Gillbob316

I need suggestions for making the perfect Pixie, using only existing parts (I hate painting/modding). Here are two pictures of my current prototype, but I know she could be better... First one is Jewel Hair, Mantis Head, First Class Angel Harness, Nissa (Grimm Fairy Tales) Wings, First Appearance Jean Torso, Any Strike Force X-Man's Cuffs, Any Black Hands, Curse of the Mutants Wolverine's Belt and First Class Jean's legs. Second is the same thing, but with First Class Jean's Torso instead of First Appearance Jean's Torso, just because it looks a little more modernized, while conveying the same basic look. Took some cues from earlier Pixie Quick-Customs, but changed some things. HERE are the things I need suggestions on... I want her to have Pixie's more modern black eyes, but that severely limits my head options. The only females I could find with Black Eyes were Mantis and some of the girls from Pathfinder, most of which have very pale skin and some of which have jewelery on their face, so they seem out. The pale skin might work (especially because Pixie has somewhat pale skin, and is sort of fae looking), but I can't see where the face jewelry ever would. In any event, I don't own any pathfinder mates, so I can't try any out. Mantis' expression is a little more sullen than I'd prefer, I'd prefer a smilier face. Anyone know of any other black-eyed ladies? Wings there are tons of options. I know some people use Theater Ghost's Pink wings, but I don't currently own him, so I'd need to order one. That said, Pixie's wings have been drawn anywhere from white, pink, green to rainbow, so I don't think Nissa's green ones look terrible. I also tried Ant-thony's clear ones, which I kinda liked, as it kept them more neutral. I went with the strike force cuffs because I thought the straps made her look more modern and less retro. That said, the yellow isn't a perfect match for the belt & legs. The irony is the torsos aren't a perfect match for the belt and legs either, and the torso and legs all came off the same two Jeans! Haha. Sometimes a lighter coat of yellow (like the torsos) doesn't match a thick one (like on the boots) even on the same minimate. So I don't know that the cuffs are a huge deal. All things considered. The ONLY ONLY Belt I could find that was close to right was Curse of the Mutants Wolverine. Pixie has a yellow belt, with a round red X in the middle... I could only find TWO yellow belts with Round Red X's, Wolverine, and Astonishing Kitty Pryde, and Kitty's belt was way too Orange to ever be a good match. That said, Wolverine's isn't perfect either. The X could be bigger and bolder, but damned if I could find another option with a yellow belt/red X. (You'd think there would be more). I'm not in love with the boots/legs... but I want her to have knee-high yellow boots, and that's the best I could find scrounging through my X-Men. I'd prefer something a little clunkier, that looks like it has kneepads, and matches the gloves better (Sort of like Ultimate Storm's boots, but less out-dated, and less orange). Not sure which Torso I like better, but I think I lean toward first class. (Again, just makes her look less retro. I'd like her to look modern, as Pixie isn't a retro character.) SO... all that said, any thoughts?

Feedback on some of the things that have been said... @BuffaloDelorean I forgot that Wolverine existed because he's hidden under tactical Wolverine, and my Tactical Wolverine still looks Tactical. Haha. Good call though. That's the closest to a perfect Brown Wolverine we currently have. Maybe I should pick up another one of him while he's still warming pegs on clearance at Toys R Us to have both looks. HOWEVER... if I had to nitpick one small thing about him for the sake of nitpicking, it's that he has an X belt painted on instead of the big belt buckle that costume typically has (but I could always steal the belt off an older Wolverine) I agree completely on preferring MvC3 Magneto over Dark Magneto. I kinda like that Dark Magneto has sculpted boots and gloves, but I hate Dark Magneto's Metallic Paintjob, so MvC3 wins for me. I prefer the newer Giant-Size Wave 68 Colossus to Wave 47 by a WIDE Margin. I never liked Wave 47 Colossus. Way too bulky. Colossus' size has always been height, not girth (except when he was Juggernaut)... Frankly I even prefer the original Giant-Size Colossus to Wave 47... I'm not 100% happy with any of the Nightcrawlers we have. I hate the hair on the Excalibur one... too Jerry-Curl. I dislike the faces on Wave 68 Nightcrawler, don't like the detail lines. Seems like there's probably a hybrid solution there though... haha. I think Storm is hard because there are actually TOO MANY great Storms, haha. With Storm, like you said, it comes down to costume preference. 90s Storm is great. Outback Storm is solid. Giant-Size is great for her original costume. Even Secret Wars Storm is decent if you prefer her Punk look (though it could use a sculpted jacket-vest). ULTIMATELY... I think my Go-to Storm is MvC3. It's the Modern Update to her Classic Original Costume... so I like that it can straddle eras between classic and modern. Because my X-Men teams usually do that, haha. I pluck costumes from all over the decades... THOUGH... like I said, many Storms are great, and I could swap my opinion to any of them on a whim... A lot of X-Men are difficult because there honestly aren't enough options. Their roster is so wide that only the top members get a lot of do-overs. Many only have between 1 and 3 minimates, and among those 1-3 mates, there's often a clear winner. I like this Cable, which is hidden under the one in the Capullo Boxed Set. I've always preferred his X-Men costume to his clunkier 90s looks. But Cable, like Storm, has some other solid options, if you prefer his other costumes... To throw a fly in the Venom Unleashed ointment, I always liked this Venom. I've never felt like Venom needed to go full Powerhouse Minimate. I leave the Powerhouse look to HUGE characters like Juggernaut, Hulk, Apocalypse, Rhino... even Kingpin works... Now Venom... is tricky. Because some artists indeed do draw him HUGE with enormous Muscles. So I'm not saying Powerhouse doesn't capture that look well, it totally does. I just think I personally tend to prefer to think of him as more medium-big. Bigger than Spidey and Carnage, but not as big as Hulk. And I think this minimate captures that size well, with the bulked up chest and shoulders. Might be worth spicing it up with some of the extra pieces from Venom Unleashed though. I do like that sculpted head. Loki's a fun one... because the fun thing about Loki is, he's more popular in the MCU than he is in the comics, so he has about twice as many MCU minimates as he does Comic Book Minimates... That said, my favorite Comic Loki is (surprise surprise) Best-Of. He's a standout mate in the Best-Of line for me, because many of the Best-of mates are re-creations or updates of existing mates (albeit with some changes that make them unique) wheras Loki was pretty much an entirely new design. This Loki Minimates never existed outside Best-Of. I think painting the MCU helmet yellow was a great idea on Diamond's part, and worked super well. Now as for an MCU Loki... I like the Dark-World Version. I don't like the bright green and gold on Avengers Loki, too garish. On the flipside, I don't like the dark green and gold on first-movie Loki, too dull. I think Dark World is a good middle-ground. Though I kinda wish he had a helmet. I dislike Ragnarok Loki in general, I don't like his long hair. PS. I just went out and ordered $100 worth of Minimates I don't have on Amazon, because this friggin' thread has me combing through the database going, "Huh... I wish I owned that." lol... hooray for free same or two day shipping with Amazon Prime...

On the topic of definitive Thor's... I thought I disagreed with you, because I remember some decent ones, but I went looking at the database, and maybe I do agree with you. I think my favorite is Best Of Thor, just because he's a relatively simple, clean, non-bulky version, with bright colors that pop. Though I do wish his cape was a bit billowier, like MvC3 Thor. So I guess I agree, the best Thor is pieced together Thor... Now on to a character more in my wheelhouse... I think my perfect Wolverine is also Best Of. Now, this mate is darn close to a couple other Wolverines, but I give this one the edge. I dislike 90s Wolverine, because he has a duller, greyer blue (not to mention lots of extra messy detail lines), and I dislike Giant-Size because he has a pastel-ier blue. This one has exactly the blue I want. This is also my favorite of Wolverine's many mask sculpts. I dislike some of the weirder shaped ones. Runner up to MvC3 Wolverine for when I prefer a modern look. Also very good. I have yet to get a brown-costume Wolverine I was 100% happy with. They all have things I'd change. Honestly, I tend to favor a lot of the Best Of Mates. I like that they all use bright solid matte colors and clean basic designs. Very comic booky, and lends itself to the simple design of minimates. Sometimes I don't like the more over-detailed minimates. And I agree with Buffalo in that, I've never preferred the original Deadpool. Too bulky looking, between all the straps and the slipcover mask. I think my favorite Deadpool is Deadpool Corps. Strikes a good balance between having a Deadpool-worthy assortment of accessories, while not looking too over-loaded and clunky... And I want to do X-Men, but there are so many I barely know where to begin, but I thought it might be fun to pick my favorite lineup of the original roster... This one needs a few caveats... I really like that Angel. Almost no complaints. I'm tempted to choose an Archangel, but I honestly don't love any of the minimate options. I prefer him in the costumes of the original 2 Archangel mates, but those both look dated these days. The Black and Silver X-Force one looks modern enough, but I dislike that costume. None of the X-Force costumes say "definitive" to me... they all just fit the black and silver niche of that particular team. Now Iceman... I generally prefer a bald bobby, but all the bald options look too out of date to me. This one strikes a good balance between classic and modern. And I suppose I could always pop the hair off, haha. Beast... Beast is hard. I don't love any of the Beasts we have. This one is no exception. But it's the closest we currently have to my favorite. I prefer it with the long arms removed though, which is why I chose that pic. Though I might keep the bulky chest and fuzzy feet on mine. I hate his giant hair. I'd love to see a "Best Of" style update to classic blue Beast. A simple, yet bright definitive version. I love that Jean... no complaints. That's my definitive Jean (I prefer the Phoenix costume). ... I was torn between this Cyclops and the more modern one in the A vs X boxed set. I ultimately went with this one because I prefer classic costumes, though I'm not nuts about his hair, and I kinda wish his visor was yellow. I dislike that they keep making his visors metallic. Again, I like simple bright matte colors. I thought about including Xavier, but I honestly think my favorite is the one coming in the brotherhood Boxed Set Soon, and Ivan didn't have a pic of it yet, so I didn't bother, haha. I wanted to pick out an Iron Man, but I couldn't find one I was 100% happy with. My favorite paint job is again, Best Of, for all the same reasons I've mentioned. I love that he's a very bright clean red and yellow, not candy apple red and gold. That said, the design is a bit too retro to be ideal for me. Animated was the closest I could find to a Modern Iron Man I liked, but I wish his helmet was sculpted, like some of the movie Iron Men instead of a slipcover. Maybe a bit of sculpting on the boots too. I kinda like MvC3 Iron Man's shape... not overly bulky like a lot of Iron Men... but he does look a bit too "rounded" in the shoulders and face. My perfect Iron Man would be if all three of these had a baby... and maybe a different helmet, haha... Suffice it to say, I'd love to see a modern movie-style Iron Man, with sculpted details, but in Best-of's non-metallic color scheme. Can we make that happen at some point Zach? Haha. We have enough Metallic versions for a lifetime. Alright, this post is long enough.

It hurt me a little not voting for N'Gari, as an X-Men guy... but... Mindless Ones somehow felt more essential. Maybe because I've beaten them up in so many Marvel Universe themed video games, I dunno. Voted for Mordo on the character side. I've never really dove deep into Mystic Marvel, so a lot of those names are foreign to me. Of the few that aren't, Mordo seems most essential. I know of Brother Voodoo, but I don't know much ABOUT Brother Voodoo... other than his quasi-recent turn as Sorceror Supreme. I'm happy with the MvC3 Dormammu, so I can live without a classic one. Mordo's MCU Minimate, however, unlike some MCU mates, cannot pass for Comic Mordo in the least, so I definitely feel he's needed, as one of Dr. Strange's oldest classic villains. Unmentioned Runner Up/Cheap Attempt at Turning this into an X-Men Poll: I'd like a Non-New Mutants Modern Costume Magik... OH! And God! I'd love Pixie! Pixie is one of the top 3 X-Men on my Wishlist, can't believe I almost forgot her. She qualifies as Mystic Marvel too! Haha... barely.

I know the Schaumburg, IL Toys R Us sold out one case and restocked them at least once, and I didn't even buy any. (I picked up this wave at the Golf Mill TRU relatively near the Schaumburg one) But then I know that for whatever reason, several of us multiverse collectors (not to mention Menagerie) frequent stores in the Chicagoland area... so... the first wave of Minimates usually doesn't seem to warm pegs long around here. (Though restocks sure do.) But I check Schaumburg frequently for stuff, so I did notice they had them, then they had less of them, then they didn't have them, then they had them all again. All my local TRU stores seem to have stocked them at least once by now, if not more than once. As has already been mentioned, the Gwenpool set tends to move faster than the other two, and is usually the first one to sell out. Oh and PS. They ring up $5.99 in-store too. Because of the same sku, Toys R Us' system thinks they're Wave 23. You'd think they'd be more on top of that... selling brand new toys at clearance prices seems foolish. But. Ya'know... whatever. Their loss our gain I guess.

This was so freaking hard for me... haha... You picked a bunch of medium-popular B & C-Tier X-Men Villains with like... the same level of popularity, ALL of whom I want, none of whom really jump out above the others as someone I DEFINITELY want MORE... My heart wanted to pick Sauron, but since we already got that generic Reaper that was originally supposed to be Sauron before we all told Zach different and it got renamed... I couldn't pick him in good conscience. I can make the Reaper work if I ever adamantly decide I need a Sauron. That said I still REALLY struggled to choose between Shaw and Deathbird. Ultimately Deathbird won because if I got Shaw, I'd want Leiland, Pierce and Wyngarde too... and that seems like a longshot that's more than I can hope for anytime soon. Runners up for me are Black Tom & Mesmero. God I'd love a Black Tom. I'm a huge Juggernaut fan... so like... Black Tom rides coattail cred for me, since I love Juggernaut so much, haha. I'll also say... I told my buddy this when he was recently announced as an upcoming Marvel Legend: I've never been a huge Gladiator fan, at least not in toy form. It's odd to me that so many people clamour for him. I never do. To me... Gladiator is just one of several dozen members of the Imperial Guard... and since no toy company has interest in building that whole team... same theory as Shaw above, even if he is the most standout popular member, I don't want ONE member, that's just going to stand out as missing his team. I'd want the WHOLE Imperial Guard (or at least a decent handful of them) As for the Army Builder... I said this back in the 50th vote, but my #1 X-Men Army Builder want remains the Stepford Cuckoos... I realize they're probably not the first choice of many people, but I want them because to me they feel like getting 5 new quasi-unique named characters. I'd go out of my way to buy 5 of them, for that reason. Most Army Builders I don't bother to Army Build. Most army builders don't feel like a new character at all to me, more a nameless boring footsoldier. That said, I picked Multiple Man, because he's one of the few army builders that does feel like a character... even if one we have already, and I prefer characters to nameless grunts. I also prefer costumed heroes to plainclothes heroes, so I'd like a costumed Multiple Man. I prefer "Multiple Man" to "Jamie Madrox"

I love these threads. I never have a flipping clue what to guess, and leave it to people who are better at scrutinizing details than I am, but I still enjoy reading them. And usually toward the end getting a fairly good idea what the wave is, lol... Thus far I'm ecstatic to hear Wolverine isn't included. But to scrounge for a hint: Are any of the X-Men characters also unmade characters? (These are the minimates I clamour for most. Mastermind and Toad are currently the highlight of my horizon.) Someone said Mimic earlier, man would I be ecstatic if that was right, I've wanted Mimic for ages... he's the most classic non-classic X-Man, lol. (He's probably not correct though *Sigh*)

Just as a tip: I've noticed pretty much all my local toys r us stores have moved all the minimates from their misc. locations to the "collectible" aisle/section, for lack of a better term. Marvel Mates used to be with the marvel toys, TMNT with the TMNT, Pirates of the Caribbean w/ Pirates, etc. No longer. They're now all together with all the other specialty toys. Other items in this section are things like NECA toys, Living Dead Dolls, Heroes of the Storm, Blind Bag Toys, Funko & Other Vinyl toys. Things that don't typically fit in other sections, and are targeted more at adult collectors than kids. For some reason they're often over near the video games & skylander figures, completely removed from the rest of the action figures/action toys. Before SOME of the minimates were in this section, but mainly just the ones that didn't fit in any other section. Lately ALL of the minimates have been here, including the new waves (which is where I found them). Leftover Wolverine & Dr. Strange also got moved here.

Found the new wave today at the Golf Mill IL TRU. There were 3 of the Scarlet Spider set, 3 of the Collector set, and 1 of the Gwenpool set left. Bought 1 of each. Left 2 Collectors and 2 Spiders. I know earlier people were complaining that their toys r us claimed to have these in stock, only to find they had nothing but the Wolverine wave. Here's the upside: These are ringing up $6.99 due to the shared sku with an older wave. Funnily enough this isn't the first time this has happened with a new wave/old sku either. You'd think Toys R Us would learn to... not do that...

Riveting as all this has been... back on topic... So I was just reading on the Marvel wiki, and it sounds like maybe Guillotine may have a 616 equivalent now? Apparently? Maybe? If I'm reading correctly? http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Jeannine_Sauvage_(Earth-616) Sounds like she's part of the Champions of Europe who were somehow involved in Secret Empire. But confusingly it also says her first appearance was Contest of Champions #1, which I wouldn't otherwise think was a main-universe/616 book... unless it was? I dunno, I'm not up on comics these days, so I don't have firsthand information on any of this. But if they integrated her into the mainstream comics, I'm suddenly all the more happy to have grabbed her minimate. Is this a Harley Quinn/X-23/Firestar situation, where they took an out-of-canon creation and made her canon to the comics?

Because it's common phrasing/verbiage. And you're splitting linguistic hairs. But to dive deeper... Where I think the point of confusion comes in is, you're looking at the transaction between whoever runs CoC and the consumer as the first transaction. It isn't. The first of transaction (I assume) was between Diamond (the manufacturer) and CoC (the distributor). True enough, CoC isn't selling them to anyone, so if a consumer picks them up free and chooses to sell them, they aren't being "resold" ... they're just being sold. But if CoC chose to sell them, that would be resale of the stock Diamond sold them, and that's what the label is warning against. Diamond sold them to whatever company runs Contest of Champions to be given away free as promos (and presumably there's some sort of legal mumbo-jumbo/contracting requiring they be distributed as such, in a free promotional giveaway). They are labeled thusly so as to say to the CoC people: These are not to be re-sold. Diamond doesn't care if the consumer puts them on ebay, they care if the people who runs CoC put them on ebay (or sell them at the con, or anywhere else). Or presumably any other licensed retailers/distributors they sell promotional items to.

Did they run out for the weekend, or run out for the day? I've seen minimate promos run out early in the day many times before. I even fell victim once when I got stuck in traffic and got to the con an hour late (Zach quite kindly slipped me one from his pocket on the sly, which I thank him immensely for) ... BUT when they run out for the day, they usually have an additional supply set aside for the following day(s). In other news, if you don't have any interest in Civil Warrior, there's a Guillotine listed by herself on ebay right now for $7.50 buy-it-now w/ $3 shipping. $10.50 isn't a bad price, compared to most out there. Lowest I've seen the pair listed for is $25, which amounts to $12.50 a piece. To make everyone feel better about $25 for two minimates... consider what McDonald's Szechuan Sauce is currently selling for on ebay to Rick and Morty fans. Go do an ebay search for it. Believe me, as limited time promo items go on the scalping market... we're getting off light.

I grabbed one of the $25 pairs. Doesn't seem to be going much lower than that for the moment. I imagine it could go lower, but it will take time if it does, and it could just as easily go higher. Con promos are weird that way. Either a billion of them will oversaturate ebay in the weeks to come, and they'll drop to 10 bucks a pair, or like... they'll dry up completely and go up to $100 a pair. So anyway, I can live with $25 for the peace of mind, lol. Plus I bought the one that comes with free Cap and Hydra buttons... so hey... bonus. Free buttons.

Ehhhhh... I dunno. Something bugs me about when people rant and rave about Scalpers scalping in their filty scalping way. Because... As much as I hate being on the wrong end of supply and demand from time to time, as a toy collector... I'd be lying if I said I didn't love being on the right end of it from time to time. I try not to take a "Rawr! SCALPERS!" attitude... I chalk it up to "you win some you lose some" ... if someone wasn't reselling them, none of us who aren't there would have ANY access to them, or likely ever get them. Sure they may have been free, but can't fault them for trying to get as much as they can out of them. Yeah, I hate having to shell out the money for stuff like this but... I love it when I luck into a similarly nifty item that I can flip on ebay for a nice profit. An example that comes to mind are those promotional dollar bills they circulated at cons the year the Dark Knight movie came out... the ones where George Washington had a sticker over him so he looked like the Joker. They were literally just a bunch of $1 bills that Warner Bros. interns slapped stickers onto... but they were selling on ebay for $25-$50 a piece. I happened to procure a few at a con. I still have one. I was happy to sell the rest for wads of money. I literally sold 1 dollar bills for upwards of $20 each... because someone at a con put stickers on them. I can't get mad at these guys for selling actual toys, even if they did get them for free... I'll probably jump on a pair of these before the weekend is out. Gonna wait a day or two though for the sellers to cut eachother's throats a little more.

So just to clarify here, are there any NYCC Marvel Minimate exclusives beyond these two? Just want to have a solid idea of what exactly I need to track down on ebay. (Assuming no one here can secure me a pair. Seems like a lot of people are asking though, so unless someone secures a whole case, I'm assuming I'll need to turn to ebay.) I've never played CoC once, and know nothing about either character beyond what's already been mentioned in this thread, but as a Marvel Minimate completionist, I still feel I need to own both. At least they're superheroes, so they're just slightly less tangential than Firechief Max from the 2011 NYCC Spider-Man Exclusive 2-Pack... and he somehow still made it into my Marvel collection, lol. I didn't realize until just now but jeeze... between Max and these two, NYCC sure holds the record for giving us some of the most marginally-related fringe Marvel exclusives, haha.

I realize it violates the point of this thread entirely, as it's 2 brand new sculpted pieces with virtually no other use... but if The Spot ever got made, I'd verymuch appreciate if he came with special torso and head blocks which had a Spidey arm sticking into/out of them, and would Allow Peter to punch himself in the face...

Man, I clearly don't know crap about Black Panther, because I read these names and don't know who 9 out of 10 of these people are, lol. I know Black Panther. I know Klaw. I'm quasi-aware of Shuri, just because she's an alt costume for T'Challa in the game Marvel Heroes. I think Man-Ape is supposed to be in the movie isn't he? I assume one of those names is probably him? Past that I'm lost, lol. I just hope the minimates have more costumes than plain clothes, BUT hey... I'm a completionist. I'll buy them all anyway. And after I see the movie I'll know more about them! Not like it hasn't happened before! (I'm looking at you Guardians of the Galaxy)

I thought I just recently saw a picture of an upcoming solicit showing black and silver X-23 Wolverine (IE. Laura in her Wolverine Costume, but black and silver instead of blue and yellow) ala X-Force. Where did I see that? That made me assume it was going to be a thing soon, lol.

Re: Movie Domino... For me it's the afro. I can't stand the afro. Never been a fan of afros. Think it looks stupid, think it doesn't suit the character or the era in which the movie takes place. Looks like a 60s/70s movie character in a modern day action flick. As far as her skin... I kinda hate that discussing these things on the internet inevitably becomes a racial debate. Not the first time it's happened with a comic book movie casting call, nor the last I'm sure. BUT... I've always enjoyed this board as it's relatively small and we're mostly civilized here. So onward I press... Can I live with the changes to her skin color for the movie? Sure. I'd have preferred a comic-accurate white domino (and I mean white white, not Caucasian white)... BUT I understand why casting a black woman and then painting her white would have been a terrible call. The question then becomes, "So why cast a black woman?" ... well that's a whole other ball of BS debate I'm just going to dance around... I feel like I'm kind of tired of the "Should they v. Shouldn't they" race change debate when it comes to comic book characters. I feel like often there are comic fans who want to say, "I hate all race changes because I'm a fan and I want accuracy!" and the world fires back, "No, you hate all race changes because you're racist!" ... which isn't the case. Tilda Swinton gets cast as The Ancient One and people call it white-washing. Zendaya gets turned into a surprise twist MJ, and people call it progressive. Meanwhile I feel like comic book fans cringe at both and say, "I don't know how I feel about this" ... lol. I honestly don't hate all race changes... I find I react to changes differently based on the character and performance. I loved Michael Clark Duncan as Kingpin. I was indifferent to Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo. And Idris Elba as Heimdell as well, neither loved nor hated him. I loved Liam Neeson as R'as Al Ghul, thought he was perfect. I thought it was super weird they cast Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One, but I heard there were potentially political reasons regarding Asian movie markets?? Hated the idea behind Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin, though I did think he played it well (both pre and post reveal). I dislike the Zendaya as MJ reveal... I think it feels forced, like a deliberate move to distance Homecoming from the previous movies. I frankly feel like a lot of the racial diversity in Homecoming felt forced. And like many comic book fans, I HATED Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm (but I feel like any time I said so, I was written off as a racist and ignored.) I feel like I don't have any inherent problem with casting Zazie Beetz as Domino. I think like Gamora or Nebula, the fact she has a non-traditional skin color in the comics (white though it may ironically be) makes me less inclined to mentally "assign" a race to her. Kind of the old "Spider-Man can be any race to any person because you can't see his face" idea. I could have been fine with the design... as was said, Domino tends to wear guns and black leather. Movie Domino is wearing guns and black leather. Seems fine to me... if not for that damned afro.

If they did an X-Force wave, the last thing I want would be re-releases of a half-dozen figures we already got. I feel for new collectors who can't get their hands on them, but such are the pitfalls of toy collecting. Nearly every one of those figures has already been made, and they're all still decent looking minimates that hold up and don't really NEED an update. Even if they theme it to "Black-and-Silver Suit" X-Force, I'd rather get ones they didn't make already like Elixir, Vanisher, Wolfsbane... not re-releases of the ones they did make (Wolverine and Deadpool aside, because we know we'd get them, as the anchors) ... That said, I would think any X-Force wave, modern or classic. New or re-release, would be better suited as a tie-in to the X-Force movie Fox is allegedly building toward. I certainly won't turn my nose up at one if they DO make it. I clamor for all things X. I just think a Deadpool tie-in wave seems more sensible for a Deadpool movie.

Yeah, I don't think we've had a Fox wave since The Wolverine have we? X-Men Apocalypse and Logan didn't get one either. I just assumed these fell by the wayside under the category of "the Marvel X-Men ban that some people claim doesn't really exist even though we all know it does" I was actually very happy to get Siryn, Bob and a Non-hideous Domino in the last one (didn't like any of her prior minimates). The Cable wasn't my favorite, but I didn't mind it either. Assuming we get another comic tie-in wave... speaking to Deadpool's supporting cast... I'll take any X-Force or X-Men they want to throw in (especially unmade characters), but as Non-X mutants go... I wouldn't mind getting an Udon-Costume Taskmaster. To that end I'd also enjoy Outlaw and Agent-X. I really liked that Gail Simone Deadpool era, so I'm partial to the supporting cast of that run, lol.

After reviewing the last two pages... I feel like I'm on Zach's side of this one, haha. Do I like new characters? Sure. Would I probably have preferred a Madame Gao minimated over a second Danny Rand? Probably. Will my world keep spinning without her? Absolutely. Just as it would have kept spinning had I never got Raza, Darcy, Selvig, Mariah Dillard, At least one Happy Hogan, A handful of Pepper Pottses, and any number of generically armored MCU Agents, Henchmen, Officers and Thugs. There's even one Natalie Romanova and about 10 Tony Starks I probably could have done without to be perfectly honest. MCU Civilians (or non-super villains on the evil side) & Army Builders... are what you fill in a set with, not build one around. The idea of an MCU Secondary Villain boxed set is laughable. If Gao or Shades make it into a Season 2 boxed set down the road... I'll say, "Alright" and be okay with it... I guarantee you I won't be excited about it. I don't even remember who Nobu is. I feel like the only thing Sigourney Weaver has going for her at this exact moment is being Sigourney Weaver, which makes me assume she'll be prominent... but as a non-comic character, I could care less without more information. In any case, there's some Ellen Ripley minimates over in the Alien line I assume would provide a good jumping off point for a quick custom. As non-comic characters, I could ultimately care less about most of these minimates... I think is what I'm driving at. Now I KNOW... I don't speak for everyone. But I'm personally much happier with the comic tie-in wave then I would be with rounding out the Netflix legion of non-super villains. I get when people complain about a lack of detail where detail could arguably help a minimate. There's always been some give and take in this line. There have always been "MAXIMUM EFFORT!" waves with tons of new tooling and sculpts and pieces, balanced by, "WHAT CAN WE RE-USE!?" waves that use minimal new tooling and stretch the boundries of creative use of existing parts and minimal tampos. I got used to that years ago... I'd think most of you would have to. Be happy when a character gets released. If the design doesn't suit your liking, wait out the next one and hope it's better. In a line that has two Thunderbird minimates, one god awful, one completely beautiful, anything can happen. I never dreamed after that first Thunderbird, the world would bless me with that update, but it did, and I thank it. Do you think I, as an X-Men fan, was happy with THIS Cable for all the years he was the only Cable? No. But I waited, and eventually time brought me a new Cable. And ALL of the minimates in this new wave are WAY better than the first Thunderbird, or that Cable. I personally like that we're getting modern Power Man & Iron Fist. I LOVE that we're getting 616 Jessica & Purple Man. I don't mind the Moon Knight update, I like that his cape appears less clunky than the original. I dislike a clunky minimate. I hate capes that make minimates fall over. The original Moon Knight had these problems. Burying this one in armor may have re-created them. I'm a little "Eh" on another Daredevil and Punisher, but whatever, they fit the theme well. Overall, I'd much rather have this wave than more Netflix minimates. BUT to each his own? *Shrug*

I haven't looked at Photon in a while... I honestly don't know what her current condition is. Now you've got me curious to check mine. It's my understanding that defects in the plastic used during production at the time it was made are what eventually cause certain figures to yellow, which is why it only effects certain minimates but not ALL white minimates. I've noticed it's usually Emma's crotch and lower left leg blocks that get the worst of it, which makes me think those two pieces in particular had a run of bad plastic. Blue-Suit Xavier (the Target exclusive variant of the Original Xavier minimate) is also one prone to big discoloration, but not a lot of people own him in the first place. And he's not even white, he's blue! But anyway, his limbs have darkened to a tackier darker blue that no longer matches his torso and crotch. I own two of him and it's happened to both. The original clear variants of White Queen and Sue Storm seem to have yellowed up some too, but they're both clear, so it's harder to distinguish. They both feel tacky to the touch now, which I hate (I've read that has to do with oils being relased from the plastic over time? Notice it in lots of old toys. Iunno.) I tried soaking both a Spare Xavier and a Spare Emma in peroxide for a couple weeks after reading the tip on the internet. It brightened them up a little, but didn't brighten them up enough. And it took a bit of paint off their crotches, which is bad. (But again, they were spares, so I was experimenting).

Regarding the woes of paying for aftermarket minimates: I'm actually rather fortunate I guess in that I've only very rarely encountered this phenomenon. I can honestly say I've been collecting Marvel Minimates since Wave 1. I'm pretty sure Chuck sold me a whole set of the line at Wizard World Chicago whatever year this line launched. The only way he'd sell me the Black Spidey Variant was if I bought the whole set, lol. And at the time it was just 3 waves and 1 con exclusive. I kept my whole collection in a single ziplock sandwich bag back then, lol. Been at it ever since. But I always buy all the new Marvel releases while they're relatively new... and thus, I've never paid a whole ton for most items. There is OCCASIONALLY a random exclusive (usually from Toys R Us) that for whatever reason I just CAN'T locate... and I'll end up having to pay a slight markup for it. I think the absolute most I ever paid for a minimate was that pesky TRU Exclusive Warpath. Bought him loose. I want to say for like $40. But then someone very kind on this message board traded me X-Factor Angel (his partner figure) for practically nothing, so it evened out. Never paid a huge markup for a regular non-exclusive wave or boxed set though. I never did get a Martian Manhunter, but I'm not a huge DC fan, so it doesn't keep me up at night. There are a couple other DC minimates I'd still like. Wouldn't mind putting together a set of Teen Titans, but Cyborg seems pretty expensive these days. But again, DC doesn't keep me up at night. It blows my mind sometimes when people mention minimates I paid retail for, once common when I bought them (like say Kraven) go for like $40 now. Although Hydro Man is on ebay for $25... I expected more. Granted, that's not a GOOD price... but if it stuck in my craw that much, I'd pay it. (See Warpath comment earlier in post). Blows my mind more that ones like Warpath or Gambit go for double or triple ($40 was a lot when I paid it!, lol) BUT... all in all, I think I've mostly come out ahead on these things. Price wise. My biggest minimate regrets are that Wave 15 never came out, and that I can't get an Astonishing Emma Frost that stays white for longer than 20 minutes (And I've owned like... 4. The last two came pre-yellowed before I even opened them, lol.)

To split hairs... Technically Wave 75 is the 74th wave It never won't bug the crap out of me that this line skipped releasing the Ghost Rider wave, yet still maintained the number as though it hadn't. They really need to release those as "The Lost Wave" someday. They could be updated quality wise to be in line with modern minimates. Just do it! (I know I know... they won't do it. Stupid bad movie licensing.) New Plan: Ghost Rider Comic Book Wave! Still marketed as Wave 15! (Re-Mixed!)