elhonez

Happy Holidays! Max love to the Mini community!

"Twin Sons," so named because 3 of the pairs are anchored by an alternate version of the Sons of the Tiger. Iron Fist (red) and Captain Hero: Fist needs no introduction. Captain Hero I'd done before, but not his second (and superior) chest emblem. I decided to apply it to the back of the original, so it's reversible. These guys are a pair because "Captain Hero" "killed" "Iron Fist" in the very last issue of PMIF in the 1980s. Because Marvel has to Marvel, it was retconned with such nonsensical ferocity that it was revealed to have been the Super Skrull murdering a shape-shifting vegetable person. I wish I was kidding. Anyway, Captain Hero is like Marvel's super tragic version of Shazam. Black Tiger and Lumus: In said last issue, Lumus featured prominently, and on the cover no less. Black Tiger is an alter-ego of Abe Brown (an older brother of Hobie Brown aka the Prowler, as it happens). This alter-ego appeared in black & white in the Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu magazine, and nowhere else. I was able to determine the color due to finding a random Fred Hembeck illustration from that time period, which really only serves to demonstrate the depths to which I will sink in my quest to customize random corners of the 616. Vienna and Lin Sun Lin Sun appears in these colors in a DHOKF cover. I like this outfit as a contrast to the original SOTT colors, and to Bob Diamond's red-and-yellow. Vienna is a random super-duper spy that has cropped up sparsely over the years since the 80s, and only in recent years to presumably allow Marvel to renew their copyright. Doombringer and Bob Diamond "Is your name Bob Diamond?" "No, mine's Clarence." This is Bob's OHOTMU look. I tend to index on OHOTMU looks, so my compulsive need to provide this alternate look actually precipitated the other tiger-sons. Doombringer is one of those badass looking dudes who ended up getting punked pretty hard. But he also graced a dramatic cover, so there's that. He was fun to figure out. Much better looking in-hand -- for some reason none of the pictures I took captured him very well. That's it for now, Wave 4 is coming next (probably), unless I decide to tackle a little diversion I've been cooking up. No hints or HangMate, yet, but I will say that if anyone has a Peter Pan Smee (or partial) they're looking to offload, I'm in the market. Also: Happy Holidays to everyone!

Yes! I have a provisional title for this wave which is only somewhat arbitrary. I'm super excited to share Wave 3, and then I probably won't waste any time launching into Hangmate for Wave 4.

Update: they're in the can now, just waiting on those last two parts. I've already started work on the next set, which will feature 3 straight re-releases, 2 minor updates, 1 major update, and two brand new characters (to me). One of these is going to really push my limits: paint matching, lots of decals, hand-painted designs, funky parts usage, and even a custom part. All for a character/look that only appeared in one issue AFAIK. Ha. I have a sickness. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Wave 3, coming soon.

Marvel Robots? Aside from Ultron, who is there? Electro (golden age./ the Twelve) Delphine Courtney Doombots Galactus's Punisher bots "Silvermane" (more borg than bot) ISAAC (cosmic bot) Jocasta Danger Torgo Machine Man ...can't really think of anyone else, drawing a blank, but super excited to see what Luke cooks up.

Elsa Bloodstone?

The character's comic or movie version has been a Marvel Legend? Or both?

For a second I thought Death-Dealer, but I don't think he's ever been more than just a human.

...but the next custom isn't bonebreaker? I'm stumped! Unless it's something really obvious like Deadpool, and you're making a new version?

I made some good progress on one of the new creations and I like the way he's shaping up. I think this wave will be fun, despite the likelihood that no one will be familiar to anyone. The wave will look like this: Hero/Hero Hero/I'mNotSureHowToDescribe Antihero/Villain Hero/Villain One of these characters can be found in the earlier days of this thread, but has received a minor upgrade. Some parts I thought I had weren't present, so I made a final purchase for two parts, and I need to apply one more paint app. ETA is now Dec 22.

PortmanteauMan?

Killmonger? Coldblood?

I have a question about the Wrecking Crew / Thunderball: where did his hairpiece come from? And more guesses: Weasel? Angel Dust?

Crossfire?

Razorfist?

Hmm. That's broad! 2 qs, and totally understand if you choose not to answer: MCU or other-CU? Made before in any format? If the latter, comic Ghost?

The marauder looks great! I appreciate how you've adapted some of the design elements to work at this scale/aesthetic.

Nice work @minimateship! Where did the gas can come from?

Hey thanks for the kind words @minimateship! I'm continually impressed with the breadth of MiniMate options. It's not very often now that I get stuck trying to work out parts for a planned custom, because in most cases parts already exist that can be modified or re-purposed for what I need. Also: you can thank @cylonchaney for enabling HangMate -- he generously created and shared the images I use when running a "game." And because there still aren't enough hooks to guess my next wave, I'll disclose that its title is "Twin Sons," which is a pun based on my love of Star Wars, even while the wave itself has exactly nothing to do with Star Wars (it's still Marvel). But if you've been paying attention to my releases, it has a double meaning...

Thank you! These obscure characters are always a blast to bring to life. And I'm not stopping yet... Here's a Wave 3 preview! Rather than running HangMate for Wave 3's abstract wave name, I'll provide some stats: Five by Five: Five of the mates are characters (or costumes) that appeared 5 or less times in the comics, per ComicVine, excluding reprints and collected editions. Sausage Party: Only one female in this wave, although one could arguably be described as having no gender but appearing as a male. Heroes in the House: 6 heroes and/or ostensibly heroic characters, 2 villains. Who??: Only one character could be considered an A-lister. Independent of this designation, four of the customs represent alternate or secondary costumes or identities, and an additional two are a different person occupying an identity. Newness Index: These are all brand-new customs for me, with the exception of one who is a refresh. A question that might end up being a hint: One of the characters needs a Wave 23 Mark II War Machine (Rhodey) for its torso cap. I'm kicking myself, because as you can see from my Big Ben custom, I had one at one time, but I think I traded it away a couple years ago. If you have a line on one of these, or a partial with the part I need, please PM me. Given the 5x5 hint, I'd be extremely surprised if anyone guessed these characters off the bat. But I can offer a final hint (for now) that these are thematically consistent with some previous customs of mine.

Almost everyone got a facelift or minor-to-moderate upgrades, with the exception of Big Ben Donovan. The "two-packs" of this imaginary wave are: Gideon Mace & Chemistro (now with alt masked head), Señor Muerte and Montenegro, Big Ben and Mr. Fish, and Piranha Jones and Cockroach Hamilton. More fun facts: Cockroach, Piranha, Big Ben, Gideon Mace and Señor Muerte all appeared in the same episode of Earth's Mightiest Heroes that Spear and the Mangler did. Piranha Jones was also reimagined as a fast-talking lawyer in the Luke Cage Netflix show.

OK. That was six days ago. I got super busy. Hopefully tonight.

Wow, these are so great! I was very excited to find them in the mail yesterday. It's fun to get a full set of iconic villains all at once. Excellent work Luke!

What he said! Your mind cannon shoots word lasers!

BHM FTW! You are a gentleman and a scholar. If Wheel of Fortune had teams, I'd want you on mine. BIG FISH, SMALL POND ...but what does that mean? Abstractly, sure, D-listers with big aspirations generally qualify, but there's also a bit here that's on the proverbial nose. I guess I don't really need to be coy since all of these are updates, like the first batch, but I'm standing on ceremony. Pictures in about 3 days, I need to do some painting to finish up