Top Ten Minimates

[Lobsterman]

Since list threads are fun.

Run down your top ten favorite Minimates overall. These are the ten you'd take to a desert island, save in a fire, and believe encapsulate all you think is wise and good in Minimates. Give us a rationale for each one, if you like. And no fair cheating and expanding this to "my favorite box set" or "my favorite wave" or "my favorite license." Ya gotta pick ten individual Minimates.

Also, Hail Ivan.

1. Lion-O

This was a dream license for me when it was announced, and Lion-O was the perfect execution of one of my favorite childhood characters. Great tampo design, great part design, and really stuck well to the unique "accessorized block figure" aesthetic of Minimates. I think He-Man is probably the only guy who could dethrone Lion-O as my #1.

2. Best of Marvel Wave 1 Classic Iron Man

Wave 6 Iron Man had always been my go-to for this character, combining simplicity with that one perfect sculpted accessory. Even the tampo design aged well and didn't look out of place with newer designs. Then this guy came along, added the shoulder rings and wrist and ankle bands, and finessed what I thought was already a perfect figure just a bit further.

3. Hulkbuster Iron Man

In general, I tend to like Minimates with fewer, more strategic and well designed accessories over the newer trend of heavy sculpting that mostly hides (or even replaces) the block figure base. This is an exception, and is still to me the gold standard for how to bulk up a Minimate. The fact that the base body is itself another fully-realized figure is brilliant.

4. Calico Jack

I always loved the face tampo design on Jack. Lots of great accessories, too. Just an all-around fun Minimate, and really showed off what the designers could do when they cut loose and created their own dream figure.

5. Best of Marvel Wave 2 Daredevil

This is another recent release that dethroned one of the classics. The original Wave 1 Daredevil made me fall hard for Minimates in the first place, and will always have a special spot in my heart. But put the two next to each other and you can really see how the line has matured.

6. Gambit

Another example of a great execution of the Minimate aesthetic: great tampo design and just the right amount of parts. The throwing card accessory was a major innovation at the time, and is still one of the best accessories, in my opinion.

7. Real Ghostbusters Egon

I was prepared to pass on the RGB line, but when I saw them I remembered how much I loved the show. The "cartooney" sculpting on Egon's accessories – especially his distinctive swirly hair – is top notch. I also love that they included a tampoed version of his jumpsuit under the sculpted top; I always thought the chest cap jumpsuits were too bulky, and I display him without it, wearing Janine's more streamlined strapped proton pack.

8. The Good The Bad and The Ugly Showdown Blondie

Gave us Minimate cowboy boots and revolvers, which is praiseworthy on its own. This figure was also one of the first to show how well an accurate celebrity likeness could be translated to the noseless, square-headed design.

9. Imhotep

Minimate sarcophagus. That's all I have to say about that.

10. Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

The tampo design still holds up on this nice, simple figure, but I mostly included him because he's one of my favorite comic characters.

Edited October 7, 2013 by Lobsterman

[Zexion_Armando]

Not in any order.

AvX Cyclops: The eyeblast accessory is amazing, the tampo work is great, its literally one of the best mates I own.

Heavy SHIELD Agent: So many accessories and so many ways to make this army builder so unique and flawless. I love it.

AvX Scarlet Witch: Just perfect, really, Lovely costume, amazing magic hands.

Magik: really flawless. Great use of the teleport disk, awesome sword. Armor is amazing.

Flame On- Human Torch: The base alone sells the this minimate is amazing, but the extra effects and unique feet and hands. Perfect.

AvX Emma Frost: I love just her, and her best minimate to date is also one of te best mates ever.

Dark Magneto: Love the texture, the face, everything is amazing.

MODOK: A flawless creation of something that took a lot of creative work ot make happen. The body, the seat, the action base...

Black Queen Jean: Best costume variant, and why I love minimates. Variant looks. amazing costume, cape, hair, whip. Love it.

Black Panther: I love him because how much I had to do work to get him.

[bigvis497]

I will go only based on ones that I own. There’s probably some I don’t have that would make this list, but I don’t feel fair judging a figure that I’ve never seen up close. Also, these will only be Marvel Minimates, in no particular order.

Warlock. Just an absolutely insane character design, Warlock was one of my favorite characters growing up. I have always been a huge fan of Bill Sienkiewicz’s artwork, but sometimes creations under his pencil don’t exactly translate well into other artist’s styles. His voice is that distinct. So imagine my shock when I saw this guy sitting on the shelf at TRU. I couldn’t believe that he was actually made into a Minimate. I had a handful of Minimates from 2003, which I thought were a cool little novelty item, but I never thought we would see anything outside of a simple human character design. When I saw Warlock, I realized that things have come a long way since 2003. I hadn’t collected figures in years, and left TRU without picking him up. But I kept thinking about how cool it was that they even made a Warlock, so I drove back the same day and bought it. And I’ve been collecting ever since.

Age Of Apocalypse Nemesis. Kind of a crap character, but what a cool character design. Another one who if you told me in 2003 he would be made into a Minimate, I would have never believed you. Age Of Apocalypse was the first big X-Men storyline I followed and it’s always held a soft spot in my heart. I thought this guy looked cool in every toy form he’s every shown up in. Translucent Minimates are great and I love the way this guy looks backlit. The skeleton printed underneath is such a cool little detail. I love everything about this Minimate.

J. Jonah Jameson. I love that DST makes non-superpowered characters. I wanted to include one here because I appreciate the effort so much. Alicia Masters and Aunt May were close to making the list, but Jameson is probably my favorite. The likeness is so good you can literally smell the newsprint and cigar stench on this guy. The fact that the newspapers have actual writing on them and not just lines is such a treat. Figures four times the scale of these wouldn’t do that! And we don’t get just one paper, we get two! Oh, and did I forget to say he has alternate looks? So good. I always say how DST “tries harder” with non-powered characters to make them toy-friendly, and Jameson is the best example of that.

Deadpool (Wave 27). This was the first Minimate that came absolutely loaded with accessories, so he deserves a spot. I love the alternate masks too. An extremely popular character getting his first Mate, I think Deadpool was a real turning point in the line. He was a great little preview at how awesome this line would be in time. I could include almost any character from Wave 27, it was that good.

Boomer. I have such a soft spot for the Greg Capullo X-Force costumes. I was upset we got pretty much everyone but Boomer in the 1990’s ToyBiz line. That X-Force was only missing Siryn, Boomer and an updated Cannonball. It was pretty much the closest thing we had to a complete X-Team for a while. People here crap all over her costume, but if you know anything about the character it really works. Accessory-wise she’s nothing special, but she’s another one I appreciate for the nostalgia. Now DST, PLEASE get us the rest of this version of X-Force!

Hawkeye (Disney Store). Such bright colors! All of the Disney Store exclusives have been very well made, but this guy takes the cake. Everything just looks so clean and perfect. I love that his arrows are removable. Somewhat surprised how few “classic” Hawkeye’s we’ve gotten given his popularity, but this one will be hard to top. He looks absolutely perfect in an Avengers display.

Mark I War Machine. Only listing the Mark I since I don’t own Rhodey. Such a cool character design, and one of the first Minimates to really go wild with the sculpting. He’s almost five years old and I have no idea how you could improve this guy, he’s that good.

MODOK. It’s a MODOK, and he’s a Minimate! What more do I need to say?

Stilt Man. One of the first “think outside the box” Minimates. I currently own four sets of extensions (eight segments high), and he looks so great towering over everyone else. I also love this guy because henchmen-level villains don’t get a lot of love in toy lines, but here he is.

Terrax. Not a Minimate you hear a lot of love for, but what a great looking design. The whole Heralds set was full of A to A+ designs and Terrax stands above them all. I love the bright colors and I love how menacing he looks. The floating asteroid base is genius, and his weapon is well done. What a great looking character, perfect for the Minimate aesthetic.

Edited October 7, 2013 by bigvis497

[hellpop]

I like nine out of your ten, Bigvis.

[Shogi]

In no particular order

1. Shadow Merk - Great sculpt, I love the way the wings were designed and it's translucent purple

2. Brood - Another great sculpt, cool design considering that the base is a humanoid block figure (or at least half of one) There's also a lot of nostalgia working for it since I had the Toy Biz version as a kid

3. Imhotep - Like Lobsterman said, the Sarcophagus sold this figure.

4. Max Zombie Civilian - Brightly colored zombies shouldn't look so good, but I can't help it, this figure hits my zombie nerve and looks fun while doing it.

5. Werewolf By Night - This one is pure nostalgia. My dad shared his love of Werewolf by Night with me as a child, so no other minimates will be able to stand up to any Werewolf by Night figure.

6. Venom Best of 2 - This Venom beats them all for me only when all the sculpted parts are taken off. The Black Symbiote Spidey with an evil grin is my favorite look and this figure pulls that off perfectly. The blue highlights make it look like it's straight from the comics

7. Hulk Best of 2 - You mean I can have a bulked up Hulk minimate that looks just like the 70's artwork I saw as a kid AND it can change into Bruce Banner!?!

8. Wave 43 Black Spider-Man - Always liked the Black Spider-Man costume, the fact that this one also had the blue highlights just like I saw in the comics made me love the figure

9. 90's Professor X - This is another case where I have to take the sculpted parts off of the figure to really like him more. Wasn't crazy about the suit, but the "Action Jacket" tampo is one of my favorite "looks" of Professor X from the 90's. There's some cartoon nostalgia at play here as well, but if that wasn't enough, there's his hoverchair! It looks just like the comic/cartoon and it has the same features as the old Toy Biz toy I loved as a child.

10. M.A.X. Law Enforcement Officer - I know I said in no order, but seriously, this one deserves top honors for me. The uniformed "Beat Cop" look hits all the points for me already but then we get all of the swat gear and massive amount of weapons. It's like you get two different figures with each minimate. I think this is the figure I've bought the most of out of all minimates.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Shogi

[TM2 Dinobot]

Great thread, lobby. I'd be interested if DST did one of these on their website. From less favorite to most.

10) Power Girl. I love the new hair, the face, the Powerhouse chest piece. The whole thing just works.

9) FCBD blank. I love this guy. So simple, so elegant. He has so much personality and is just chalk full of play value. He's the R2D2 of minimates

8) Valley of Darkness Cylon. It was a choice between this one and the Downloaded Cylon, as I like shiny stuff, but the tiny little blood smears just set this apart.

7) Gaijin Wolverine. I grew up on Wolverine in these colors, and this minimate just captures that look for me. Far more than the Secret Wars one we just got. To be fair though, the only reason X-Force or X3 isn't in this spot is Nostalgia factor alone. X-Force would probably be number 11.

6) T-800 Endoskeleton. I. NEED. MORE!!!

5) Symbiote Bonding Spidey. What's this sacrilege? A Spider-Man in the top 5?! Heresy! But I love him so much. He's just chalk full of play value and feels like a toy should.

4) Avengers Black Widow. The unofficial mascot of the MMMV. Check the photo thread if you don't believe me.

3) Carnage. Yeah, he may be old, but he's just that good. He is a near perfect Minimate.

2) Little Red. Again, take a look at the photo thread. Does that really come as a shock?

And my number 1 top favorite Minimate is...

1) Spider-Man. I can hear you screaming now. "TWO?! TWO Spidey's in to top 5? Spider-Man is number ONE?!" Yep, that Spiderman. The first; the best. I still love this guy. And he deserves every bit of the #1 spot.

[Lobsterman]

I'd love to see Zach's response to this. Or Chuck's, even!

[kaipo]

Gold Spidey.... just legendary

Hulkbuster.... duh

MODOK... brilliance

Best of Dr. Doom... (not-so-secretly an army builder!!!)

Sauron (The LotR guy... biggest and baddest)

Brood... creepy yet cool

Transforming Thing... the best two in one

Professor X... with the classic hover chair

Venom unleashed... amazing

Lockjaw.... awesome

Edited October 8, 2013 by kaipo

[WookieFodder]

Juggernaut from Excalibur

Venom Bulked Up from Boxset

Hulkbuster Iron Man

Ares

Bullseye

Deadpool wave 28

AvX Emma Frost

90's Prof Xavier

Universal Monsters Angry Villager

Thundercats Lion-O

all the 90s X-Men are great!

[bigvis497]

Interesting to see Professor X on some lists, when I think top ten of all time, those figures need to be pretty much flawless. Xavier is amazing, but there's some problems that keep him from perfection:

The hole in his head despite being bald

Chair is kind of hard to keep together

Blanket accessory only fits if he has the jacket look and even then it's a little wonky

Suit is a little too bulky

[TBT!]

Interesting how many of these are minimates with bulky extra parts or unusual sculpts.

Is it just that they are more memorable because they have the parts or do we really think sculpted minimates are better?

I'll put up a top ten list later after I've had a chance to mull over who should be included.

T.

[Lobsterman]

Tim– I think that's the balancing act that's been going on with Minimates for years – I know it's a debate you and I have taken part in numerous times.

I tend to lean more toward seeing Minimates as accessorized block figures more than fully sculpted 2" action figures. However, I think Minimates have surpassed other pure block figure lines, which tend to lean heavily on uniformity of design and have at most a sculpted head or some kind of simple accessory like Cap's shield, by being a little looser with the design "standards." I don't think the Hulkbuster mate would have been nearly as successful or fun (or even possible) if it had been treated like an early wave Minimate with all tampos on the base body and maybe a chest cap. So, you either decide you're not even going to try to do non-standard forms like Hulkbuster, MODOK, or the Brood in the line, or you break the rules a little bit.

I will say I'm not a fan of the trend from Halo mates that carried into the Iron Man movie line in which base body parts had sculpted details added, I assume simply to make them feel more "action figure-y."

[bigvis497]

I agree Lobsterman, I think there's a fine line between thinking outside the box and excessive sculpting. I like when there's at least a basic Minimate body in there somewhere. I don't like when thighs are completely sculpted like the aforementioned Halo, Battle Beasts, etc. But I don't wanna derail this thread with that discussion. Some interesting lists so far!

[Shogi]

I would say for my part I was only rating figures I have. Being a newer collector, that took out all DC/Westerns/LOTR/ and a few other full licenses.

I'm more a fan of the sculpted parts and sometimes the sculpt of a figure will make me like it over another, more ordinary block figure. That said I find it funny that two of my choices were for their basic, stripped down block versions without all the sculpted parts

It's interesting seeing other's choices (a few of them like JJ Jameson) are just slightly off my list (Like number 11-15) while there are some that are nowhere near my list. That's something that makes Minimates great. The vast supply of characters in the whole line can please almost everyone

Edited October 8, 2013 by Shogi

[delta chameleon]

Here's my list in no particular order, except number one:

1. Battle Beast Gator Guard (Silver): This figure is what brought me over to minimates. I had seen them in passing other times, but my real collecting interest in Battle Beasts got me to pay attention a lot more once pics showed up at SDCC a few years ago. Once I got the silver toy fair gator in hand, I really started to like the minimate format. And he's still my favorite so far of all the battle beast minimates thus far. I love the rest of them, but I thought the gator was a great balance between the minimate format, and the chunky, technological style of the original battle beasts.

2. Hulkbuster Iron Man: Such a great interpretation of this character. I love the heft and size he has compared to the other minimates.

3. Movie Iron Monger: I like him for the same reason as the hulkbuster, I love the heft and size you get from this figure. With the ad on pieces, I think it gives a great technological feel of someone in a large, heavy suit of armor.

4. Merk (TRU Wave): I think Merk is the most successful and impressive Battle Beast in wave 1. I think it shows a lot of what you can do with the minimate base and clever design on top of that. He really is a remarkable little figure for his size, especially with the design of the wings.

5. Lion-O: Such a great, clean version of this figure that is pretty much spot on. The colors look beautiful on him. All the thundercats really translated well to minimate form, but Lion-O made the transition perfectly.

6. Scalpus: My other favorite of the BB wave 1. I loved the take on a snake battle beast minimate. I really liked all the details on him, and even though his bottom half is one solid piece, there's still a lot of great possibilities with posing this little guy.

7. Beta Ray Bill: I always liked Beta Ray Bill in the comics. I saw Bill after the reveal of the gator battle beast but before I was able to actually get a gator. He was the first minimate that I bought, and was sort of a precursor for me to the battle beast wave, showing me what the block figure design could be with sculpted pieces and a sculpted head.

8. Silver Age Lizard: My favorite comic villain, and an very impressive version to boot. the coat and tail are done very well. My only little complaint with this figure is that I would have liked a sculpted head like what Beta Ray Bill got. If that happened, he would be right behind the gator as my top two favorite minimates.

9. Ground Assault Drone: this figure feels very battle tech/heavy military mech/robot. i love that feel about him.

10. Mark 1 War Machine: One of my favorite comic character designs as a kid, and it was translated very well into minimate form.

You will notice for me that everyone on my list uses a large amount of sculpted pieces (except perhaps for the lizard, who's only complaint from me is that he needs a little bit more sculpted pieces). I came over after seeing the gator minimate, and because of that, I have just naturally see the basic minimate body as a frame to build up upon to make unique characters. I have certainly seen many minimates that are bit more "standard" block minimates that do look quite impressive for the characters they are portraying. But for me, the minimates that grab my attention the most are the ones that have a large amount of sculpted details to bulk them up a bit.

[karamazov80]

About damn time. A great series.

[hellpop]

I'd buy Top 10 Minimates. Really, any ABC titles at all.

[Twisted Two-Face]

In no particular order:

Jim Lee Jean Grey: 90s FOX X-Men got me into comics, and it's Jean Grey. This was a no-brainer.

Disney Classic Hawkeye: Amazing necessary update to one of my favorite characters. He's close to perfect; he works better with the Renner head.

MvC3 Phoenix: Jean's best figure in the line. Wish we could have gotten a Dark Phoenix out of this too, but what a great basic Minimate. One of all-time favs, probably actually my overall favorite. Perfect.

Single-pack Red Skull: So much detail and attitude. Great hand candy.

Commander Rogers: Ya knew this was coming. Great translation of my favorite Cap look. It took a while to get him, but the wait was worth it. Perfect.

Aldrich Killian: A-BWUH?! A position once held by Justin Hammer (who just missed this list), Killian is the best suited character we own, i think. He's pretty stylish, that grin is great, and i love him.

Darmok Picard: The two looks are my favorites for Picard and he's my favorite Trek character; great update to the old figure. He's the best of the line, IMO.

AvX Emma Frost: Love the engineering on the cape and hair. She really stands out on the desk.

Bruce Willis: So cheesy. Likeness is perfect. He's not even Mr. Church, he's just total Willis. So cool.

Galactus: This shouldn't even be a question. I can't believe we have a Galactus. Sculpting, translucency, the fact that he's GALACTUS, so great.

Honorable mention:

NOW! Hawkeye

Winter Soldier(s)

Viper

von Strucker

Just because we don't have them yet.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Twisted Two-Face

[TM2 Dinobot]

I don't get why Modok is on so many people's lists. I can't stand that guy. Just because he's cleverly engineered doesn't make him a good figure.

[karamazov80]

I'd buy Top 10 Minimates. Really, any ABC titles at all.

Tom Strong for the win.

[hellpop]

Sorry, but Promethea > Tom Strong, though Jack B. Quick rules over all.

[karamazov80]

Sorry, but Promethea > Tom Strong, though Jack B. Quick rules over all.

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[hellpop]

Don't you Oprah me!

Edited October 9, 2013 by hellpop

[karamazov80]

It was the only appropriate response I do think Jack Quick was the best thing about Tomorrow Stories, though.

[Trekker 42]

It was the only appropriate response I do think Jack Quick was the best thing about Tomorrow Stories, though.

Don't you mean approprahite?