drgnrbrn316

Update! Added images of updated Dr. Strange, Hobgoblin, Dr. Jonas Harrow, and Scarlet Spider (with comparison shots when available) Added images of Battle-damaged Wolverine Added images of modified Rogue, Juggernaut, and Ghost Rider Added images of Leonardo and Raphael Dr. Strange is made of a modified Batman armor accessory (sans armor), part of an Iron Fist collar and fist accessories, and a Wolverine hairpiece. Hobgoblin is made of a modified Dr. Doom cape, part of an Iron Man helmet, and Green Goblin boots and hands. Dr. Jonas Harrow is made of a modified Bruce Banner hairpiece (sans hair), a Samwise (LotR) hand, and a modified Mariko dress. The lab coat was made more 3D by cutting plastic from a blister pack and crafting a second overlapping layer to the coat and pockets. Scarlet Spider is made of a modified Darkseid armor, part of a Blade coat (sans coat), Powerman wrist accessories, and modified Ultimate Storm boots (sans boots). Battle-damaged Wolverine is made of a modified Giant-sized Wolverine, and a modified Wolverine hairpiece. Rogue is made of a modified Ultimate Sabretooth coat and a modified Ultimate Wolverine belt. The belt has the appearance of hanging freely by using part of blister pack to make an invisible "belt" to attach the hanging belt from. Juggernaut is made of a repainted Thing chestpiece. Ghost Rider is made of a modified Ghost Rider chain. Leonardo and Raphael are made from parts of Megablok Ninja Turtles, with Elektra sais and modified Megablok swords. The hands and feet have been modified to have three fingers and two toes.

I couldn't tell you how many minimate parts I've lost down the drain of my bathtub...er... Actually, the only thing I've managed to lose so far is several of those Thing cigars. I think him and Wolverine are smoking them all.

No, I'd personally love it, but I'd hate to think that my message got lost is all.

What do some of our experts have to say about Sculpey? How do you use it, handle it, finish it, etc?

Did my PM get through? I'd hate to think I got lost between the likes of Elle and Cindy.

I don't think you'd offend anyone with this thought. Its a thought that has been pondered before. We've toyed with the thought that the figures are already articulated but just need the glue to be broken, as have we toyed with making our own molds of them. What it all ultimately boils down to is cost. The statues cost too much for most of us to yank at the arms and legs trying to work free the arms (assuming they even are articulated to begin with), nor do most of us want to ruin the statues in the mold making process.

This is good news. I'm sure if they are variations it'll probably be in Darktide form, but at least it shows some effort on the production end to get something on the shelves.

Couldn't have said that any better myself. I'm all for variant costumes if they make sense. Do we really need a second battle damaged Spidey? Not when there's so many other variations that have been done to his costume for different reasons. Iron Man has had a large variety of armor and we've only seen three designs (4 if you count stealth). Captain America has worn several different outfits as the different people who've worn the mask, be it Nomad, USAgent, etc, yet we get variations of the good ol' red, white, and blue. Ms Marvel has been through a few variations, as have plenty of other heroes who haven't been given a chance to shine at all. I'm all for different designs, its only when we start getting the "Mildly Constipated Spider-Man" etc that it gets to be too much. I understand the need to keep the big names in the line, but they've worn numerous variations to warrant them in figure form. We've seen Iron Spidey, Captain Universe Spidey, Spidey Armor, Scarlet Spider, Electro-proof Spidey, 6-arm Spidey, Man-Spider, Spider-Hulk, Spider-Lizard, Spider-Phoenix, Amazing/Bombastic Bagman, Octo-Spidey, and the list goes on and on. And Wolverine! He's had variations of his costume for every team he's been on, plus his future and past selves, plus stints in a Venom costume, a Punisher shirt, Weapon X gear, heck, he's even run around naked a time or two. Check the next Exiles book for a AA/DST wet dream. Give me something different instead of Gaijin Wolverine except now he doesn't have a mask, or Civilian Wolverine except this time its the Ultimate version.

I find it rather frustrating that every link on the AA.net site links to a Speed Racer promotion. Try clicking on Marvel, Street Fighter, BSG, etc.

My hopes is that we get a lot of the figures we've been begging for in the upcoming waves, since we've endured 4 waves of part reuse and variants and we've been told that next year is supposed to be a good year for minimates. More likely though, we'll see at least one Civil War related wave, which means no villains (though we might get a Thunderbolt or two) Personally, I'd rather see a separate thing for Civil War, kind of like the Marvel Knights/New Avengers/X-Men 4-packs, where you get one or two characters from one side bundled with one or two characters from the other side. Not a bad way to expand the universe, but not likely to happen. I say look for Spider-Man, Iron Man, Daredevil, Captain America, Ms Marvel, Thing, with a torn up Spidey for good measure. What I fear may happen is we get two waves of Spidey/Wolvie villains that can be made using just a repainted blank minimate. (Deadpool minus weapons, Shocker, Eel, Black Tarantula, Looter, etc) My gut tells me they might try to give us what we want (more villains) while at the same time saving their resources again.

Yeah, but the "all eras of Rocky" makes me think we're getting a wave filled with Rocky variants.

Who'd have thought we would be denied a Spiderman OR a Wolverine?! To be honest I'm surprised they didn't sell those first. Seemed like such a lock. Actually, I was looking forward to getting a Spidey, because I was going to use him to make a mold to make my own articulated "Maximates"

1. You get obscure Spidey characters because his characters are easiest to make with the current host of parts, plus Spidey is "much more popular" than Avengers, X-Men, Thunderbolts, etc. 2. Again, you don't get Spidey's heavy hitters because this requires making new parts. A new cape and head for Mysterio, a new mask for Electro, a new cape for Hobgoblin. 3. "Spidey is gold, whereas Thor only caters to a small audience" Plus, new hair/helmet, cape, and hammer for Thor. What it boils down to is that for cost cutting measures to either boost the profit or help make room for the new licenses, Marvel refuses to make anything new. There's only so many characters you can build with the same parts, with Spidey being the easiest since he's just a 2" mate with paint. I can see the necessary evil that is the Spidey/Wolvie curse, and I can even understand it. They sell. Spidey's in, what 6 or so books; Wolvie's in 4 books (since the X-books are separating the teams for now). And the latest wave is a (short) step in the right direction by actually tossing us two teams instead of a mix and match of random characters who may or may not have teamed up with one or both of Spidey/Wolvie. But again, the part reuse limits their vision, hence the scrawny Colossus (even though they bulked up Beast, oddly enough), the painted-on hat for Luke Cage, the barely lavished Ronin devoid of any weapons, no new mask for Wolvie; the cost cutting measures shine brightly in the lack of details on the entire figure (no belts wrapping around the figure) and the avoiding of using parts already molded (no boots for Wolvie or Colossus, no guns for Fury). It'll be interesting to see if DC's mates continue to hold their quality after the first few waves, or if they settle into the "same ol' figures, same ol' parts". I think they'll continue to make an effort for some time to go though, which means that Marvel will need to step up to the plate and really knock something out of the park or they're going to strike out.

Yeah, I can see how its a big step for a "small company" to get the big licenses, and I can understand how Rocky and Speed Racer can be a good step towards something bigger. Maybe I'm just feeling let down about all the new stuff coming out versus the same old stuff coming out for my beloved Marvel mates. I'm just concerned that they may over extend themselves and the whole empire will come crashing down. Speed Racer and Rocky just seem like half-ass licenses. Just more "different paint jobs on the same few molds". I know they both have a following and that big things in the future could launch minimates into semi-mainstream, but at the same time, if they approach these new licenses the way the Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, etc lines were done, we'll have a much larger audience of disappointed people. And on the side-note mentioned before, if AA/DST approached any new licenses of the scale of Star Wars, GI Joe, He-Man, etc, I'd still look at it with the same reservations, only on a larger scale. How many times can you release Luke Skywalker before people lose interest? I'm all for expansion, but we need to make sure we're expanding with a good business plan rather than the slapped together past few waves we've seen. I'm not trying to be the rain cloud here spoiling everyone's happy day, I'm just voicing my own doubts. Look at what's happened up to now. We had Star Trek, which carries a big following, but that never made it to wave 2, let alone to the spin-off shows (TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise). Lord of the Rings, another big following folded before wave 3. Going longer and longer without anything new on Street Fighter, a line filled with repaints of the same characters, makes me wonder if these new 4-packs are a last ditch effort to keep the line moving. Going longer and longer without getting Marvel mates, and when we do, its the same few figures made with the same few molds. I really do want to see the market expand, but part of me is hesitant to get excited. I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong if things flourish, but I'm just scared that I'm right.

Top 10: * Hobgoblin * Lizard * Red Skull * Loki * Abomination * Vulture * Mysterio * Kraven * Electro * Apocalypse Spider-Man/Wolverine Variants: * Weapon X Wolverine * Scarlet Spider/Spidercide/Kaine

Question about Paints What type of paint best matches the flesh tones of the mates, ie Caps' face, Power Man's face, Hulk's face, etc?

I know we want to get as many licenses as possible to maximize exposure, but Rocky? Speed Racer? What next? We've seen in the past where figures based of of plain people don't tend to turn out too well without some very careful choices on details/etc. Why not pursue some licenses with some colorful characters?

Personally, I hope this one doesn't see the light of day. Call me cynical, but one more new line of minimates means that much less time to developing Marvel mates. We've already seen what a couple waves of Street Fighter, Battlestar Galactica, and Speed Racer(!?) did to the Marvel and LotR line. Otherwise, we'll get the many faces of Sylverster Stallone to go along with the many faces of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Thing, Cyclops, Aragorn, etc.

One Thor, coming up! Question. Does he have to be single, or can he be married/separated/divorced/widowed?

I'm in no hurry. My biggest anticipation about this series is getting them all under my exacto knife and paintbrush.

Could be worse, you could be paying $30 for 7 reissues with different paint scheme. Oh wait...

I agree that the Marvel guys are going to be watching very closely at how the DCD waves pan out (or at least they should be). If these things rock the block figure line like we all seem to think they will, and Marvel does nothing about it, then they have some explaining to do. 14 & 15 can either make or break the Marvel line. I just hope next year sees a rebirth of the Marvel minimates so that we can finally build a healthy roster for both universes.

Only thing I'd change on the game ideas is to make the game focus more on characters we aren't already overwhelmed with. Like any of the original Averngers line-ups, or some of the expansive X-Men line-ups. Don't even let Wolverine or Spider-man be playable characters until after you beat the game or something. I mean, we saw what happened with Dark Tide. Despite the new additions to the team, they used mates already in existence and as a result, it got packaged with repaints. The more new characters you put in the game, the more likely you are to see new characters bundled with the game. That is awesome work on someone's part.

I had no idea everyone looked so similar in BSG, what with their whites and their grays.

You forget that Ghost Rider has teamed with Spidey and/or Wolvie on a few occassions.