Donny B

This sounds like great fun! bring it on

That was my recourse, since my two closest TRUs (Middletown NY and Scranton PA) haven't seen a glimpse of w15 (though Middletown had BB for a *very* brief window). But it's nice to know there are areas where these are abundant

I love the Predator likeness on his mask. This is another brilliant piece of artwork

That Hulk is especially impressive!

That's all photoshop. I would have made a decal for it, but I've found it's far easier/faster to just photoshop a photo if I'm not planning to do anything with it aside from using it in a single image...

oy. that is a thing of pure beauty...

Happy Birthday!

Good to have you joining us from Lurkersville! And you know, it's the internet - names don't have to make sense

Yeah, your presence has definitely been missed, but don't feel any guilt for it! I wish you luck with your estimating business! Hopefully it will work out well for you and you won't be so stressed

Sweetness! That must be pretty exciting! Congrats to you!

Under the category of 'slight differences' (not as obvious as the Darktide or Spiderwoman face decals), the original Street Fighter release had a couple 4-packs at TRU that had different color schemes (and I don't think they were on purpose like Battle Beasts). Back in the day, when I had more disposable income than I currently do, and mates weren't as abundant (in terms of licenses and number of waves in a year, not their market availability), I made sure to get every slight variation like the Street Fighter mates... Now? I'm not nearly as picky I always wondered what caused those differences, but now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know if there has been a case like that in the last few years (anyone who knows differently, feel free to correct me). Personally, the completionist that is still kicking in me loves that there are no more slight variations that I need to track down. But boy, it was a cool kind of feeling to be able to do that back then...

it makes me feel utterly inadequate in any attempt I might ever make to do cool looking minimate photos Regardless of being able to tell that they're paper, those shots are absolutely drool worthy!

I love that Cyclops. we need an official release just like that one

My package arrived today - A pretty sweet lineup of 'mates, including a nice little collection of flight stands, a couple of IM2 drones, two Terminator Arnolds, a Stealth Iron Man from MvC3, a much needed Daken, and a TRU wave 9 Wolverine... all of that, and a plethora of Snickers bars to boot Thanks minimadman!

I rather enjoyed that thread myself, but I never felt like I had enough of a collection to merit posting my own stuff there (imagine my surprise upon seeing a photo of my AIM 'mates in a thread of people talking about being miffed at other collectors ) I guess I should note that I'm not feeling persecuted in the slightest (if that's how I came across). After years of being thought of as weird by family and friends for collecting toys, I've developed a thick skin for words like 'hatred' and 'miffed' in context of collecting. I have no idea what Big Jim is, but I get what you're saying (especially now, since my income doesn't seem to stretch nearly as far as it did in the days that I was building my AIM army. I actually had to stop being a completionist and drop a few lines. I can no longer afford to army build or even make it to my local TRU as often as I'd like. So I've missed out on many awesome mates that I'd love to have - thus putting me in the "broken Big Jim from last Christmas" camp ) So to try bringing this back to the point of the thread... I guess I'd throw in my 2 cents under the "perceived value" umbrella. To me, a 'mate is worthwhile based on its appeal, regardless of numbers produced. I'm one of the few who never got into the Walking Dead (though I've been keeping up on the show), so the difficulty in finding those rare/scarce mates never phased me. But a Marvel comic-based mate of lesser rarity/scarcity might make the top of my priority list, thus making it more "rare" in my own perception. (not sure how my opinion works into the conversation, but there it is )

Since I seem to be the subject of a little bit of hatred here, I'd just like to mention that my AIM collection took me months and a small fortune (or, at least my definition of a fortune) to build. It wasn't a flaunting of possessions that led to me showing off my AIM guys as much as a simple love for my 'mates and the excitement of photography... But to be fair, I totally get the envy/spite that some people might feel towards a collector who amasses a large number of a certain desirable figure (and I also see & feel the condescension of all those "mature" people who think that toys are for children, and who watch me with judgmental eyes as I take every opportunity available to try tracking down each addition to my favorite hobby - so yeah, it's the best of both worlds ), and if anyone here feels like I've slighted them personally, I apologize. I love collecting these little guys, and it has brought me a lot of joy over the years to build the collection I call my own... Sorry if that's a derailing of this thread. I usually stay quiet in my little corner of Lurkersville because no matter how hard I try, I can almost never seem to come up with anything relevant/constructive to add to these convos (as I'm sure is evident to anyone paying attention to anything I post) ...

Umm... should I dare make a joke here? My desk is much like yours, TM2. Most of the time, it's littered with dozens of minimates (as well as stacks of papers and books beyond what I could ever count). But when it's clean, it looks something like this:

I don't have the chance to get out to my local TRU nearly as frequently as I used to, so I'm a little late to the party. Mine has no endcap (though I have seen one, either in the Scranton PA store, or the one next to Valley View Mall in Roanoke VA. Not sure which one) but at mine (Middletown NY), mates are mostly near the end of their respective aisles, and all pretty close to each other (though spread out between 3 different walls):

This image has been out for a couple of days, but I haven't seen it show up on here. Apparently, this will be the 'final battle' armor Tony wears in IM3: I'm thinking it would translate well into minimate form. *edit - put the armor in spoilers for anyone not wanting too much of the ending revealed

I'm speechless. This is my new favorite Batman minimate ever.

MC - have you tried Hulu? it's a little late to try to catch up on Arrow now, I think. but I haven't had a television in years but I'm still able to keep up to date with most new show between Netflix and Hulu... As for Arrow, I know next to nothing about the comics (my DC fandom is trivial at best) so continuity is lost on me. But I've been watching since the start, and while I have a hard time relating to any of the characters (despite several of them being satirical versions of people I know in real life), I think the thing keeping me coming back is the hope that it'll level out and find its voice. That, and the guest stars have been a great bonus...