My wife is currently in lovely Seattle, selling at PAX (Prime), and rubbing elbows with a ton of amazing video game developers and playing games that are still months away from being released. Several of my friends won’t stop tweeting how awesome of a time they are having at Dragon*Con down in Atlanta. MEANWHILE, I’m in Brooklyn, typing up a yet another 500 word article about Marvel toys. I wonder where I went wrong in life. Ah well, I will be at Baltimore Comic Con next weekend, so I got that going for me. IMMA GONNA MEET FRANK QUITELY!
My whining aside, let us start this article off by taking a look at a set of awesome new Mini-Mates previously only available at San Diego Comic Con earlier this summer. I’ve spoken highly of the line in the past, as their Marvel vs Capcom 3 series really took the line to the next level. This set, based on Uncanny X-Men’s Extinction Team (available monthly from Marvel, and written by the very awesome Kieron Gillien), gives us 4 Minimates, 1 whom of which have never received the Mini-treatment. There’s Cyclops and the White Queen Emma Frost, both sporting their modern costumes, Collossus, now rocking his Juggernaut powers, and like I just mentioned above, the supposed mutant messiah Hope Summers. I’m a big fan of packaging, which makes these figures the 1st toys to tie into Marvel’s massive AvX (Avengers vs. X-men) summer event.
What really made me impressed with this particular set is what it offers in terms of customization on such a small scale. Emma doesn’t really offer much, but it’s a cool figure on it’s own, so I’ll let it slide. Collossus’ helmet is removable, which doesn’t sound all that impressive, but hey, he’s usually not wearing it all the time in the comics, so that counts for something. Cyclops is the set’s MVP, as you can remove his standard visor/hood to reveal a face with ruby-quartz sunglasses painted on them, and the hood can be replaced with sculpted snap-on hair. He also comes with a variant snap-on visor/hood that has a “optic blast” attached to it, which is very cool. Hope is no slouch either, as she comes with 2 guns, one that can snap onto her body, a removable tattered cloak, Cyclops’ stolen jet back, and a little stream of propulsion that doubles for a stand. My only beef with the jetpack is that Hope has to be wearing the cloak in order to wear the jet pack, and that it only works on her, and not Cyke. Call me a bias fanboy, but it’s HIS jetpack, you think it would fit on him as well. No biggie, considering the set only runs about $20, it’s well worth the money, and definitely a good addition to anyone’s collection, Minimate fans or not.
Let me end the article by pointing out that the new line of Marvel Universe figures are now available, and man, it’s a killer roster. There’s the Beast in his Astonishing X-men get up (arguably the best figure in the wave), Beta Ray Bill, the Incredible Hulk (classic first appearance and the John Romita era Hulk that Ed McGuiness drew inspiration from), classic Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider, Kraven the Hunter, and Ultimate Spider-Man, available in both Peter Park and Miles Morales flavors. We’ll take a close look at these figures next time!
