Gillbob316

I mean... yeah, I agree. I think I'm more or less in for everyone from this line, lol. Guessing is just fun.

I actually moved them all to one peg in my store, to deliberately make the other peg look empty and hopefully make them think, "Why is this empty? Should we be ordering more of this?" (That probably won't work, because their computer makes that decision. But I can dream.)

PS. I'm suddenly very mad at myself for forgetting about Honky Tonk Man & Jim Duggan back in my first post of the day... lol. I like Jim's odds a lot. Everyone loved him back then. And who wouldn't love a minimate with a tiny 2x4?

I now also wish to play Tag Team guessing! lol... I feel like LOD seems like a no-brainer at this point. Demand + That perfect Plants vs. Zombies piece + being arguably the biggest tag team of the era = Strong odds to me. The second team intrigues me more. I feel like Demolition & The Rockers are both strong choices. Both seem possible, but I feel like if you wanted to do Demolition justice, you'd need some funky parts. I think you could get away with decals on them, but it wouldn't be as good. The Rockers seem easier to pull off. They're basically any body + long hair and some string/fuzzies like Ultimate Warrior. But those aren't even the only options really. We don't know what madness lies in Luke's plans! lol... could be The Hart Foundation. The British Bulldogs. Natural Disasters, Freebirds, Brain Busters... Lots of other choices out there. As that big longwinded post I just made about Vince McMahon demonstrates... different wrestlers latched onto different people's memories... and what really matters here is: Who did LUKE like? lol...

I feel like Vince wasn't a prominent enough face yet during that era. I guess he was around (obviously) and you do see him doing interviews/announcements in archive footage... God knows I've heard that sound byte of him announcing "Welcome to Wrestlemania!" 1000 times. And I think he had one of those big rubber LJN toys. But I feel like he was more like... wallpaper back then. I dunno. He's not present in any of my childhood memories. The first time I ever remember noticing him was when he and Jerry Lawler did commentary on Monday Night Raw a decade or two later, and even then, he was just playing straight man announcer to Jerry's bigger heel personality. He didn't become like... the big public face of the company until the attitude era w/ the Mr. McMahon character and the dawn of the internet (when they could no longer hide the fact that the guy at the announce table was actually the guy in charge). Honest to God, that was what I based those 5 choices at the top of my speculation off of: "Who do I remember being a thing when I was a child?" ... lol. I remember all five of those guys being a thing when I was a child. I don't remember Vince at all (not that he wasn't there... just that he didn't imprint on my childhood memories) That said, Mean Gene is a HUGE presence in my childhood memories... so... I feel like he's a strong candidate. ... I like this line. I'm going to be sad if I miss any of these, lol. (I know I could have subscribed but... I find it way easier to drop $23 once a month than 2 or 3 hundred all at once.)

I just want to point out the fact that Marshal Willenholly from the Jay & Silent Bob set comes with a damn near perfect hat for Sgt. Slaughter. lol...

I found myself trying to predict the remaining 6 characters in this lineup of 12 today... this is what I came up with... I feel like these five are very strong candidates for being some of the most colorful and well-known personalities of the 80s. Even casual or non-wrestling fans may have heard of some of these guys... Jake the Snake Roddy Piper Ted DiBiase Sgt. Slaughter 80s Undertaker And other than a need for a small plastic snake (which shouldn't be terribly hard to come by) none of them seems impossible to customize. And honest to god, I'm a little iffy about Undertaker, as he could easily fit into lines based on later decades (and he was certainly more prominent in later decades too). But I kept him up there because wth. That said, I had a hard time narrowing down a 6th. I feel like the 6th will be one of the people below... based on Luke's personal preference... I feel like all of these people easily could fit the bill, and some are arguably more deserving than others... But ultimately it's Luke's line and Luke's choice (I mean I could be wrong about the first five too, ultimately, I just think they have... the strongest odds) Rick Rude Bobby Heenan Dusty Rhodes Junkyard Dog Ricky Steamboat Mean Gene Okerlund Ms. Elizabeth Brutus Beefcake Iron Sheik Jimmy Snuka Mr. Perfect I could add more names... but we're already up to 15 candidates, and I think the more names I add... the iffier they become, lol. PS. I deliberately overlooked the Legion of Doom, Demolition & the Rockers (or just Shawn Michaels), because I'm pretty sure Luke debunked them earlier in the thread (unless I'm remembering wrong). I thought he said LOD & Demolition were too custom parts intensive, and Shawn Michaels was more likely for a wave 2 based in the 90s/New Generation.

Mr. America!

... It's weird when you realize someone offhandedly suggests Norman Osbourne be placed in charge of our country... and for a moment you think it sounds like a mild step up. Same thing happened to me w/ Dr. Doom actually... though I think Doom would be a full step up. Doom at least has ideals. A method behind his madness. So to speak. *Ponder*

Every as yet unproduced member of the X-Men, X-Factor, X-Force or other mutant splinter teams of the X-Men would be awesome. (what?)

I am now severely disappointed this wave doesn't include a giant flaming Mammoth. I realize this is a weird quesiton given they're cavemen... but do these characters have civilian 616 equivalents? Who is this lady Iron Fist? (Or is it just a: Caveman Iron Fist is a lady, go with it!" kinda thing)

Is BC a Walgreens Wave? I absent just assumed it was the new comic book specialty wave. They look comic booky. (Is this a Toys R Us wave that got repurposed to Walgreens?). I know literally nothing about this concept or story. These minimates are the first I'm seeing of BC Marvel. Ever. My first reaction was, "What are these 1602?" Clearly I haven't been keeping up on comic book news. Can someone break down the characters here for me? Some of them are easy to put together (Ghost Rider and Phoenix), but some not so much... big guy looks like Juggernaut, but seems more likely he'd be Hulk, given... niche waves like this tend to stick to headliners. That said he's not green, so I don't know what to think, lol. Is that Moondragon? Is the Asgardian guy Odin or Thor? And what in god's name is that decidedly non-BC Purple Robot that looks entirely out of place? Someone break down this wave for me. And this story. lol...

I like Hammerhead for being a new character that could pass for a comic book minimate. I like Warlock for being an interesting new look that could also blend w/ comics imo (I don't know that he's ever worn this exact look, but it's similar enough). I like Rocket for looking a little more comic-y frankly... We've never gotten a comic book set of Guardians, and this Rocket at least looks a little more illustrative than the movie versions. As for the rest... Strange & Ghost Rider look decent, if not amazing. Ghost Rider looks a little bare bones, as minimates go. Aside from his flaming head, he's a blank minimate, which rarely seems to happen anymore outside of Spider-Man. I'm surprised Dracula was actually correct (saw someone guess him earlier and thought it a longshot)... that said, I wish they'd given him a more classic look... instead of a rehash of the one Dracula minimate we already have (that said, if this is what he looks like in the cartoon, I guess this is what he looks like in the cartoon)... I have no idea what's going on with that Widow, but I don't like her. Not a knock on the minimate, just a knock on the animated design. Doesn't ring true to the character. And I don't like her blonde. Is that Natasha or Yelena? I don't watch the cartoon. ANYWAY... Venom... meh. Looks like 100 other symbiote minimates we've gotten in the past. I feel like I could reconstruct virtually the same minimate from similar existing parts. BUT As I always say... I'm a completionist, so I'm going to buy them all anyway and be happy to find them, lol. Still love the line, but with 1000s of figures, they can't all be favorites.

^ This whole Yukio thing is my single biggest problem with Fox's X-Men Movie-verse in a nutshell. They literally just pick names that sound cool out of a "Big Book of X-Men" when making a new movie, and if the name is relatively unknown in the mainstream, they treat it as, "Hey we can do whatever the hell we want with this character, who cares!?" Change their powers. Age. Backstory. Put them in eras they don't belong in. Stick them on teams they have no history with. With each sequel it's literally just become, "Pick a mutant! Any mutant!" And if it sucks, who cares, we'll just recast and reboot the character in the next movie and hope no one notices. I mean Negasonic is the same basic story... really. As well as countless other characters in other X-Men movies. Many minor, but some relatively major. Drives me friggin' insane how sloppy and unfaithful this franchise is at times.

So umm... @Zach & Luke The Ebony Maw I ordered from Luke appears to have two left arms. Normally I've had success getting replacement parts from DST in the past, but I'm really not sure how easy that will be given this figure's weird TRU/Specialty release situation. I'm struggling to decide which of you I should take this problem up with. Any advice? lol. I'd hate to take another of this sought after set out of Luke's inventory if I can avoid it, but I'm not certain this is a part easy to replace.

This would essentially be akin to me making a Krakoa custom... except more obscure, because Krakoa has resurfaced a few times in more recent years. But I'm trying to draw a parallel that's an obscure X-Men villain that's beloved to me due to being from a comic book I owned as a kid. I guess Ogre almost fits that description too, but I never loved Ogre. Banshee was clearly the standout in that Factor Three issue.

In mildly related news, I was just sitting around watching the Star Trek episode of Season 2 of "The Toys that Made Us" when suddenly I said, "Hey, it's Zach"

Clearly the 4th figure is Noob Saibot

But... people here have seen it. Several were shown it at C2E2. They said as much earlier in the thread. That said, I have no idea if Matt was or wasn't one of those people. Just saying... clearly the info is in the wind.

I feel like putting a Build-A-Figure in this line is contrary to its purpose. Furthermore Super-Adaptoid in no way fits the "All-Star" nature of the line at that.

Just reaching for a guess here, but... it's possible since this movie is bridging the gap between Civil War and Infinity War for these characters... it could theoretically be a real WTF twist character like Captain Marvel or Iron Man or Thanos or something. Hawkeye? Some 11th hour of the movie cameo appearance, and not something directly Ant-Man & Wasp related, is the point I'm driving at. Though it would have to be a fairly significant presence, as it's unlikely they'd do toys for a cameo (or reveal said cameo to merchandisers)... so this seems unlikely. But like I said, reaching for a guess. Someone just come in here and say it already.

I don't think all the extraneous Guardians would be good for a best-of wave at all... I think there's an argument to be made for the core five being available regularly (Star-Lord, Groot, Rocket, Drax & Gamora)... I frankly don't even think you need to argue Star-Lord and Rocket being in a best-of at this point... as they've been making more and more and more multimedia appearances since the movies took of. And would only fill one two-pack. I think comic Drax, Rocket and Groot are easily recognizable as the movie characters. They're more stylized cartoony versions, but they're still a racoon, a tree and a green shirtless guy w/ red tattoos. With Gamora I think it depends on which look... cape and sword Gamora is less recognizable as movie Gamora than some of her more modern battle-suit looks are. I think Star-Lord is the biggest leap, and even then, I don't think Star-Lord's comic book look is WHOLLY unrecognizable. There are similarities in the mask, so it's easy to see one is adapted from the other. He's no more of a leap than "Yellow Spandex" Wolverine is to Hugh Jackman in any case. Packing him unmasked is also an option, if they went with a Chris-Pratty face. Just put the helmet or alt-head in the tray. In any event, as long as his package said "Star-Lord" I think the point would come across. Especially if you packed him with Rocket. After bridging from the X-Men animated cartoon to comic books as a child, I didn't initially understand why Storm had a mohawk in a lot of the merchandise at my local shop... but I connected the dots quickly enough. In any event, I'm not insisting they be a best-of, just chatting for chatting's sake. I think they'd make just as good a regular wave (and then we could put in a couple of the more extraneous ones too). I do think if we ever got a new best of wave... you could justify putting a few of them into it.

I honestly wouldn't mind comic versions of the Guardians. We haven't ever gotten comic versions of the Majority of them (and the two we do have, Drax & Gamora, are pretty far removed from their modern GotG looks) Then again, they often change modern comic looks to be more and more in-line with the movies so... the difference between the two often begins to get blurred. Still wouldn't mind some in the blue & red comic uniforms. Wouldn't mind any new best of's though really. These were always some of my favorite minimates. Definitive looks in bright colors. Still my favorite versions of many of the characters.

You know... I've seen a lot of people say Thor needs Stormbreaker and an Eyepatch... but technically having Stormbreaker AND an eyepatch would make him LESS accurate... because... he had 2 eyes by the time he got Stormbreaker. And he only had one eye before he got Stormbreaker. The two are mutually exclusive. That said... an alt head cures all that, I'm just nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking, lol.