pk13

I immediately clicked through when I saw that post on the blog. Was really hoping to see some Batman TV Minimates.

This is sad news indeed. Growing up and starting to pay attention to politics in the 80's, Thatcher was the first contemporary non-U.S. leader that I learned about at the time. The parts of her rule that I later learned were unpopular weren't very widely talked about here, (possibly I wasn't paying enough attention?). I had no idea until much later just how much some people didn't care for her. At the time, she felt like the greatest ally the U.S. had, (and probably was), which meant I always had a favorable opinion of her.

Either way, it seems a lot like when Reagan died... it doesn't matter if you agree with or vehemently oppose what they did while in office, there should be some respect for having such an impossible job in an almost impossible time.

The Bot Detection questions are cracking me up. I picked the worst day of the year to try and work on checklists...

Welcome aboard! I had very similar collecting habbits as far as ML, MU, and DCUC are concerned. But I made the switch to DST a little over a year ago and haven't looked back since. Minimates are a great product and you've found the best place to talk about them!

I can't help with a recommendation for a true outdoorsman knife, but I own a Spyderco Stretch that's been absolutely wonderful for several years now. It's kind of a hybrid between hunting/outdoors and everyday use. It's more of an everyday knife that could be used in a pinch to field dress or something along those lines. I also have a Spyderco Hawkbill that's opened more boxes/blister cards/bags of toys than I care to remember. It always stays on the coffe table so I know right where to look for it when I get a package in the mail. I own two decent knives and they are used primarily to open toys and take tags off of clothes. Safe to say I'm probably not the target demographic for the company.

And to add to the topic of flashlights, I always carry a 4sevens Mini ML-X. It's a great little flashlight for everyday use. It takes up very little space in your pocket but can absolutely flood some light.

First off, a serious congrats on finding your grail and completing your collection. That was a great way to end it. To see someone find that one missing piece.

Secondly, that was a really fun watch. I had about five minutes to spare but started watching the video and continued the whole way through. I can definitely relate to plenty in there. Thanks for a very entertaining view into your experience with the hobby.

I'm a little late to the conversation, but this is really interesting to me. All I can speak about as far as first hand knowledge goes is making a run at completing a Marvel Minimates collection. I'm just about there after almost a year and a half. I read and researched and watched ebay like it was my job for about 6 months while trying to put together an idea of what older figures would roughly cost. I wanted to have an idea of what was a ridiculous price for any given figure and what was a price that I should immediately jump on if I saw a good BIN.

After that, it was all a matter of having a list of what I wanted and attacking certain areas of it. Instead of looking at it as a whole, I made a list of 20-30 figures that were always hard to find or more expensive and while working on that, I would also actively search out box sets for a while. Then once I had knocked that list down to just a couple of rare sets, I moved on to TRU sets, then exclusives, early sets, etc... That divide and conquer method made it much easier for me when looking at the enormous mass of Marvel releases. Especially when I was almost a decade late to party.

But today, after a ton of ebay scouring, some DEEEEEEEP Google searches, (I'm talking 30+ pages deep in the results, ha), lots of purchases/almost purchases from smaller online toy sites, (many of which were woefully out of date as far as in stock product was concerned), and last but definitely not least the overwhelming amount of help I've received from the people nice enough to trade and sell to me here, (of which there was one sale and a trade that I couldn't be more grateful for), I'm down to one Marvel set before I'm complete. Although I will say that I'm not including the promo Spideys or the MAX statues as part of what I consider to be a complete collection. The promos are pretty incredible as collection pieces, but they aren't really based in the comics. For me, that makes it a hard sell at half a grand or so for a Gold Spidey. The statues look amazing but between how fragile they are and the fact that they aren't articulated, I didn't really have a big interest in them.

So while if does take some work, I think it would be possible to have a complete collection. Although you need a lot of luck and the help of some great people to make it happen. Especially with the promos. I feel like I know a decent amount about them even though I've never gone after any of them. It amazes me how hard it seems to be to get a complete collections of those.

I just finished off selling a 100% complete Marvel Universe collection. Hasbro is just the worst with distribution, character selection, price vs. quality, etc... It was a wonderful line for a while but the figures were so hard to find. Add in the fact that the paint apps were often horrible and the actual build quality had begun to really drop off with serious price increases and it actually felt like a relief when the last of the figures were gone. I've seen new figures on the pegs since then and didn't have the slightest urge to pick them up. And I haven't had a single regret with letting that collection go. That's how I knew it was a good decision. I didn't rage quit because I didn't like the new wave or over con exclusives or anything like that. I just didn't care about the hassle of collecting the line. Like others have said, the balance tipped far more to the unhappy side than the happy side. At which point it feels like a waste of time and money.

As far as Minimates go, it has been a great replacement so far. I've only been collecting for around a year but I've enjoyed the process immensely. The sense of community that I've found here has been a big boost. And the level of communication from DST is a *HUGE* factor as well. I really appreciate how much info they give us. Even when it's bad news. Having completely cut out all Hasbro buying, I was looking for something to replace the larger figures of MU and ML. I have been very happy with DST so far so I've been looking into their Marvel Select line. After trying to price what the cost would be to pick up the older and more expensive figures, I had several sites opened up and was ready to pull the trigger on purchasing a good number of figures. But then I read a recent Q&A by DST Chuck about the Select line. In it, he stated that Vision would be a "long shot" as a figure in the Select line. I'm not a Vision super fan, but to me, Vision is an A list character. The fact that he would be a long shot and figures like Barbarian Hulk are being made caused me to pause and rethink things. While the Barbarian Hulk is a cool looking figure, I am more interested in a line with a nice selection of characters to choose from. I didn't like the answer given, but the honesty was something I really appreciated. DST Chuck saved me a lot of time and frustration. That's something you never get from the big companies. And while it stopped me from puchasing Select items, it definitely added to my feeling of happiness when buying Minimates. It seriously helps to appreciate the company as well as the license.

I received my gift on Friday but wasn't able to open it up until today. What greeted me? Several Universal Monsters 2 packs that will be the start of that collection and Chuck, the tree chopping elf and his axe, "Splinter"! Chuck is my first custom 'mate and is roughly 725% awesome! Not only does Chuck chop trees, he's been modded to hang from them as well. Which is exactly what Chuck will be doing this Christmas!

I'm still pretty new here so I don't have a lot to go off of as far as guessing who gave the sweetness that is Chuck and his monster pals to me. Crossing out the names that have been revealed so far and cross checking the zip code on the package against the locations of the members that participated has led me to believe that it was blacksun1520 that made Chuck a new part of my Christmas tradition. So that's my guess, and a huge thanks to blacksun1520 if I'm right. But if I'm wrong, the thanks is no less huge to whoever sent my gift. Cause Chuck and the monsters are freaking sweet.

This is my first chance to participate here. I'm definitely in!

Welcome!

Hello everyone. I'm back with more questions as I weave my way through trying to complete my Marvel collection. Any help is greatly apreciated.

1. I'm missing a basic hand for a Wave 28 Gambit. Looking through the MMDB, I noticed that the Wave 27 Ultimate Iron Man looks to use the same basic hand. Since I don't have that Iron Man yet, can anyone that has both figures confirm if they are the same hand?

2. Next up is the TRU Wave 3 Mark I War Machine. I'm looking at it and the Wave 23 WM on MMDB and can't really see much of a difference other than the TRU one looks a little lighter in color. Is there a difference that I'm missing?

3. This is kind of random, but how does the community view the 2011 NYCC Spider-Man/Fire Chief Max set? More specifically, is this considered more of a promo? I'm looking to complete a Marvel collection that's based off of comic and movie versions. And while I do read a lot of comics, I'm nowhere near up to date with Spider-Man. So I'm not sure if there was an issue where Spidey donned some firefighter gear or if it was more of a promotional thing. Same with the Fire Chief. Not sure if that was a promo/tie in to the M.A.X. line or if it was based on a small character appearance in the comics.

Thanks again for any help!

It's great to see more new collectors like myself. Welcome!

Welcome to the MMMV! I also recently joined and can't even start to tell you how helpful this place has been.

Mine is an abbreviation of the screen name I've used for a long time at another site. Most people would use the abbreviation when sending me a message so I decided to use it here. As for the avatar, I just like M.O.D.O.K. Especially in a suit.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I was hoping there might have been another time that hair was used. But like Zach said, there probably wasn't a big need for it, haha.

I seem to be missing the hair that originally came with the Mark II War Machine variant from Wave 23. I've looked through the MMDB but couldn't find any other mates that used the same hair. If anyone knows of another figure that uses the exact same hair, I would really appreciate a heads up as I would like to complete the Rhodes WM. Thanks in advance for any/all help!

And since I'm new here, (and just mentioned the MMDB), does the person or people that run that site post here? Because I would like to publicly thank them for all of the help that MMDB has been to me while I was researching Minimates before taking the plunge into collecting them. As well as the board here. I've read topics dating back a few years until now just to try and learn about this hobby. I've definitely learned a lot and appreciate everyone's efforts in getting information online for people that are just getting on board the MM train.

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome! I plan on getting posts up in the trading and buying sections as soon as I have the time to get my extras sorted. I'd also like to say that I'm glad to have found the Sponsor Links post as it's nice to help out a little here when I am going to be spending the money anyway.

This looks like the place to be if you have a minimate addiciton so here I am. I've been reading the board for a few months and decided to start posting and hopefully do a little trading and buying. I'm mostly interested in Marvel but am also considering starting up the Universal Monsters line as well. I look forward to talking/trading minimates with everyone!