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.
My Life in Scale 