Since 2003, Art Asylum has been pumping out these two inch hunks of plastic and don't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. I've been there since the beginning, so you can imagine that I have a fairly sizable collection.
All I can say is: Thank God their only two inches tall. Can you imagine if I had 200 plus six inch figures? There wouldn't be room for empty space anywhere in the apartment. It'd look like a toy store threw up and/or a five year old's dream come true. I speak from experience, you should see my old place.
I'm getting off track.
My point is, when you've been collecting these for as long as I have, you're bound to have multiple versions of the same character. Sometimes, it's exactly what you want (as in"Finally, the good version I was waiting for") but most of the time it's just different variations on something you already have and like.
Such is the nature of the two or four packs the figures come in that you're more than likely going to have an overabundance of the latter. But here's where the awesomeness of minimates come in. With their modular bodies ti becomes very easy to alter a boring variation into a new figure that's both wanted and likely never to be made. Just check out what I've made:
90s Namor
Parts Used:
1- Invaders Namor
1- Atlantean Soldier Hair
2- Atlantean Soldier Wrist Guard OR Nova Wrist Guard
Say hello to the Savage King of the Seas. After a simple hair and accessory swap, the ordinarily classic Namor goes from 1930s to the 1990s, when, for whatever reason, he grew his hair out and became more violent. Because, you know, the 90s.
As an aside, I'm sure the 90s was a very awkward period for the Illuminati. Between the savage king of the seas, Teen Tony, the full face masked Dr. Strange, Evil Xavier, Teen Black Bolt, and hostage survivor Reed, it was a bad time all around. I'm sure every meeting ended with someone in tears, and it was probably either Teen Tony or Reed.
90s Kristoff Doom
Parts Used:
1- First Appearance Doom
2- Secret Wars Doom feet
2- Secret wars doom arms
1- Silver Iron Man hand
Otherwise known as, that kid who thought he was Dr. Doom, but totally wasn't. Introduced during John Byrne's run as the heir to Doom's throne, and seemingly dealt with at the end of Walt Simonson's run, Kristoff Vernard probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Up until he was co-opted by Tom Defalco, and made an unofficial member of the Fantastic Four (which at the time boasted something like 17 members... Lord I hate that run) and had him fall in love with Cassie Lang for a spell. He disappeared during the Onslaught fiasco and hasn't been seen since.
But hey, that history shouldn't stop you from trying to complete your own 90s version of the Four. This guy goes perfectly with the scarred, bucket-head Thing that came out a few years ago and, God willing, with the Peak-a-boo Sue that I'm sure they'll release at some point.
The recipe here is a bit more complicated, but not by much. Basically just use your new First Appearance Doom as a base, remove the hood, switch out the feet, arms, and hands, and boom. Brand new mate. For a fun added bonus, add an energy effect to one of his hands to make him look just that much more menacing... until you realize that under that armor, he's just a horny 12 year old.
Doppleganger
Parts Used:
1- Six Armed Spider-Man
1- Head of Spider Carnage
4- Arms of other Spider-Men
The good, and bad, thing about the minimate line is that there's always plenty of Spider-Men. Be it new costumes or retreads of the classic, they've probably made exactly what you want, except for maybe this guy.
The Doppleganger was somehow one of the only monstrous double characters that survived the Infinity War crossover (the other being the Daredevil double, because why not), who also had life as a villain for a while. Well, villain is too big of a word for this guy, more like bad guy pet. He was like to Carnage and Shriek what Panthor was to Skeletor or Salacious Crumb was to Jabba; Evil by the nature of who he hung around with.
Anyway, with a quick head and arm swap, suddenly that boring old six-Armed Spidey looks positively threatening. Best of all? If you swap the bare arms with the Smiling Spidey of wave 4, he kinda looks like Mac from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Well I think so at least. Maybe if I gave him some fake tattoos...
Monstro
Parts Used:
1- MAX Fireman
1- Wonder Man head
1- X-Force Cable hair piece
Going from obscure 90s to obscure 00s, here's Robert Kirkman's reinvention of Monstro.
Yeah yeah, I know: "Wha..? Who?" Back a few years ago, Marvel had relaunched Amazing Fantasy as a character try out book. And when issue 15 was due to come out, they decided to cram it full of as many new characters as they could, some much better (like Amadeus Cho, Black Jack, and Monstro, of course) than others (everything else).
Later, Monstro popped up again as a member of Damage Control in the short lived (and written by Kirkman) Irresponsible Ant Man series. Since then he's cameoed here and there, but he's pretty obscure, don't feel too bad if you don't know about him.
I, on the other hand, had this custom in my head as soon as I saw they were coming out with firemen. I'm crazy like that. I simply swapped the heads, added some right enough hair, and was on my way.
I'm way more proud of this than I ought to be, I think.
8-Ball
Parts Used:
Scrounged Black body parts
Scrounged white feet and hands
Sculpy
1 MAX Fireman's hook
Yeah, that's right. I made an 8-Ball because he's the BEST CHARACTER EVER! Also, it was really easy to make. If you don't know who this guy is, you should be ashamed, because I wrote a big article on him a few weeks ago. Read it here, it's fun, I promise.
After falling in love, I just had to immortalize him in plastic and it was remarkably easy. I just rolled a ball of sculpy about the size of a minimate head, squished it on the body to get the hole right, and baked it. After baking, I printed out a bunch of 8's, found the font and size that fit, and modge podged it on.
I don't have to tell you, the result is TOTALLY RAD! Look at it again!
There you go, something to start you on your way to making your old minimates work for you. I'll let you know if I get any more bright ideas, but in the meantime if you got any awesome ones and wanna share it, I'm all about it.
Lord knows I'm always looking for some way to repurpose my old figures.
That 8-Ball is AWESOME!!!
ReplyDelete