Minimate Moratorium

[NorthRaider]

... short for "Minimates we're all sick of that aren't necessarily bad-looking "

Thanks to some recent concern over the state of the Trade-It-Forward thread over at the Flea Market, it has come to my attention that there are certain Minimates out there that people just don't like that much. It may or may not be related to the actual quality or execution of the Minimate in question; more likely it may have something to do with the license/character the 'mate is based on. Other times, it may be related to the history of the Minimate itself.

I want to keep this distinct from this thread: the question isn't "What are the worst Minimates ever made" (which is more a question of quality/execution), but "What are the Minimates we are all just plain sick of for one reason or another" (which is more subjective).

EDIT: These are some of the Minimates I've tallied that have been making the rounds at Trade-it-Forward more "regularly" than others. Some of the figures aren't exact (given the "digital rot" of some of the posts, some trades ended up unaccounted for). I will only be listing specific Minimate variations (not characters in general), top figures by type:

Marvel

Riot-Attack Spiderman - 12 confirmed exchanges

Rhino - 7 confirmed

Astonishing ("Poodle") Beast - 6 confirmed

Ultimate Jean Grey - 6 confirmed

Angry Spiderwoman - 6 confirmed, 1 unspecified (could be the regular smiling one)

Apocalypse - 5 confirmed

Lady Deathstrike - 5 confirmed

Classic Green Goblin - 5 confirmed

Zombie-Attacked Black Panther - 5 confirmed

Havok - 4 confirmed

Taskmaster - 4 confirmed

Ronin - 4 confirmed

Pepper Potts - 4 confirmed

Ultimate Wolverine - 4 confirmed

Wave 1 Daredevil - 4 confirmed, around 3 unspecified (could be the Target/Marvel Knights one)

Darktide Magneto - 4 confirmed, 3 unspecified (could be the one that came with Prof X)

DC

Darkseid - 8 confirmed

Starfire - 8 confirmed

Ares - 4 confirmed

Street Fighter 2

Chun Li vs. M. Bison pack MIB - 6 confirmed (though only 2 confirmed P1 versions)

P2 Akuma (red costume) - 4 confirmed, 1 unspecified

Miscellaneous

FYE exclusive 24 (End of Day 2) Nina Meyer - 6 confirmed (4 loose, 2 MIB with Jack Bauer)

Indiemates Dawn - 6 confirmed

Indiemates Witchblade - 5 confirmed

ECCC blank (unopened blind bag) - 5 confirmed

ECCC green blank with logo - 4 confirmed

BSG Vice President Baltar - 4 confirmed

ST Battle-damaged Kirk - 4 confirmed

ST Chekov - 4 confirmed

Everything else - 3 and below

In addition, offers had been modified in the thread at least 4 times (one offer still wasn't taken even after it was changed), and the thread had been bumped around 10 times before being considered for closing.

Just thought I'd post the more surprising stats, at least.

Edited May 3, 2009 by NorthRaider

[buttheadsmate]

I just trawled the TIF & I actually found it made me smile from ear to ear........ I actually PM'd Are-Jay once to apologise for continually de-railing it

'Blue-Poodle' unfortunately was my fault as well. I do however love the Indiemates & smiled recently when someone said that the new 'Villains' set gave us an 'obtainable' Magneto at last ! Darktide, despite its faults is a 'must' in anybody's Minimate collection ...& one of the cheapest ways of getting 4 Minimates . Riot Spidey on the other hand isn't a bad Minimate it is purely & simply... useless ....but oh so plentiful . Somebody once put about 20-30 Target packs on ebay for weeks with a continually decreasing BIN which in the end some nut bought for about $30 for the lot This however makes the Spider-Woman (Target variant) probably the cheapest Marvel variant available .

[karamazov80]

Funny enough, I actually had, got rid of, and now want to re-aquire a number of the 'Mates listed on Northraider's list (Sapphire, Ocean Master, Lady Deathstrike). Maybe I should have been paying more attention to the Trade it Forward thread than I did.

You might want to add "FYE 24 2-pack" to that list. Lord knows I put it up there. That thing was eventually so easy and cheap to get, but actually contained what is, to my mind, the best Jack Bauer released. I've probably had 20-30 of those sets pass through my hands at one point or another

[NorthRaider]

Yeah, to be perfectly honest some of the mates that were making the rounds on TIF boggled me too. I for one loved the Street Fighter mates (yes, including the Darkstalkers) dearly, so I always found it odd whenever people had them in absurd excess. The same would probably go for the Indiemates (I STILL don't have these) and that FYE 24 pack (IMO a real must-have... does that gurney count as a Minimate vehicle? )

FYI I'm still compiling the TIF results (I'm on page 6 ) and can now add US Agent/Taskmaster and some of the Ultimate X-Men to the list. Minimate availability is a very odd thing.

[buttheadsmate]

My girlfriend ,who tolerates my passion for Minimates slightly less than she tolerates me, dislikes 'the girl with the horrible big hands' with a vengeance. :sad:

[NorthRaider]

Amazingly, while I was busy compiling the stats from the TIF thread, skynet actually went and posted a list of his own. Kudos, buddy!

From the TIF thread:

I've been watching this thread since the beginning. I wish there was a watcher icon I could add .

Here are some estimated stats on what has been offered and traded.

Ultimate anything (spider-man/goblin/x-men)_______23 figures

Custom/frankenmates__________________________20 figures

Hulk anything (any figure with hulk in the name)_____19 figures (4 were gamma)

Riot Spider-Man_______________________________14 figures

Marvel Zombies related_________________________14 figs

Chun-Li (both colors)___________________________13 figures

Bison (both colors)_____________________________13 figures

ECCC promo_________________________________13 figs

Akuma (both colors)___________________________12 figs

Daredevil (red,bd, yellow, target)________________12 figs

Thing_______________________________________11 figs

Darktide X-Men figures_________________________11 figs

BSG cylons (any style)_________________________11 figs

Darkseid_____________________________________9 figs

Dawn________________________________________7 figs

Beast________________________________________7 figs

Rhino________________________________________7 figs

Demitri______________________________________6 figs

Ryu_________________________________________6 figs

Morrigan_____________________________________6 figs

Nina from 24_________________________________6 figs

Lady Deathstrike______________________________6 figs

Angry Spider-Woman__________________________6 figs

Chekov_____________________________________4 figs

Since the thread's creation in June of '08, about 8 offers have been edited to change or include items.

There you have it folks, straight from one pedantic Multiverser to another

If I can just add my own observations to this list:

-Most of the ECCC blanks on offer had been mint-in-baggie. Note that the ECCC mates are blind-packed (the baggies being opaque-black). A lot of mint Hunt mates had been on offer as well

-the "miscellaneous Hulk mates" on offer indeed include Gamma, Professor/Smart, Avengers#1 (Kirby), and even the occasional Defenders Hulk

Expect a more-detailed breakdown from me at some point. Meanwhile, any comments on this new list?

[skynet]

I'm surprised there was someone else making a list.

While I'm at it, here are stats on who traded.

14trades excluding the last one

groundhog7s

11trades

jjwspider

7trades

Mattallica

The punisher=D

The Crippler

6trades

minijeff

McDurg

5trades

Dio

3 trades

minimadman

Karamazov80

Cornflakes

TM2 Dinobot

Boyd

2 trades

BannersID

Are-Jay

Pickle

Fo Shizzle

-Minimator-

Bob Harris

1 trade

jcastick

Santos L Helper

Pong

Graham

Hulk197

Mabait1020

Buttheadsmate

Aajpe

Serge

Captain cbecker

[jcastick]

Really.....I did just one?

hhmm.....thought I did a couple of trades on the TIF.

[luke314pi]

Personally, I am sick of the Indie Mates because of their poor production quality. I snap off more arm and leg pegs from Indie Mates than any other minimate, even the Target Nightcrawler.

[Captain Minimate]

Huh. I find I never got any of the minimates we were talking about... Am I that new?

Although I have heard of you guys complaining about the Riot Spidey a lot.

[NorthRaider]

(Updated list with confirmed stats in 1st post)

Surprisingly, Star Sapphire, Ocean Master, and a number of the ad nauseam variants of Hulk didn't show up as often in TIF as I initially thought (Gamma Hulk was confirmed traded 3 times in total, for example). Perhaps it was just some weird case of selective memory wherein you remember only what you least liked or something

Some non-Minimate items that found their way into TIF:

a couple of non-specified Star Wars stuff

a couple of Marvel Heroclix

a Hasbro Heroes Punisher

a Havok Kubrick

an Ash (Army of Darkness) Mez-It

European mini-statues of Reed Richards and Captain America

Weird banter that occured in-between trades ():

people forgetting what the current offer is

"off-topic" meta-banter

dog puns

a drugs and McDonald's analogy

a "drunk" member forgetting what "BD" stood for

spontaneous potty humor involving Spider-Woman and Star Sapphire

(GAH! Brain bleach!)

people asking what a frankenmate is

a newbie asking if Superhero Squad can be traded, followed by wall-banger replies from other members

members who actually made lists of the TIF trades ()

[skynet]

Personally, I am sick of the Indie Mates because of their poor production quality. I snap off more arm and leg pegs from Indie Mates than any other minimate, even the Target Nightcrawler.

This is very true. I remember buying 4 boxes of these. All 4 Shis and Magdalenas legs broke off when moved. Dawn's head was lopsided for most of the figures. Indimates were crappy mates. Witchblade was good though.

[jcastick]

I must have been the only person with a good batch of Indiemates.....lol

Never had a problem with them surprisingly.

[groundhog7s]

Wow, I'm a little surprised to see that I was so involved in the thread. And mostly, I didn't even need what was offered, I just wanted to move the thread along.

But since I participated in it so much, let me say that the reason it doesn't work is because of human nature. There were some decent things offered several times that were accepted by people who offered up crap for the next person. It's like cleaning the seat off for the next person-some people take the time to do it, but many people leave it where it lands. I believe human beings are selfish by nature and that is something that you have to choose to overcome (and most people don't do that).

[Bob Harris]

So since it lays in human nature to be selfish, you are kind of a, erm, groundhog instead? Or a masticator?

Seriously. Realizing that you planned your interventions (like a Skrull in the most positive way), I'm pretty thankfull for that. I really do love the TIF thread but it's always 6 Euros (around 8$ when converted) to send a package to the US and I'm not the owner of a huge collection since regional supply problems occur here either. Therefore I haven't contributed as often as I wanted and I'm glad that people like you (seriously) jumped in to reanimate the thread.

____

Edit: Wait a minute, you also bought one of my offers! Does that mean it was crappy?!?

Edited May 4, 2009 by Bob Harris

[groundhog7s]

I just said mostly they were things I didn't need. That way, whoever had offers I accepted can think they weren't part of that.

And as to being selfish, I'm just as selfish in participating. If you keep the thread moving, maybe something you really want will pop-up. Of course, that happened a few times and I wasn't the first person to like what was offered.

[karamazov80]

I think Groundhog notes something important--you can't rely on altruism if a system like this is to function. If a new system were to be set up (and I'm not saying that I think it should), there should be incentives to adding good stuff, and disincentives to not adding good stuff (I have no idea what these should be).

Because what GH writes is true: there may be a little goodwill involved, but for the most part, you are participating because you hope to "enjoy" whatever you take more than what you give. I guess that it is selfish to some extent, but I like to consider it "rational"

I think that, if anything, Groundhog was the most altruistic, because he did come in to "rescue" the thread several times when things were offered that no one wanted. But then you have to ask yourself--if you have to keep doing such a thing, was the thread really worth "saving" at all?

Edited May 4, 2009 by karamazov80

[groundhog7s]

But then you have to ask yourself--if you have to keep doing such a thing, was the thread really worth "saving" at all?

Let me just say there was a reason I stopped offering things up after a while.

[hellpop]

I'm not sure that it's fair to say that people are sick of those mates; I suspect that some of them just happen to be extras acquired while buying a pack a second time to customize. For example, I have an extra Star Sapphire because I bought a second pack to make a Hal Jordan, and to have an extra GL body (which turned out to be Abin Sur). But a 'mate like Star Sapphire is almost useless for customizing-- although I just realized last week that she and the SA Brainiac are wearing essentially the same costume.

That said, here are the things I'm sick of in particular:

1. Battle damaged Minimates: I just don't like 'em, and they are almost useless for customizing parts. The DC ones bug me especially, since those spots could have gone to deserving characters (like Two-Face!) that didn't get made.

2. BSG Minimates: I have probably broken apart more BSG 'mates for customs then anything else. It's funny, because I think they are pretty nice overall, but many of the faces were so far off the actors' likenesses that I have no problem subbing their heads. Unfortunately, the rest of the bodies are almost useless (for the military ones at least), leaving me with lots of headless uniforms.

[Dio]

You can actually adjust the ECCC mates MIB to see if it has a logo or not.