Gillbob316

Alright here's what I'm curious about... On her torso and skirt blocks, the scale pattern almost seems to be placed in such a way as to simulate an hourglass figure... and on the top it goes all the way to the detail lines at the sides, which seems to indicate on the real dress, it wraps all the way around, making the entire dress textured... So did they simulate an hourglass look with the pattern just to give the illusion that Scarlet's toy didn't have a big square butt? Or is the texture actually confined to the middle of the dress like that in the movie?

I dunno why I haven't seen anyone mention this yet (maybe I missed it?) but there's also an exlusive 4-Pack up at DiamondSelectToys.com... Movie Nick Fury "Race Suit" Tony Stark Battle Damaged War Machine Battle Damaged Mark V Iron Man I think the Iron Man is Mark V, if my count is correct... Whatever the super secret one they won't show us is. That, but damaged. It's still blacked out like the one in the regular wave. lol...

I'm throwing my name in the hat for good idea... As long as the items offered up were rarities on the 1st run, re-issue waves seem to be a great success, imo. Marvel Legends did a reissue wave of soem of their rarest figures, and it allowed me to finally get a deadpool. And never once did I see that reissue wave warm the pegs. In fact, my 1 Deadpool was the only one I ever saw. I think using the Wolverine mates as a point of comparison is faulty logic, because those things were never all that rare or sought after to begin with, frankly. You could order them off ToysRUs.com for a LONG time, and they're the only Toys R Us exclusives I DIDN'T have to get from ebay My Toys R Us had about a dozen of them in stock BEFORE wave 2 even re-issued them. By comparison, Bullseye & Moonstone and Warpath & Angel, I've never once, ever, seen on a shelf or ToysRUs.com. IF the set was something along the lines of this... New Brown Costume Wolverine & Jubilee (TRU Exclusive) x3 Bullseye & Moonstone (TRU Exclusive Reissue) x2 Warpath & Angel (TRU Exclusive Reissue) x2 Deadpool & HYDRA Agent x3 Gambit & 90s Rogue x2 You can't tell me you think any of that wave would warm the pegs! It's got a new set, with a mandatory Wolverine for Toys R Us, and the last holdout for our 90s X-Men animated series set, 2 of the harder to find Toys R Us exclusives, The hardest Non-Variant Non-Exclusive figure to get I've seen in years, packaged with an army builder that not only has Toys R Us not done yet, but that he kills in droves in the comics, and also keeps one as a pet (lol, Bob: Agent of HYDRA) and finally Rogue & Gambit... okay, they're not super-required, I really ust threw them on to round out the line, because I figure by that time the 90s X-Men wave shoudl be incoming, and they'll want to spread the new figures around. Rogue allows them to do that, while still incorporating a popular old re-issue figure. I think this could be a great idea, quite frankly.

I have mixed feelings about the army builders... On the one hand, I buy everything in the Marvel Minimates line, because I'm a completionist, so more Marvel Mates are always nice in my book... On the other hand, if they were going to FINALLY experiment with single-packed Marvel Mates, I worry that this wasn't the place to start... Movie mates classicaly don't seem to be their best sellers. My comic book store STILL has X3 mates warming the pegs, astonishingly. Local Toys R Us stores have tons of Wolverine mates warming the pegs. EVERYONE still has Hulk mates warming the pegs, AFX can't give the things away, and even the 1st Iron Man movie mates don't seem to be insanely huge sellers. (AFX doesn't seem to be able to give away their exclusive 4-Pack either.) Not only are these things generic army-builders as far as the movie goes, they're also generically obscure as far as the greater marvel universe goes... I mean do they exist in the Marvel Universe? In any form? Outside the movie? If I wasn't a Marvel completionist, I know I'd have zero desire to pick them up. If they were just "Military Battle Robots". With the acception of Hammer, the only thing motivating me is my desire to complete the line. They're neat, but not THAT neat. I fear that the cases will get stripped of their probably one Justin Hammer, then stores will be left with 20 drones warming their shelves, which will consiquently discourage retailers from ordering single-packed Marvel mates again, and consiquently discourgae diamond from making single-packed Marvel mates again. I just think something with a bit more recognition behind it would have been a better place to start. SHIELD Agents with a 1 per case Nick Fury & Dum Dum Dugan or something. Or an X-Men case which consisted mostly of Multiple Man & Stepford Cuckoos, but also contained 1 or 2 shortpacked good X-Men. lol... Actually, as a huge X-Men fan, I really like that last idea... I'm gonna go suggest it on their website...

Just as a related side-question: Has anyone who ordered these from Cornerstore Comics heard from them yet? I ordered waves 29, 30, 31, 32 & The Infinity Gauntlet Boxed set all from them at once like a week ago, and did the "hold my order until everything is ready" option (since they say items slated to hit within two weeks will be shipped together, and it was less than a week from the release of 31 & 32). So anyway, they've hit now... I have a little under 40 mates ordered with them, but I've recieved no word about a shipment yet. I'm not sweating it too hard yet, since it hasn't been all that long since the waves hit, but I'm just curious to know if anyone else who ordered these waves from them has heard anything. I'm just -slightly- paranoid, because I ordered Series 25 from Toyrocket last year, and never got it, which forced me to pay through the nose for the variant on ebay, since by the time they canceled and refunded my order, no one had the wave in stock anymore. It wasn't until a couple weeks ago that I finally got around to getting the regular set from Toynk. I don't want the same thing to happen with this wave, forcing me to track them all down on ebay in two months, lol. I've ordered whole waves from Cornerstore and AFX successfully in the past, but the whole Toyrocket debacle has made me paranoid about online preorders now. Hehe.

So... What happened to this thread? It no longer seems to exist. Was it pulled bescause of BBTS's reveal about the army builder? Yes. At the request of DST, we are removing certain references to characters that were not supposed to be legally revealed yet. That thread will be reactivated once the mods have finished. So if you were one of the few people that saw the reveal, please help us out by not reposting it. What reveal? Wave 35 is an Iron Man 2 wave? When did this happen? Would it be within the realm of forum legality to request said mystery reveal via PM? Because I didn't see it... (Honestly asking. Don't wanna break any rules, but would like to know what it is.)

I ordered my set with a GI Joe Online Exclusive Zartan (9.99) and got free shipping. Worked out thusly... Price: $29.98 Shipping: $0.00 Sales Tax: $1.87 Total: $31.85 The newly discounted minimates set works out to $18.96 with shipping added. Minimates + Zartan + Shipping is $29.51. Thus my total for the same order, new pricing works thusly... Price: $23.97 Shipping: $5.54 Sales Tax: $1.87 Total: $31.38 So I lost a dollar on my minimates but still got free shipping on my Zartan, which I planned to buy anyway, and ended up at a net loss of 47 cents... so... big whoop. I'll live. Now the question I guess becomes... would I still have bought Zartan if I didn't need to total over $20 for free shipping. I suppose the answer is no, since I was shopping for Minimates at the time, not Joes, but I DID want Zartan anyway, so I have no remorse in buying him *Shrug*. Basically all they've done here is knock a dollar off the net amount of money they were already making on the minimates, and made it look like they actually knocked more off by forcing you to pay shipping again. People do it on ebay all the time. The minimates, by themselves, cost almost the same amount of money... now you just aren't forced to buy a second additional item to get over $20. So I guess the dilemma here lies in whether or not YOU as an individual bought something you were comfortable buying in addition to the minimates under the old deal. If you merely tacked something onto the minimates you didn't really want, JUST to get free shipping... whose really to blame here? You said to yourself, "I want these minimates now. I want free shipping. So I'm going to buy something else I don't really want to get free shipping." If you bought something you wanted, like I did *Shrug* It's not a big loss. If you bought something you didn't really need, like a second dark avengers set, then suddenly you feel cheated because you chose to pay an extra $19.99 for something you never needed to begin with. I'm not trying to get all preechy here mind you, I just tend to babble on theorizing things. I'm sure there are some people who got a way worse deal than I did, and some who may even have got a better deal. In any case, chalk it up to buyer beware I guess. *Shrug* You can always return them and re-order. If you have the patience for it. I don't, so I'm eating the 47 cents.

Okay, so the big crotch piece... I understood it when they started using it on huge characters, like Hulk... I even get it on not huge, but semi-big guys like Sabretooth... They started to lose me when I found one on Wolverine... I said, "Why?" but lived with it... But now I find one on the Skrull? A SKRULL? WHY!? They're scrawny little green guys from space... why did the generic Skrull need a big crotch piece? The SUPER Skrull didn't even have a big crotch, and he's SUPER! Matt and Chuck have gone mad with power in the big crotch department and must be stopped, I say!

I owe Twisted Toyfare Theater for introducting me to the phrase "Crap in a Hat!" As do my high school classmates, who I spread it too.

Boo for no Jubilee.

Part of me wants to think that they'd be stupid to make War Machine the variant, since he's pretty much the most anticipated new character of the movie. (Save maybe Widow, but thats personal preference). But part of me remembers them doing it once already. Personally I think the variant will be Hammer or a different Iron Man. I see something like... Tony/Widow Iron Man/Whiplash Hammer/War Machine Iron Man Variant But that does leave out Pepper, and being that she's played by one of the bigger actors in the movie, that may be a no no, from a sales perspective. She might replace Hammer in the lineup. Only time will tell. In any event, I don't think any set wont have an Iron Man or a War Machine.

Might as well throw my two cents in, since I've been at Chicago all weekend too. (I live here, so I go every year.) I was in and out of the Diamond booth repeatedly thursday and friday, trying to catch Matt opening a new case of Wolverine Origins mates so I could get my Sabretooth variant, since Toyrocket went bankrupt and cancelled my order. >_< (PS. Happy to report, on Friday, at the very end of the day, I finally got him to break down and crack a fresh case for me, I expect he was rewarding my persistance. I thanked him profusely, and Matt, if you're reading this, I promise, it's here with my collection and I wasn't just a pushy ebay scalper. Thanks again. lol) Anyway, I've been picking Matt's brain on and off all weekend. Here are the highlights... Someone was suggesting Minimates figures, I think for BSG, I honest to god don't remember what they recommended, but I used it to segway into my own top wants. And after mulling it over a few minutes I said, "Jubilee" to which Matt replied (I'm paraphrasing from memory), "Jubilee is probably a longshot. Especially since she doesn't have powers now. She's not really relevent, she has to get interesting again." and I said, "Aw, but you could still do her, you're doing tons of 90s X-Men now. She doesn't have to be modern Jubilee, just make classic Jubilee. She'd rock." and he said, "Well we do have this trenchcoat piece from Kyle Reese now, so you never know." BUT ANYWAY, his commentary made it sound pretty clear that Jubilee isn't in the plans for the immediate future. (*Cry*) THEN... I said, "You know who else I gotta tell you... I'd absolutely LOVE, but she's even less likely than Jubilee... is Marrow." (I'm a huge Marrow fan, long story) and he said, "Marrow! Man... if we did Marrow it would have to be in like, a Morlocks boxed set." and I said, "DO IT! I'll buy it!" and he said, "But who else would be in it lets see... Mohawk Storm would work." and I said, "AND YOU ALREADY HAVE HER PROTOTYPED!" and he said, "And Callisto, I guess would have to be in it." I said, "Great." and he said, "Who else... I guess... Caliban." and again I said, "DO EET!" and he said, "But that's 3 girls in one set... I dunno. Don't think that's going to work. Who else could we use? We need another guy." and my buddy said "Leech" to which Matt promptly replied that he absolutely refused to do Artie and Leech and everybody chuckled. Honest to god though, his general tone made the Morlocks set sound more likely than Jubilee, lol. (But probably still unlikely.) Finally, the only other interesting thing I heard from Matt was that Diamond has completely sold out of series 25. I learned this after asking why he has Wolverine Movie Mates, but no series 25, since they hit at the same time, and he said if he had'em he'd sell'em, but they're completely sold out of 25. *Shrug* eBay here I come I guess... He then said, 25 was probably one of his favorite lineups ever, I said I'm more of an X-Men fan, and he said "Ooo... just wait. Lots more X-Men coming. Lots more 90s X-Men coming." I have no idea if he was refering to stuff we've seen already or stuff we haven't seen, lol.

Why does Weapon X have bone claws? He's naked and has a tattered loincloth and muffled hair... so I'd think that means he's supposed to be "Just woke up and berserked my way out of the compound" Weapon X... logically... And at that point he should have a brand-spanking new set of metal claws... no? No Helmet. No plugs. Bone claws. I'm not seeing what this one has to do with Weapon X. Looks more like "Naked in the wilds of Canada" Wolverine to me. ... ... As for the other figures. I like Logan. He's cool looking. 1st civilian logan I've liked since the original one. Not sure if I like the cowboy boots though, and I'm kinda at a loss for why he has a crotch piece. Still looks nice though. James, is about what I expected. Neat. Not awesome. Old Man Logan looks kinda lame to me, but I didnt read that story, so I'm not really familiar with him. I'll get the set, 'cause Im a completionist, but he's gonna sink to the bottom of my big basket of Wolverines fast. EDIT: Cyc beat me to the Weapon X comments. Dang. But yeah, agreed Cyc.

I'm not even talking about the secondary market vendors, I'm talking about Diamond's booth. Diamond usually has leftover stock of their San Diego exclusives available for the same price they charged at San Diego. Not sure about the AFX exclusives, but I expect Diamond would at least have the Dark Avengers sets at WWC. Not saying its guaranteed, but based on past years, its likely enough that I'll be waiting two weeks before I start placing orders online.

TENIME, you're going to Wizard World Chicago in 2 weeks aren't you? I've seen you on the Wizard message boards. How many years have you been going to WWC? I'd have figured you'd try to get them there. Also being in IL, I usually just pick up my San Diego minimate exclusives straight from Diamond at WWC. They pretty much always have leftovers. The only year I ever wasn't able to get them was last year, because WWC was before SDCC. (The reason they weren't available should be obvious, hehe). I don't know about the AFX sets, since they're not listed as attending WWC this year, but the Dark Avengers sets should at least be available, I would think. Granted, there's no guarantee, but in 2007 I picked up both the Marvel Zombie and Preview Spider-Man sets, both released at earlier cons, with zero problems. And I never had any problems getting any con exclusives in the years before that. I'll be giving it two weeks and seeing what kind of leftovers I can get at WW before turning to internet vendors. I'd recommend you do the same, personally. (Though ultimately, it's your call, obviously. )

Question for the people at the con: All exclusives and new release announcements aside... How is Diamond's stock of the last few regular waves? I was hoping to pick up waves 25 and 26 (And their variants) at Wizard World Chicago in 2 weeks, since my Toyrocket order got canceled (like everyone elses). Just trying to gauge my odds. Diamond usually has a good supply of their most recent waves at Wizard World Chicago, and you can usually get the variants if you show up early enough. How does their supply look at San Diego?

Regarding Stay Puft and Peter being sold out... I assume... just based on every other year, ever, since minimates were launched... that they'll be available from Diamond at Wizard World Chicago in two weeks two. Every year I've gone to WWC and not SDCC (Because I live in Chicago), and every year, I've been able to get all the San Diego exclusive minimates directly from Diamond's booth. (There was only one year I couldn't, 2008, because unlike most years, SDCC was AFTER WWC that year. That was the ONLY time.) It would NOT surprise me if they've sold out of whatever stock they brought to the con, but it would also NOT suprise me if they have more stock set aside for future events, online sales and other things. It's just good business practice. Not putting all their eggs in one basket and all. That's not to say I couldn't be wrong. You never know. Buuuuuut, based on past years, I'm assuming if I show up to diamond's booth early on at WWC I'll be able to get Peter and Stay Puft, among other San Diego exclusives. I hope I'm not wrong.

As I said in an earlier post, I sent Toyrocket an angry letter demanding a status update on my order. (I didn't request a cancellation mind you, just an update.) They responded by canceling my order and refunding my payment back to paypal. No response or explanation why, mind you, just canceled and refunded... even though I never requested a cancellation. So yeah, it's probly safe to say they don't expect to fill these orders. I for one, am just going to wait it out another 15 days and try to pick up both sets directly from Chuck and the gang at Wizard World Chicago, when I go to get my San Diego exclusives (they always have leftovers). They usually have plenty of the regular mates from the most recent waves in stock at their booth, and at least a handful of variants if you arrive early enough. Gotten more than a few full sets w/ variants at their WWC booth in past years. Failing that, I guess I turn to ebay.

Oh, well at least it's not just me... I just got done mailing an angry letter to Toyrocket (where I ordered mine) I kinda feel bad about it now... I didn't realize the problem was this widespread. Anyway yeah... my order for both sets was placed with Toyrocket on 5/28, almost two months ago. Still don't have them. At this rate, I'll be able to pick them up directly from diamond when I go to Wizard World Chicago faster than its taking them to ship. I actually ordered a few sets form Cornerstore a while back and they were perfect. (The ones that had Apocalypse, Polaris, Vision and Mysterio and stuff. Those waves.) They were the cheapest site available (which is why I chose them) arrived fast, shortly after the sets shipped from diamond, and were packed well and arrived in good condition. Frankly, it sounds like the problems with wave 25 and 26 go beyond just one online retailer. I wouldnt let it sour you on Cornerstore altogether, especially if their prices stay good.

I'm glad to get Photon and Beyonder (I'm a sucker for new characters, even if they're lame ones) but as others have said... meh to Doom and the lame gimmick spidey thats going straight to the bottom of my "lame spideys" bin. I do definately think the poll was rigged... I'm GUESSING... that Toys R Us' poll chose Doom and Spidey, Art Asylums chose Photon, and that Marvel politics chose beyonder, since he's essentially the face of the Secret Wars, and this is about the only set he'll ever see release in. (Wheras all the other characters could pretty easily be worked into other sets.)

My 5 second impressions/reviews of every figure... Black Bolt: Looks pretty cool. Captain Marvel: About what I'd expect. Captain Britain: Head looks a little wonky to me, but happy to have him. Shadowcat: Looks pretty awesome, hope she doesn't have the lame transparent arms again. Lockheed: ABSOLUTELY FRIGGIN AWESOME! Angel: THIS is the Angel I've always wanted! My favorite costume! Sweet! 1st-App Angel: I hope this is an indication we'll get all 5 1st-App X-Men, becaus he's kinda lame on his own. Multiple Man: I love the character, but I hate the look of this mate. Aside from the classic shirt, it doesn't read as Madrox to me. Extremis Iron Man: Damn sight better than the civil war one, but still looks a little clunky. Titanium Man: Kinda boring, IMO. Retro X-Force Cable: DAMN that's a beefy minimate. I'd expect no less from 90s Cable though. Modern X-Force X-23: I knew they'd make her eventually... at least she doesn't look too bad. Kree Soldier: Basic Army builder. Cool but lame. Yellow Jacket: Actually looks really sweet. Simple, but sweet. Goliath: Well done, but kinda boring, same as tiny Giant Man was.

While I agree that it would be neat to have giant sentinels and giant mans and what have you, it's a legal issue that can't be helped. Diamond has said this dozens, if not hundreds of times. I don't get why people are constantly questioning them on this. No amount of begging from fans will ever make it any less illegal for them to make Minimates larger than a 2 inch scale. It is what it is. That said, while I'd like for SOME figures to be bigger, guys that are definately HUGE like Sentinels and Galactus... frankly, I DON'T like ones that are only about a half inch bigger. For a very slight difference in scale, it really doens't make much difference to me... I like being able to mix and match parts on minimates. To make frankenmates. To play with their heads and bodies and all that fun stuff. That said, minimates like Bane and Killer Croc, to me, are kinda lame... because there are very very few options when I want to fiddle with their parts, and while I can see how they -could- work as slightly bigger mates, I really don't think they -needed- to be bigger mates. I kinda like what Diamond has done with characters like Hulk, Apocalypse & Abomination... they look bigger, visually, they are bigger, but they're still fully compatible with the rest of the line. That's cool to me, and I'm kinda glad they can't legally mess that up. I'd love a Juggernaut with a big chest, but i don't want one so big that his helmet will fall off any other characters I want to put it on.

X-Men Women that will otherwise never be made Boxed-Set: Marrow Stacy-X Pixie Jubilee Okay, okay, I know Jubilee has a slightly decent chance, but I put her in anyway because I really really want her. The other 3 sure as hell don't, however. Pixie MIGHT stand a chance if it gets done while she's still current, but as soon as a new writer comes along and axes her from the team, her chances will plummet dramatically. But anyway, I'm a huge X-Men fan, and a huge fan of female heroes, and these are the four X-Women I'd really like to see made. (PS. I left Dazzler out for two reasons: 1) Though I don't hate her, I'm not a huge Dazzler fan 2) She'd work better in a two-pack with Longshot anyway.)

ANOTHER QUESTION... Does the Blob in the official series release have the slurpee hand from the prototype pictures? The Toys R Us version didn't, and I know some people were wondering if the one from the actual series would or not.

Went to two comic book stores today... 90% sure at least one had them already, but they wouldn't sell them yet, because of the memorial day holiday. Diamond's website lists today as their release date, but they wouldn't sell them.