thelink

I've thought lots of times about attempting a custom Grendizer minimate. I've never seen one done. All those you mention would be very cool and very fun then to mix and match parts creating other giant robots.

I looked for the thread about DST sending replacement parts and can't seem to find it, but this is the next most logical place to put this comment. I had bought an Iron Man/Arthur pack that was missing the lance. I emailed DST customer service on a Tuesday night, got a response on Wednesday and had the lance in my hand on Saturday. I couldn't believe it! Just wanted to say thanks here for that level of customer service in hopes they'll read it. It's an example of what keeps me buying these awesome toys.

I've only found the Spider-Man/Punisher & Daredevil/Kingpin packs so far and both had interesting issues. The Spider-Man doesn't have any webbing printed on his right arm. Left arm is just fine. The stranger thing was the Kingpin pack hadn't been opened, but didn't have the cover plastic piece that protects the mates. While the pack was thankfully complete, the mates and Daredevil's hairpiece could have fallen right out without even tape holding them in. I've never seen that before in all my minimate buying years.

I was thinking the same thing as Fujis...maybe a compromise would be two separate events. Honestly, it was very difficult for me to find worthy recipients of worst votes this year, and I skipped some of the catagories because of it. That's a testament to the year's selection as a whole. On the other hand, in years past there have been mates (battle-ravaged Spider-Man comes to mind) that were pretty lame, in design and/or execution. They probably deserve some jokes at their expense. Maybe there just needs to be a pole for worst mate of the year and then a roast of him or her. Thanks very much Mini_myte for all the work you put into these awards. I can only imagine how much time that it took and it couldn't have looked any better. If it were my project, I'd be very tempted to make a few changes to it if it would allow Zach or DST to promote it to a larger audience.

Katy mill's mall store did not have anything as of last weekend, same for westheimer, bunkerhill, and willowbrook. I was thinking of going to baybrook and fairmont tomorrow when I return my library books to UH, but I guess I will wait till next week, since your saying they haven't got them in yet (no point in wasting gass). Thanks for the heads ups! I was at Bay Brook on Monday and Farimont yesterday. May try Farimont again tommorrow. I'll let you know if I happen to find them there or in Katy. Still no luck in Houston at Fairmont TRU (on Friday) or Katy TRU (on Saturday). I just got back from Katy and Bunkerhill...nothing... Curious....did Fairmont have the new ToysRUs wave in (wave 12 I think w/ Balder & Crossbones)? I wish...I keep thinking they will get them in any day because they're actually pretty low on minimate inventory overall. Baybrook is flooded with old peg warmers so I don't have much hope for them stocking anything new for a while. I'll let you know when/if they turn up at either place.

Katy mill's mall store did not have anything as of last weekend, same for westheimer, bunkerhill, and willowbrook. I was thinking of going to baybrook and fairmont tomorrow when I return my library books to UH, but I guess I will wait till next week, since your saying they haven't got them in yet (no point in wasting gass). Thanks for the heads ups! I was at Bay Brook on Monday and Farimont yesterday. May try Farimont again tommorrow. I'll let you know if I happen to find them there or in Katy. Still no luck in Houston at Fairmont TRU (on Friday) or Katy TRU (on Saturday).

Katy mill's mall store did not have anything as of last weekend, same for westheimer, bunkerhill, and willowbrook. I was thinking of going to baybrook and fairmont tomorrow when I return my library books to UH, but I guess I will wait till next week, since your saying they haven't got them in yet (no point in wasting gass). Thanks for the heads ups! I was at Bay Brook on Monday and Farimont yesterday. May try Farimont again tommorrow. I'll let you know if I happen to find them there or in Katy.

I've checked the Houston Bay Brook and Fairmont TRU's 6 or 7 times in the last few weeks with no signs of this set or wave 12. Hope to check the Katy store this weekend. The Bay Brook store has so many packs from older waves that I'm not sure they'll be restocking any time soon.

So many great mates have already been named, so I'll just call out a few of my favorites that I don't think we've mentioned. One of my first was Storm from the old Target 2 pack with Cyclops or GSX boxset. I still think she looks great! I also think that Warlock, Hobgoblin and Black Bolt were very well done. Another favorite from DC is Blue Beatle. I always liked that costume as a kid and love the minimate's goggles. One thing that makes minimates, especially in the Marvel line, so awesome is that we get characters like Stiltman, Mariko, Hand Ninjas, Magik, Photon, Lockjaw and Spymaster. Even when they're not done perfectly, they're still cool. In a line with this many different figures, there are suprisingly few total misses in my opinion. That's espcially true when you consider the cost of minimates compared to other lines. I wouldn't even consider spending $10-15 on a 6" figure for some of these more obscure characters or costumes that I'm more than happy to spend $4-5 on for a minimate. I have confidence we'll eventually see most the ones still obviously missing in the line...Alpha Flight, Toad, Dazzler, Forge, Baron Zemo, Man-Wolf and of course Kang to name a few...any one of which might become the new greatest. If they make a Spider-Ham I might have a definite #1.

I finally found a Ghostbusters New York City Mayor set on clearance this weekend. I've wanted him since I saw someone else on here use his body to make a much better looking JJ.Jameson. For the finishing touch, I added a rolled up Daily Bugle newspaper that I photoshoped with a borrowed minimate Doc Oc picture from the awesome Minimate Database.

Here's my two cents, if it's worth that much, only written trying to help. I had aspirations and then an offer to work for a wonderful, world-wide architecture firm when I came out of college, doing exactly what I thought I would want to do, but decided I would rather have less pay, no travel and regular hours to come home to my family every day and energy to do art for me instead of giving so much of my time/focus to what might have been an exciting career. I still think about it sometimes at my job...what might have been...but not when I'm home with my kids every evening. Set priorities and then make decisions based on them. I would love to make money doing art, but a close second is having a steady paycheck and the time/freedom to create things for myself. For me, consistant time with family was number 1 and I tried to act accordingly. I have a good friend who is also an aspiring writer...in her spare time. She is a school librarian by day and teaches a literature class at night at the local small college. Both of those paychecks come while surrounding herself with what she loves, meeting people in the business, and constantly working on her abilities. Maybe you can also find other ways to channel what you love to do into a more stable living, and use the job to get you closer to where you want to be long-term. In your last point I believe you give yourself the biggest part of your answer. I firmly believe that God is the answer to any problem or situation and when in a mutual relationship with Him, all things are possible, all prayers are answered (even sometimes with a "not now") and all things can be overcome. Unexpectadly helped me to write this. Maybe something will be worthwhile to you or someone else.

You're right about my blue Archangel...I pulled him off a flight stand for the picture and didn't straighten out his legs. Can you believe after all that time without an Angel of any kind, this is now the 7th one in the last 3 years or so?

Picked up the set at lunch. First impression for me is that they are a nice looking set except for Wolverine, who is a complete waste. I would have been totally fine with the wave 29 (TRU wave 4) one we already had. The new mask is just weird looking. Also think it's odd that we they didn't put in a flight stand for Archangel, any guns for Deadpool or even regular hands for Wolverine. You get 3 swords (two are already in Deadpool's back) a pink blast (already on Psylocke's hand) and Wolverine's hairpiece. Archangel is the standout of the set for me.

They are...actually pretty neat how they did it. Don't know anything about the story line, but I think I prefer the way he looks if you put all costumed arms on him instead of the 4 bare arms he comes with, but matching the blues is a little tricky.

One more pic...Trenchcoat Thing impatiently waiting for Alicia to wrap up her sculpting for the day so they can go out. When I think of Thing in a trenchcoat, I think of Alicia.

I didn't pick up the non-variant Thing pack, but here's a pic of the Trenchcoat Thing taken apart. The hat doesn't come off his head. Here's my version of the 90's X-Men...

It is removable, and it actually balances fine without it. It only slightly raises the chair. Unfortunately the peg/hole is a larger size than the flight stands, so making him hover 3" off the ground is not as easy it chould have been. Prof X does have a hole in his head...which is totally unnecessary for wearing his cerebro helmet.

Nothing on Doombot, but you can see Prox X's in one of the pictures. They really went all out on him. Also nothing under the variant Trenchcoat Thing...just plain orange fig with blue shorts. No extra pieces other than the sunglasses. I really like how they did the sleaves on Thing's trenchcoat.

Here's some picks. The glasses for Thing will have to be glued on to make them stay. I might have preferred they just be sculpted on. The hover chair is awesome. I hadn't noticed the way the armrests opened until I was positioning for the pictures.

Some places are getting them today. I just picked up the Thing Variant pack and Prof X pack. Already had Lizard and Spider-Man from TRU.

I don't think we'll ever Shogun Warriors, though I think they could look very cool.

How about A-Team minimates - a box set of the main four characters. We still a Mr T minimate Or Dukes of Hazzard wave with: Bo and Luke Uncle Jesse and Daisy Boss Hogg and Rosco I'd also like to see movie versions of Doc Ock and Green Goblin. How about GI Joe? Don't you think lots of them would translate really well? Or the most obvious - Star Wars.

Doesn't it look like military uniform Rhodes is just the same IM2 Rhodes head stuck on General Ross's body from wave 22 with a slightly different paintjob?

I don't have access to a scanner at the office, but I was able to take a picture of it that accomplishes the same thing. I just noticed that they also are showing two of the drones in the TRU group, so I guess they'll be getting those as well. I don't have the drones, so I'm not sure if they are any different from the single packs.

Just saw an ad for Iron Man minimates in this week's issue of Amazing Spider-Man. Maybe I missed it somewhere along the way, but it was the first time I had seen 2 of the minimates pictured in the Toys 'R Us grouping. It looks like they'll be getting non battle-damaged Mark VI paired with a Jim Rhodes in his military uniform.