There wasn’t much chance to discuss my little Mini-friends during the Halloween Party, but I have picked up a few more over the last month or so that I thought I’d review for you guys. It’s a few months late, but we got a line of Mini-Mates based on the awesome Iron Man movie. (Intriguingly, we also got some toys based on The Incredible Hulk. The toys came out before the Iron Mantoys, but the movie came out later. How’d that happen?)
Anyway, let’s take a look at some of these toys:
Pepper Potts and Iron Man Mark III
First up, we have Gwynneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and the Iron Man Mark III two-pack. With Mini-Mates, it’s not really an issue to try to make the toy look like the actor it’s based on. Which bodes well for the upcoming Mini-Mates based on The Spirit.
Tony Stark and the Iron Monger
Also available, the two-pack featuring Iron Man’s alter-ego Tony Stark, and his arch-nemesis, the Iron Monger. Now if these things were built to scale, of course, Iron Monger should be much bigger. But what the hey?
One of the cool things about Mini-Mates is how often they come with alternate heads or body parts that allow you to customize the various versions of the character. Here are a few examples from the Iron Man Mini-Mates:
Unmasked Iron Man and Iron Monger
Both of these toys come with “human” heads under the iron ones. Iron Monger is fine, but Iron Man is a tad disappointing. It looksgreat, but in terms of functionality, it’s not that hot. The faceplate of the mask detaches, which is cool, but it comes off WAY too easy. I dropped it while I was setting up this shot and nearly lost it in the couch cushion nether region along with years of forgotten Cheetos and $8.27 in change. He also comes with alternate legs — I guess these are supposed to be prototype legs, but they don’t even fit. The hip sockets are too big. “A” for visuals, “C” for playability.
I also got the four-pack of Iron Man and three of his teammates in the original Avengers!
The Hulk, Ant-Man, the Wasp and Golden Iron Man
Here are four of the five original Avengers, all of whom I am now noticing are leaning slightly to the right in this photograph. I have no idea how that happened. Let’s just pretend this picture was taken on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise just after it got hit by a photon torpedo. Anyway, the Hulk, Ant-Man, the Wasp and Iron Man in his second suit of armor — the one with the gold paint and the skirt — first came together in Avengers #1, along with the mighty Thor, who no doubt is sitting around pouting somewhere because they only make Mini-Mate sets in four-character units and someone decided to ditch him. Like the Iron Man toys, several of these came in alternate versions.
The Wasp and Giant-Man
Not long after they joined the Avengers, Ant-Man figured out how to make himself grow instead of just shrink, so he ditched his helmet for a mask and took on the name “Giant Man.” His wife, the Wasp, made a small modification to her costume as well. I’m just noticing here that the Ant-Man and Wasp Mini-Mate figures are actually life-size, while Giant Man is on a much smaller scale.
Tony Stark, Janet Van Dyne & Hank Pym
And finally, three of the figures came equipped with hair to add to create their civilian identities: Tony Stark (who also came with a golden battering ram for no apparent reason), Janet Van Dyne, and Hank Pym. I’ve always had a soft spot for the original Avengers, and I’m thinking of picking up the original Invaders set they’ve put out just to go along with these so I can have an early Captain America too. Now is there a Mini-Thor available anywhere?
NaNoWriMo Update:
The story is coming along swimmingly, friends. I’m only 500 words short of today’s goal, and I’ve got no doubt I can make that in the next hour or so. Don’t forget, yesterday’s post will give you a running count of where I stand on NaNoWriMo for the whole month!
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