Gallery Update & Two P1 Demitri's

Hello Readers,
I've been immersed in the world of Minimates for a couple of weeks now as most of you are aware, my projects seem to be coming along quite nicely, i'm faced with the same dilemma as everyone in collecting ''Always wanting more than your wallet can afford'' As a result some of the projects are pending payments and it will only be a matter of time before they resume.

The Batcave is one of these projects, I've gone as far as I possibly could do with this and it's pending several bricklink orders to finish off the 3rd floor study, I'm pleased to update you all though and let you know the Elevator is successfully installed into the Batcave.

Those of you who read my posts on the Minimate Multiverse will also be aware that in January I began a poll for my next Building Project, and by a substantial 10 votes margin people voted that the Baxter Building will be my next project, the home of the Fantastic 4! ~ Thanks to everyone who voted and took part and gave their thoughts and opinions, it's great that so many of you showed an interest in my project.

I've started preliminary designs on this already again using LDD (Lego Digital Designer), the ground floor lobby area and dummy floors have already been worked out. If you would like to read more on this visit the Minimate Multiverse thread here:
The Baxter Building

I've also been continuing the recruitement process into my Minimate roster at an alarming rate, in the last 2-3 weeks alone i've bought or pre-ordered more than 40 minimates, adding to the 60 or so I have, the process means everytime a new order comes in, a short bio is copied and a gallery shot added, if you'd like to see my Gallery you can view it here:
Minimates Gallery

Finally, as I said i've had some orders come in, one of them a lot of 7 loose Street Fighter Minimates. I bid and won the lot, intentionally because I wanted the P1 Morrigan, Evil Ryu, Lilith & Akuma. I knew i'd have doubles of Demitri, both in P1 & P2 but I was cool with this. When the lot arrived I was really pleased with them, However I instantly noticed a substantial colour difference with the P1 Demitri I'd just received and the one I got earlier on in December.

I did discuss this on Minimate Multiverse and it appears the one I got in the lot recently was released in a TRU 4 pack, it would also appear the manufacturer decided to change the paint and colour process.

The two photographs show the P1 Demitri's. The one on the left is the later TRU 4 pack release with the one on the right being the original release. Noteable changes are:
The colour of his hair is Lighter Brown than the original.
The colour of his flesh is peachy as opposed to the original which is pale.
The colour of the inside of his cape and boots is cherry red as opposed to a more orangey red in the original.
The colour of his actual outfit is also a different shade of blue.

Finally, and this is the standout difference is that the head/face design appears to be printed in two different colours? His eyes and brows are blue whilst his facial features like the face lines and mouth are black.

At this stage it hasn't been determined why the paint and colour choices were altered, however taking into consideration Demitri is supposed to be a vampire and the fact the early release was much paler it suits his character to be that shade/colour, then why change it?

I am not really sure why, either way I personally think this is quite cool, i am unsure yet whether all TRU 4packs have a substantial colour difference, it would be quite a strange yet funny outcome if Demitri was the only single Minimate in the Street Fighter series to undergo this change.

Hope you enjoyed the update, as always feedback or comments are welcomed. You can also reach me on the Minimate Multiverse my member name is Urban_Saboteur or alternatively over at flickr.com my screen name is Superiorraw.

Rich

Marvel vs Capcom 3 Fate of Two Worlds Minimate Series 1 Review

First of all let me start by mentioning that I am ultra pleased DST have released this line, mostly because I think it is the best way forward for fans like myself to get their hands on fighting game characters in Minimate form, having learned the SFII Vs Darkstalkers was cancelled this is a good opportunity to increase the roster of Minimates that i have for Street Fighter. It is also great that we'll get other videogame characters from this series.


The eight characters available in Series 1 are:
Arthur, Dante, Deadpool, Dormammu, Iron Man, Morrigan, Phoenix & Trish.

The two packs are packaged very well, presented brilliantly and on the reverse of each pack is a short box biography about who it is that is inside. Ideal really if like me you've bought them as a fan of Marvel and Videogames but as yet to of played the actual MvsC3 game itself. I wont lie, my knowledge of the other characters is very limited, so with the help of wiki and the small biography my review hopefully will be fair but have some information for those wondering about buying them.

Iron Man & Arthur

Iron Man - Captured by a terrorist group in a war-torn region, billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, created a battle suit to help him escape. Afterwards, he improved the battle sit to become Iron Man, and has dedicated himself to protecting the peace since.

Arthur - A legendary knight who jumped into the demon world to save his princess, Arthur is best known for his dauntless courage in the face of terrifying monsters and life threatening traps. Though he looks likd an Old Man, he's really only 28 years old.

Both figures are of good quality and well painted, they come with detachable accessories, Iron Man has replacement 'flying' hand gauntlets , assuming for the repulsor blast pose or when he's flying, what is really disappointing though with Iron Man, is that his shoulder pad armor prevents you from putting his arms straight and above chest height, so his arms have to stay lowered down, its not really suitable if you're looking to pose him firing repulsor beams with a straight arm, the design in the armor at shoulders restricts his arm movement and considering there have been previous releases of this character i'd of thought whoever made this design might of taken Iron Man's poses into consideration, maybe the shoulder pieces could be clip on or made of softer plastic to allow this movement in future releases. Iron Man also comes with a Proton Cannon which I believe is something he uses in the videogame.

Arthur is great, as far as i know he's every bit the legendary knight it speaks about in his profile, he comes with a shield and axe as well as a knights Lance. Even though he's in knights armor he can pull off a variety of cool poses. What was discussed in the forums recently was that the clip to the shield should of been seperate, so that it allowed a rotation when attached to the wrist/hand, this is a small feature that again would of benefitted the figure in fight poses, it is also a feature that is on bigger Marvel Legends such as Taskmaster or Captain America, where the clip itself is seperate from the shield.

Phoenix & Morrigan


Phoenix - While returning from space, the mutant Jean Grey was exposed to lethal levels of Solar radiation. Her life was saved by the cosmic entity know as the Phoenix Force, but its power threatened to consume her, pushing her to commit evil deeds as the Dark Phoenix.


Morrigan - Morrigan is a succubus, a demonic winged creature able to seduce men, Although she is the head of the Aensland House, one of the three major houses of the demon world, she often abandons her dull duties to go looking for excitement.

These two are really nicely done, both of them accurately represent their characters laid out in their biographies. Like Iron Man and Arthur they are well painted and of good quality, Phoenix comes with a Phoenix Force base, with a small peg that allows you to pose her accurately. Morrigan aside from the wings attached to her back is essentially a repaint, the wings have changed slightly and her colour outfit altered, if you already have the P1 Morrigan there hasn't been much of an update to her.

Because both of these characters have been released earlier on, unless you're a big fan of the Marvel/Darkstalkers line you might want to pass on them, I didn't because having just got back into Minimates and knowing this Morrigan is an alternative to the P1 & P2 offered in the early releases of the previous line. Neither of these minimates have restrictions on posing like Iron Man does.

Dante & Deadpool


Dante - Half-Man and half-demon, Dante was born from the legendary devil knight Sparda and his human wife Eva. When he was still young, his mother was killed in a demon attack. To hunt down those responsible he became a Devil Hunter and opened the shop 'Devil May Cry'


Deadpool - To cure his terminal lung cancer, mercenary Wade Wilson attempted to obtain mutant powers artificially. However, the side effects of the procedure disfigured him and also caused psychological damage, resulting in unpredictable behaviour and nonsensical monologues.

Having looked at all 8 figures, i can say these two are my favourites from this series. Deadpool can be placed in a variety of different poses without restriction and upon opening the pack they come with a slew of weapons. Deadpool has two katana swords and pistols, Dante with a rebellion sword and two pistols. Deadpool is in his trademark red and black attire which most Marvel fans will be used to seeing him in and Dante in a long red trench coat.
This outing for Dante is his first release, and i have to say i'm impressed, whilst i've not played the videogame its a great introduction to his character, Marvel fans will be pleased with Deadpool, if you're not looking to shell out on an earlier release this version would definately quench your thirst for the mouthy mercenary!

Dormammu & Trish


Dormammu - Master of the Dark Dimension, the Dread Dormammu has crossed over to the real world in hopes of conquering it. Among his many abilities are matter transmutation, interdimensional teleportation, size and shape alteration, element control and telepathy.


Trish - Originally created by a demon in order to lure Dante into a trap. Trish worked side by side with him and fell victim to his charms, ultimately betraying the demon world. Now she works together with Dante as his business partner and wields lightning based powers.

These two characters are first releases, the first thing I will say and you can probably notice from the Photos i've provided is that the shoulder based armor on Dormammu is the same design, size and same material as the one with Iron Man, so if you're looking to pose him with his arms above his head (as in to spell cast or something) ~ forget it.
It's a shame because like Iron Man, some of Dormammu's abilities and thinking ahead to how he might be posed, the same problems and solutions for this figure are the same as Iron Mans. It doesn't detract at all from how he looks and how he's painted, because he looks great, but its something DST could do well to think about in future releases of minimates, particularly where posing and armor come into conflict. What I do love about this particular figure is the long coat is made of softer plastic, so it doesn't restrict leg movement despite being long. Dormammu comes with two flame fireballs to place on his hands.

Trish comes with a small hand pistol and Sparda sword, she is dressed and equipped for Demon Hunting, the sword has a small peg which attaches to the back of her head, a small cutout in her hair allows the sword to be pushed in so when viewed face on from the front it looks like she's got it strapped to her back, the only criticism here is that if she's got the sword in her hand, and the camera shot is taken from behind you'll see the hole in her hair/head. However because Trish has long hair, i'm not entirely sure what the alternative solution would be, in previous Minimate releases where this has been a feature, they've usually clipped it onto the back, (think hawkeye or deathstroke) this isn't an option for Trish because of her Long hair, whoever designed the figure clearly wanted this to be a feature for her and viewed from the front she looks great.

Summary
Despite one or two design niggles with Iron Man and Dormammu in this series, as a group, they really come through for me, theres an equal balance of Marvel and Capcom goodness and the characters and accessories allow you to bulk up your Minimate roster on both sides, in some cases it is a new beginning especially with the Capcom side, I personally hope this line does very well, because as I outlined from the beginning it has to do well so that further videogame characters can be made. I'm not in a position here to offer up any random scores out of 5 or out of 10 but if you are just in the process of debating whether to start collecting minimates you wont go far wrong in starting with this set, theres variety in the sense you have a mercenary, a legendary knight, two demon hunters, two classic marvel heroes with one destined to help world peace and the other almost consumed by a cosmic force, a demon succubus and a Master of the Dark Dimension, just putting those out there wets your appetite for story creativity without even playing the MvC videogame.

I bought my Series 1 from Big Bad Toy Store, my wait on shipping was due to it being an International Delivery. I'd recommend their website for purchase of this series as everything is correctly marked out for you and its a very efficient reliable site.
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=DMC11597&mode=retail

I hope you liked the pictures and review, I am hoping to do a follow up with Series 2 of this Line by DST.

Rich (Superiorraw)