Cyc

And works for non-North Am people, who course never got an invite because we never ordered from TRU.com due to that whole pesky North-Am only thing...

Call me when they make Booster Gold

BBTS has these in stock now BUY ME

and pre-orders are a-shipping.

In my own experience I've switched to Minimates as my only collectable/hobby, but even in that if you've seen my Want/Have list its clear I've focused on just the Marvel stuff and I'm dropping the rest. I'm guessing we're going to see less full-line completists and more cherry picking in general with relation to what comes out.

If anything the TRU exclusive trend is more worrying to me as a non-North Am collector than the economy nose diving.

...Thor Deadpool, Marvel Girl Deadpool, ...

I love Deadpool, but I hope we don't get a Marvel Girl Deadpool. Ever.

Until these waves and the TRU exclusives, AFX were the go-to guys for the obscure characters/variants, perhaps they'll have to take that to the next level. Marvel Girl Deadpool! Werewolf Cap! Bagman Spidey! No Nose Wolverine!

...wait... scratch those last two, gotta save them for Wave 37 and 39...

Note to self: Trade/Sell that Web-Armor Spidey NOW

Beyond that, just the usual "YEAH! New desires characters! DOH! TRU Exclusives!?!"

Armored.... Daredevil.... whoa, 90's angsty Spidey and Daredevil flashbacks...

Boy, have to buy this wave for that alone, just to show DST there is demand for the obscure

I've never found it too hard, except in me being stupid.

That said, I think the TRU and Amazon exclusives are changing things for the worse, especially for the non-North-Am fans. TRU exclusives just seem to lack the level of distribution of even the convention exclusives, their rarer and more expensive on ebay I've found. The Amazon GB pack-in doesn't interest me, but then I got out of consoles back in the SNES days so doesn't matter if I was as I wouldn't play the games, but I guess it is slight more than say the good old "Why should I have to buy a BatCave for these mates?"

I accept that as a non-North Am fan I'm going to get screwed and budget and limit my interest accordingly. I hunt and stalk ebay to find the best deals and generally offer much more in trades here to make sure the "Oh, didn't know you were in Australia" issue is overcome.

Well, I have the original Spider-Woman II, so I voted Captain Marvel.

In that spirit, it may 'comfort' you to know that here in Oz (Australia) TRU don't carry ANYTHING other than hulk & spiderman toys. Marvel legends stopped at the Annihalus wave. And they have NEVER stocked MiniMates.

Probably needlessly petty of me, but C3 hit Big-W, K-Mart and you guessed it, Toys-R-U in Oz, so technically we did have Minimates.

Once apon a time...

Cyc

The fact that DC used to be C3, died, and then came back again as just Minimates says that there's hope to me.

It's possible, just its about as likely as DCD going it alone on them again.

Ignoring cynicism/realism for a sec, I think if it were to occur, it'd likely be mattycollector exclusives as opposed to mass retail, DST just seem to have trouble supplying true mass retail quantity that the big boys like Mattel and Hasbro pump out as a matter of course.

Ah well, low odds being outside north am, but I sent off all three I have (hostile take-over, secret invasion, war zone).

and yet another Aussie expressing interest when the time comes

Sets were okay, but value for money they weren't. More expensive than lego (at least locally) and megablocks which now feature high detail mini-figs. I did like the second wave/min-flyers, but it pretty hard to take multiple batmen with highly expensive vehicles.

But Pprobably worst thing to come from c3 for me, was it made me a dirty filthy scalper...

Here's hoping that if Jewel is "Never Again", that a modern Alias Jessica Jones counts as a separate character from a mate perspective

I'm buying it only for Jewel, but have to say I do like the way they did Wolverine's boots as opposed to earlier overboot style.

Any word if restrictions on FCBD to retailers outside North Am, beyond my local's "we don't want to take a bath on postage for non-comics freebies" stance?

IMO I'd prefer some more along the lines of the old C3 Superman flightbase, clear and just trying to "hide" for those non-thruster flying characters.

Hmmm... one new bad guy, one new significent hero variation. Nice.

I picked up a original suit Batman from the Target in the Myer Centre in, yes, the Queen Street Mall. I'm at work, so just the words, photos when I get home.

First up: Minimate Part Theft:

Batman belt: The Q-Blox crotch block is wider and thinner around the waist than a Minimate. The Batman belt is not glued on, staying in place on the Q-Blox via friction and if you don't mind a bit of warping you can put it on a Minimate. Bit plain, the buckle and two bumps on back are it.

Batman/men chest plates: The chest pieces are very Minimatey. The Q-Blox chest block is a close match for a Minimate one with one main change, the arm and neck ball joint extensions are longer and thinner. This gives the chest pieces more clearance with the arms and head, when placed on a Minimate it leads to powerhouse chest block no neck syndrome and greatly restricts the arm movement. The chest plates aren't glued on, but they are painted and then placed on the Q-Blox so you basically have bend a little to snap 'em off but again their soft plastic and can stand it.

Q-Blox - Likes:

More articulation: Just considering the Q-Blox on their own, they have one thing I would have loved on mates, each of the limbs have bicep/thigh swivel joints above the elbows/knees, the circular part of each limb. Each of the swivels, including the waist swivel, has a recessed portion near the top with a matching extended ring in each socket, making them nice and tight (kind vital as keyrings) Also the hands and feet are ball jointed.

Production quality seems on-par with Minimates, and joints are tight enough I could use as a keyring and not have them explode/lose limbs.

Q-Blox - Dislikes:

The crotch block ball joint/extensions are just fine, but the neck and arm ones are really thin and the tightness of small ball joints mean each "shoulder" where I've popped an arm off is dangerously white. Definitely not built for easy part swapping.

Ugly. Their bulky and not a cute as mates. Batman gauntlets are glued on and even after removing the screwed in ring in the head, haven't been yet able to remove cowl yet. Their not Lego/C3 compatable, so flat feet.

Overall they are very clearly "Okay, we like Minimates, lets do our own", more so than any other Minifigure IMO, but they do have improvements and refinements. Given that Popbbox keeps mentioning Digger I wonder if a little suggestion for improvements/alterations did occur. The "clothing" is a very close match for Minimates as well. I wouldn't go out of my way for one, but nice all the same.

Makes me weep that these things are at mass retail here (Oz), though not as much as the random out of the blue appearance of all the AA Speed Racer stuff save of the Minimates in time for the movie...

My wife rang to inform me of these "Batman minimate keyrings", apparently only $7.95Aus at Target, so I'll ponder snagging one tomorrow.

And yet another exclusive from a retailer who ships US and Canada only....

Why aren't you just buying directly from AFX or DST? I picked up the sets at their booths and all your paying for is shipping when you get them off their sites. eBay should always be the last resort

Because strange as it may seem shipping fform many ebay sellers is often much cheaper than AFX's option and DST no want to deal with those outside of North-Am...

Not as Flash-tastic as the old, but I'm not seeing a forum anymore...

Jessica Jones mate = Good

Jessica Jones as Jewel mate = GREAT SUCCESS!

My wishlist of Marvel mates is done to obscure people like Jolt, Bloodspider and Deadpool

But how times change, I seem to recall DST Q&A responses where double-sided/alternate expression headblocks was unlikely to be considered....