Gillbob316

I'm surprised so many people are saying Xavier. I realize he's the guy with the dream and all, but being that he's not often on the front lines, I feel he's often not the "Star" of the X-Men brand. Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm & Magneto... imo. Despite being a bland boxed set full of re-release... that's your core imo. Some might Argue Jean over Storm, but I feel like Jean gets pushed to the background a lot. Her and Xavier got last billing in the 90s Cartoon. She used to struggle to get toys released for quite some time. She spends a lot of time being dead (especially in recent years). She often doesn't even get referred to by a catchy code name... despite having two. Storm is the more action-oriented, focal, iconic, poster girl of the team (literally, I'm pretty sure more Storm posters exist than Jean Grey posters) If we split heroes and villains, Jean can replace Magneto. I truthfully don't feel X-Men Villains as a collective theme are iconic enough to support a themed boxed set (and that's coming from a mega-hardcore X-Men fan), but if pressed to pick four: Magneto, Juggernaut, Apocalypse & Mystique... somewhat ironically, while I feel that boxed set is the least likely of those I've mentioned to be made... it's the one that appeals to me most, lol. (Ah, to be a comic book nerd).

Technically there are at least two minor variants I can think of... the Ultimate Avengers 2 version of the original, and the TRU version of War Machine (assuming we're counting Tony in War Machine armor as an Iron Man)... one had had bare upper legs, and one had "underwear" lines painted on his upper legs. There's also more glaring variants, like how the MK 43 armor was metallic at specialty, but matte at TRU. And not to mention the Hall of Armor 10 pack of re-releases, all of which had at least one small change. SO ANYWAY... I have all of them except the first two mentioned (Ult. Avengers, and the "Underpants" War Machine) but as others have said... I don't count those. Minor variants are the bane of my anal collecting existence, lol. Been a completionist since the beginning of the line. Only things I don't have are some unofficial minor variants and gold & silver spidey. Though I can't currently find my Hulk vs. Iron Man DVD Mail Away promos. I ordered them... they're in my house somewhere... but I misplaced them before they got put away. So there are two rogue Iron Men and a rogue Hulk somewhere in my place... However, I feel like the spirit of the idea in this post was to capture a photo of all the different armors for an impressive "Hall of Armor" shot. Truely taking a photo of every Iron Man minimate would yield a lot of Armor repetition, as several dozen have been released more than once with only minor tweaks.

Naw, I know how this DST movie line thing works by now, no way in hell will we get all four horsemen. We'll get two, and be left to lament the missing ones forever therafter. Anyway... God Apocalypse looks terrible. Looks like he stepped out of Guardians of the Galaxy and into this. As does Magneto's costume. Why is his face Blue? Everything BUT his face is blue, but his friggin' face is grey! It was grey in the post-credits sting from the last movie for crap's sake! I hate these movies, and want the rights to revert to Marvel with such a firey passion. Tired of seeing my favorite comic book franchise adapted so poorly. Oh, and Mystique looks like Jennifer Lawrence and is working with the good guys again. Big friggin' surprise. Not like striking out as a villain and not hiding who she is was a huge focal point of her plot or anything. Not to mention Psylocke and Jubilee just being the latest faces in a long line of, "Hey, who have we not used yet?" ... except they did use both of them. Younger. In an era that takes place further in the future than this movie. Which makes no damn sense whatsoever. But hey, when has anything about these movies ever made sense or maintained a sense of continuity? Amirite? Don't know why they even bothered rendering Origins non-canon. Not like it fits any worse than most of the other ones in this hodgepodge of crap they're trying to pass off as continuity. I'd love for this to be the movie that finally hits this franchise hard enough it has to go limping back to Marvel like Spider-Man did... but in all honesty, if a few of those other ones didn't do it, I doubt highly that this one will. And Deadpool looks like it will probably actually be good so... *Sigh* Guess we're staying on the Fox train. At least they're successfully killing Fantastic Four's film viability, by the look of things.

I have never actually read a comic with Squirrel Girl in it, and didn't quite get what her whole deal was when she first started coming into the spotlight in recent years... That said, I play a crapton of Marvel Heroes (the Free-to-play, Diablo-esque Marvel game)... and came to love her through that. Not only is fighting super-villains with a horde of squirrels loads of fun, but she has some of the most hilarious/adorable dialogue and sound-bytes in the game. She became one of my accidental mains just through personality and gameplay alone (Most all of my other mains are X-Men characters I actually enjoyed before playing the game) So while I've still never read a comic with her, I'm totally on board for her. Frankly a little astonished she doesn't already have a minimate. Which is why I voted for her in the animated poll.

Speaking of things that never got explained, I'm still pissed about Xorn. Even the half-dozen attempts Marvel took at making sense of him didn't make any damn sense.

Has Marvel given any comment on what's going to happen to all the OTHER realities after Secret Wars? Presumably, when the event ends, 616 will get back to business as usual, but pick up a few new refugees along the way, like Miles and Squadron Supreme and Old Man Logan... But will the other alt realities still exist? Or is Marvel trying to wipe the slate clean? And if they are wiping the slate clean, how does this effect future "alternate reality" and/or "What if?" stories? I really hope they're not claiming every other non-main reality is obliterated, because it's not a plot point they'll be able to sustain. I mean look at AoA or House of M, they originally claimed those realities WERE 616, just altered briefly, until they wanted to revist it them, at which point they became splinter realities, separate from 616. EVENTUALLY... some writer is gonna want to use something outside 616, which would completely violate the premise that there's only 1 reality. (Frankly the continued existence of the movies violates that premise immediately, if we assume the movies to be their own reality in the marvel omniverse... which some do.) PS. For anyone reading X-Men '92... does Morph play any role whatsoever? Any mention? Any nod? Does he appear? As long as they're cherrypicking characters from the omniverse, I'd love it if they FINALLY gave the animated version of Morph a place in mainstream Marvel continuity... but I doubt he's on anyone's radar this day in age. Still, just curious.

I'm kind of getting sick of Alternate Reality X-Men running around the Mainstream Marvel universe... it's... growing overly confusing. Like first the Exiles were getting mixed up with 616. They'd visit here, at least one of them, Nocturne, stayed. A few 616'ers went to join them (Sage, Psylocke, Beak). Then we had AoA Nightcrawler running around while 616 Nightcrawler was dead (but now he's not dead). Then we gained the young versions of the original five, who don't seem to be going anywhere any time soon. Now we've got Old Man Logan and god knows who else running around... It's getting rather difficult to keep track of. I miss when the characters from another time and/or alternate realities were just new guys we'd never seen before, like Bishop, or Rachel, or X-Man (okay, so he's technically AoA Cable, but he at least had the courtesy to change his name so we didn't get confused). Not temporary sit-ins for the actual characters while they're dead or something... Though post Secret Wars, it doesn't seem to be a problem exclusive to the X-Men anymore, so... I guess it's confusing for everyone.

Completely honest answer: While I'd be interested in stickers (especially for the two extra Iron Legions), I have no interest in buying a whole second set of a standard wave to get them. 60 was an odd exception in that there was a whole lot of motivation to have two of that wave, what with the double-duty X-Men figures. I can't see why I'd have want or need of a second set of wave 63. I'm typically a one and done collector (and I'm sure I can't be the only one)

I had to go double-check all my male X-Men for bosoms. I'm happy to report they're bosom free.

This is true. Of Civil War, RE: Falcon/Witch that is. I'm just a geek on the internet, I like to complain. I still buy all the minimates anyway. <3 I truthfully didn't even realize there was a MK 45 armor until it was pointed out to me later on, I didn't notice the transition when I watched the movie, and thought he was in the 43 throughout. That said, for the sake of "Gotta Catch'em All" Movie Armors, and an Iron Man to anchor the set, I get it... but... I wasn't losing sleep over it. ... I'd just like to randomly say however, on the subject of movie characters we need or don't need, when Thor: Ragnarok sees release, if we don't come out of it with a Fandral and a Hogun again, there will be nerd-wrath hell to pay. >_> (Which is to say, no actual wrath or hell at all, save lots more bitching on the internet)

I'd prefer a clean version of each as well, but in a pinch (and this seems to be a pinch) I could accept Ultron MK I as #5... but #3 will remain a sore spot for the rest of my days, lol... Still... this... is a very lackluster box set all around. I honestly could have lived without Bulked-Up Ultron... too similar to the normal one. But probably ultimately better, so okay. I get him. The Iron Legion drone is again, lackluster, but in the interest of completing the set of 5, I get him too. That said... I really didn't need another standard Iron Man, but for completions sake I'll take him. Still, I also really didn't need another Sam Jackson Nick Fury. and I REALLY REALLY didn't need another ANOTHER damn civilian Tony Stark. I do not feel every change of Tony's clothes needs a minimate. Swap out Fury and Tony with end of Movie Falcon and Scarlet Witch and this set would have been infinitely better in my opinion. But I suppose 3 Iron Man figures (essentially), 1 Sam Jackson and the Big Bad Guy sells better to the masses... *sigh*

I'm thinking about getting another non-variant set purely for quick-customs of characters likely never to be made... I don't want to get into 100 costume variant customs on characters we have already (Kitty, Forge, Banshee, etc) just fill actual roster holes that are likely never to be filled... I'm thinking Cecelia for the female body. Joseph for one of the males. They could be done pretty easily with existing parts (I mean one is a Magneto Clone, for cripes sake, plenty of Magneto heads out there). Who's a good third male who wore the blue and yellow as one of his more iconic looks? And would make for an easy, no fuss custom? Best I can come up with is Morph, but I'd prefer to stick to 616 characters if at all possible. (Hey speaking of which, does he show up in that new Secret Wars X-Men 92 comic? I never even considered the thought until now) I'm sure this was discussed around the middle of the thread, but eh, I'm at work, and who has the time to fish for it. If someone has an idea list handy, I'd be appreciative if you posted it.

I just wanna say, for some weird reason, Avalanche's powered up chest looks better in that photo then it did on the prototype to me... couldn't tell ya why. I disliked the prototype, and planned to use the alt chest underneath. Now I'm not so sure. (Though I like the big 'A' so I still may)

Since someone brought it up... Does anyone else with an Anal Retentive nature like me hate that this wave is still to this day counted in the numbering? I mean WHY!? It never existed! I mean technically the big anniversary poll Wave 50... was wave 49. It would be a dream come true for me if this wave someday got released, but I think we all know damn well by now it won't happen, so like... why have we not amended the numbering!? I'm pretty sure we're the pinnacle of minimate fandom around here... and we even have a bit of corporate representation pulling for us in Zach... how come we can't make this happen!? Why do we not have the power to make revisionist history? lol... "And here's the newly released Wave 60, the 59th wave of Marvel Minimates overall!" Annoys the crap out of me, lol...

Here's my take... Pretty sure I've touched on this several times around here in other threads, as the subject has come up. But I like ranting about it, so here I go again... I’ve been going to Chicago Comic-Con/Wizard World Chicago since I was a boy. Young enough to get in free. And I’m 30 now. Only missed a year here and there, as I might have been out of state or something. I’ve also gone to C2E2 every year since it started (What are we at like 5 or 6 now? I don’t even know…) I do not at all believe C2E2, as it is currently, is the same, or even close to the same as what WW Chicago is, currently. It’s light-years better. I DO believe… that C2E2, currently, is very similar to what WWC was a decade ago, which I think is a good place for it to be, to be honest. I don’t have a very clear memory of “The Great Chicago Comic-Con” (before Wizard bought it) from my childhood. I just remember my dad taking me, and haggling with vendors to buy me X-Men toys I couldn’t find at the store, amongst the 100 peg-warming Longshots, Saurons and Ahabs. If I wanted Rogue, I had to get her at the con. So “It had vendor booths” is the depth of my recollection, lol… I do however, remember Wizard World Chicago in my teens/twenties. This… to my memory, is the heyday of Chicago Cons. It had a good representation from both small business vendors (as any con does) and big business. Marvel, DC, Hasbro, Mattel, Wizkids, Mezco, Diamond… many others, would all have booths. And the big vendors brought CON EXCLUSIVES! Something Chicago Cons haven’t had for almost a decade now. We used to have dozens every year. I miss them dearly. This was when Wizard World was at its best. It had decent celebrity meet and greets, but autographs were usually free, and the con wasn’t over-saturated with 200 Celebs charging $50-$200 bucks a pop for an autograph/photoshoot. There were panels I wanted to go to, even if I wasn’t up on the current day geekdom: One dedicated to nothing but upcoming movie trailers I hadn’t seen. Kevin Smith telling jokes/stories. Star Wars Panel (an official one, w/ Lucas Reps, not just a ho-hum one). Marvel Trivia (for prizes!). Speaking of prizes… I loved the Wizard Wheel. Answer a Trivia Question. Spin the Wheel. Win a Prize. Small detail, but a fun one I looked forward to every year. I’m pretty sure I even remember Zach’s face working that wheel back in those days, though back then I had no idea who he was. Then as I understand it (and I admit, this is just what I’ve heard, I don’t know hard facts) the story goes… Wizard was bought-out. The new owners wanted to do things their own way. And they quickly lost business and support from most of the industry. And now Wizard World is the crapfest that exists today. Marvel and DC did panels for 1 year after the new owners took over, no booth, but still panels. They flat out said, “We think it’s important for you, the fans, to still have a presence at the con.” I didn’t know of behind the scenes politics at the time, but apparently that important presence had died off by the next year, where they were completely absent. No big business Vendors come anymore. I think Diamond was actually one of the last to bail, to their credit, I think they did 2 or 3 more years after the switch. Celebrities still come, but you’re paying money to see them. Panels might as well not exist, imo. Maybe 1 or 2 of interest, if they can convince one of the bigger celebrities to talk for a while. The con is 50% Celebs charging money, and 50% vendors. I still go every year, but basically just to shop at the vendor booths. Because it’s 10 minutes from my house. The decline of WWC, as we all know, gave rise to C2E2. That first year, I totally agree, C2E2 was quieter. Less crowded. But… there was also less to do imo. They had half as many vendors as WWC, and of those, some were largely unrelated, like… candy companies. They didn’t have the support to draw any major celebrity or panel presence yet. The first couple years, the biggest draws were the cast of Kick-Ass, before the movie premiered, while they were still unknowns, and the next (or previous?) was Chris Hemsworth, again, Pre-Thor’s release, while he was still unknown. This was good in that there was no horde of $50 autograph celebs, but bad in that… it made things a big ho-hum. You want SOME celebrity presence. I think you need a good balance for a good con. *Shrug* C2E2 however, had some of the big booths that had abandoned WWC. Marvel, DC, Diamond. Still no major toy companies. I miss the toy companies. What I wouldn’t give for Hasbro and Mattel to make a triumphant return to Chicago cons. (Because we still have no exclusives). Still, C2E2 has improved its shortcomings by leaps and bounds over the last few years. Their Panel and Celebrity presence has been upped significantly (They have Kevin Smith now, which I love, lol). As has the amount and quality of their vendor booths. They feel up to par now, after struggling to get themselves going a bit the first year or two. The $50 celebrities have trickled in a little, but they’re at least not taking up 50% of the con, like WW. It's much closer to what WW was in the good old days, than the crapfest that is current WW. Current WW sucks, and doesn't feel like it cares that it sucks. C2E2 feels like the con organizers are at least trying to put on a good con, even if it's not the best I've ever attended. My biggest complaint about either con is still no con exclusives. Frankly I miss them. I want them. I know people who can’t attend get cranky, but for those who do, they’re a perk that I miss. It was explained to me at some point that, C2E2 doesn’t get exclusives because it’s early summer, and companies basically don't start turning their creative design wheels until mid-summer for SDCC. WWC was after San Diego, and would often get a healthy selection of its own exclusives (even if only repaints), Shared Exclusives, with other midsummer cons, AND leftover San Diego exclusives. I’d scoop up the leftover SDCC exclusives every year at WWC. But C2E2 gets none of that. That killed one of my biggest motivations to come to cons. Now I also have to order all my exclusives online at a markup, and I hate it. Meanwhile, WWC also gets no exclusives anymore because, none of the big vendors come. Oh sure, you might find a SDCC exclusive on one of the vendor booths at a 600% markup... but... generally you don't want to pay that. Can buy it cheaper online (if I haven't already by that point). My biggest hope for C2E2 in the coming years is the return of companies like Hasbro and Mattel, and the exclusives they bring. But… there are some who fight this kind of thing too. Don’t want toys. Don’t want celebs. “Make it all about the comics!” they say … I like all three. Comics alone, make for a boring con, imo. *Shrug* Bring on all the geekdom, imo. BUT anyway, who knows if that will ever happen. My second biggest complaint about C2E2 is I HATE that it’s in the city proper. With a firey passion. It’s more expensive, and a bigger pain in the ass to get to and from. WWC was and still is, O’Hare adjacent, and 10 minutes from my house. But the out-of-towners, and con-organizers, like to put it in the city, because to them it’s more fun, more of a draw. It’s “Visit Chicago!” not “Visit the suburbs of Chicago!” … but to me it’s just a pain in the ass. I see Chicago all the time. I prefer WWC’s 10 minute drive to having to get up at the buttcrack of dawn and take a train to and from the city 3 days in a row. > : P Alright, nearly 2 pages, *High Five* /endrant *No one is going to read this... TLDR...*

In all honesty, I feel like there will be a healthy amount of Jubilee/Destiny available for resale (or trade) both here and on other secondary markets. A lot of us just bought 2 sets of 8, but since that set doesn't even have a second figure built-into it, won't have anything to do with the second one. Wheras the other 3 sets all have a dual-figure (So we all want to keep both) Some will keep it anyway, for customs and such, but some will likely just unload the spare.

Re: Frozen... And see, that's a good example of the reverse. It goes BOTH ways, I mean it's not like toy manufactuers are sitting in an evil tower, cackling, "Mua ha ha, girls must play with princess dolls, boys must play with super heroes! And never shall one be sold to the other!" they just have... research. Sales figures. Decades of experience selling toy lines. And they make toys to follow suit with that data. Why do people not seem to grasp that? Yes there are boys who want an Elsa or Olaf doll. Yes there are girls who want an Iron Man or Black Widow Action Figure. And for the most part... those items ARE available, and any modern free-thinking parent would buy them for their child. But I feel as though... people tend to believe there's some opressed majority out there that doesn't exist. Like EVERY little girl wants a Super Hero and EVERY little boy wants a Princess, which isn't the case. Frozen dolls will still be sold -mostly- to girls. Superhero action figures will still be sold -mostly- to boys. Exclusively? 100%? No! Certainly not. But to expect manufacturers to bend over backwards over-producing toys that aren't the most in-demand with their key sales demographic is... just dumb. imo. There ARE figures of the female Marvel characters, they're just not heavily packed because that's not where most of the sales power lies for that line. There ARE dolls of the male Disney characters, they're just not heavily packed because that's not where most of the sales power lies for that line. My cousin, more or less tried to force "Boy" (notice my use of quotes) stuff on her daughter, because... that's what SHE (my cousin) wanted. She swore up and down, "My daughter won't wear dresses, or play with dolls or pink girly things" ... Guess how that worked out? Her daughter still likes dolls. Still wants dolls. Dresses. Ponies. Pink stuff. Oh, and she's in love with Frozen. And I think she has every right to want those things... as does any other child. I feel like... the problem is less about what is/isn't available to kids and more about internet parents getting their shorts in a wad for the sake of it. Sure Kristoff has a doll. But I'm betting a case of Frozen dolls is still packed about 6 Elsas, 5 Annas & 1 Kristoff... just like a case of Avengers is likely 6 Iron Man, 5 Cap & 1 Black Widow (I know, more characters in both cases. Simplifying to make a point). And that's BECAUSE Iron Man is always going to outsell Black Widow, just like Elsa is always going to outsell Kristoff. Boy. Girl. Doll. Action Figure. Doesn't really matter. I'm betting Black Widow is a hell of alot better represented in Avengers Merch on the whole as a Female Hero in a "Male" line, than say, Hans is in Frozen, as a Male Villain in a "Female" line. But you don't see "Where the hell is all the Hans Merchandise!?" Articles on the internet. As someone said earlier, I think what it should boil down to is reasonable representation of the property as a whole. And for the most part... with most toy lines these days... I think most properties ARE well-rounded. If a character doesn't get made in this internet-age... fans need only go online and bitch about it until he/she IS made. And that's not a phenomena that applies exclusively to male/female characters, just ANY character who... for whatever reason hasn't been made. Sales, demand, marketing, target demographics. Just look to the legacy of Kang on these very forums, sometimes a character just... doesn't make it for various reasons. And yes, being a female character in a line which markets mostly to boys can be one of those reasons, just as being a male character in a line that markets mostly to girls can. It is what it is. I dunno. I'm not the wisest most all-knowing person on Earth, by any means... I just feel like... the internet, for all its pros, has... turned us as a society of bitchy, whiney, complain about-everything people. Finding problems places we don't need to go looking for them. Are there REAL gender equality problems in the world out there? Sure. Yes. And they should be addressed with care and respect. But acting like it's a federal friggin' case that your son or daughter can't get a set of Honey-Lemon bed-sheets is... just stupid imo. Settle for the Baymax bed sheets and move the hell on. We ALL KNOW Baymax is where the selling power is, so why act surprised, dumbfounded & offended when the merch caters to him? PS. Why the hell did Diamond not make Big Hero 6 minimates? Didn't occur to me til just now. I know the movie is highly Disney influenced, and wouldn't expect movie versions, but still... you'd think a comic-book themed boxed set or something? Weird...

Random Trip to Toys R Us yesterday, Took note of things more because of this discussion: Avengers Age of Ultron toys had Scarlet Witches and Black Widows readily available (Black Widow in a 2-Pack w/ Cap, Scarlet Witch individually). More than enough of either. Minimates had several Black Widow & Scarlet Witch packs. Again, more than enough of both. Marvel Legends had six hook facings, and at the end of those six hooks were: Spider-Man, Anti-Venom, Spider-Woman, Ultimate Spider-Woman, Spider-Girl and Captain Marvel (the female one)... That's 2 boys and 4 girls for those of you keeping score. Granted, that didn't carry on through the whole hooks, but there was still an ample selection of girls available. And finally, just to throw a little more on top, lots of SHIELD 3-Packs w/ Agent Hill in them alongside Fury and Coulson, and more than enough Disney Infinity figures of Gamora and Black Widow readily available in various packs and bundles. And mind you, this is just what I casually took note of. I wasn't actually LOOKING for any of these. They were just there. Right in front of me. As I casually browsed. I was actually there to get a price adjustment on a previous purchase, not to shop. If I actually dug through some hooks I may have found more. But naw... they don't make the girl superheroes. You can't get them anywhere. *Rolls Eyes*

Yeah, it's... kinda wonky. Not sure how to go about it best. See... If we're picking who we'd actually buy, I WOULD have to cast a vote for every character, because... I'm a completionist. I would, will, and plan to buy every Marvel Minimate made. Period. And I like new characters. So if you want an honest and unrestricted account of who I'd buy, I'd pick everyone. If you want things reined in a bit, and more an account of which characters I personally have the most desire for, well then I'd list off 20 or 40 X-Men, and to hell with all the other categories, lol. I'm exaggerating a bit. There are likely a few other names from the Marvel Universe I wouldn't mind. But it's MOSTLY unmade mutants I want. So if it's "pick 3 in every category" as Mnemosis said... It wouldn't be an accurate list of all the characters I want most, because I want my #4, #5 & #6 X-Men choices more than I'd want any random Avenger (as an example). I think it would have to be unrestricted, but also boiled down to a sort of honor system of restraint. I might cast a vote for every character in the X-Men polls anyway, but I could probably limit myself to a few key choices in the other categories, lol. In any event, I have no idea who to pick in a lot of these categories without options laid out. But I can give you a list of about a zillion unmade X-Men I feel are essential if you'd like! lol...

I hate it when this happens... because people start treating it like a true variant, instead of just cheap cost-cutting, and then the anal collector in me starts wrestling with the question of whether or not I should care about the difference enough to have two in my collection. And I'm never quite sure... so it always nags at me. Damn Different Face Spider-Woman. Damn Blue Iceman. Damn Underpants Mk. I War Machine. Damn Blue vs Red Belt Wolverine. Damn Metallic vs Matte Mk. 42 Iron Man. And Damn all three of the Ultimate Avengers Animated DVD Movie Tie-Ins (I got Cap because he had a new face decal... but I never did get Iron Man and Hulk... and I still can't decide if it bothers me or not)... ^ I own some but not all of those. I constantly question whether I should track the ones I don't own down on ebay... or if that would be insane. And don't get me started on C3 feet vs Original Minimates Feet. Because there are some figures who got released w/ both. I notice that's a dilemma Ivan has never tackled either, despite being the most in-depth cataloger of Minimates known to man, lol.

I've personally never minded when best-of departs from previously released looks a bit. Gives me a reason to buy them. I prefer it to straight re-releases, or only slight, barely noticeable changes like a different face decal. Oftentimes I find best-of waves are some of the best minis ever released of these iconic characters truth told. Even though these characters get specialty wave releases constantly, those often have some wacky new look/gimmick/movie tie-in attached... that makes them more niche than definitive. Best of waves are often a half dozen new definitive updates, which makes them very impressive despite being all re-done characters.

I gotta tell ya... for probably the most bland/generic set of X-Men uniforms ever, I'm astonishingly hyped about this wave. It's just doing so many things right! We get virtually an entire team of X-Men completed in one swoop. Which is a rarity. (Some take a little while, or are never completed) We get two completely new X-Men, which is rarer than it should be. (Damn you All New X-Men Wave!) We get 3 Brand New Villains, and the 1 Re-Do Villain (Blob) still feels new since it's his first 616 Minimate, and furthermore, the ball is now rolling on the Brotherhood, so I'm sure Toad can't be too far off. I'm even excited I'll be getting an extra Jubilee w/ my 2 sets, because I plan to use her hairpiece to upgrade my 90s Jubilee, who's long lamented her painted on glasses, lol... in my area this is definitely the case. both comic book shops in town don't carry minimates and we have a 2nd and Charles that only carries the Walking Dead ones. none of the other comic shops that I've called about 'mates in the surrounding areas carry them either. I have to do all my shopping online. I feel like they've dwindled in my area too. The two shops I still occasionally go to have just a random selection of old sets warming the pegs more or less. I used to buy them all at retail and kinda stopped because it got too ridiculous. They charged "comic book store" markup prices to begin with, so each set was like 10 bucks, and this was back in the days when retail for a set was like 6-7 bucks. Furthermore early on in the line, I could go into a shop on release day, buy all four of the new set for regular price, and be on my merry way, which made it the best bargain for getting the variant (as it should be imo, that's the fun of feet on the street toy hunting, getting a deal on a rarity. Earlybird catches the worm.) But once the local comic book stores got wind of the fact that one set was one per case, they started charging double for it straight out of the case... at which point, three normal sets at 10 a piece, plus a variant for 15-20, a full wave would cost $45-$50, and I said, "Okay, F This" because I could just order full sets online for 25-30. Made no damn sense to buy them at retail anymore. That's the thing about brick and mortar local comic book shops... everyone says to support them, but they often exercise their option not to sell things at MSRP and gouge you coming and going, which makes you not want to. If something is an old collectible rarity, you can only find in THEIR store, I get it. I get the "pawn shop" aspect of it. But marking up NEW products is stupid imo. The 1 per case toy. The variant cover. Age old problem of big business vs. little business I guess? *Shrug* There was also one time one of the shop owners kept the variant for himself (it was a Thor variant, he's a big Thor fan) which really burned my ass and made me not want to buy minimates there anymore. He has the right I guess, but when I'm the first person in the door, the first day of release, and he HAS the new set, I kind of expect it to be complete, ya'know? When the owner has already picked the case clean, what the hell is my motivation to be the earlybird? Order more than one case if you're gonna pull that crap. SO anyway... I just started buying them at whichever website was the lowest bidder, which I admit for the first couple years was Cornerstorecomics.com, but they eventually started sucking, and the last 3-5 years (I can't even remember how long it's been) I'm happy to say it's been Luke, who I've ordered from pretty much exclusively, except for when he occasionally runs out of something before I get an order in.

I really didn't realize we'd checked so many off the list at this point. What once seemed like a far off vague possibility is now mostly realized, lol. Crazy what 10 more waves can do. Some random thoughts... While I'm happy we're getting a Banshee, I think many of us would still agree that a Classic Banshee/Sunfire Giant-Sized X-Men two-pack is still long overdue and desired. We now have "canon" version of both of them (AoA Sunfire pulled double duty as one of his modern 616 costumes, so I count him)... but still not quite the version many of us remember, in either case. I think a lot of the army builder fodder could still have a chance. Maybe not all of them... but frankly it's always been the nature of army builders to sort of fill in a wave where they're theme appropriate. The Cuckoos could easily fit into pretty much any X-Men/Mutant themed wave, as could Multiple Man (hell, that's how we got the last Madrox). Or od forbid we get that 90s X-Factor wave many of us mutant fans have dreamed of. Many of the others could fit any given waves surrounding their random corners of the universe. Frankly I never wanted Nova Corps to win, lol... I don't really read Cosmic Marvel and was happy with the Modern Nova mate we already had. I was (and still am) hoping hard for Cuckoos. That one still baffles me, it's like we voted in a more generic version of a character we had already. *Sigh* BUT... to each his own I guess. I've said before and I say again, I'm typically happy with between 1 and 2 of each army builder, and don't buy spares, but the Cuckoos would be the first minimate I went out of my way to buy five of. I think having a finite number of them might motivate people who normally don't army build, to bump up to at least 3 or 5 in their case (depending on if you care about the two dead ones).

I honestly don't watch any of the present-day Marvel cartoons. I mostly just... Netflix/DVD the older 90s ones from my childhood. So that said, I don't really know which characters are applicable/valid, nor what they look like without googling them. SO... I'm going to have to base my decision on the recommendations of others. And based on those recommendations... My vote is for Squirrel Girl. She's close enough to pass for a comic Squirrel Girl, especially when converted to Minimate form... and I've grown rather fond of her through playing her in the Marvel Heroes PC game. It's a travesty she doesn't have a minimate yet.

Thanks for the tip on Bigbadtoystore folks. Luke didn't have Series 61, Shopafx didn't, Cornerstorecomics didn't, Amazon didn't (not for normal prices anyway)... I was truthfully about 10 minutes away from dropping 50 bucks on a pair of Hawkeye sets on ebay. I don't often shop at BBTS, so checking there honestly just hadn't dawned on me. Glad I came here and asked first. Paid 20 bucks less, and got the Non-Hawkeye sets to boot.