zauriel

Can I please get this made somehow?

Pegs aren't too short, in fact, it's their length that is the saving grace here. The more you can squeeze into the socket, the better chance it has of staying attached, provided you do not touch it. Holes are tight, for sure, but again, you can force the tip of the tentacle peg past the opening. They just don't stay, due to: Poor execution. I wouldn't blame the design, because this is how you want it to work. The socket just doesn't have a lip, and it recesses into a bevel, rather than an opening for the peg to nest in. This makes the socket slowly reject the peg back out the opening. See hasty diagram: If you were to try to glue the pegs into the holes, you'll lose the articulation point there. Then again, trying to make use of the articulation moves the peg inside the socket, which invariably causes the tentacle to fall off. This is also the reason why nobody can attach more than three tentacles at a time. Trying to force the 4th tentacle in dislodges the others.

Even with the sets that have been highlighted as having the odd quality issue, I can't ever recall a single minimate that didn't have a dark enough face tampo, or where the wrong kind of paint was used. I really have to give DST/AA credit for the consistency in this regard. Our biggest gripes seem to be "a little too much green on the back of beast's face" and "the eye holes painted on the outside of hawkeye's mask don't quite line up". You have to admit how minor those issues really are! And the other hundreds of minimates? Nary a complaint in sight. These are fantastic quality toys, considering how tiny and intricate they are, and how hard that must actually be to pull off. When it comes to this set, I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt. Something went wrong, yes, but something went so wrong that there's probably a very simple reason. Different factory, perhaps? You can tell just by holding these that the plastic is different, to start with. It's very smooth and feels soft to the touch. Not soft as in bendy, soft like a soapstone feels both smooth and soft. The edges are very rounded. The molds aren't quite as clean, causing malleable pieces like the feet to bend a little more than usual, and the sprue remnants are more pronounced. The plastic itself reminds me a lot of the very first three waves of marvel minimates. Do you remember how those felt in your hands, and how smooth the waist would slide into the torso? These are very reminiscent of those early waves. The paint has already been discussed, but I don't believe it's the usual group of Chinese artists at work here. The choice of semi-transparent paints is unusual, and neither the transparent flesh tone on Peter's torso and legs, or the thick almost orange flesh tone used on Peter's arms match the usual flesh paint master used on past releases. Compare these two shades with Ultimate Thor's gloved hands, for example. This is the usual flesh paint, and it covers up black(!) with a thin coat. The face tampos are the easiest giveaway, though. The lightness of the tampo, and the glossy look mean that either the tampos didn't adhere to the soft shiny plastic in the usual way, or a different application process than normal was used, or likely: both. Since minimates are so mature now, through all the revisions over time, we'll have to wait for a definitive answer from DST about what they changed. I know that all toy companies put disclaimers on their packaging that "final product may differ", because all toy companies have their share of difficulties with factories in China, but DST has always been great at delivering product that's right on model with the production samples used in the artwork. We'll have a good, simple answer soon. I'd like to thank DST/AA for all the amazing releases that have gone right, in the meantime! We'll all forgive this set when Iron Man sets start hitting. It was the last wave of Iron Man movie minimates that really kicked minimate quality into high gear!