by Taylor Smart
Hello! My name is Taylor and I will be your host for Mini Madness, a weekly series focusing on mini figures. You have probably already seen some of the more popular mini figures such as: Mystery Minis by Funko, Minimates from Diamond Select Toys, Lego mini figures, Dunny/Labbit by Kidrobot. My hope is to broaden your view of minis by also talking about brands you may not have heard of: OMFG/OTMG from October Toys, Mystical Warriors of the Ring by Fantastic Plastic Toys, Glyos at Onell Design, and Mutant Mania from Moose Enterprise.
The above lines of mini figures contain a plethora of characters and licenses so I may be reviewing one figure at a time, the same character from different lines, or a whole series/wave in one go, you won’t know till you tune in!
THE MEAT
I don’t know of a set definition for mini figure, it means different things to different people. My definition, more of a guideline really, for a mini figure would be a figure that is shorter than an average 3.75 inch scale figure. What I believe to be a key difference in mini figures and “regular” action figures is that mini figures don’t require articulation. In my opinion full sized action figures do need articulation to convey the “action” of action figure.
MiniScale
Now that we have a working definition of mini figure I hope that you will be able to identify mini figures more easily. This will hopefully lead to you noticing more of them in stores and on-line, which will cause you to notice that there are a lot of mini figures out there. The ones I listed above are just a drop in the bucket!
BinMinis
The beauty and danger of mini figures is… they’re mini! Now this may sound pretty redundant, but stay with me. Being mini means that the figures take up less space which makes it easier to display a higher percentage of your collection. Let’s be honest, this is a problem that most collectors face.
Because mini figures are small they cost less to produce, which means they cost less to buy. This can create a situation where you are given the opportunity to buy one six inch scale figure or anywhere between 3 and 10 mini figures. I know that I am opening myself up to the argument of quality vs. quantity here, but I would argue that mini figures can easily have the same quality as full sized figures.
Another side effect of lower production costs is that companies have more funds so they can create more characters (take a look at Minimates, they have an enormous selection of characters across a bunch of licenses). Or on the opposite side, lower production costs allow smaller toy companies to produce lines of figures (October Toys, MWotR, Glyos, etc.). Both of these things are good for collectors but not necessarily for completists. Larger selections in a line of characters inevitably leads to chase characters, which are more often than not intentionally created by the toy company to drive sales (1/144 rarity Jamie Lannister mystery mini). Or on the flip side, smaller toy companies lines of mini figures may not be as accessible as larger toy companies which creates exclusivity. This is especially true in designer vinyl where they more than likely have a very limited production run and can sell out at one or two conventions before non-attendees may get a chance on the artists on-line store.
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NEWS
Occasionally I will point out a new series or a Kickstarter that I am looking forward to; I hope that these will also be interesting for many of you. That being said, The Super Sucklord has Series 2 of S.U.C.K.L.E up on Kickstarter now. (ed. note: guys, you have to watch their fun/ny video)! These figures are reminiscent of M.U.S.C.L.E and Monster In My Pocket so if you like those you should give these a chance, I certainly will be!