Minimate Customs: Friends and Foes of Spider-Man

The other day, over at the ol' Minimate Multiverse, we got to talking about Spider-Man villains, and which ones still need to be made.  I've made a couple Spidey related customs over the years, and I thought I'd use this as an opportunity to show them off.  Plus, as a bonus, another Spidey-related custom... the most unexpected of all!

It's the Jackel, BTW.  The Spidey villain that most needs to be 'mated.

Minimate Customs: Darkseid by Delia

So the other day I bought a second Blastaar from my buddy Luke, since it's part of his great March sale and I wanted to use his hairpiece for something.  So, when he came I took off the hairpiece and stuck the rest of him in my fodder bin.  Yesterday, I was digging through there looking for some parts, and Blastaar ended up in my hand.  My five year old daughter was hanging out with me (she likes to build Minimates from my scraps), and she saw Blastaar and said "I know who that is.  That's Darkseid".  I started to say "no, actually that's..." and I stopped, and took another look at him.  Hmmm, Darkseid, you say?

Not bad, right?  I mean, it's not perfect, but that's a pretty darn good bulked up Darkseid.  Thanks, Delia!

Target's Exclusive JLA Action Figures

So it looks like Mattel has found a use for their old Brave and the Bold molds with a line of JLA action figures that appeared last week at Target.  There's a wave of single carded figures- Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern- for $7.99.  Lex Luthor is also pictured on the back, but there's been no sightings of him so far.  There's also a seven pack, including the four heroes plus Aquaman, Cyborg, and Wonder Woman.  That's $49.99, which is a good deal on a per figure basis.  However, when you take into account:

-Superman, Batman, and Aquaman are already a part of the B&B line;
-Flash and GL are available as single carded figures;
-Cyborg sucks (the figure, at least);

It's more like $50 for Wonder Woman, which is not so great a deal.  I bought Flash and GL, and I figure I'll take my chances with Wondy on either eBay or clearance.

The other thing to note is that the characters are in their New 52 style, which is an odd style clash with the Brave and the Bold style.  Superman, with his old-time Fleischer style head, looks pretty terrible.  Batman and Flash both have those weird armor lines painted on, which makes them look pretty cheap.  In fact, I'll be painting over my Flash's extra yellow lines, which makes him my first ever non-Minimate custom figure, I guess.  If anything, these figures show just how limited those Jim Lee designs really are; they only look good if they are drawn in that style (and even that's debatable), and certainly pale in comparison with the sleek timelessness of the original Golden and Silver age designs.

But, if you're a fan of the B&B cartoon and figure line (which I am), it's nice to get a few more figures to add to your collection, even if they don't 100% fit stylistically.  Flash was one of a handful of figures tooled for the line that never saw release (Captain Marvel, the Gentleman Ghost, and the Faceless Hunter are the others), so it's really nice to finally have him.  Brave and the Bold was probably the oddest DC toy line you'll ever see, considering how we saw the likes of B'wanna Beast, Plastic Man, and Blue Beetle before we saw Superman, Flash, and Green Lantern, but I hope these do well enough for a second wave-- particularly if that second wave includes a single carded Wonder Woman.

Minimate Customs: New Gods

Jack Kirby made his name, and reputation, with his work at Marvel in the '60s.  But, personally, I've always preferred his later DC work, which is crazy and colorful and pure Kirby.  And the highlight from that period is undoubtedly the Fourth World Saga, which ran through Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, Mister Miracle, The Forever People, and the flagship New Gods.  DC has released some fairly lovely hardcovers collecting the whole Fourth World saga, and you should buy them.  Anyway, I've made some New Gods Minimates, so let's get to them!

These photos were taken with our IPad, because the family camera is broken.  They came out with a soft glow, like they were taken by an arty nude photographer.