The Best Small Line

[Trekker 42]

Figured I'd take a break from Best Version of this Marvel Character for a bit to talk about the more obscure Minimate releases. So I'd like to know what the Multiverse's favorite small Minimate line was. I define small lines as 3 major releases or less. So not counting promos or Vinimates. I'll list here what I think fits that description, but you're welcome to correct me.

I'm also not going to count the 3" lines here because I want to do a different thread for those. I'll count lines with 3" Minimates in them if any of them happen to show up, but not the 3" only lines. 

Before I give the list, I'm going to go ahead and say I think that Peter Pan nailed it. Perfect selection of characters, damn near complete except for the Natives and like... Yeah I wouldn't have made them either. Objectively, for a small line, I think it's hard to top that. However, my favorite is Power Rangers. I find that, not only do they look great, they've got excellent accessories and exactly what you'd want for the alternate looks. The only thing holding the Ranger line back is the lack of villains. 

Godzilla would be my favorite if it wasn't for the fact that they never fucking made Ghidorah. Most of the other unmade Kaiju are forgivable, but Ghidorah is an absolute necessity for the Godzilla universe. If any customizers here want to take a crack at him, I do make my own money which I can spend as I like.

 

And now the list:

Alice Through the Looking Glass
Battle Beasts
Beetlejuice
Big Bang Theory
Buck Rogers
Calico Jack (Kinda. Throwing a bone here since I'd normally think each vehicle was a major release)
Comic Book Heroes
The Dark Tower
Desperately Seeking Susan
Disney's Peter Pan
The Dollars Trilogy
Dragon Age
Dungeons and Dragons
Elf
Femme Fatales
Forbidden Planet
Godzilla
Grimm Fairy Tales
Indie Comics Box Set
The Iron Giant
Kingdom Hearts
Lost in Space
Mass Effect
Maximum Zombies
Pathfinder
Pirates of the Caribbean
Plants vs Zombies
Platoon
Playstation
Power Rangers
Rebel Moon
Rocky
The Silence of the Lambs
Sin City
Skybound (Invincible and Thief of Thieves)
Sonic the Hedgehog
Speed Racer
The Spirit
Spongebob Squarepants
Tomb Raider
Valiant Comics
Watchmen
X-Files
 

Edited August 11, 2025 by Trekker 42

[buttheadsmate]

Sorry Trekker, for me that is almost an impossible task..

 

..... but I guess the Dollars trilogy . 

[Navaan]

Big Bang Theory, Dollars Trilogy, Tomb Raider, Spongebob and Watchmen feel 'complete.'

Mass Effect feels close, as it has most of the ESSENTIAL characters, but it's not perfect. I am, however, super biased to it.

[cylonchaney]

Silence of the Lambs came to mind immediately before I read your list. I'm so glad we got them as it's such an odd match for a block figure line. LOL And I feel the one set covers enough ground.

Elf, Buck Rogers, X Files, Platoon, and Beetlejuice are others where I'm happy enough with a single set. Never bought Watchmen as I have some Bob Harris customs for that line.

Dollars Trilogy has satisfying coverage. If only Rocky had gone one more. I really wanted Thunderlips and Clubber. I've made my own but haven't shown them yet.

[Trekker 42]

5 hours ago, buttheadsmate said:

Sorry Trekker, for me that is almost an impossible task..

 

..... but I guess the Dollars trilogy . 

Dollars Trilogy was actually my inspiration for making this thread oddly enough. Such a beautiful little set of Minimates. 

I sometimes think Godfather would've won this for me if they'd made the damn thing.

[Shanester]

If I had to pick three...
The Dollars Trilogy
Dungeons and Dragons
Godzilla

That said, I really had high hopes for Battle Beasts.  I guess it just didn't translate for some fans.

[elhonez]

Ooh, Dungeons and Dragons.

[THE_CRIPPLER]

You are forgetting my favorite: Thundercats. G.I. Joe probably would have ended up being my favorite if that line continued.

[Trekker 42]

4 minutes ago, THE_CRIPPLER said:

You are forgetting my favorite: Thundercats. G.I. Joe probably would have ended up being my favorite if that line continued.

Thundercats had 5 box sets. It's too big to be small.

GI Joe also didn't make it at 4 box sets.

[buttheadsmate]

....but Plants & Zombies ? 

[Trekker 42]

55 minutes ago, buttheadsmate said:

....but Plants & Zombies ? 

[searches database]
FIVE!? I just scrolled past going “oh yeah they did like two of those. See this is why I said “correct me” in my original post. 

Edited August 11, 2025 by Trekker 42

[cylonchaney]

2 hours ago, Trekker 42 said:

Thundercats had 5 box sets. It's too big to be small.

GI Joe also didn't make it at 4 box sets.

GI Joe is really more like two boxsets and a bunch of repaints. Some on your list probably have more unique characters available than GI Joe.  

[Navaan]

4 hours ago, Shanester said:

If I had to pick three...
The Dollars Trilogy
Dungeons and Dragons
Godzilla

That said, I really had high hopes for Battle Beasts.  I guess it just didn't translate for some fans.

I wanted the OG designs... In hindsight, the fact there was no Wolf or Lion type character has me frustrated.

[Trekker 42]

40 minutes ago, cylonchaney said:

GI Joe is really more like two boxsets and a bunch of repaints. Some on your list probably have more unique characters available than GI Joe.  

You’re not wrong. I just set my criteria and ran with it. I wasn’t feeling nuance today. 

[FightTheDead118]

19 hours ago, Navaan said:

Big Bang Theory, Dollars Trilogy, Tomb Raider, Spongebob and Watchmen feel 'complete.'

Mass Effect feels close, as it has most of the ESSENTIAL characters, but it's not perfect. I am, however, super biased to it.

Mass Effect hurts because if the character selection for the box set wasn’t so bad we probably could have gotten one more set to really compete the line, Joker, Mordin, Thane and Legion are the main characters who really feel missing. If they had included maybe Thane and Mordin in the first set instead of Aria and the Husk, they could have even put Jack and Grunt in a second set and we really would have been good.

That early in the line to put a boring army builder and a pretty minor supporting character in the set probably killed the line

[Barry]

13 minutes ago, FightTheDead118 said:

Mass Effect hurts because if the character selection for the box set wasn’t so bad we probably could have gotten one more set to really compete the line, Joker, Mordin, Thane and Legion are the main characters who really feel missing. If they had included maybe Thane and Mordin in the first set instead of Aria and the Husk, they could have even put Jack and Grunt in a second set and we really would have been good.

That early in the line to put a boring army builder and a pretty minor supporting character in the set probably killed the line

The original 4-pack was 2 Sheps and 2 Husks for the ultimate boring 4pk, so we're lucky I was able to squeeze Miranda and Aria out of reused parts.  Much more was designed and even far more than that was planned, but too many cooks in the kitchen killed this line - not poor planning. 

 

 

 

[Navaan]

14 minutes ago, Barry said:

The original 4-pack was 2 Sheps and 2 Husks for the ultimate boring 4pk, so we're lucky I was able to squeeze Miranda and Aria out of reused parts.  Much more was designed and even far more than that was planned, but too many cooks in the kitchen killed this line - not poor planning. 

 

 

 

Dare I ask to see these designs?

[Barry]

1 hour ago, Navaan said:

Dare I ask to see these designs?

I'm a bit busy, but I'll get them up at some point soon!

Plans changed, I'll post them today.

Edited August 12, 2025 by Barry

[Chooch]

For me D&D and Power Rangers feel if not complete, like they got the important stuff out.

[buttheadsmate]

33 minutes ago, Barry said:

The original 4-pack was 2 Sheps and 2 Husks for the ultimate boring 4pk, so we're lucky I was able to squeeze Miranda and Aria out of reused parts.  Much more was designed and even far more than that was planned, but too many cooks in the kitchen killed this line - not poor planning.

Blind bags  also had a Massive Effect IMHO.  

 

[Shanester]

10 minutes ago, buttheadsmate said:

Blind bags  also had a Massive Effect IMHO.  

 

Yeah, that killed for me.  In fact, most of the blind bag runs were out for me.

[Trekker 42]

46 minutes ago, Shanester said:

Yeah, that killed for me.  In fact, most of the blind bag runs were out for me.

I got the entire blind bag run of Mass Effect because they were clearanced for a dollar each at a Gamestop. I don't think a single one is still intact fully anymore. Most of them wound up being used to make random mech armor type characters. 

I think the only other blind bags I indulged in were TMNT because there were some characters I just needed to get that TRU wasn't running with. K-Mart of all places too... I didn't even try with the Marvel Blind Bags. 

[Padrino]

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAATED the blind bag model. One of my fears, if minimates’s do make a comeback under the new owners, is that each line will be single-packed blind bags, which seems to be their method of choice for selling small figures. On the plus side, it increases the number of figures in each line (I think they sell boxes 12 at a time), on the down side is potentially getting a box with 12 identical figures (unlikely but statistically possible). 

[Barry]

8 minutes ago, Padrino said:

on the down side is potentially getting a box with 12 identical figures (unlikely but statistically possible). 

This was actually impossible with the way the Minimates were done.  Each case was packed with the same assortment, and believe it or not, in the same box position.  If you got a fresh, untouched case and knew the pack-out pattern, you could pull the character you wanted from the position it was placed.

[buttheadsmate]

 I was typing exactly what Barry just posted .