God Magnus

Yay pictures! A few things of note: -Dracula has the right head now! It has fangs, they just didn't come through in the picture. -The in-tray shot of the IM2 2-pack might contain movie spoilers. -No visor-up helmet for BD War Machine. Check out my pics here! Any pic requests for the exclusives?

I went to C2E2 today. Standing in line for the tickets was fun. Okay, maybe not fun but still not a horrific experience. I finally got a winning ticket on my third try! My buddy wasn't so lucky but I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the Graphiti Designs booth and the girl asked, "Would you like two sets or just the one?" Score! So, I now have an extra set and I'd like to try to trade it for some SDCC Hals if possible.

Had a great time at C2E2. Getting the Battle Beast was easy. Just get in line, walk up and get one. The AFX deal was pretty sweet. The Iron Man set was free with the purchase of wave 33 or wave 34 or two 4-packs. I have a bunch of pictures and I'll get them loaded up soon.

Cool. I'll be sure to get some shots tomorrow.

I don't think so. I think this is the first C2E2.

Yeah, a second wave. It'll most likely be two more exclusive packs and two from the regular wave like they did with Wolverine Origin. Most of us have already assumed that this is where we'll see the as-yet-unanounced non-battle damaged Mark VI. On an unrelated not, I thought I'd share a few quick thoughts about these since I've had some time to look at them a bit more closely. I don't mind the bow-legs as much as I thought I would. Mine don't look quite as bad as some of the pictures I've seen and mine actually stand quite well. I really think they did this on purpose as the feet seem to be even when the legs are separated a bit more than the standard mate. I love the new helmets. Both visor-up and visor-down versions are fantastic! I don't really mind so much being stuck with an extra Mark IV from the Borders set since I can display one of each helmet style. I haven't had as much problems with loose fitting arms as I've read about. I suspect, though, that that problem might be due to a combination of the paint in the shoulder socket being slick and the new chest pieces and upper arms giving these guys something of an "I can't put my arms down!" syndrome. Something I've noticed on Black Widow that I'm surprised I haven't seen commented on yet is her belt/holster piece. It's a really cool looking one-piece deal that fits around the waist piece and the left upper leg. The only drawback is that it effectively immobilizes her left leg at the hip joint and only allows for slight side-to-side adjustments. It definitely adds more than it takes away from this figure but I did have to pull out her left foot a bit to get her to stand up straight. Two things I'm slightly disappointed about related to James Rhodes. One, both the Mark II head and the War Machine head have the exact same face. Nothing major, but it would have been nice to see maybe a smile or something on one of them. Second, still no Rhodey in an Air Force uniform. I really want one for some reason that I can't exactly explain. Here's hoping for one in TRU wave 2.

Wow, I thought about grabbing one or two of those myself but realized I'd be in the same position you find yourself in now, Ivan. At one of the stores I checked for Mates, one of the tables was strewn with about ten that someone had openned and lazily tossed back down.

I scored at Borders and TRU today! The Borders in Farmington Hills had two each of the exclusive, Happy Hogan, and Mark V packs. I grabbed an exclusive and a Happy Hogan. After that, I went to the Livonia TRU and they had a full case up on a peg. They were down the aisle with the IM2 3.75" figures, not on the front display or with the rest of the Marvel Minimates. I broke down and grabbed one of each so now I just need to find a Pepper/Drone pack and I'll be all set aside from the C2E2 and AFX exclusives. I noticed that all the tape on the outside and inside of the Borders packs is twice as wide as all of the tape on the TRU packs. You packaging variant collectors are in trouble! :tongue:

just in case anyone hadn't noticed or what-not... the C2E2 2-pack is available through Luke's Toy Store And the 4-pack will be available on AFX's site (not to mention probably everywhere else) eventually.

I'll be there. Saturday for sure, possibly sunday.

Well, from what I've seen in terms of the Borders I went to, the toys they carry usually are either mixed in with the manga/comics section or on these little displays around the floor. That's where I saw the Iron Man 2 MS figures was on a little square display, so maybe minimates will be put there with them somehow. Not sure since I kinda bought almost all the ones my Borders had. They kinda try to keep stuff together of the same items I see. Okay, but my main point was that I went to four stores and none of them had the Marvel Select figures in the same place. One store had them behind the front counter, one store had them back in the "Toys and Games" section, one store had them crammed into the sci-fi/fantasy section and one store had them split up in two different places.

I am officially not a fan of the whole Borders thing. It's not the hunt that I mind. That's actually one of my favorite parts of collecting. It's the fact that, out of the four stores I've checked, not a single layout was even close to the same and I have no idea where the Mates would even be if they were out on the floor. Even the Marvel Select figures were in completely different sections at each store. It's rough, I tells ya! End of rant.

Justin Hammer and the BD Hammer Drone are both one per case.

I usually don't make it out that far. I'm in Livonia so I'll be able to hit the Farmington Hills, Novi, Canton, and Dearborn stores on my extended toy hunting circuit. I'm planning on grabbing a couple extra exclusive packs to help other people out annd see if I can put together the regular wave.

If your Mall's Borders is considered a Borders Express store, i doubt it'll have it. Express stores are notorious for not carrying this sort of thing. Best bet is to find a seperate store or a nice Boardie. Yeah, I guessed as much but I figured I'd check at least one. They actually did have a modest little toy section with some IM2 Mega Blocks sets. Out of the two other stores I went to, the one guy who actually seemed to want to help me just pointed me toward the Marvel Select figures and said he didn't remember seeing any other IM2 stuff yet.

Nothing at the three Borders I checked in the past two days. Has anybody found them at a mall store? The people there don't seem to know anything about anything. I even asked about a book that I wanted to pick up and got mostly blank stares. I do find it a little odd that these are hitting everywhere else when Borders is based in Ann Arbor.

The one in Laurel Park Mall in Livonia is closest to me. I'll let you know if I find them. If not, I think the one at 12 & Telegraph is the next closest.

That was amazing!Probs to the creator! Totally awesome! A perfect blend of the game and old school voices, music and SFX. I would get in line for the game right now if it were like that! BTW, it's "props," short for proppers.

I got my army builder case today! The packaging is so cool, I almost don't want to open them. My set is #7! Neat! Looks like I got the correct ratio. I'll definitely be hitting the nearest Borders tomorrow! Fingers crossed!

Yeah, that was the TRU exclusive pack that was supposed to be included in their wave. As far as anyone knows, it's cancelled indefinitely.

BBTS did have them listed as "substandard," did they not? That's usually how they list stuff so MIB collectors know that the packaging is less than ideal. In my experience it seems to be their catch-all term to describe anything from "a little dinged-up" to "crushed to f**k." All that aside, I should be receiving my set from BBTS tomorrow. I have a fun little custom planned for the motorcycle cop T-1000, so I'm probably going to have to track another one down, eventually. I, too, thought this was a very nice line with lots of accessories and some really cool figures with multiple configurations. I would not have minded another series or a couple more 4-packs.

Nice customs! Is that Andre Drazen modified at all or does he really look that close to that guy? I would totally jump on that No Doubt set but the trombone is bent to crap and that's the piece I'd care most about.

They were in today's Previews so I'm pretty sure he'll be able to get them.

That would make sense based on what I've seen. Most stores around my area got one case of waves one and two and a couple stores got a restock maybe a month or so later. So far, with wave three, I've seen three cases within two weeks at each of the five stores in my range.

That's not really surprising considering this is something of a first time experiment for Borders.