Tuesday, 3 April 2007

A Blast From The Past!

Okay, here's a surprise review for the old C3 Minimates. We have Catwoman! And John Stewart!

Now, on with the review!

Catwoman
Catwoman is packed in with the Batglider, and the Purple-y Batman. The packaging is just a standard cardboard box, but it keeps everything together very well. The figure itself is very good. The joints are very good and tight, which is a plus point. Her helmet is wonderful, too! She has tinted goggles, which work well, too. Underneath the mask, she looks just like Angelina Jolie, which is a plus point. The detail work is not as great as the Minimates of today, but that doesn't matter, because she still looks great. Her accesories are alright, with a whip, and a bag of treasure, which doesn't really fit in her hand, even with the handle pulled up.
Rating: 9/10 - The character herself and the helmet bring this minimate to a new level.

John Stewart
Green Lantern is packed in a small plastic bag, with a label at the top with the Art Asylum logo on. The figure is wonderful. The expression is stern not unlike him on the animated show, and the joints are nice and tight. The only thing that seperates him from the other Minimates is the fact that he hasn't got a lot of detailing. That doesn't bother me. The green ring painted on is good, unlike Hals, which just rubbed off when I was handling the figure. Accessories-wise, he's short. In fact, he has none, but I can't think of anything he could have, sans a green casing like the one they did for the JL animated figure.
Rating: 8/10 - A must-have for a Lantern fan, which marks the beginning of the DC Minimates.

Friday, 30 March 2007

Minimates Wave 2 Part 2!!!

Here comes the second part of my review! Brainiac 13, Robin, Booster Gold and Power Girl all get the treatment this time!

Power Girl wasn't one of my favourites, but she has eventually started to grow on me. Her costume and paint is well done, but the most interesting feature to this minimate is her breasts. Instead of the usual block chest, they've pulled a rubbery slipper over her chest, to make it bigger. It adds to the minimate, without taking away from the blocky design.
Rating: 9/10 - The chest add-on elevates this character to a new level.

Booster Gold has let me down a bit. I bought him thinking he'd be one of my favourites, but he isn't that great without Beetle. His collar is reminiscent of old times, and if you remove it, you've got his modern day costume, or so I've heard. It's the same collar as Star Sapphire from Wave 1. The paint apps are good, but the highlight is Skeets. He's attached to Boosters belt by a line of wavy plastic, made to resemble air. It's his best feature, but be careful incase it falls loose. He uses a helmet like Blue Beetle.
Rating: 7/10 - Nothing special to see here.


Robin is also growing on me. I like his hair, especially the spitcurls. His costume supports the Batman and Robin love conspiracy, which I'm not a fan of. Then again, this has really always been Dick's costume as Robin. There's nothing you can change to make it the same Robin. Paint apps are as good as usual, and his only accessory is a Birdarang. His pixie boots make him taller, and I recommend swapping them round for Hal Jordan's shoes, to bring him back to normal height.
Rating: 8/10 - Nice to look at.

Brainiac 13 has his advantages and disadvantages. Let's start with the latter. The tentacles are horrific. They took me ages to clip on and keep in place, and by then my fingers were red and had dents in where I had been pressing them into place. The advantages are his larger body type, and the gold armor. He does tower above the rest, which is cool. However, his tentacles are horrid to keep in, and I really don't recommend lying him down in a box or something, because the tentacles on mine fell off.
Rating: 7/10 - If you don't know the character, leave the tentacles off. For the completists, take your time, and don't apply too much pressure.

Next time, I'll post pictures of Wave 2, and write up the review for Exclusive John Stewart Green Lantern.

Minimates Wave 2 Part 1!!!

This is the first part of my review of DC Minimates Wave 2. I'll write about Battle-Damaged Superman, The Penguin, Blue Beetle, and Dr Fate. In the next part, I'll write about the other four in the wave.

Superman's chest block, arms and legs are essentially repaints. They've changed the colour of the 'S' logo to a red and black, and added tears in his in his costume, hence the name: Battle Damaged. There's scuff marks painted on the cape too, but that cool 'S' on the back remains intact. He sports the same hairpiece as before, and his rock of kryptonite has been given a red repaint. This figure differs from the previous one because of the face sculpt. Here we get angry Superman, with red eyes ready to shoot a heat beam, and a scowling mouth. This face can easily be swapped onto the first Supes to add more expression. Another point worth noting is although my first Superman has a weak belt which would undo itself when the legs were moved, this Superman seems to be cured of that, and the belt can be swapped around as it bears no painted damage.
Rating: 8/10 - A pretty smart repaint.

The second figure is Penguin. He looks anything but classical. His coat is stolen from Kingpin. with only the handkerchief thingy repainted. He wears a pure white outfit, and it would resemble Penguin more if he had the purple pinstripe trousers, and the black coat. His hat adds height, whereas his slippers makes him smaller than anyone else. That's right, instead of the normal feet, Penguin's are shortened considerably. His only accesory is his umbrella, which completes him.
Rating: 6/10 - His suit doesn't do him justice.

The third figure is Blue Beetle, and what a 'mate he is. His lines are painted perfectly, and he comes with a little yellow gun, which perfectly fits into a holster on the side of his belt. Unlike Batman, his helmet isn't a 'lid' as I call it, as it doesn't cover up the entire head block. Underneath is an expression exactly like Bruce Wayne's, although he has no hair, so it's best to keep his helmet on his head.
Rating: 9/10 - Truly a great figure for your DC 'mates, you should definitely pick this one up before any of the others.

The final figure in this review is Dr Fate. I wasn't particularly looking forward to him, and he isn't anything special. Not unlike Batman, he wears a 'lid' and not a 'helmet'. His paint apps are strong, although the part between the torso and legs is a slightly darker colour, but it's nothing to lose sleep over. His lid fits over his head good, with two spaces on it with sculpted ears to show flaps at the side. He has a short 'mohican' atop his helmet. He comes with a hairpiece, so he resembles the Hector Hall Dr Fate.
Rating: 7/10 - Nothing truly special about this figure, but he helps Power Girl in the lineup of the JSA.

So that's Part1 of my review of Wave 2.

Next time I will review the almighty Brainiac 13, Classic Robin, Booster Gold and the big chested Power Girl. Sometime after that, I will write a late review for the exclusive John Stewart Minimate, from last year (or was it the year before)?

Saturday, 24 March 2007

Pictures of Wave 1

bruce wayne, omac, and harleen quinzel
SUPERMAN, JOKER, BATMAN AND HAL JORDAN

OMAC, STAR SAPPHIRE, HARLEY QUINN, AND LEX LUTHOR





Wave 2 - Overview

Wave 2 of the amazing DC Minimates have arrived, and here's an overview. In this series, we are treated to the Robin-Penguin two-pack, Booster Gold-Blue Beetle, Power Girl-Dr Fate, and Brainiac 13-Battle Damaged Superman.

Robin is Batman's teenage sidekick, a.k.a Dick Grayson. He left Batman to become a lone hero, and adopted the name Nightwing. This version of the minimate is a depiction of some of his earlier adventures. Penguin is an old adversary of Batman and Robin, who has an arsenal of trick umbrellas at his disposal.

Booster Gold is an ex-football player from the future, who goes back in time to become a superhero. Blue Beetle is his best friend, who excels in hand-to-hand combat, and a genius.

Power Girl is Superman's Earth-2 cousin, who is well endowed. She has essentially the same powers as Superman. Dr Fate can manipulate the magic of Chaos and Order.

Finally, Brainiac 13 is Brainiac's upgraded future self from the 64th century. He arrived in present-day Metropolis, and almost turned it into its future self. However, he gave it back to Luthor in exchange for Brainiac 2.5

That's the overview. I hope to have a proper review sometime next week with pictures from wave 1 and wave 2.

Saturday, 17 March 2007

Series 6???

Over at Toynewsi, they've released pictures for a possible wave 6.

Included are:
Wonder Woman (battle damaged)
Cheetah

Bizarro
Supergirl

Stargirl
S.T.R.I.P.E

Sergeant Rock
Captain (?) Blackhawk.

My favourite has to be S.T.R.I.P.E - he's a mecha for gawds sake! He also joins Green Arrow for the Seven Soldiers of Victory!

My least favourites will be the army two pack. I've never seen Blackhawk outside of JLU, but the completist in me says I will buy them. Plus, they'd make good hostages.

Supergirl will be the perfect companion for Superman, and Bizarro adds to his Rogue Gallery.

Wonder Woman looks sore (pun intended), I don't see the point in battle-damaged versions... but I'll buy her for the Cheetah.

Did I mention Stargirl? She has a golden staff....

Thursday, 1 March 2007

Minimates Review Part 2!!!

Okay, so here's the second part of the review. Lex Luthor, Batman, Joker and Hal Jordan get the star treatment this time round.

Let's start off with Lex Luthor. This figure is exceptional. He wears his green battle armour, a slight variation of the one he wears in Justice League/Unlimited. He wears a green plastic armour over his torso, and his arms have striped, representing the grooves in the armour. His muscle are present on his legs, and he has small purple gloves, with little details sculpted on. He has funky purple space-boots, which make him so much cooler. He still retains his articulation, but his plastic armour stops his head from moving more than 45 degrees, but if you work it, it will loosen up soon enough.
Rating: 9/10.

Joker is next subject. Obviously, he's packaged in with his companion Harley Quinn. He has his trademark purple coat, and chalky white skin. His grin is coloured bright red as it should be. He wears a pinstripe suit, which is painted to perfection. He comes with his traditional Bang! gun, but it makes him topple over and lose balance. His cane is also equipped, with a small jester on top. His long trenchcoat causes some of his articulation to not work - especially in the legs. However, he is a great arch-nemesis for Batman to fight until next month.
Rating: 7/10.

Batman may be my favourite figure in this series. He has an exceptional cape, which surprisingly doesn't alter articulation. He has cool blue gloves, with sculpted spikes on the sides. He has a wicked brown belt, which has little brown pockets sculpted on. His paint (or decals), are perfect, though I'd be careful of scratching some of the decal off. His cowl is removable like Harley's, and underneath is a smirking Bruce Wayne. He comes with removable hair, which completes his alter-ego. This figure might just top OMAC.
Rating: 9/10.

Hal Jordan is also one of my favourites. He can bust a move or two! He has a perfect angry expression on his face - but his hair is a simple repaint of the Superman hair-piece. They bear too much of a resemblance next to each other, but this is quickly changed by his costume. The greens and black do not run into each other, and his torso sticks well to his legs. He has cute little white gloves, with a painted on power ring. He has muscle definition which stands out well against the green, and you just want to make him dance! Believe me, he can get into some pretty nifty poses!
Rating: 9/10.

Hope you learnt from my reviews. I'll try to post pictures up at the weekend, when I can get some sunlight.