Spider-Armor Spider-Man and Superior Foe Beetle – Marvel MiniMates Toys R Us Wave 25 (Toys R Us Exclusive)

We are continuing our look at Toys R Us Wave 25 of Marvel Minimates. This time around, we get Spider-Armor Spider-Man alongside the Superior Foe Beetle. We are heavy on the Spider-Man figures this time around, with one variation of Spider-Man in each of the 2-packs.

Looking at the tray, this 2-pack isn’t quite as heavy on accessories as the Spider-Sense Peter Parker and Chameleon pack. It looks like we will get some good variations though.

First up, Spider-Armor Spider-Man. This is actually the Mark IV version of Spider-Armor. The first was in 1993, and only lasted one issue. Then we had MK II in 2011, MK III in 2012. This MK IV armor lasted two years from 2015-2017, before being utterly destroyed. Thankfully Peter was wearing his “underoos” under that costume. It has a bit of a different look, with stylized webs, and green around the chest logo and eyes. Not much of a difference from a standard figure, so easy to see why they decided to go with the version.

His accessory is Peter Parker’s head. This is more of a smiling version of Peter than the head that came with Spider-Sense Peter Parker, but they are interchangeable, so you can vary his look pretty easily.

Janice Lincoln, known as Beetle, is the daughter of Tombstone. Her outfit is a great iridescent green and purple. Hasbro did a great version of her in the Marvel Legends line, and she looks great again. She comes with a flight stand, though she is REALLY back heavy, so I had to put her on the stand backwards.

Her wings are fantastic. They are really large and are fully posable. The attachment points are on a backpack that fits over the waist post, and her neck. Those wings are safely in place.

Along with the wings and flight stand, Beetle also comes with hair and a cell phone. Her face and hair are pretty simple. I would not expect a lot more than that. Her cell phone fits nicely in her hand. She is probably taking a call from one of the other members of the Sinister-Six.

This is a fun wave for sure. Toys R Us got lucky to get their hands on this one. One more 2-pack to go. Stay tuned.

Spider-Sense Peter Parker and Chameleon – Marvel MiniMates Toys R Us Wave 25 (Toys R Us Exclusive)

Even though it appears Toys R Us is going down like a meteor, they are still getting some exclusives. This time around it the 25th wave and all are Toys R Us Exclusive.

First off the plastic insert. Ooh, there are a lot of extras in this set. Usually when we see exclusives, they are pretty sparse on extra parts. Not this time around. Bare arms and long hair for Chameleon. And on Peter’s side, there is hair, a full mask, a suit coat and arms to go with it. And… a third hand. Hmm, we will get to that in a bit. They both also have a clear stand, and there is a web line curled up behind Peter.

Standing side by side, this is an interesting pairing. Chameleon came about in the very first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man #1. But that is not what Spider-Man looked like back then. He didn’t have external web shooters that I know of. The closest I could find was the 1977 TV show that featured external web shooters and a belt. And then he has Spider-Boots on. This is a strange Spider-Man, but I like him. Let’s take a closer look at Spider-Man.

Spider-Man comes out of the box with half a mask on and his Spider-Sense going crazy. This is a great mask because you can have Peter dressed as Peter and still have his Spider-Sense tingling.

Thankfully we also get a full mask for Spider-Man. Nothing is worse than a single use MiniMate. One added accessory, and we are good to go for hours of play.

Now for the fun. Take off the arms, mask and Spider-Boots. Add a suit coat piece, new arms, black shoes, and his hair, and we get a super snazzy looking Peter Parker. He sure knew how to dress back in the day. The blue of his suit matches his other suit. *wink wink* Dress for the job you want. He certainly does dress nicer than a newspaper photographer.

And then there is that extra hand. Ah yes, on the top of the hand, there is a little spider painted on it. It is THE spider that gives Peter his powers. So no you can reenact Amazing Fantasy 15 when Peter first get bitten by the spider.

Chameleon looks great in his green bathrobe and purple ascot. This is a nice change from the recent Marvel Legends release that as a much newer update of the figure, wearing a dark suit. The head looks great in white with only the face painted on.

In the comics, the white face IS Chameleon’s face, and then he puts on someone else’s face over the top of his. That isn’t very logical for the purposes of MiniMates, so in this case you get to take off his face and there is a face underneath. Beautiful eyes, big lips, and dimples? Hmm, there is more to this figure than meets the eye.

Take off the arms, and bathrobe, and replace the arms with bare arms. Add some hair, and you have Peter Parker’s love interest, girl friend, wife, ex-wife, and anything in between, Mary Jane Watson. What a great surprise hiding under there.

Well, I love the Chameleon figure, and of course it is always fun to have a Mary Jane. Along with two great versions of Spider-Man/Peter Parker, so I grabbed a second 2-pack, so I can have all four figures. This is a very impressive start to this Toys R Us Exclusive set. I didn’t think there would be a lot of hope for the rest of the wave comparing to this one, but the other two sets came out really nice. Stay Tuned.

Black Panther – Marvel Minimates (Toys R Us and Walgreens Exclusives)

We are getting ever closer to the next Marvel movie – Black Panther. We know from the previews of Avengers: Infinity War, that the warriors of Wakanda play a pretty major role in battling the evil that comes our way. The figures are out for Marvel Legends, and Minimates. I was able to grab all 5 sets in one afternoon, stopping at Toys R Us and then Walgreens on my way home from work a few weeks back. There are only the five sets between the two stores. Comic stores only got the 4 pack this time around. Really good for those of us who do not have a comic store nearby that will stock the 2-packs. It is really hard to get that one last 2-pack that is an exclusive to the comic shops a lot of the time. Not this time around. For those keeping track the four figures in the box set are:
Black Panther
Powered Up Killmonger
M’Baku
Shuri
So, we have 2 of the figures, Black Panther and M’Baku in these 2-packs. But Shuri and Powered Up Killmonger may just be a pair that will require getting this set as well.

Here we go. We will start with the 2 sets that are at both stores, and then look at the exclusives.

 

First up is Black Panther and M’Baku.

The first pack better have the star of our movie in there. And it does. This is a new armor, or Habit for T’Challa. He comes with M’Baku, who in the comics, wanted to take over Wakanda. So, we will see what comes of this guy in the movie.

M’Baku comes with a long staff. It has a big knot at the end. I am sure he goes around knocking people over the head with it. Black Panther on the other hand, does not use any weapons, so his only accessory is T’Challa’s hair.

The paint apps on BP are really well done. The suit is a really dark grey, and then there are black and silver apps, plus white eyes added.

 

Killmonger and Ulysses Klaue:

Well, isn’t this a pair. This is a set of bad guys to be sure. Killmonger looks like he wants to be Black Panther. Erik Killmonger’s family was kicked out of Wakanda. Erik will come back to exact revenge on T’Challa. As for Klaue, we know him from Avengers: Age of Ultron. Last time we saw him, he was selling missiles to someone before Ultron showed up to make a deal with him for Vibranium. When Klaue started to mouth off, Ultron cut off his arm. It seemed to be an accident, as Ultron could not grasp the idea of how fragile the human body really is.

Since he had Vibranium (same stuff as Captain America’s shield), and the only place on earth to get it is in Wakanda, there was a strong tie of Klaue to Black Panther even before Black Panther showed up in Civil War. Since Klaue lost his arm, it looks as though he got an upgrade of sorts. His prosthetic arm separates into two parts to allow a weapon (sonic device) to be used. This is in connection to the comic Klaw who has a sonic weapon for a hand.

Killmonger comes with a hair piece. This is a great hair piece unlike anything I have seen in the Minimates lines before. Klaue comes with a second arm where the prosthetic is in the closed position with lines that show where it could open.

 

Dora Milaje Nakia and Okoye (TRU EXC):

The Dora Milaje are the bodyguards of the King of Wakanda, and potential wives of the ruler. Nakia comes with a pair of ring blades. She is a spy for Wakanda and travels the world. Okoye is the leader of the Dora Milaje. She come with a spear that is said to be nearly as sharp as her tongue.

So with that, we have 2 of the members of the Dora Milaje. We did not get Ayo, who talked to Black Widow in Civil War and said, “Move or you will be moved.” A tough lady for sure. Hopefully we will get some more Dora Milaje later on, maybe in a Infinity Wars pack or something.

 

Tactical Killmonger and Casino T’Challa (Walgreens EXC):

I don’t know what is going on with Killmonger’s outfit at this point, but I cannot wait to see what transpires to have a guy in tactical military clothes with a crazy looking mask, and two swords. Killmonger also comes with a hair piece. More on the face in a bit. In the meantime, T’Challa is looking sharp in a printed suit coat.

 

Everett Ross and Powered Up Black Panther (Walgreens EXC):

Everett Ross was introduced to us in Civil War, like Black Panther. Martin Freeman was quoted as saying about Ross, “you don’t know whether he’s good or bad, so you’re not quite sure which side he’s on. It looks a little bit like he’s playing one game when actually he’s playing another.” It will be interesting to see what role he plays in the movie. Maybe he is still hunting for Bucky, who happens to be sleeping in a cryotube in Wakanda. He comes with Powered Up Black Panther. We have a regular Black Panther, and now he gets Powered Up. He was a lot for Cap and Bucky to deal with when he didn’t have extra abilities. He is going to be a handful for the bad guys when he gets mad.

There are the three faces of T’Challa. I am really glad they didn’t just give us three of the same heads. The Black Panther head looks placid, while Powered Up looks mad. Casino T’Challa is somewhere in the middle.

And since we are looking at 3 T’Challas, we should look at the 2 Erik Killmonger heads. Unhappy and “What are you talking about.”

This is a great set of figures. There is a nice wide range. A couple of bodyguards to go along with all of the Panthers. A lot of bad guys to play with too. And I will reserve judgement of Ross for which side he is really on.

Marvel Minimates – Thor: Ragnarok – Walgreens and Toys R Us sets

With Thor: Ragnarok only a few weeks away, it is time to break into these MiniMates boxes and see what we have going on here.

Gladiator Thor and Hela:

Gladiator Thor and Hela are one of the two packs that are the same across the series. They come dressed for battle. Thor is wearing his gladiator outfit that we are very familiar with from the preview. The details in the outfit are fantastic. He comes with two blue/green swords that have replaced Mjölnir after it was destroyed by Hela.

Hela comes in her over-the-top headdress. It is so wide and fantastic looking. Hela also comes with a cape that is bit too long for her. It touches the ground before her feet, so she leans forward a bit. Good thing I was posing the figures in sand.

They both come with an additional accessory. Thor comes with his short hair, while Hela comes with an unmasked head and long hair.

Gladiator Hulk and Valkyrie:

Gladiator Hulk and Valkyrie are the other set that are the same amongst the retail sellers.

Hulk is nothing short of amazing in this small scale. He is HUGE! Well relatively huge anyway. He stands nearly a head taller than any of the other figures. He comes with lots of additional body parts to beef up his arms, legs and torso. There are great little additions here and there to make him larger overall using the same basic body as a standard Minimate and then going from there. He has his hammer and axe going into battle.  Valkyrie looks good. She comes with a sword that matches those of Thor in color. The design is unique. She also has a half cape similar to Thor, with a different color.

These two also have additional accessories. Hulk comes with hair, and Valkyrie comes with two small daggers. They are SO small. I am sure I am going to lose them soon.

It is not a surprise that these would be the four figures selected to be in all retail packs. You have to have the main two stars, Hulk and Thor, and you want a bad guy as well as someone else of interest. This is a good start.

 

Roadworn Hero Thor & Civilian Loki:

The Walgreens Exclusive side consists of 2 more 2-packs. The first is Roadworn Hero Thor and Civilian Loki. Thor looks to be in a toned down version of his Avengers outfit. We don’t know what he has been up to yet, but I am sure he is going home for a bit of a rest (you know because he is Roadworn Hero).

Loki is just a civilian at the moment. We know that won’t last long, but I like the all-black suit. It suits Loki very well. The only accessory in this set is Thor’s Mjölnir. We know what happens in the previews with the hammer…

Skurge & Grandmaster:

The other Walgreens Exclusive pair is Skurge and Grandmaster. We saw Grandmaster last at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. Now he plays a major role in this movie as he is the leader of Skaar, and the reason we get to see a battle between Thor and Hulk.

Grandmaster is played by Jeff Goldblum, who I really like as an actor. Along with him in this set is Skurge who is played by Karl Urban, who I think is a totally under-utilized actor today. Skurge looks a little on the fat side as opposed to being in armor.  Neither figure comes with an accessory.

These are interesting secondary characters that make for a richer collection. It is nice to get some figures that are not all the same.

All 4 Walgreens packs have the same back pictures and info.

Sakaar Loki & Heimdall:

The final set is the Toys R Us Exclusive. TRU only got three 2-packs for this series, and the first two showed up at Walgreens as well.

A fitting 2-pack. Heimdall had been cast out of Asgard by Loki who was posing as Odin. Heimdall does not have his gold armor, but he does have his fantastic sword.

In the meantime, Loki is in his second box and is being called Sakaar Loki. Guess he ditches the black suit for some super colorful armor. I am bummed to see that there were not additional accessories beyond Heimdall’s sword. We saw Loki in the preview flipping a few daggers. That would have been an easy addition to the set, since we just saw two that came with Valkyrie.

All 3 2-packs come with the same backing for the TRU set.

I don’t know about the rest of the Marvel Universe, but I have been dying to see these two go at it since they began fighting amongst themselves in The Avengers. This should be a pretty epic battle.

Overall this is a great series of figures. Lots of fun, as I am sure the movie will be. Now I just have to wait for the movie in a few weeks.

MiniMate Scale Vehicles

We will continue looking at MiniMates today. They are on my mind, since I have immersed myself in the scale to try and make a quality diorama for them, which I have never had before.  Now it is time to look for some vehicles. The scale of MiniMates is between 1/35th and 1/24th scale. I some 1/24 scale models around, and they are a bit too tall for MiniMates. I do not have any 1/35 scale cars to use.

But I do have Transformers, and plenty of Transformers. I figured, why not look at the newest of the lot. The Titans Return figures.  As a vehicle, a Titans Return Deluxe Class figure works fine. The cockpit is too small, since it is made for a Titan Master that is about half as tall as a MiniMate. Too bad, no going for rides in the cabs of these vehicles. But from the outside, they work quite well.

Comparing the robot mode, this works well too. This could be the start of some pretty fun photography.

And as you continue to increase the scale of the Transformer, it works better with MiniMates. It is a good thing Colossus didn’t attack Fort Max, thinking he was a Sentinel.