Day 425

Day 425 February 29^th

Video Review – Wolverine and Sabretooth, Best of series

Day 424

Day 424 February 28^th

Video Review – Captain America and Thor, Best of series

Day 423

Day 423 February 27^th

Video Review – Spider-Man and Green Goblin, Best of series

Day 422

Day 422 February 26^th

Sundays with my Son

It looks like Red Skull and Hydra have some landscaping projects in mind.  This little John Deere should do the trick!

Day 421

Day 421 February 25^th

Frankenstein’s Monster

Kudos to DST for this round of Universal Monsters Minimates; the pairing of Frankenstein and Dracula is awesome as they are probably 2 of the biggest names in the monster world as far as the classics go.  Frankenstein’s monster is a simple enough design but the details on the head are fantastic and I love the new feet as they give the height boost without being bulky and clunky!

Day 420

Day 420 February 24^th

TRU exclusive Clank

Here we have the partner to Ratchet the robot Clank.  I really dig how DST made him especially the use of typical arms for legs to match the source material better.  The details are nice and crisp and overall he looks great!

Day 419

Day 419 February 23^rd

TRU exclusive Ratchet

As part of a deal to produce a line of Sony Playstation Minimates DST made 2-packs based on various games such as Ratchet from Ratchet & Clank.  Out of the 4 sets in this wave this was the only one I had not been able to get until recently.  Honestly I was not sure what to expect as I have not played the games or anything so I was basically approaching this set blind outside of knowing the names from advertisements.  Even in the package I was still unsure but one opened Ratchet really blew me away!  He is solid and seems bigger than a standard Minimate even though he is not; he is just really well made and looks great!  I love the detailing and the overall feel of him.  My only concern is that his one arm seems to be fused at the elbow joint; I am going to have to take some time when I can to see if I can get that to open up and move.  This is defiantly a keeper for the random collection!

Day 418

Day 418 February 22^nd

TRU exclusive Dum Dum Dugan

Originally in the comics Dum Dum is one of Nick Fury’s closest agents in SHIELD the Captain America movie has him as member of a select group of soldiers that were rescued by Cap.  DST has captured his look perfectly I feel and I am all too happy to use him as a stand in until they make a comic version of him!

M.A.X. News!

 



Coming alongside a recap of what was shown at Toy Fair 2012, DST has also released a new M.A.X. animated video!  Also it was announced that the M.A.X. line was no longer a Toys R Us exclusive and would be available nationwide; as to if this means more retail stores carrying it or it moving into the specialty/comic book store realm is yet unknown but either way it sounds like a bigger distribution for this great line!  Series 3 was shown at Toy Fair and is slated to include Arctic and Night Ops sets, and new Soldier and Smokejumper paint schemes.  As well DST had the Armoured Personnel Carrier on display at Toy Fair and it has been updated to double as a battle station as well - a great idea and I feel it will add a great level of extra play to the APC vehicle!

and in case you have not seen it here is the first video:

Day 417

Day 417 February 21^st

TRU exclusive Golden Age Captain America

The way that they handled this costume in the movie was a great piece of writing!  Instead of sending the only super soldier off to fight in the war they wanted to lock him in a lab to study and attempt to recreate the serum.  Instead Cap hooks up helping to tour the country selling war bonds and helping to keep the countries moral high!

Day 416

Day 416 February 20^th

TRU exclusive Gabe Jones

Part of the TRU wave for the Captain America movie Minimates, Gabe Jones looks great and holds some fun playability in the recreation of the movie action!  I do love how DST did the hair on the head piece as a tampo instead of trying to get the helmet to go over top of a hair piece since that would have been way too huge!

Day 415

Day 415 February 19^th

Sundays with my Son

These guys are all the good guy pirates, well almost I still need to get Anne Bonny and I didn’t have the undercover Anne Bonny yet when I took this picture.  I do have her now though so I just need the regular Anne.

Day 414

Day 414 February 18^th

Toy Fair 2008 exclusive

This Minimate is a redo of the Huntmate that DST had done the year before for SDCC, just with the Toy Fair logo on the back – which I flipped to the front to show the difference between the two in my display.  The reason I chose this Minimate for today is that I am recapping all the minimate news from Toy Fair last week today and felt this would be a great Minimate for the regular post!

Day 413

Day 413 February 17^th

TRU exclusive Mr. Negative

This is one very interesting looking character and Minimate.  I know nothing about the character having not read any current Spider Man titles in awhile but the look and the bio is interesting enough.  I do love DSTs use of the separate tie piece to be able to have him displayed jacket-less and show off the yin yang tattoo on his back as well.  All in all a great Minimate with great detail, especially for using a black and white colour palette!

Day 412

Day 412 February 16^th

TRU exclusive Fantomex

To complete the set started with the Uncanny X-Force box set comes the Fantomex Minimate.  While many would rather have him in his original white costume I rather enjoy this look but that might have to do with the fact that I am currently reading that comic from start to current right now to check it out.  I think DST has captured the look from the source material quite well and it is always nice to round out teams!

Day 411

Day 411 February 15^th

TRU exclusive Betsy Braddock

This is a bit of an odd Minimate in my mind.  This particular version of Betsy dates back to her earlier appearances and I can honestly say I did not expect to get it as a Minimate.  It is a statement like that that shows DSTs level of commitment to the Marvel line!  To top it off I think they did a great job with such a plain look to begin with!

Day 410

Day 410 February 14^th

TRU exclusive Magneto

This is undoubtedly one of the best Magneto Minimates that have been made to date, in my opinion anyways.  The colours are dead on and the facial expression is great!  I have been on the Marvel Minimate train since the start and I love how DST just keeps getting better and better with what they do with these guys!

Day 409

Day 409 February 13^th

TRU exclusive Zero

            DST really did a great job with this Zero Minimate from the first wave of Marvel vs Capcom 3; he looks so cool I am actually interested in playing the Mega Man games he is in to see what he is all about.  The chest piece is a bit on the bulky side and limits the arm movement which is a downside to this otherwise awesome figure!

Day 408

Day 408 February 12^th

Sundays with my Son

I really like this undead pirate because he glows in the dark!  It is a really cool feature for minimates!  I can’t wait to get his glowing pirate ship too.  Today I am at the 4 Steps to Stardom bowling tournament, hope I have fun!

Day 407

Day 407 February 11^th

Video Review – Lukes Toy Store Ice Sled and Launching Flight Stand

My first video review so let me know what you think!  Here is the link to these groovy pieces from Lukes Toy Store!

Ice Sled

Launching Flight Stand

Breaking News!! PRE Toy Fair news!

Just came across this one USA Today, some pre-toy fair news of what Minimates will be on display:

Diamond Select. Minimates are one of the more popular collectible mini-figures for comic-book fans, and Diamond Select unleashes a new set tied to the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man movie. (The company is also showcasing a new 7-inch resin Spidey statue designed by Gentle Giant and inspired by the film.) A new wave of MAX: Mobile Action Xtreme Minimates that are coming exclusively to Toys "R" Us will be previewed, as well as Minimates based on The Mummy and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which are part of the Universal Monsters line of figures.

heres the link to the article - USA Today

sounds like a great start to the news!

Day 406

Day 406 February 10^th

Age of X Magneto

It appears that in this storyline Magneto is a savior of mutantkind and thus making the white knight look a very appropriate one.  While at first look it might seem a bit too plain or bland; after looking at the source artwork this is pretty much how he looked.  I love the helmet that he comes with, very knightly looking!  I am not 100% sure but I have ideas stirring in my head and something like this might show up in my comic work.

Breaking news!! Walking Dead Minimates announced!

Check out the exclusive news from comicbookresources.com - Walking Dead Minimates!

Day 405

Day 405 February 9^th

Age of X Legacy

I am very curious to read the Age of X story to see exactly how this version of Rogue is written.  The bio talks about her being in charge of preserving dying mutants memories which sounds like a significant change from her more standard role of powerhouse and I think it warrants some reading.  I love how DST got the green to be such a vibrant shade without being too over the top; it really pops the details nicely.  Speaking of detail I dig that they added the details to her one hand since in some of the art I have seen she has a skeletal hand print on the one glove – great work there!

Day 404

Day 404 February 8^th

Age of X Basilisk

In the Age of X storyline Scott Summers is held captive by Arcade and forced to execute other mutants.  Arcade has cut of his eye lids and has a remote that controls the opening and closing of his mask.  He does escape obviously but what a killer story set up right there.  It is something like this that gets my attention and makes me want to check this book out!  Again this is a pretty basic minimate but so is the source material; I think DST did a great job with the mask piece and love the level of detail like the straps pushing the hair down – amazing job!

Day 403

Day 403 February 7^th

Age of X Gambit

Age of X is an alternate reality X-Men story that has many fans comparing it to Age of Apocalypse.  I absolutely adored AoA but am a bit leery to try AoX out yet.  Now that the collected version is out I am a lot more interested to pick it up and give it a read.  This costume for Gambit is pretty plain, nothing too flashy but that could just be how the look is in the books so I can’t drag it down if it is matching the source material.  I actually have an idea for using most of this minimate for a different character in my comic so will need a spare at some point.  The hair and face are winners as well!

Day 402

Day 402 February 6^th

Vampire Jubilee

Another interesting plot twist in the Curse of the Mutants story was how they turned Jubilee into a vampire in order to lure Wolverine in.  Jubilee was a mainstay of my younger days and since then had become one of the depowered sideline characters so this was a way to jump her back into the spotlight.  DST did a great job making this minimate match the source material!

Day 401

Day 401 February 5^th

Sundays with my Son

Mom and Dad got me Calico Jacks pirate ship for my birthday and it is great!  I love the mast and how you can get inside the ship and the captain’s room and chair too.  I hope my dad can find me the other ships too!