Monday, June 25, 2012

Day 532



 Day 532 June 15th

Mondays with Mike

Marvel Minimates Wave 45 – Avengers Movie Part 2

Welcome to my weekly review series. As I’m not a total completest I will be alternating between full wave reviews and single pack reviews. All feedback is welcomed! The rating system is as follows:

* Mediocre
** Not too Shabby
***  Is it getting hot in here?
**** We have a Hulk

 Here we go:  What can I say about the Avengers that hasn’t already been said? The movie was an absolute blast and the culmination of years of hard work by Marvel to do something no other company has done before. They tied in their whole universe exactly like they do in the comics and it was spectacular. I haven’t had this much fun at a movie in a long time. As they do with most Marvel movies, DST had the rights to certain figures in the movie. Once again, DST did a great job of making them and sure didn’t disappoint this reviewer.

Packaging - ****
We’ve had the same type of packaging for a while now. It’s been updated to show the Avengers and I think it looks great. You get a good look at the characters.

Sculpted Details – Hulk ****, Thor ***, Captain America ***, Iron Man ****
I really love the bulked up Hulk’s that DST having been doing for a few months now. The Ruffalo Hulk is no different.  DST did a good job up matching the colours and giving Hulk his curly mop that he had in the movie.  Thor looks good, there is just minor sculpting on his wrists and the costume itself.  Both look good and serve their purpose. Thor’s hair on the packaging looks better than the final product, but it would be hard to get that L’oreal look in plastic.  Captain America has his mask and shield. Again we’ve had a lot of Caps over the past few years, so no big surprises here. The shield looks good and I think mask fits properly and looks good as well.  I don’t know what it is, but I really love the Iron Man sculpts, from the 1st Iron Man movie now to the Avengers. There is something to me that is pleasing. Again really nothing has changed over the waves, it’s just a solid figure.

Paint & Tampos – Hulk ****, Thor ****, Cap ****, Iron Man ****
I’m giving all the boys full marks here. All have very solid paint jobs. I’ve found that sometimes the tape that holds in the accessories will take off the paint, like Cap’s shield. But none of that applies here. Overall great job for all 4.

Accessories –  Cap ***, Thor ****,
Cap has his normal hair and shield combo. Standard fair. Thor has Mjolnir and one of the fancy new stands, which I love. Having these stands included will help me ease off sticky tack when trying to pose mates.  Again Iron Man has the usual flip up mask, Tony Hair and Jet fire. All look solid, and it’s nice to have the extra pieces. I’m giving Hulk ****, because he comes with two heads. I normal semi-calm Hulk and Rage Face Hulk. Both look great, and it’s really awesome to have different expressions.

Overall - ****
I really enjoyed these two packs. All the mates look really great. I especially liked the Hulk due to having two different heads. Overall the Avengers Movie mates are a welcome addition to my collection!


Monday, June 18, 2012

Day 531


 Day 531 June 18th

Mondays with Mike

Marvel Minimates Wave 45 – Avengers Movie Part 1

Welcome to my weekly review series. As I’m not a total completest I will be alternating between full wave reviews and single pack reviews. All feedback is welcomed! The rating system is as follows:

* Mediocre
** Not too Shabby
***  Is it getting hot in here?
**** We have a Hulk

 Here we go:
What can I say about the Avengers that hasn’t already been said? The movie was an absolute blast and the culmination of years of hard work by Marvel to do something no other company has done before. They tied in their whole universe exactly like they do in the comics and it was spectacular. I haven’t had this much fun at a movie in a long time. As they do with most Marvel movies, DST had the rights to certain figures in the movie. Once again, DST did a great job of making them and sure didn’t disappoint this reviewer.

Packaging - ****

We’ve had the same type of packaging for a while now. It’s been updated to show the Avengers and I think it looks great. You get a good look at the characters.

Sculpted Details – Maria Hill **, Chitauri General ***, Chitauri Foot Soldier ***

Maria Hill has very few details that are actually sculpted. The most noticeable is her hair piece. While in the comics Maria Hill typically sports a short hairdo, in the movie it was a tight ponytail. This is represented nicely in her mate.
The Chitauri General has some nice details. The chest piece is bulky and gives the idea that this guy has some weight and protection behind him. The purple colour is very vibrant and looks great. The mask looks pretty good as well, with a few details like the rim around the top, you are able to tell that he’s the big boss.
The Chitauri Foot Soldier looks a lot like the General, expect he really wants you to see his pecks. The mask itself is much like the General’s, just a little bit understated.

Paint & Tampos – Maria Hill ***, Chitauri General ***, Chitauri Foot Soldier ***

Maria Hill does slightly resemble Cobie Smulders, so that is always good.  Other than that it is a pretty standard black bodysuit.
The Chitauri boys do have a bit of purple paint on them. From my figures it appears that they were painted well and I don’t see any real slop on them.

Accessories –  Maria Hill **, Chitauri General **, Chitauri Foot Soldier **

They all came with their signature weapons. Hand gun for Maria, Blaster for the General and Spear gun thing for the Foot Soldiers. While they all look good, it would have been great to get one of the flying skiff’s the foot soldiers flew on in the movie or even some kind of computer screen for Maria Hill.

Overall - ***

Overall I liked these two packs. DST set out to give us the villains of the movie and they succeeded quite well. Again, while I’m sure a vehicle wasn’t in the license, it would have made the set complete to have some kind of vehicle for them to be flying on.

I will review the rest of the Avengers next week!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Day 530


Day 530 June 17th

Sundays with my Son

            I am really loving this new Battle Beasts line of minimates.  I think these guys are going to be a lot of fun and think it is really neat that there is a comic for them too!

Saturday, June 16, 2012

The Toys R Us 2012 Fan Poll


After all the fan poll action in the past month voting for the Marvel series 50 lineup Toys R Us hits us with their box set poll here!  Based off of the current Avengers vs X-Men story this poll offers up 3 characters from each side.  In the X-Men's corner we see Phoenix Force powered Cyclops, Emma Frost and Colossus while on the Avengers side we are offered an updated Scarlet Witch, Protector and the Phoenix buster Iron Man.  I know which 4 I would like in this set but I am curious to see where it settles up and if we get a 2 pack of the remaining characters as in reality all 6 of these would be great Minimates to own!

The Expendables are back!

Just as many of us are enjoying the first 2 boxsets of the expendables Minimates, DST announces a second wave of sets for this fall!


First up are two new box sets of Expendables Minimates, this time drawing on the characters of Expendables 2 (opening August 17). Due out in October, the specialty-market box set will include team members Ying Yang, Gunner Jensen and Toll Road, plus the aptly named new villain Jean Vilain (played in the movie by Jean-Claude Van Damme!). At Toys "R" Us, we'll see another box set starring team leader Barney Ross, Trench Mauser, Mr. Church and Booker (played in the movie by Chuck Norris)!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

First Agent 88 Minimate revealed!


Digger's new film project gets some Minimate love with this exclusive Agent 88 Minimate red blank. Here's the word straight from Diggers facebook post:

                                 "A88 RED. The first Agent 88 MINIMATE ! Limited to 400 pieces /Only available in the gift bags at the VERSUS WORLD event at San Diego Comic Con 2012!"

Personally I can't wait to see what else is in store from Agent 88!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Day 529


Day 529 June 12th

An editorial of sorts…

            I guess the easiest place to start is the well the start.  When I started this blog I honestly never believed I would be able to pull it off; posting one day a week for an entire year.  Well here we are 529 days later and it’s still going.  I love doing this blog and the levels of interaction I have gotten with readers of the blog.  Lately I have noticed that my daily posts are lacking something.  Mostly it has come down to the quality of the pictures I am using.  I have great ideas for some exciting photos but the time constraints of doing it daily put a damper on being able to get in there and do these new shots.  This in turn has led to me not enjoying the blog at the same level; especially the photos and even lately I have found the enjoyment of minimates was reduced.  Not to say that I don’t still enjoy them because when new stuff is announced or Zach posts new pictures I still feel the thrill and excitement so my love for the Minimates is still there.  So what this has come down to is that I am going to be taking a bit of a break; stepping back from the daily posts in order to recharge myself a bit and to get  back the love for this that I started with.  The blog will still carry on, Kye will still be posting Sundays with My son and Mondays with Mike are just getting started.  I myself will still post news and reveals and will continue with Fun Photo Friday as well.  The biggest thing is that I want all my posts to feel as fun as the posts for Fun Photo Friday so I need to have a bit of a break to get back to that.  Thanks for all the support to my readers and/or fans and keep your eye on the Portrait because it’s still going to be hanging around!

Marvel Minimates series 50 poll #4

The last poll for Marvel Minimates series 50 is up here at Marvel.com.  This go around it is army builders and are there some good ones on the list!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Day 528



Day 528 June 11th

Welcome to a new ongoing feature here on Portrait of an Addiction, Mondays with Mike.  Mike will be conducting in depth reviews here on the blog so please check them out and feel free to let us know what you think of them!

 
Mondays with Mike
Marvel Minimates Wave 46 – Amazing Spider-Man Movie

 Welcome to the first of my weekly review series. As I’m not a total completest I will be alternating between full wave reviews and single pack reviews. All feedback is welcomed! The rating system is as follows:

* Mediocre

** Not too Shabby

***  Is it getting hot in here?

**** Grand Slam!

Here we go:

The upcoming Amazing Spider-Man movie is a bit of a polarizing subject among fans and movie goers. With the last Spider-Man movie only 5 years old and the series itself only 10 years old, it’s easy to see why people are up in arms rebooting the series. The marketing around the movie has tried to position it as the “untold tales” of Spider-Man. While I’m okay with this approach, they really didn’t need to go back and retell the origin story if this wasn’t an actual reboot.  But it is what it is! Being a giant Spider-Man fan, I’m just happy to have another movie to watch. With a pretty stellar cast, it looks like this movie has great potential. July 3rd can’t come soon enough! At least we have these minimates to tide us over.

Packaging - **** (Not Shown) I’ve always enjoyed DST’s packaging. The boxes are colourful, the art is great and you get a good look at what you are getting.

Sculpted Details – Lizard - ***, SWAT - ***, Peter Parker’s Hair - ****   The lizard’s upper body and tail are nicely sculpted. A good job has been done to make the Lizard appear to have extra muscles.  

The SWAT member’s helmets and gear look great. While the colour is a little different from the MAX line, they still fit in nicely. 

Peter Parker’s hair is just tremendous. They really captured the bundle of hair that Garfield is sporting in the movie.





 
Paint & Tampos – Spider-Man ****, Battle Damaged Spider-Man ****, Lizard ****, Uncle Ben ****, Aunt May **, SWAT ****, Peter Parker ****

 
DST did a really great job with these figures. All the applications are clean and the colours look great. The likenesses of Andrew Garfield & Martin Sheen are well done, despite the fact that minimates have no noses; you can see who they are supposed to be. If I have one nitpick, it would be Sally Field’s Aunt May, I don’t really fell it does her justice. It’s not horrible, just not as good as the others. The scales on the SWAT team members nice as well. 




Accessories – Peter Parker ***, SWAT ****, Battle Damaged Spidey ***, Spider-Man **, Lizard, Aunt May, Uncle Ben - *

 
Peter Parker comes with a Skateboard and a Backpack. Both are sculpted nicely look great on Peter.

SWAT comes with 2 heads & 2 guns. Awesome for those who want lizard faces or if you want to add them to your boys in blue collection

Battle Damaged Spidey – Comes with a pullover mask and Peter Parker’s magical hair.

Spider-Man comes with his traditional web line that I always love having.

The other 3 come with nothing, but it doesn’t hurt the figures overall, since really what could they have come with?
 

Overall - ****

 
While I may be biased a bit due to my absolute love of Spider-Man, I thought that DST did a great job with this wave. The figures were very well done and really look like their movie counterparts. The movie itself may be up in the air for some people, but these figures have just made me more excited to see it. 



I will try to get a review up of the TRU exclusives after I get my hands on them.






Sunday, June 10, 2012

Day 527


Day 527 June 10th

Sundays with my Son

            I really like this Hydra flame thrower trooper!  I would like to get some more Hydra Minimates to battle against Captain America and the Avengers Minimates too!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Day 526


Day 526 June 9th

Marvel Minimates series 4:
Doctor Octopus

            This was a pretty good run at making the first Doc Ock Minimate.  For the time I felt that they did a really good job of it, especially how they did his tentacles!

Friday, June 8, 2012

Day 525


Day 525 June 8th

Fun Photo Friday!

            Looking out over our hotel from 525 feet up in Calgary Tower!  We had some time to kill before opening day of the Calgary Comic Con and the tower was right across from our hotel.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Day 524


Day 524 June 7th

Marvel Minimates series 4:
Masked Spider-Man

            The naming of this particular Minimate always makes me chuckle since Spider-Man generally always has a mask unless he is unmasked but they needed to point out the difference since his masked is rolled up over his mouth.  We see Spidey like this often in comics, since he is very guarded about his secret identity, so in scenes where he is eating or other such things he will roll up the bottom of his mask.  This Minimate also debuted the web grab line which is a great Spidey accessory and I am glad they have brought it back a couple times since this!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Marvel Series 50 fan poll number 3

It is time to cast your vote for the villains in the Marvel Minimates series 50 fan poll!! Hit the link here and vote!

Day 523


Day 523 June 6th

Marvel Minimates series 4:
Gwen Stacy

            I think that the timing behind me looking at this wave was rather fitting since a new version of Gwen Stacy is entering our collection via the Amazing Spider Man movie line.  I find this version looks not bad considering when it was produced.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Day 522


Day 522 June 5th

Marvel Minimates series 4:
Unmasked Spider-Man

            I have always found the expression on Peter’s face to be almost too serious for Peter Parker.  I think that my favourite part of this Minimate is the web backpack, such a cool idea and true to the source material!

Monday, June 4, 2012

DST reveals SDCC exclusives!





Over on the Art Asylum blog DST has revealed the exclusives that they will be selling at their own booth at the San Diego Comic Con 2012.  There has been rampant speculation of what was going to be there and I have to say some of these are looking great!  There will also be minimates exclusives at the AFX booth but they have yet to be revealed

Day 521


Day 521 June 4th

Marvel Minimates series 4:
Bullseye

            I totally dig the crazy looking face on this classic Bullseye and how well the eyes line up with the eye holes of the mask; that is not something I can recall noticing before doing the pictures for this day.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Day 520



Day 520 June 3rd

Sundays with my Son

            I think that Iron Man should have had this gun in the Avengers movie!!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Day 519


Day 519 June 2nd

Marvel Minimates series 4:
Unmasked Daredevil variant

            In all honesty this is probably one of my favourite unmasked minimates that they have made; just something about the hair/glasses piece that sits very well with me.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Day 518


Day 518 June 1st

Fun Photo Friday!!!!

            A meeting of the masters of the mystic arts!