed on him during their fight.

Today Norman sits in his office pondering what his next move shall be, while enjoying a cool gentle breeze floating in the window. Little does he know that the butterfly has flapped its wings and that breeze is only the beginnings of the winds of change…

Day 161

Day 161: June 10^th

Chun Li concept art

When the awesomeness of Toy Fair was rolling out this spring DST held a contest on their Facebook page to guess what the new line was. The prize was a piece of concept art from said line. The line was Marvel vs Capcom 3 and I didn’t guess it lol. My great friend Darren/MurderofCrows however did guess it and was rewarded with the concept art for the Chun Li minimate planned for the line. This artwork is hand drawn by Uriel Caton from DST and it is amazing! Upon hearing that Chun Li is Kyes favourite Street Fighter character Darren was amazing enough to give this piece of art to Kye and it is now in a frame hanging up! Thanks a million man, he loves it!

Day 160

Day 160: June 9^th

Starman Custom

The one biggest gap left in my minimate collection came at the hands of the poorly run DC Direct line and the fact that it did not last long enough to give me a Jack Knight Starman minimate. I am thankful; however, for the fact that they made a Stargirl minimate and gave her the proper cosmic rod and that customizer extraordinaire Boyd made me this killer Jack Knight custom!

Day 159

Day 159: June 8^th

The Ice Scorpion C3 prototype box

This is one of the odds and ends in my collection. In the dying days of the DC C3 line they had pitched a round of vehicles and this is the prototype box mock up for one of them. Not all that exciting but it is the only one in existence so that is kind of neat. It also hints to the fact that this assortment would have given us a Mr Freeze minimate which would have been well received.

Day 158

Day 158: June 7^th

The Food Guide stop motion movie

This one was made as part of a university assignment and was actually a great idea to use for other age groups as an informational tool. I am glad to have it in my teachers ‘tool kit’ to use in my future career as an elementary school teacher.

Day 157

Day 157: June 6^th

Miniholidays 2006 stop motion movie

This one was made as a holiday greeting to all my friends. It was a lot of fun and I had planned to do it annually but other plans have derailed my stop motion movie plans for the time being. I had a preview of other movies I had in the works at the end of this one but thanks to a computer crash I lost all the photos and in progress work.

Day 156

Day 156: June 5^th

Sundays with my Son

Carnage is a beloved spider-man villain of mine! It is my liking to have Tony’s camera shop for this it is gone now I traded it to my dad for a collector’s case. As for the web spider-man was swinging. I like it.

Day 155

Day 155: June 4^th

Carlos the Bus Driver stop motion movie

This one was made to a song on the kids’ cd from The Little People. We had a lot of Little People toys during our kids’ younger days and they were a lot of fun with minimates too. I still have the pirate ship to use for some minimate pirate fun soon!

Day 154

Day 154: June 3^rd

Nobody likes a Bully stop motion movie

This one was made to a song on the kids’ cd from Spider-man and friends and serves as a great learning tool when talking about bullying. It was fun to also through a little nod to Spider-man and his Amazing Friends in it as well.