Mini Invasion!

It was a banner week for Minimates this week.

Minimates, for the uninitiated, are two inch block figures from Art Asylum that cover a whole slew of different licenses. My favorite, and they're longest running, line is the Marvel stuff (shocker!).

This week saw the duel release of both Series 36 (The comic Iron Man wave) AND the new Toys R Us wave (basically the same stuff, but with a couple of new figures) leaving me light in the wallet, but heavy with chunks of plastic. It's one of the best waves they've had in a while, full of great new sculpted pieces, obscure characters, and genuine surprises. Here are my personal faves:


1 - LOCKJAW!

You may have remember I was stoked for this figure when it was announced, so it's no surprise that I'm excited to finally get my mitts on him. I'm so utterly shocked that they made him and so impressed by the results. The expression, the sculpting, the everything about him is wonderfully done. Art Asylum has done a great job of working with these standard block figures to pull out surprises like this one. If you can find him t TRU, you should totally pick him up.


2- Stilt-Man?

Talk about an obscure character that I was sure they'd never make. Stilt-Man was, hands down, the best part of this week's releases. I don't know what it is about him: his goofy appearance, the shiny silver, or the fact that he just TOWERS over the other minimates, he's just down right awesome.



I can't keep my eyes off of him, I constantly want to pose and repose him. He's totally my favorite thing right now, and I'm kinda worried about what that means...


3- Crimson Dynamo

To look at this figure from the outside, it's pretty rad. He's big, menacing, and has that amazing Vacu-sealed shiny red armor that just makes him pop off the shelf. It's about time Iron Man had some quality villains to be posed against.

So what makes this figure so special? Why did I pull him out as an example of how great this wave was? Let me pop that helmet off and show you.


IT'S JOSEPH STALIN!

Like it wouldn't have been hard enough covering up that fantastic 'stache, they had to go make him look like one of the defining leaders of the modern world. It's like getting two villains in one!

This is, far and away, my favorite toy easter egg of all time.