Mirymate

Man... I wish the term "recent" or "modern" wasn't in any of the clues... Binary Ms. Marvel vs BoEM Rogue would be an AWESOME two pack. But alas, clues rule this one out... wish they didn't, but they do.

You see the headdress on Wanda in that cover? That's the only thing this set is really missing. We've had several versions of Wanda, But none match that early headdress. I'm really hoping its a 2-pack with First Appearnce Wanda and Graduation Angel. Yeah, I'd like a set of all five X-Men in their Graduation costumes, but Beast's and Scott's aren't that different from existing mates (X-Factor Beast is in the same colors, but a different pattern, the difference between Scott's GSXM#! costume, and his graduation suit is the visor), and Iceman... well you have to get to very much more modern looks before there's a ton of variations in Iceman's appearance. (and while I'd buy them, there isn't a lot of call for a de-iced Bobby Drake costume collection)

Miguel O'Hara, Anya Corazon, Kaine Parker, Ben Reilly, Jessica Drew, Ultimate Jessica Drew, Julia Carpenter, Ezekiel Sims, Gwen Stacy, MJ Watson, John Jameson, Billy Braddock, May-Day Parker, Ben Parker, Hobie Brown, Otto Octavius... there are unfortunately an infinite number of potential candidates. The key, if I'm reading Zach's clue right, is finding the story. Which is why a Hydra Cap / Ultimate Octopus is starting to sound like a stronger possibility.

Zach, I was not upset, offended, or even off put. I'll put sarcasm sign up more often than if it'll help, as that was how I meant my comments about you "disparaging" my guesses. If you actually manage to offend me, I'll send you a PM. We're good, man, we're good. So... while the Thor variant isn't directly story related to his pack mate enemy, meaning while Thor fought this guy, he wasn't dressed like the variant at the time. The rest of the packs represent more direct story relations to each other. So that begs the question... what story does Hydra Cap share with Ironheart? What story does Rogue share with a Spider-verser? Look for a story link in the last two packs, and we'll be closer solving the puzzle.

I realize I am likely dealing with obsolete information... but were we not told at one point that the colors and paint apps were as expensive, if not possibly more expensive than new tooling? Something about multiple "passes", each pass being a different color app, being more expensive at a certain point than a new unique parts. Or am I misremembering things?

That's right, only Miry's locks were wrong... rub it in, Zach. Simonson's Thor run is considered by many, including me, to be the high water mark for the book. And yeah, generally Walt played less harshly than those who came before or since. That said, he had a double motive in his benevolence. He also hoped that ridding Thor of his Don Blake identity would get his son to finally leave Midgard behind and resume his duties in Asgard. Memory fades whether this was original intent or some later retcon of some later writer. It's been a while since I read that run... which means it's a great time to read it again. Thanks for the inadvertent suggestion there, Zach. I think Chigarillo could be close... I'd guess, but I'm apparently bad at this.

And if you didn't notice... the saw guantlets came come in Gladiator blue!

I would LOVE IT if the Grey Gargoyle was the Thor villain in question. But while GG is a Thor villain who wears very little, (essentially a cape, some trunks, boots and gloves) I was under the impression that our mystery bad guy is Asgardian, or at least not from Midgard. Man, I do wish it was Grey Gargoyle though.

That is my cue... Surtur comes directly from Norse myth, and unlike most of Marvel's Nine Realms denizens, the Norse might actually recognize him. Well they'd recognize his role and story at any rate, the horns and red color are pure Kirby magic. (black skinned giant with black hair, burning red eye, and a big flaming sword) Surutr is the king or the fire giants, and ruler of Muspellheim He and his realm predates the founding of Asgard. Surtur is a simple man with simple goals, he is that man who want to watch the world burn. Except, he wants to burn the other eight relams, the wolrd tree, and every other conceivable dimension into one giant multiversal inferno. He is destined to march across the Bifrost and burn Asgard to the ground in Ragnarok prophesy, and in some versions lay waste to Midgard as well. Surtur's arrival on the seen is never trivial, and every time he's escaped his confinement in his realm, it's a race against time to stop him from destroying everything. One of those averted Ragnaroks resulted in the near death and disappearance of Odin. Surtur's power exceeds Odin's on the All Father's best day, and Odin's two older brothers gave their lives to trap Surtur in Muspellheim in one of the Fire Demon's first attempts to invade the realm eternal. (it wasn't called Asguard yet. Fortunately for Odin, Asgard is not Surtur's only enemy, not surprisingly Ymir the ice giant is also a rival. Although Loki has been cunning enough to get them to co-operate on a few occasions. Relatively recently Thor discovered the truth, that a group of beings a higher order gods than any in the nine realms known as "Those Who Sit Above in Shadow" (because, well, they sat in a dimensional plane above Asgard, in the dark) had long ago trapped the nine realms in a repeating cycle of destruction and rebirth that the Shadowy Sitters were drawing power from. So Thor unleashed Surtur and all the other elements of their armageddon off early, and somehow used this messing up of the cycle to destroy TWSAIS and break the cycle and die. But as Thor and company were all reborn, so was Surtur. And while the Ragnarok cycle may be broken, Surtur's power and goals remain the same.

Ya know, when you ask Chuck and Zach about will this character or that will every get a minimate, they are very fond of saying never say never... except on a Wrecking Crew boxed set. That, they said as closed to never as I've heard outside of DC minimates coming back. But I too really hope that Ulik is on the roster.

(Yes, you are correct sir. )

This was the first comic I owned. I have a cousin about 3 years older than me. So I remember reading his comics, mostly Avengers and Spider-Man, I'd seen Batman 66 reruns, I'd seen Spidey on Electric Company and the Super Friends. But apparently when I saw this giant thing at a grocery store news stand I had to have it, and they gave in. I remember memorizing every page till it literally fell apart. Shortly after, someone found this... And a lifelong obsession was born. For those of you too young to remember these, Marvel and DC both used to publish these a couple times a year. The pages were 10" by 14" and the contained multiple issues. And to a 5 year old kid, they were magic.

Nope. Inhumans was always a Pearlman pet project. It got pulled movie schedule the Kevin and Ron breakup happened. Which is the real rason that Disney doesn't want admit that the TV and movie side ignores each other.

Unfortunately, that's not that out of character for Ultron. He is dangerous, his IS an intergalactic and international threat. But even in my absolute favorite Ultron story bar none, the one by Busiek and Perez, he's got an obsession with having a wife and family he inherited from Pym. He's described as the living Oedipal complex. In a way that makes him dangerous and unpredictable, in another, it leads to so lame stories where the guy who can whip a dozen heavy hitters just wants to get back together with his first wife. I once asked Kurt Busiek if he thought some of Ultron's lamer schemes could be attributed to trying to incorporate the reprograming Dr. Doom forced Ultron 11 to undergo during the first Secret War, forcing Ultron to serve as Doom's personal bodyguard and enforcer. Kurt said that was as good an explanation as any. And now Heinous thinking "you mutinous traitor! you were supposed to keep things on track!"

I think my first X-Men comic... IIRC I thought Nightcrawler looked neat and followed him back to his home title after a guest spot in Amazing Spider-Man. Think Cockrum was still drawing at the time. Problem is I back issue read around that period so much It's hard to remember which of those was my first, the issue itself long since disintegrated and was replaced.

I was gonna say, Pym gives Jocasta flesh arms and legs there toward the end and it goes downhill from there. Which was sad. It started so very well, and then I don't know, back down the Oedipus rabbit hole we go.

S'okay, guys. I found him. Thanks.

Thanks, Liney.

First helmet seen in Ant Man, the face plate retracted. The revised helmet seen in Civil War, the whole mask popped off. Maybe it was supposed to lift up or retract as well, we'll never know. It looked very much like the helmet "ejected" the mask when Scott returned to normal size after his Giant Man stunt, almost like it was some kind of emergency procedure. >shrug<

And the shop is called...

Are there any folks doing minimate Shapeways stuff?

Oh I think Hydra-Cap is coming, maybe not in 74, but he's coming. I can't think of anything Marvel has done since the first Civil War that has generated this much interest in it's comics. I figure that there will be several Hasbro version revealed at SDCC in a few weeks. So a minimate of Hydra-Cap in a regular wave, a TRU wave, or Secret Empire boxed set is a matter of time.

The New Mutants formed after Bryne had left the X-Men. The Paul Smith era. The X-Men were exiled to space, carrying Brood embryos. Then literal new mutants began emerging and Emma Frost starts recruiting some for her Massachusetts Academy/Hellions. Charles reluctantly begins counter recruiting for his school. And that's how the New Mutants team begins, with Charles pretty adamant that they are not going to be a combat team, but only be trained to control their powers. In truth, Charles too had been Brood infected with a Queen embryo, and it was subconsciously influencing him to keep the new team close so they could be infected when Xavier fully transformed. Of course, the X-Men "get better", come home, and with the Starjammers defeat the Xavier-brood. Charles mind is transferred by Sikorsky into a new younger cloned body, which is why Xavier is walking around in the Secret Wars. And ultimately Xavier decided that despite the Brood influence, creating the New Mutants was a good idea, and the X-Men continue their education.

Myree. Trust me. There's a single guess that's appeared on two different lists that Zach has commented on and said some were correct. And that's HydraCap. Feeling he's a pretty safe guess. I'll have to go do some digging, was Thor wearing anything specifically different in his last battles with Surtur, Or Ulik. Thought at the back of my head says King Thor fought Surtur in the last Ragnarok. But I could be wrong. the Ballad of Beta Ray Bill So the Korbinites homeworld was in a region of space called the Burning Galaxy. Don't bother asking why, because Surtur and his fire demons began destroying/consuming the place as a forge for his Twilight Sword. Realizing their gig was up, the denziens of Korbin chose to retreat. Part of their plan involved creating a powerful champion, Bill either volunteered or was chosen or some combination of the two to become said champion. So with a combination of genetic and cybernetic mutations Bill was transformed from a scrawny weakling to the hero of the beach... er... Korbin. Given command of the greatest warship, Scuttlebutt, the rest of the Korbinite people placed themselves into stasis on board a fleet of starships. The newly minted Beta Ray Bill remained awake charged with the fleets protection and to lead them to a new home. Unfortunately, the demons weren't interested in allowing any survivors and chased Bill and the fleet after they finished destroying their home galaxy. So a battle weary Bill enters Earth's solar system, and since SWORD hadn't been invented yet, SHIELD ask Thor to investigate. So a patented Marvel misunderstanding ensues, and Bill and Thor fight each other to a standstill on the decks of Scuttlebutt. It ends when Beta Ray Bill does what only Thor himself had been shown to do previously and not only lifts Thor's hammer, but in doing so is transformed into the Beta Ray Thor look was all know and love today. When all is said and done, Beta Ray Bill is given a uru hammer of his own said to be just and powerful as Mjolnir, called Stormbreaker. Interestingly, Odin effectively killed Dr. Don Blake at this time, by transferring the ability to transform into mortal form from Mjolnir to Stormbreaker instead of simply copying the enchantment. Nerd paper could be written about why, but that's not important right now. So now Bill could return to his pre-augmented form much like Thor became Blake. Bill and Thor go on to have a series of solo and teamed adventures, being capped off with Surtur's Fire demons attacking Earth as the Casket of Ancient Winters was opened leading to, I kid you not, a line wide Thor centered crossover. This lead to Odin's "death" fighting Surtur and the aversion of a near Ragnarok. Bill then wandered the universe and had adventures. Guest starred a lot of place, got used as a jobber a lot. Korbinites found a new home world, fired Bill for wasting so much time on sidequests, and empowered Alpha Ray. Of course that didn't last. So a demon named Asteroth got loose, (she may or may not have links to Surtur) and absorbed all the Korbinite race into a "soulsphere" and started munching on their tasty spirits. Teaming up with Alpha and a Galactus Herald named Stardust, Bill recovers the sphere, and knocks Asteroth, and the self sacrificing Alpha, into a black hole. So now Scuttlebutt and Bill are off again to find another new home and get his people "unsphered". Long story short, Asteroth possess Alpha Ray to become Omega Ray (who didn't see that coming?), big battle, sphere is lost, Bill "god-blasts" Omega, both die. Bill is somehow awakens bonded to a human Vet named Simon Walters, and together they fight crime on Earth, eventually joining the short lived Canadian team, Omega Flight. (it's rumored this was Thor's doing, similar to how he caused the other Asgardians to become humans after the last Ragnarok.) Stuck with old Alpha Flight tropes, the Great Beasts of course come into play, and Bill sacrifices himself to stay behind in their realm while his teammates escape. Bill of course kicks the Beasts butt off panel and escapes, somehow free of his human ID, and able to transform back into his original form again. There's are more guest starring adventures, he finds himself embroiled in the Secret Invasion, the Cancerverse business, and I'm sure will continue to, as Bill searches for an storyline interesting enough to warrant keeping him around.