MINI_MYTE

My case of Turtles wave 2 was pretty much fine paintwise. The only bad paint apps were a poorly applied face tampo on one of my Casey Jones' (the other was perfect) and the fact that both of my Splinters have frozen elbow joints due to too much paint. I'll have to carefully boil those (to soften the paint) and use an x-acto blade to free up the clumping. But unlike the Toyark pic, both of my Splinters have the proper amount of flower tampos (3) on his kimono.

We'll probably have to wait until after the worldwide release to get any more reveals in case of spoilers. I'm going to take a stab and say that War Machine 2.0 will be part of the assortment. Hot Toys just unveiled their official version this past week. It would make sense for another minimate.

Having some fun with wave 61.

Comic shops got in the regular case (1 x Winter Ops Hawkeye). Luke is more than likely getting in custom / god cases on the 29th (3 x Winter Ops Hawkeye). Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

I hope either the 4-pack or the 5-pack is Godzilla related so we can get the last of the core Toho characters before this line is ended. I know DST hasn't said anything officially in regards to the future of this line, but come on... Ghidorah Rodan Anguirus variant Godzilla (if it's a 5-pack) unarticulated mini Minya / Minilla

Pics are up of the Buck Rogers set. If you look very carefully, fans of the show will notice that this set actually has a sixth character included. Can you see him? It's none other than Dr. Theopolis.

Is there any difference between the TRU 4-pack mates and the specialty store wave counterparts?

Well, I just sold $647.00 worth of Star wars action figures to my local comic book shop. I can now safely say that I am ready for for the April 8th minimate onslaught.

MINIMATE OVERLOAD!!! Disposable income failure immanent!

Both are nice, but if I had to pick one, I'd pick the black background one. I has a more "outerspace" feel to it IMO.

Thanks guys...

The honor is all mine Luke. Your contributions to the Minimate collecting community are second to none. It was a pleasure to incorporate minimate Luke in the show and I hope all the subliminal advertising helps you to move more of those wonderful Deadly Foes boxed sets. FYI, Best Boxed Set was the first award I shot and pieced together this year. I knew right from the get go that it would win its respective category and it did... by a landslide. I hope we will see another Luke's Toy Store exclusive bixed set in the not to distant future.

Just an FYI for those of you looking at the Best Minimates of 2014 award show on your smart phones. There is a YouTube video inserted just before the Best Accessorized Minimate category and it may not be viewable / watchable on smartphones.

Thanks for all the kind words. As some of you said, it IS a labor of love. I just hope the fact that these shows keep getting bigger each year doesn't turn people off of checking them out. I had no idea this year's show would have turned into an 80 page monster. Man, I think back to the time when Cappy started this yearly tradition years ago and see what it has become, it just blows my mind. There were several red carpet segments that were axed due to time constraints. I had a bit with Hartigan and Mooby recreating the final scene of the Sin City story That Yellow Bastard, a commercial (promoting the show) featuring the cast of the Big Bang Theory that would have lead up to an encounter with Sheldon and his hero the Flash and a couples bit featuring Starlord and Gamora, but alas those were not meant to be and ended up on the cutting room floor. Now as I do every year after the show, here are statistical facts about the votes you guys submitted. the Deadly Foes of Spider-Man held a commanding lead from the get go in the Best Boxed set category. It earned 75% of all the votes. The MMMV blank garnered the most votes for a single mate in any of the categories. 30% Marvel just barely edged out TMNT for best license by 1 point. The Hydra Elite lead Favorite Army builder from day one and never faltered. It ended up with 25% of the overall points. Here are the honorable mention for all the categories (4th, 5th and 6th place ) Best Accessory (non weapon): Burger hand, Kraang head and Ice Sledge. Best Accessory (weapon): M41A pulse rifle, Doc Ock's tentacles and the Omni blade. Best Accessorized Minimate: Iron Fist, Doc Ock and Crazy 88 gang member. Best Hairpiece: PvsZ zombie scientist, Merisel and Cock-Knocker. Best Facial Expression: Ostog the unslain, Michelangelo and Marvel Girl (power-up face) Best Paint Apps: Liara, Merisel and (tie) Cairn Wight / Luke Cage / Kraang Best Hidden Feature: Dr. Curt Connors, Luke Cage extra parts and DOFP prison outfit Kitty Pryde Best Minimate Innovation: Aliens body sculpting, food hands and sculpted small characters (i.e: Rocket) Best Part Re-Use: Isiem, Falcon (wave 54) and Absorbing Man Biggest Sleeper: PvsZ zombie scientist, Godzilla and Ghoul. Favorite Store / Con Exclusive: Carnage, Kraang and Dogslicer Ale Goblin Best Variant: Fighting Chance Captain America, Iron Fist and Luke Cage Ghastly Minimate: Zombie Kingpin, Green Goblin (wave 56) and Shredder Manly Man of the Year: Bone Claw Wolverine, Jules and Absorbing Man Beauty Queen of the Year: The Bride, Viper and (tie) O-Ren Ishi / Nebula Best Wave: (tie) Mass Effect and Pathfinder Gen Con wave. Best Boxed set: KB House of Blue Leaves and KB Crazy 88 Gang Best Packaging: Deadly Foes of Spider-Man and GB I love This Town Best License: TMNT and Kill Bill Best Celebrity Likeness: Future Magneto, The Bride and Penny Minimate in Most Need of an Update: Spider-Man 2099, Ms. Marvel and (tie) Mary Jane Watson / Black Panther Best Scuplted / Bulked-Up Minimate: Absorbing Man, Attacking Alien Warrior and (tie) Garrus / Godzilla Favorite Army Builder: Foot Soldiers, DOFP Sentinels and (tie) Footbots / Nova Corpsmen BTDI (Best Moviemate): Buddy Christ, Bride / Jules (tie) and Stealth Uniform Captain America Best Minimate: Alien Warrior, Godzilla and Doctor Octopus

We should see these in a second wave (unless DST has other plans for them).

Maybe it's not technically a mark 45, but the slimmer armour that fits inside the mark 44 Hulkbuster.

I was wondering who will comprise the second wave and this is my guess. Now let's assume wave 2 will be similar to wave 1 (8 different characters). So far we have seen prototypes for Landing Party Ripley (with leather jacket), Newt, Frost and flaming xenomorph. Now let's assume for argument sake those are paired up together. That's half the wave there. Four slots left. Vasquez and Hudson have been confirmed for a TRU wave, so they are out. Another Ripley will come with the power loader and a BD Bishop will come with the Queen (if rumours are correct). That leaves Gorman, Ferro and Bishop (non BD). Pair Gorman with Bishop and Ferro with another xenomorph (jaw openned with no tongue) and there is a very plausible wave 2 IMO. Anybody else care to weigh in?

Yes, the BD attacking alien warrior from wave 1 has the exact same blood tampos in the exact same spots as the one from the dump case. I just compared the one in my hand to the one at the MMDB.

So I picked up a case of Aliens wave one from my local CBS yesterday. I'm very impressed with these mates. Lots of detail invested in these. Case breaks down as follows: 4 x Ripley / Hicks 4 x Drake / BD attacking xeno 2 x Dietrich / infected colonist Mary 2 x Apone / xeno warrior Pros: the inclusion of 2 caps for Drake. One with a moveable scope/ headset and one without any gadgetry. The inclusion of Apone's cap for his alternate look. Hick's shotgun (new sculpt I believe) as well as its shoulder slung holster. Con: The only real detractor is the balljointed arm for Drake's machine gun. It is moulded and does not hinge at the elbow. After one has popped the attachment into his armour and gun, there is little slack for poseability. Also the hole on the gun is set right beside the sculpted ammo cartridge which also limts poseability. I wonder how difficult it would be to customize said arm to make it more articulated? Hmm...? Other than that, there are no complaints on this overall wave.

Specialty store wave 7 packaged shots from DST's FB page.

His presence will be sorely missed. I blew the dust of some files and dug up some older Shots from the Minibar featuring our favorite Vulcan. My small tribute to a larger than life man. RIP Mr. Nimoy.

Any chance you have some packaging samples or tray shots of wave 1 you could show us before next week Zach?

The red blotches on IM's face are actually worse than just paint transferance. For some reason anytime metallic red paint (used on a minimate) comes into contact with flesh colored plastic, a horrible bleeding occurs. The flesh colored plastic absorbs the red for some reason and it goes well below the surface resulting in those horrible blotches. I believe this problem first appeared with the release of the Neo-Classic IM. Here's a tip, if you store your IM minimates (who sport red metallic paint) it's best if you make sure their helmets are off and not in contact with the heads. A couple of my IM movie mates (who had splotchless skin color) developped the red marks after years of storage with the helmets on.