by Taylor Smart
Hello mini figure fanatics, I hope you are having a happy holiday season! In celebration of Guardians of the Galaxy recently being released on DVD I had to pull out my set of series 57 Minimates. This series features nine figures all based off characters from the movie. Diamond Select Toys had what I think was an almost flawless distribution for this wave including one pack exclusive to Toys R Us, two pack exclusive to comic shops and specialty stores, and the remaining two packs being shared between all retailers.
In my opinion this is the second best Marvel movie to date, and DST really delivered on this wave. The character choices and pack distributions were fantastic. The only way this wave could have been any better was if they included more characters; I would have loved to see Thanos, The Collector, Korath, Nova Corp Dey, and even Nova Prime. Even without these characters being represented the wave still feels complete, they hit all the characters they needed to and still were able to get a couple of army builders in the series. If you aren’t familiar with Minimates the main way they are packed is in two packs, which are used for this whole series, but they also release box sets of four characters and army dumps of individual characters. Each character also comes with a plastic stand, which can come in handy. Lets jump into the packs!
THE MEAT
First up is Star-Lord and Ronan, available at all retailers. These were two great characters to pack together, as the main goodie and baddie of the movie it creates a good balance. Being available at all retailers was also very smart because these two characters are at the core of the conflict in the movie. The figures themselves are phenomenal. Ronan is a great representation and comes with his hammer, his hood is great but unfortunately limits his head movement. Star-Lord looks great and is wearing his signature red trench coat, even though he wears it only briefly in the movie. As you can see in the picture this is an easy fix, I used some scissors to cut the bottom of the trench coat off and turn it into the jacket he wears for most of the movie. He comes with his two guns and walkman, while the walkman is a great accessory the headphones don’t fit on his head which is a shame.
The second pack that was available to all retailers features Drax and Groot with Rocket Raccoon. Again a stellar call on DST’s part to make this available to all retailers, everybody wants Groot and Rocket so it was very important to have this pack be as accessible as possible. The Minimate community seemed to be very polarized on Rocket, he was labeled as an accessory and is not articulated. Made to stand on Groot's head or shoulder you can’t even take his gun out of his hand. Some people liked this as it represents the scale nicely, others wanted a full-sized Rocket Minimate. Personally I am ok with his size, though I do wish he was articulated. I have seen some great customs with people inserting pins and giving him articulation, I only have one Rocket and am not brave enough to attempt it. Drax is solid, with a bulked up chest to represent his size, he comes with two knives just like used in the movie. His dark forest green skin and red tattoos match the movie color quite well.
The third pack in the series was exclusive to comic chops and specialty stores, featuring Gamora and a Nova Corps Centurion. Gamora looks great and captures a lot of the color from the movie with the pink highlights in her hair. She comes with her sword notably used to hack at Groot in her attempted capture of Star-Lord. Much like Ronan her hair hanging down prevents a lot of head movement. The Nova Corps Centruion is well done but fairly unremarkable. The gun it comes with is awesome and pulls nicely from the movie, he makes a great army builder.
Fourth in the series and second exclusive to comic shops and specialty stores is Nebula who comes packed with a Sakaar Trooper. Nebula doesn’t come with any accessories which is a big disappointment, her two sliver baton/swords would have been great additions. Her paint apps are very good, capturing her robotic parts well. The Sakaar Trooper comes with a gun and much like the Nova Centurion is well done, but unremarkable. Another army builder but this time on the bad side, great generic figure for all of your good guys to kick around.
The final pack to this series, exclusive to Toys’ R Us, is Yondu and another Sakaar Trooper. Yondu doesn’t come with any accessories, granted I think it would have been difficult to pull off his little needle of death that he whistles to control. His head piece is awesome and really does a lot to connect him to the movie. He is also wearing a trench coat that is much better than Star-Lord's because it is open, underneath he has full details on his shirt and pants which also work great on Star-Lord to make him look like he is a Ravager.
Overall this wave is probably the best movie wave of Minimates to date, and following The Winter Soldier that was no easy feat. I was already a fan of the movie ‘mates before these two waves but I think with these two releases DST is instilling a lot of faith in movie themed Minimates.
NEWS
Mark from Fantastic Plastic Toys, creator of Mystical Warriors of the Ring has received the second test shot of Glyos compatible Goliath, check out his pictures on Instagram @isumark. Keep an eye out, we should be able to purchase this guy in about a month!