Minimates Gathering Press

Minimates and Art Asylum are getting press all over the place. First off, check out Adam Unger's interview in the trade magazine The Licensing Book here. (The group shot of the Minimates looks cool!)

Next, the Washington Times covers Art Asylum's work at the recent New York Toy Fair. Read the article here. (I think some of the facts are a little shaky - 3.5 inch minimates?)

The March issue of Previews Magazine describes the collection feature of Toyfare Issue #107. Yes, they will be none other than the Marvel Minimates! Read about it here.

Finally, a recent article in ICv2 suggests that Marvel Minimates Series 12 and 13 will be on the shelves in November and December respectively. Argh! Read about it here. (Luckily, the article also says that we won't see the Dartide DVD until May - and I got mine three days ago. Hopefully they are three months off on Series 12 and 13 too!)

When I started this website, I took some flak from people who told me the Minimates line was dead and dying. I was "a day late and a dollar short". I think we can gather from all the recent news that Minimates are far from being dead.

As Rob at RavingToyManiac explains, "From my Diamond Select tour, they have big plans for more minimates and hopefully we'll have a much better idea of them by SDCC and for the fall. But the line ain't going away..."

Eight Questions With TENIME_art

The “Eight Questions” column appears regularly at Minimate Headquarters. In it I interview minimate customizers and other fans of minimates. This interview is with TENIME_art, maker of the custom Superboy pictured here.

1. Of all the Minimates released in 2005, which one is your favorite?
Torch (w/Mr. Fantastic).

2. What is your best trick or secret for customizing Minimates?
Reusing parts maintains joint articulation & a more authentic-looking paint job.

3. Which two Minimates from the Custom Gallery would be the most fun to watch fight each other?
ThatBlokeTimbo's (gra007's designed) Anakin Skywalker vs. Luke314pi's Onsalught! Throw Mini-Myte's Taskmaster in there for extra chaos!

4. If you could add anything to Minimate Headquarters, what would it be?
I'll have to check it out first...

5. If a toy company in a Third World country started manufacturing bootleg Star Wars Minimates and selling them online, would you buy any?
If they looked & were produced just as good as DST's? I'm afraid I'd have to say yes!

6. Which custom or custom design would be the most challenging for anyone to do?
An anatomically-accurate four-armed General Grievous. Although, if Luke314pi can pull of The Brood...

7. Do you own a C3 Batcopter?
No, unfortunately. I'm caught up on Marvel (except Black Elektra), but I'm so far behind on DC/C3...

8. Ryu or Apollo?
Ryu from Street Fighter or Apollo from Battlestar Galactica? Ryu, hands down.

Darktide Arrives

The Darktide DVD and Minimates arrived yesterday in the mail. I felt like a little kid running over to the DVD player to pop in the video. The minimates look good and the box art is great. I will probably review the video and minimates over the course of the coming week.

The biggest question people have about this set is "how good is the movie, really?" Because there are few movies like Darktide doing a review can be difficult. It is a student production, as the video notes in more than one place, and the movie is very short. Other student productions exist out there, and at that level Darktide rates as top notch. But Darktide is commercially produced and mass marketed, so it's placed in a bit different category.

Some collectors leveled a lot of criticism about the fact that these minimates were essentially re-releases with different facial expressions. I think this criticism had more to do with the lag time between releases of Series 11 and 12 than anything else. Darktide is a great box set for kids at the mass market level, and the re-releases are appropriate to tap that market. I'm glad new face designs were included as a bonus for some of us collectors.

I will go into more detail about the movie and minimates later in the week. Stay tuned!

March 1st!

Jaycen at SillyGooseToys announced that the very limited addition ECCC minimates will go on sale March 1st. To figure out what you need to do to get these four bad boys, you have to read the thread here.

Street Fighter Reviews: Minimates Central has thrown down the gauntlet and started reviewing the new Street Fighter 2 Minimates. Read them here.

X3 in the Fall?: Playthings reported a few weeks ago that we can expect Juggernaut, Wolverine, Beast, Storm and Jean Grey Minimates this fall. Based upon the announced lineups for Waves 12 and 13, these sound like possible X3 Minimates. Read the entire Toy Fair report here.

Buffy Minimates?: A question came up recently from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans about the possibility of more PALZ. Read the excerpt below and the full question and answer list here.

Question: If Palisades Toys truly decides to discontinue their Buffy PALZ and long awaited Angel PALZ lines, would DST pursue the license to manufacture "mini-figures" of the BTVS universe? If so, would DST make an effort to continue the Palisades PALZ line (starting with Series 3 and continue the same design) or would the company start over with a Mini-Mates style line?

DST Chuck: Palisades is no longer in business and DST has no interest in doing any mini-figure that are not Minimates, so if we were to consider ANY license, it would be to release it as Minimates.

Situation Worsens For Imprisoned Heroes

The situation worsened today for the imprisoned heroes of Minimate Headquarters. Captured by Magneto, all of the heroes from Minimate Headquarters have been jailed inside a dark cage for two months.

Some heroes have faired better than others during the captivity. Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, is himself an ex-con.

“I did some hard time,” acknowledged The Punisher. “So I know how to handle being in the joint. You need to make allies fast and watch your back even faster.” Turning to face a shaking Peter Parker, who stood at attention nearby, Punisher yelled, “Now clean my boots you filthy maggot. With your tongue.”

“Yes, sir!” answered a submissive Parker as he dropped to the floor.

Some heroes found themselves having to cope with the pain of isolation. “Hey man,” asked a visibly shaking Nightwing to a passing Human Torch. “You got any rock? Don’t be holding out on me, man.”

Fights have broken out with increasing frequency. The last fight pitted Superman against Professor Xavier and Daredevil. The fight finally ended when Batgirl implored Superman to “stop picking on those poor cripples.”

“What am I doing?” exclaimed a shocked Superman. “I am so ashamed!”

Eight Questions With Jcastick

The “Eight Questions” column appears regularly at Minimate Headquarters. In it I interview minimate customizers and other fans of minimates. This interview is with Jcastick, maker of the custom Iron Lantern and Glacticus pictured here.

1. Of all the Minimates released in 2005, which one is your favorite?
I would have to say the Clear version Iceman, I'm really into the clear figures.

2. What is your best trick or secret for customizing Minimates?
Patience is one of the best tools in a customizers toolbox. There is no sense in rushing to get a custom done. The more time and effort you put into the mate, the better it will turn out.

3. Which two Minimates from the Custom Gallery would be the most fun to watch fight each other?
This was a tough one, alot of characters to choose from but I would like to see Goliath by Boyd go up against Goliath by you (Jattapake).

4. If you could add anything to Minimate Headquarters, what would it be?
Well, it isn't complete yet, but I Can't wait to check out the custom resources section of the site, I think that will be a great section for those who are just starting out.

5. If a toy company in a Third World country started manufacturing bootleg Star Wars Minimates and selling them online, would you buy any?
Just for the fact that I no longer collect Star Wars figures, I probably wouldn't order them. Although, if I was at a convention and saw someone selling them, I may pick up a couple just for the heck of it.

6. Which custom or custom design would be the most challenging for anyone to do?
This would have to be something like M.O.D.O.K., a character that wouldn't fit onto a regular Minimate base figure.

7. Do you own a C3 Batcopter?
Nope, never saw any of those sets in this area. Also, I really didn't need that many Batman minimates....lol

8. Ryu or Apollo?
I would have to saw Ryu (assuing this is the Ryu from Street Fighter) cause I am a huge Street Fighter fan.

Kubricks vs. Minimates #2

Back in November I fired the first salvo in what I hoped would become recurring matchups between Minimates and other toys. I reviewed the Kubrick Juggernaught and gave him props for looking cool. I didn’t own one yet so I based my initial review on the pictures from the TNI website.

My recent trip to San Francisco gave me the opportunity to buy a Juggernaught Kubrick. Now I could really put him to the test and continue the contest between Minimates and Kubricks!

Articulation - As you can see from the top picture, I had a problem with my new Kubrick immediately. Never having owned one before I assumed they were as articulated and movable as my beloved Minimates. Oops! I broke the arm off just minutes after leaving the store. I tried to lift his arm out so it would be parallel to the ground like a wing. Hmmm … score one for Minimate Juggernaught! Minimates can pose in so many more creative positions than Kubricks.

Custom Potential – The Kubrick Juggernaught doesn’t offer the custom potential that I had originally hoped for. The Kubrick helmet looks funny on a regular Minimate, and it is too small to fit a LOTR sized Minimate head. I will still explore other options for turning the Kubrick Juggernaught into a custom Minimate, but my hopes have dimmed for a truly easy custom.

Coolness – I still like the Kubrick Juggernaught despite the letdowns of an easily broken arm and reduced custom potential. He just looks cool. Way better then any other Kubricks I’ve seen.

Conclusion – While the Kubrick Juggernaught let me down in many areas, I still feel he was worth the $6.95 I paid for him. He'll look nice around my Minimates. But the real winner is the Minimate Juggernaught, who not only offers a lot of custom potential in his own right, but also can be posed in thousands of more positions than a chunky Kubrick. And more importantly - his arms don’t break as easily!

San Francisco’s Minimates and the Cartoon Art Museum

This past weekend my wife and I went to romantic San Francisco. We met there so we return regularly to visit our favorite places. I was able to talk my wife into going to the Cartoon Art Museum on Saturday, and I snuck into some stores selling Minimates along the way.

Cartoon Art Museum – I thought this was much better than the MOCA Comic Art exhibition in Los Angeles. The cartoons at the Cartoon Art Museum ranged from comic art to political cartoons to animated movie cells. The art was framed and lined the white walls of square rooms in the same manner museums typically exhibit paintings. In two rooms, groups of cartoon and comic-based toys were featured under glass. No minimates were there (but I say give it 40 years. Minimates will be in museum some day.)

The biggest disappointment of the museum was the gift shop. Usually these are filled with interesting goodies about the types of art being displayed. And while there were some comic graphic novels for sale, about half of the small store was filled with edgey, weird art and photography books. The topics had nothing to do with cartoon art and most of the themes revolved around sex. I’m not a prude and I’m not offended by other people’s unusual sexual practices (remember I lived in SF), but I draw the line at mixing G rated and XXX rated material. At least put up a sign! I kept thinking about the gift shop, “Gee wiz, what if a family brought their little kids to see some original Disney art, and afterwards went into the gift shop for a little toy?” The toys displayed in those big photography books wouldn’t be what they expected! If you go to the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, which I recommend, keep in mind the gift shop will disappoint.

Metreon Minimates – Near the Cartoon Museum is the Sony Metreon. The Metreon is a geek paradise housing a huge movie theatre, IMAX, arcade, bookstore, restaurants, video game Walk of Fame, a huge Sony Store, a Games Workshop, and a store with Minimates called Things From Another World. Actually, the store had only three 2-packs of Unmasked Spiderman/Doc Ock, but only because they were mostly sold out. The store had tons of cool goodies and toy collectibles but I can only torture my wife so much. I grabbed a Juggernaught Kubrick for a Headquarters review and we left. (Incidentally, the biggest attraction this weekend for the geeks at the Metreon was not found in any of the stores. A large group of young women were camped out on the second floor awaiting entrance to auditions for the next season of America’s Next Top Model.)

JapanTown – We walked up and down Filmore and then headed over to the shops in The Japan Center. An action figure toy store there carried some Minimates, but they were mostly sold out. They had a Daredevil/Bullseye two pack that I haven’t seen in awhile.

Genki Crepes – On Clement street in the Richmond neighborhood is our favorite Crepe shop called Genki Crepes. As we enjoyed some delicious crepes I noticed two shelf end-caps filled with small Japanese toys. This was new. The store had always had Japanese food products (shrimp flavored rice chips anyone?) but never any toys.

The toys were the size of Minimate boxes and they were all blind-packed. One end-cap had toys for boys, the other end-cap for girls. I wasn’t interested in the toys for boys – they were mostly Robotech type miniatures or figures for fighting video games. But the girls’ toys – Wow! They had dozens of different types of small Minimate sized accessories. The various tiny items fit Minimates perfectly. I bought some boxes and I’ll feature some of the items in the web comics. I don’t want to spoil the surprise but I’ll cover these in more detail later. They are simply awesome. And they each came with a piece of pear-flavored gum!

Bananas!

Three would-be-saviors of Minimate Headquarters were smashed Friday by a giant yellow banana dropped from a remote controlled machine. The saviors – JP1000, Fake Gold Spidey, and Prototype 401k Man – had cornered a monkey who held the key to their success. The saviors approached to retrieve the spring that would unlock the cage holding the heroes of Minimate Headquarters when the banana came crashing down on their heads.

“Why can’t I catch a break?” moaned JP1000 as he struggled to free himself from the large fruit. “When I get my hands on that little monkey …”

“I guess we figured out what the monkey’s remote was for,” commented Prototype 401k.

Somewhere in the distance, a radio played, “Your [bleep] is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s …”

More Fun Than A Barrel Of ...

"We got him!" shouted Fake Gold Spidey. "There is nowhere for him to run now!"

"Careful," whispered JP1000. "Approach slowly. Very ... slowly." JP1000 crouched carefully as he approached the monkey. "Nice monkey ... nice monkey ..."

"Wait, what's that in his hand?" said Fake Gold Spidey. "It looks like some type of remote control ..."

[I'll be vacationing in San Francisco without 'net access this weekend so you will have to wait until Monday to find out what happens with our little monkey friend! Enjoy the weekend! -JP]

What A Tangled Web We Weave ...

"Watch what your doing!" screamed JP1000 as he was covered with webbing.

"I'm trying," shouted Fake Gold Spidey as his webbing missed its target. "He's a fast little bugger."

The monkey screeched as it lept from side to side. The spring remained firmly within his monkey paws. It seemed as though he was laughing at his attackers.

JP1000 groaned, "We've got to try something else. We will never get that spring back this way. Stupid monkey! Just wait until I get my hands on you ..."

[Note: Peek around the website. New stuff added! -JP]

Reloaded!

From the DST website:

Fans of DST’s Marvel Minimate universe will be pleased to know that the long-awaited Series 12 and 13 are heading to fans this year! Both waves will feature masterful Art Asylum designs as well as tie in to the hottest Marvel comics; New Avengers and Astonishing X-Men!
Series 12 will contain several twopacks featuring characters taken from the ongoing New Avengers series currently tearing up the best-seller charts. Riot-Attack Spider-Man will be paired with Ronin, Captain America will team up with Nick Fury and the Sentry will take on Luke Cage in this all-star New Avengers lineup. An Imprisoned Sentry will also be available as the limited chase figure.

With the ongoing success of Asonishing X-Men, it was only a matter of time before they got their due as Minimates! Series 13 will create the entire Astonishing X-Men team in their current costumes and will feature twopacks consisting of Cyclops and Emma Frost, Wolverine and Colossus and the all-new Kitty Pryde and Beast set! A limited Days of Future Past Wolverine will round out this wave, sure to strike a chord with collectors.

With fans clamoring for more characters and plans ramping up to continue the Minimate line well into the future, be sure to stick around for more updates as the spring and summer trade shows approach!

The Harder They Fall

[Here is a little something to take the edge off. Excitement and anticipation has been running too high with all of the recent Minimate news! -JP]

“Wow. Not only did you fall off the candle, but you bounced off the table and fell to the floor!” laughed Fake Gold Spidey as he looked down upon the crumpled body of JP1000.

Prototype 401k Man, who stood beside him, asked, “Did something cause you to fall, JP1000?”

“Shut up, both of you,” mumbled JP1000. He had attempted to retrieve a special spring from the top of a giant blue candle, but instead fell hundreds of mini-feet after the spring was grapped by a monkey. The spring would open the metal cage trapping all of the heroes from Minimate Headquarters. “We need to capture that stupid monkey.”

“Well, this shouldn’t be to hard. After all, it’s just an innocent little monkey. How hard could this be?” Fake Gold Spidey asked rhetorically.

[Just wait until tomorrow, Fakerman! -JP]

Speed Racer Pics and More Marvel Musings

The above picture is from Action-Figure.com. The entire gallery of Speed Racer Minimates can be seen here.

Today at 4:38am Evenflow wrote:

Alright guys i am going to help out to the best i can. There were new figures on display at toyfair. Not much but there were a few. I will try to describe them the best i can becuase i have no idea who they are. On that top shelf that everyone is wondering about is a long haired Sentry, Nich Fury, a girl in black and orange with brown hair (x-men related), there was a character all in black that looked something like Black Panther but i am pretty sure wasnt him. He had green highlights, kind of looked like a ninja. The other character was an African American man, looked a little older and had grey hair. There were also some X-men movie mates, or at least thats what it seems. I am pretty sure it was Beast. I hope this helps. None on display, but i believe there will be Ghost Rider movie mates as well. Let me also say that those 2 characters that i am unsure of who they are may not be in 12 or 13, not exactly sure where they may turn up.

Sounds good to me!

Figures.com Comments on Picture Removal

From: Jeff Saylor [mailto:editor@figures.com]
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2006 5:56 AM
To: Jatta Pake
Subject: Re: Marvel Minimates Images


Series 11 and 12 was on display and there was no photography. Pretty
sure we didnt shoot them, but wasnt sure, and we are quite busy.
Sooooo, we just emptied the entire folder. When I get some time, Ill
look thru the images and put back what is cool to repost.
-Jeff

At 11:46 AM 2/12/2006, you wrote:
>Just wondered if Figures.com would like to comment on why the images of the
>Marvel Minimates were pulled from the New York Toy Fair 2006 Gallery.
>Multiple images were published for several hours and then later pulled. Any
>reason? Thanks.
>
>Jatta Pake
>Minimate Headquarters
>http://jattapake.blogspot.com/

Magneto says: "I need little minion heads like those pictured above."

Hollywood Video Package and Updates to Summary

Start keeping your eyes open for the above package of Street Fighter Minimates at your local Hollywood Video. This appears to be a change from the advertisement inside the front cover of ToyFare (#101) which says the Street Fighter Minimates will be available at Blockbuster Video (and in stores December 2005). It could also mean Minimates will appear at both stores with perhaps the regular series being at Blockbuster.

Updates to Yesterday's Summary

Divebomb does it best with his News link and overview of the Minimates here. (Don't tell Magneto I wrote that).

Item #4: New Professor X or black clad Cyclops without yellow wristbands? MiniFiend UK and AdyCarter make persuasive arguments that the AFX photo is indeed Cyclops. My own examination of the photo under Photoshop seems to confirm MiniFiend UKs analysis. I suspect the glare from the flash distorted the image of the Cyclops figure's face based upon the color of the pixel. And the wristband is probably a prototype variance as AdyCarter suggested.

Item #8: Blind packaging seems to be the route being developed as suggested in the audio review (podcast) from Raving Toy Maniac located here. Please note: I still need to review the podcast to confirm the details. AdyCarter and Samwise Gamgee get the thanks for this info.

Item #9: Yes, I'm at fault for spreading this rumor. The $42.50 price seems to be the price for retailers, not the new retail price as indicated. Thanks to AdyCarter for correcting this rumor 200,000,000 times.

New stuff:

11. Yes, you can find the Street Fighter Minimates fighting it out on a warehouse dock here.

12. Kirby's apparent pact with the devil paid off because he landed the first package of Street Fighter Minimates here. (Great pics btw).

13. The photo from found here shows a top shelf with new Marvel Minimates. The shelf below is the previously discussed Kitty Pride shelf. Any speculation on what that top shelf contains?

14. The euphoria is starting to wear off so let me be the first to complain about not having a Thor Minimate, more DC Minimates, and new Star Trek 2" Minimates. (Just kidding!!!!)

A Wealth of Information

As you can see from the images below, a wealth of information has been released about new and upcoming minimates. The biggest shock concerns the plans for the newest release of Marvel Minimates. Earlier this morning, the website Figures.com release a gallery of new Art Asylum products which have debuted at the United States Toy Fair in New York. The US Toy Fair is an annual trade show in which companies advertise products and the big retailers decide which toy lines they want to release over the course of the coming year. Along with the retailers avid toy collectors await announcements for news about their favorite line. And as one of those collectors, Minimate Headquarters has been eagerly awaiting news about Art Asylum and Diamond Select Toys line of Minimates.

As I mentioned, Figures.com released a gallery of upcoming Marvel Minimates this morning. The shock comes because it appears hours later the gallery was pulled from their website. What happened? And where are the images? The second question is easier to answer than the first.

I happened to view each image when they were released, so each image was saved into my temporary internet memory. I share those images with you below. (Don't want to keep you in suspense). The first question, "Why were the images pulled?" remains a mystery, but if I get an official answer, I will share it.

Ok, now on to the wealth of info from the photos. By the way, CLICK ON THE PHOTO to zoom. It helps with the analysis.

1. These appear to be grouped into 4 packs hinted at in the latest issue of Toy Fair (#103).

2. Marvel Knights = New ink-splotched Daredevil, new suit Ghost Rider, and the previously release Blade and Punisher.

3. New Avengers = Previously released SpiderWoman, Spiderman with a messed up face, a brand new Sentry, and a new suit Captain America.

4. Astonishing X-Men = Black leather suited Cyclops, tiger stripped Wolverine without mask, long haired Emma Frost, Colossus without the big boots, a new Kitty Pride, and possibly a new Professor X.

Yes, I'll say it again, a new Professor X. If you examine the picture below with Kitty Pride, you will notice a black clad figure in the front. You may assume it is Cyclops. But examine the black leather Cyclops again. See the yellow wrist bands. Those do not appear on the image with Kitty Pride. And the face looks weird. The image isn't good but I'm betting this is a new character. And another safe bet could be a black clad Cyclops with Red Glasses.

5. Multiple 4 Packs. Look at the boxes behind the boxes of New Avengers and Astonishing X-Men. One shows a glimpse of a long haired Sentry. Several versions? I'm going to say yes.

6. Ulitimate Colossus. A big giant Ultimate Colossus is illustrated on the display background. A hint that we may still see the big guy? I'm going to say next wave.

7. The boxes are huge. Why such a big box? The previous four packs were half the size. I'm going to say that something else will be added to the box. I doubt a DVD, but a reprinted comic book seems to be a good guess. Marvel did this with the Marvel Legends line.

8. Blind packaging? I'm willing to bet DST is willing to experiment with them. Why? A good reason would be to get previously released characters back out into the market. New collectors would be frustrated with not being able to get their hands on a Nightcrawler for instance. If they re-released Nightcrawler at a 1 to 500 ratio, it would keep him rare but attainable. I personally don't mind the re-release of rares or variants. I think people should be able to get their hands on their favorite character. Spread the Minimate love I say!

9. The Maximate resin statues are being listed with a drop in price (not pictured). The images are listing the Maximates at being priced around $42.50 retail. Hmmm.... Starting to talk my language. Package it with a rare 2" minimate and I'll buy them.

10. New parts? Sadly, it appears all parts are re-used. Daredevil seems to be the cheapest re-use. They took some extra red Daredevils and threw some ink on him. Wow. That is a really bad piece. The only one I don't like. Looks like he fell face first into a puddle of oil.

Ok, I think I've blabbed enough. Join the conversation here.

Blind Packaging Rumors

This is the picture that has sparked rumors of the blind packaging of Minimates.

New Avengers Spiderman

This is a close up of the Spiderman without the mask.

Astonishing X-Men

This is the picture of the Astonishing X-Men. Check out the cover here.

New Avengers

Check out the New Avengers. It looks like Sentry behind SpiderWoman. Captain America has new detailing and Spiderman is missing his mask. Check out the cover here.

Marvel Knights

Marvel Knights picture. New Ghost Rider and Daredevil. Check out the cover here.

Picture with Kitty Pride.

Look in the upper left corner. Speculation is that it's her.

Speed Racer Designs!

When it rains it pours! Check out these minimate designs for the cool new Speed Racer design here. They look great!

Gold Cylons?

Do I see a rare or variant cylon among the displayed Battlestar Galactica prototypes? Wow! I am drooling over Art Asylums new offerings. Check out the BG stuff here.

New Marvel Minimates!

Nothing cures me of the flu faster than new Minimates!!!! Check out all of the new packages ... here?!?!?!

[Edited later Saturday evening. It seems Figures.com pulled all of the pictures. Rumor has it they were pulled because they haven't received final licensor approval.]

Blog R and R

The blog will be on sick leave for one week as I fight the flu. See you soon.

New Battlestar Pics

They look great! Check out the full details here.

The Cruel Designs of LEGO Monkey!

"Almost ... got ... it ..." said JP1000 as he reached for the spring. His outstretched hand nearly grasped the spring that could free the trapped heroes from Minimate Headquarters. He had climbed a giant blue candle to retreive this spring, and he was about to claim his prize.

Suddenly, a small figure darted up from behind the other side of the candle. It was a monkey! The monkey grabbed the spring and laughed an evil monkey laugh, "hu hu hu, hee-ah!"

"Give me that spring you stupid little monkey!" yelled JP1000. "Give it to ... oh no ... I'm slipping ..."

Behold the Spring!

"We found it," exclaimed JP1000. "I'll climb up there and get it."

The trio of would be heroes approached the Blue Candle and looked up. Placed atop the candle was a small spring that could unlock the metal cage holding the heroes from Minimate Headquarters.

Prototype 401k Man scratched his head and said, "Again, tell me why is the spring on top of a giant blue candle?"

"We don't know," said JP1000. "And I don't care. I just want to get this spring and get this over with."

JP1000 approached the candle and began to climb.

THE HEROES FACE THEIR MOST DANGEROUS ENEMY TOMORROW! YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT! STAY TUNED!

Eight Questions With Webhead75

The “Eight Questions” column appears regularly at Minimate Headquarters. In it I interview minimate customizers and other fans of minimates. This interview is with Webhead75, maker of the custom Sentry minimate pictured here.

1. When you first started collecting Minimates, which one was your early favorite?
I’m a huge Spidey fan so it’s got to be Spider-Man. My brother bought me my first minimates for Christmas; it was the TRU Spider-Man 4 pack. I was intantly hooked. I got a black Spider-Man a couple months later and he’s my favorite! Spidey rocks!

2. Of all the custom Minimates you’ve ever seen (or made), which one do you like the best?
I’d have to say Nervous Rex’s Devils Due Storm Shadow. Awesome decals, it was very detailed. Of my own I would say the Sentry. He is a simple custom, but I really liked the way he turned out. When I heard he was going to be in New Avengers I read the miniseries from 1995 and had to make him.

3. Do you own a Santa Spidey?
Nope. Someday maybe I’ll get my hands on one. He looks very festive in that hat.

4. Which was the most difficult custom or custom design you’ve ever made?
The Scarlet Spider logo was the toughest design I had to do. I had barely used Illustrator back then and it took me forever. The sculpey webshooters were tough as well, I had a hard time getting them both uniform. I’m working on a some commissions that are very challenging. I don’t want to say what characters they are, but they are X-related.

5. If all of the Custom Minimates in the gallery fought all of the official Minimates, who would win and why?
The Customs would win! My Sentry custom would turn the tide. He has the power of a million suns. That’s pretty tough to beat.

6. If you could have one new character made into Minimate form, which would you choose?
Kraven. Any guy who drugs Spider-Man and buries him alive deserves to have a minimate!

7. What is the most you would pay to get an official Minimate 3 pack containing WonderWoman, Green Lantern, and Aquaman?
I’d throw down $25 for that. But replace Aquaman with Hawkman. That guy is a badass. I wouldn’t pay too much cause I plan on making them someday.

8. Batman or Wolverine?
Wolverine. Game over man, game over.