dr baghead

those are all great, but that Metallo is inspired! I don't even really like the character but I'm considering stealing that idea.

Knowing how little slip ups like that annoy fans of 'nerdy' interest I came up with this great idea stand-up persona: "The nerd who tells nerd jokes with little factual errors that piss off other nerds" Stuff like "Do you think Superman likes going to work in the morning? I once worked with this guy who couldn't figure out how to work the coffee machine and it annoyed the crap out of me! I can't imagine how Superman feels working with a guy talks to fish, another guy who's afraid of the color yellow, and a big green retard that's always smashing his stuff"... see it's barely a joke, a non-comic fan might chuckle and say "heh, I guess Superman does have shitty co-works I guess" but I comic fan would be pissed I included the Hulk among the Justice League. (maybe even dorkier comic fans would be pissed I said Superman 'works' at the Justice League when really he coinsiders that a duty and Daily Planet is where he 'works' or something) Or you can push it even further "you know I have some father issues... but I guess it's not so bad, you know who really has Father issues: Luke Starwalker... you've all seen Star Trek right? If not, SPOILERS! Well in the movie Star Trek Luke Starwalker's dad is DARK VADER! Dark Vader, I know!!! My dad used to disappear for a week come home and hit me with his belt, Dark Vader left Luke on Dagobah then shows up and cuts off his hand with his lifesaver!! OUCH!!" it's brilliant (not really) meta-humor! the jokes would be awful, but the 'humor' is how much hatred calling characters the wrong name or using a DC character in a Marvel based joke even if the joke itself still 'works' instills in the viewers. The jokes not that Darth Vader was a crappy dad, it's that calling him "Dark Vader" will have someone reply "I WILL FIND YOU AND I WILL KILL YOU!!! HE IS A DARTH NOT A DARK!!! MAYBE YOU'RE CONFUSED BECAUSE HE'S A DARK LORD OF THE SITH BUT DARTH IS A TITLE BESTOWED UPON HIM!!! LEARN YOUR DAMN FACTS BEFORE I STAB YOU!!!" Oh back on topic: Anyone hoping for Gargoyles comics from this: The creator (and writer of the most recent Gargoyles comics) has commented he thinks it's unlikely Marvel will do anything with the license... however I think he's bullshitting and hoping control of the license stays at SLG, since they don't hire writers or artist, just publish what's given to them. With SLG he can have complete control over Gargoyles where as at Marvel he'd be playing in someone else's sandbox and have to hope he's not replaced.

Here's another TRU difference: Wave 28 Wolverine, under the giant red-x belt piece he has a belt printed on his hip piece. On the TRU version (unless mines an error) it's Blue, on the Wave 28 version it's red. This made my day since I don't like the belt piece and when I took it off my TRU Wolverine thought "I wish they had made that red instead of blue..."

I could see this being a major possibility. Slave Labor Graphics Gargoyles comic was a big seller for them, it got canned however because SLG couldn't afford renewing the licensing fees. Marvel actually had a Gargoyles comic that apparently sold decently enough back when the show was on TV but they too decided not to renew licensing fees. No licensing fees: No problems keeping a Gargoyle comic going? On topic though: Anyone worried this will lead to a "kiddfying of Marvel properties" just stop, don't forget movies such as: "Pulp Fiction" and "Clerks" (full of dirty words, references to sexual acts, and in one of them brutal killings) through the 'Miramax' Brand (which has since left them) and a crapload of Jerry Bruckheimer movie through their 'Touchstone' Brand. Disney keeps properties released under the "Disney" brand family friendly, but knows there's money in PG-13 and R rated material which is why they created Touchstone in the first place... what does this mean for comics? Marvel will probably publish some version of 'Disney Adventure' with friendly versions of Spider-man and Donald Duck comics in it playing up "this is THE DISNEY version!", while the main "Marvel" "Marvel Max" "Marvel Knights", etc imprints remain unchanged... ... I do wonder what this means for minimates, Universal Studios, and the films serieses. When it comes time to renew the Marvel license, will DST be able to afford it? It's probably going to go for Disney prices now. Is Universal Studios going to have to repaint their "Marvel Island of Adventure" to remove all references to Marvel? Like a sad local theme park has to do once whatever characters they used get bought up by a major brand (although, Universal IS bulding a Harry Potter park... maybe they can use the land for that.) Are the film rights going to be like the old Marvel Cartoons, does Disney get rights to them? I'd hate to never see an "Iron Man Film Series" box set because Paramount owns distrubtion rights to parts 1 and 2 and Disney owns rights to 3 through ?? like it's the Child's Play or Friday the 13th Series or something.

I know this has already been addressed to a degree, but I just finished playing the Ghostbusters videogame and find myself liking the Amazon set a lot less because of it. SPOILERS!!!! I thought these where just minor ghost from the set I had no idea Azetlor and the Architect as were important bosses, but the minimates look NOTHING like their in game counterparts... I found myself saying "that's what the minimate was supposed to be?!" It would be like if the next wave of actual GB mates were just off-white blanks with "Janine", "Peck", and "Mayor K'nuckles" lazily scralled on them in sharpy: a means to get a character made with the least bit of effort possible. I wasn't sold on Chef Demassi to begin with but hoped he might be a memorable character when I played. I barely noticed him... I was attacked by the skinny chef when they burst out, had to capture him, and by the time I caught up with Ray Demassi was already in a capture stream and I just had to help wrangle him in.... WORTHLESS CHARACTER!!! The Spider-witch would have been better (and easy to do with reused parts) and still represent the Hotel level with a Ghost... if they REALLY wanted to reuse the fat piece the Museum boss would have been better and then with Azetlor and the Architect you have 3 of the major players in Shandor's cult. I do like the slime monster though, and the boss he's related too couldn't have translated well to minimate form anyway so he's a good representation of "Shandor Island monsters"... although I prefer him on my DC shelf as "Killer Croc Version 3" so because I played the game I went from "liking this set" to "completely underwhelmed" (my feelings on the game too) that's never a good thing, although I'm glad it only cost me $30 to be unimpressed by the game and the mates and not $120.

I've used alumilite before but never made an actual mold from it (just filled molds with it) I might try that since my local plastic store sells shitty molding silicone and don't want to order the good stuff off-line right now. do I need to prep the subject with anything before molding so the alumilite doesn't stick? (cooking spray, mold release, vasaline, baby powder?) does the mold need to be prepped before it can be filled?

NIGHTCRAWLER!!!! Yeah there's already a Nightcrawler out there somewhere, but how many people still need one? Everyone else in the Giant Sized X-Men pack has been rereleased: Storm is getting a new 'mate in the next wave, Warpath is basically Thunderbird in terms of costume and is in the next TRU wave, to be fair we need a new GOOD Colossus but he was in the Astonishing X-Men Wave, and we've gotten like 8000 Wolverines. Nightcrawler is the only one who has been ignored despite the fact people love Nightcrawler! If the line can support 6 Angels it can support at least 4 Nightcralwers. Plus getting Nightcrawler out again opens the door for the following: -NIGHTCRAWLER and an updated Mystique (maybe X-Force version to go with Wolvie and X-23) -NIGHTCRAWLER and an updated Rogue (to go with Gambit!) -NIGHTCRAWLER and someone from X-Calibur (to go with Captain Britain and Kitty) -NIGHTCRAWLER and Wolverine (TRU repack) -NIGHTCRAWLER and variant figure (so we can army build Kurts) -NIGHTCRAWLER and TOAD (because it seems like the movies and TV shows like to pit them against each other) -NIGHTCRAWLER and Nocturne (because alternate dimensional daughters are creepy!) so as you can see, the return of NIGHTCRAWLER is the only logical choice on what to demand after Kang.

It just occurred to me, if these sets do well they probably won't look to villains for the next sets (since we're not that lucky), but rather other hero teams. And who has gone strangely missing from recent waves? The Fantastic Four! It almost makes two much sense: "Powered Down" Set: -Lab Coat Reed (Labreed!! with test tubes) -Ben Grimm (fresh off loosing the Secret Wars poll!) -Sue Storm (with an extra set of those 'half-phased' limbs they so love, and a clear shield) -Johnny Storm (also with extra half-phased limbs and probably fire hair, fire hands, flight stand) "Powered Up" Set: -Mr. Fantastic (with bendy limbs) -The Thing (probably with duck feet now) -Invisible Woman (with extra reversed half-phased limbs!) -The Human Torch (also with extra reversed half-phased limbs! and all the stuff Johnny had) BONUS THRID SET!!! Since there are people out there who want the Team in "Blue/Black" and people out there who want the team in "Blue/White" A third set will take Sue and Johnny from the powered down set, and Thing and Mr. Fantastic from the Powered Up Set and release them in the opposite team color!!! However to maximize sales potential this won't be a "matching set" no, no, see the "Powered Up" set contains the Blue/Black costumes and "Powered Down" contains the Blue/White outfits... the only way to complete a team in matching blue uniforms is to buy at least 2 sets. (and Lab Reed/Inivisibe Woman and Ben/Torch with alternate colored belt/gloves/boots will be TRU 2-packs down the road incase you want every possible team combination in both uniform schemes)

You better go give your mother a great big hug, a kiss on the check, and then say "Thank you, mom, I love you." You are NOT to old to do such and it is the very least you can do... I mean it, go do it right now... we'll wait.... She is under NO obligation to do anything for you other then feed, clothe, and shelter you. When I was your age I'd get $10 a week if I was lucky (more often my father would 'forgot' to pay me and if I wanted a cash advance because I had saved almost enough to get something he'd tell me "you're gonna be one of those credit card failures someday!!!"), your mother offering $25 a week is extremely generous, especially since she'll give you one more week of crazy spending before restricting you to such. Your mother obviously wants you to be happy spending that much on you, yet you come here and complain she never pre-orders things for you fast enough, can't drive you to the store because she's busy with something else, or is going to limit how much you can spend... Be happy you have such a nice mother, and tell her thanks (even if you do tell her thanks, do it again, then post back how nice it was to tell her thanks!)

(adds to his favorites) Sweet! I was hoping there was a larger version of the image out there... again, just stellar job on the poster.

You do know most TRU's haven't gotten Ghostbusters restocks, just one case (at least around here that seems to be holding true) unless you're expecting everyone to have bought two sets and to automatically give that set to someone else (and not say a non-multiverse boarder, a personal friend, a family member, or maybe they're greedy and wanted multiple ghost or clear custom fodder) every set's probably in the hands of someone who wanted them... unless your TRU is really behind the ball secondary markets like Amazon or eBay are probably your best bet, the board can't just magic up all 5 packs for you. also I'd like to say, while Captain CBecker hasn't gotten me any minimates *persay* he lives a city over (our TRUs are 15 minutes apart by Freeway) and we keep in touch when new waves come out (I'll report findings to him, and he actually told me what day his TRU said they were getting in Ghostbusters which lead to me getting a set of my own since I knew to check my TRU bright and early that morning) he has been NOTHING but a HUGE HELP to me... you should be ashamed for calling his loyalties to the community at large into question.

bah hate reading 6 year old quote

I do this a lot when I watch a DC animation, just "oooooh, how can I make that?!" all the time, every episode of "Brave and the Bold" is like that (Blue Beetle, Gentleman Ghost, DKR Batman, and Owl Man elude me on how to really capture as mini-mates, but every other character I've really enjoyed either already existed or was a pretty easy quick custom + stickers) "X-Men Evolution" makes me bitch and moan about what VERSIONS of characters I want to see. (basically: "X-Treme X-Men Rogue or one with a Coat... I'll sharpy in the purple eye liner later", "tweed blazer and turtle neck Professor X", "Jim Lee hair out Cyclops", and "Black Outfit Mystique" I what I whine about wanting as I watch the show)

you could always wait to see what Mattel's going to do for their Stay Puft. They said in an "Ask Matty" recently they won't do Stay Puft as a BAF since he's too big but are trying to get the figure done as close to in scale as possible. Now we all know that's impossible, since the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is 100 feet tall, and in a 9 foot tall action figure is highly unlikely. However, 30 inch tall figures are not unheard of and Mattel recently made a 30 inch Anti-Monitor, I wouldn't be surprised if a 30 inch Stay Puft is being considered. (which is actually out of scale for mini-mates too... if minimates are scaled so 2 inches = 6ft, that makes a 30 inch Stay Puft 90 feet tall, 10 feet too short!) ... although granted it IS Mattel so who knows if a 30 inch Stay Puft is made how many people can have a chance to own it. (deletes Comic Con rant) Basically, I guess what I'm saying is I'm going to wait to see Mattel's hand before I settle on a bank... a move I could very well regret when they make a 6 inch Stay Puft for Matty Collector and then raffle off 4 30 inch figures at SDCC, but I'll chance it...

I think we're in need of a good Hulk before a good Hulk Buster. Iron Monger and Stay Puft show they can make a big bulky character without straying from the 2 in base so there's no excuse to not have a massive Hulk. as far as speculation goes: -Iron Man/Stark: I bet we get a new torso sculpt more a kin to the extremis mate (so he can turn in the middle) with reused gloves and helemt (unless the look changes) from the first movie armor and reused boots from Iron Patriot. I bet we get a lot of Stark variants in TRU sets (like race track, another tank top, maybe a new suit, reissuses of Mark 1 and Playboy Tony) -Pepper/Rhodes: I bet we don't see either of them since they were covered in the first movie... Well sorta... I know Rhodes is a different actor now but, if he's War Machine (could be Tony or Widow) I bet we get his face under one of the armors, but much like we didn't get a business suit clad Stain in the first series I don't think we'll get a civilian Rhodes nor is he needed -Whiplash: If he has a real armor in the movie (if he's "part crimson dynamo" like I keep hearing I assume he'll have a red robot suit at some point) I'd really like to get both the 'racetrack attack' bare bones aromor and 'final armor' versions... whether it's a 'take off the armor, change the legs, and add the tendrills' kinda deal or a second figure (I'd prefer two figures so I can buy 1 of each pack and maybe get a second expression for Rouke) I want the racetrack version of the character. -Justin Hammer: It seems to me he'd be a box set character like Raza was. Like "Battle Damage Iron Man", "Battle Damage War Machine", "Battle Damage Crimson Whiplash", "Justin Hammer"... or maybe in a TRU 2-pack with another Stark/Ironman -Black Widow: Probably a very likely figure, since she's basically a blank with hair and if they have to make a lot of new pieces for the armors that's probably a very welcome thing. -Nick Fury: Unless he's an exclusive I bet we don't see Nick Fury since he's SO CLOSE to the Ultimates version coming soon. I mean Ultimate Fury is based on SLJ and the minimates already a dead ringer for him because of this. Unless he shows up in a new outfit in the film he could have all the screen time in the world and a mate would be redundant.

But when I wanted to make a Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde minimate, the first thing I thought when I thought "Characters from literature" I was asked to pick something else, since even though I wanted to make a human Hyde he was considered to be "a monster." Now to be fair I was told I could make Hyde if I couldn't think of another character, but Hyde was never added next to my name on the list of customerizers/character choices which sort of implied to me it was never really a welcome idea, it was just hoped I'd pick Hercule Poirot or someone that better fit the theme of 'non-horror-book-characters'. Basically, It's probably just sour grapes but I just think it's a little odd the customizers were asked to stick to any character outside of horror but the promotional card was allowed free reign and ended up being a scene that better represents "Horror themed minimates" then "let's get kids to read"

That image is kind of horror themed for an event that didn't allow any horror-related characters, isn't it?

It's kind of sad how much nicer and more effective this presumably fan made poster is: compared to this offical "to show kids what's out there" poster is: The fan made one (I'm assuming fan made since it has no copyright info/legal text on it) clearly separates each set making it a true checklist rather then a giant clusterlovefest of minimates out there you might want to buy. It doesn't have the convention only Blank Promo no kid (and since it's on minimates.com we can assume it's for the kids) can obtain without their parents spending a couple hundred bucks to take them to a convention. I understand to a degree the Marvel poster being so cluttered as there's probably no way you could fit 32 waves (31 really, right Ghost Rider...) + TRU sets + a large handful of box sets on a poster with clear distinction between each set and not have it looks like picture of the Comic Con Masquerade taken from Google Earth.... but there's only 14 different Ghostbusters sets right now, there's no reason not have something closer to the fan made list then the cluttered list right now.

quoted because, it's how I feel too. Also if you say it enough "FA Angel" seems like some sexist term for a pretty airline inspector.

I've been eyeing that set at TRU waiting for it to go on Clearance (too bad the movie did well, it's probably gonna be a year or so before that happens...) since it does look like, minus the habit-trails, it'd make a pretty sweet lab for Tony Stark

At the minimate panel at SDCC in the first row was a family of 4 with a little boy (maybe 4 or 5) he had a baggy with the two blanks, GB2 Venkman and GiD Stay Puft whom he would take out and play with as the panel went on. Since you got free mates for asking questions, everyone in that family asked one and handed the mates to the boy who then ripped them open to play with (he tore a Unification Spock apart and then put him back together... that'd probably make someone here cringe.) When handed a Dark Avengers set he seemed very pleased with Ares, who he had him swing his sword around going "shoowshoow" and pretend to he was getting hit with Hawkeyes arrow... I'm sure the kid had no clue who Ares was, he just liked the 'knight' figure. .... so if DST needs proof kids like Minimates, they got it, front row, tearing up rare mates, crying in terror when Matt tried to get him to ask a question... just having a ball. I've also seen a kid leave TRU with: Movie Wolvie/Sabretooth, Movie Wolvie/Silver Fox, Hulk/Doom, and Wolvie/Magneto sets all at once. This leads me to believe not only do kids LOVE minimates, they're an important part of the TRU food chain. If we collectors are the lions who hunt down and capture the rare 1 per case Bullseyes, then children who want Spider-man and Wolverine are the vultures and hyenas picking at the scraps to ensure a new case can arrive and the cycle begin a new! And to end the post, a pure speculation: Kids love Legos, but Legos are expensive. Kids love Marvel Movies, but 3.25 inch figures or 6 inch figures are expensive. For a parent looking to augment that hell of expensive Lego Castle set ($99.99!?!?!) with some additional figures, two superheroes for $8 is a steal compared to 1 knight and a push cart for $10 (the cheapest lego set I saw when looking today was $8 for two figures and a little cannon... after that it's $10 and over with 1 figure and mostly bricks) For a aunt/uncle/grandparent looking for a quick gift a minimate 2-pack offers your child's favorite hero with a villian (or in the case of Iron Man, a second outfit) for less then cost of one Marvel Universe or Marvel Legend or Spider-man Classics or Iron Man figure... with the added bonus a sandwich baggy can hold a small army of minimates to keep your kid quiet in a line or restaurant while a standard figure only 1 or 2 is really transportable. Well these do not lead to "kids love minimates" it does lead to sales of minimates at TRU

I found my Bullseye today, I decided to finally hit up the farther way TRU I only go to on rare occasions, after canceling the trip for various reason several other times in the past 2 weeks (I drove past it twice going/returning from SDCC but it was too early/late to go in and decide on the last two Tuesday to go grocery shopping with my time instead of driving) and there was a lovely BE/MS pack on the shelf... so it was like toy karma or something. stranger still was a Wolverine/Sabretooth pack with Wolverine so well removed I couldn't even tell he was missing at first (the tape was perfect, the box wasn't ripped at all... he was either stolen by a ninja or was left out by the factory... I'm betting ninja, ninja or someone who LOVES Wolverine variants but has gone so broke buying all of them they've been reduced to a life of crime.)

I just netflixed the Real Ghostbusters season 1 (all these ghostbuster minimates got me jazzed up on GB, I've been watching the movies on AMC and will be renting the game when I get back from SDCC) and I was after seeing him dancing along in the intro I was thinking the same thing. He could be the next Stay Puft/Slimer with all the variants they could do (aside from Glow-in-the-dark and clear they can do GB1 'shocked' expression, GB2 'happy' expression with peace sign hand, RGB shugging expression, RGB overly happy anime dancey face... probably more)

Here's a silly little ghostbuster mini-mate story: I was talking with my mother earlier today and showed her the Egon minimate, Egon being my favorite Ghostbuster when I was younger, and said "Hey mom, how well do you remember my childhood?" She took it and examined it said "Oh, oh I .... I don't know his name but he's a... A GHOSTBUSTER!" she then proceeds to hum the Ghostbusters theme while wiggling around the figure. the last time I tried to get her to guess a minimate's identity it was Hannibal Lector ('Silence of the Lambs' is her favorite movie) and she was stumped, but she knew Ghostbusters right way (and I'm betting if he was Real Ghostbuster colored she could have remembered his name) so I think that shows potential for this line, Marty McFly and Hannibal Lector without context can be anyone, but you see those proton packs and everyone remembers Ghostbusters even if they haven't had to know what a Ghostbuster was for 20 years.

They probably would offer them on-line if they could just sell out of the Hulk/'Domination', Kraven/Spidey, and Venom/Spidey sets they've had peg(warehouse?) warming since December. As far as TRU.com knows the Bullseye cases are just more of those and their system doesn't want to order even more figures they can't sell. .... now if some kind soul here would just buy up the 13 Vemons, 36 Hulks, and 44 Kravens it said were still in stock last time I checked we'd be all good!