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We've already taken a general look at Art Asylum's new Marvel Minimates with our Silver Silver review, examining why the 2" scale works and whether it signals a death sentence for the 3" Minimate scale. If the rate at which the Marvel Minimates are selling across the country is any indication, fans couldn't care less about that missing inch; not only is the 2" scale workable, it was the right way to go.
Just a little bigger than your average
Lego person, the Marvel Minimates are just as detailed as their bigger brothers, but you get two figures for the same price. Excellent!
The first set I bought, naturally, was Daredevil and Elektra. Unlike ToyBiz, Art Asylum didn't make DD's yellow costume stupid-hard to find; he's a regular in all the cases, packed with his sometime-girlfriend, the ninja assassin Elektra in either her red or variant black costume.
As a kid, the son of boxer Battlin' Jack Murdock was blinded
by toxic waste when he saved an old man from being run over. Young Matt Murdock found the rest of his senses heightened, though, and now uses those senses to fight crime as Daredevil.
Matt must have been blind to think that yellow and red looked good together. Well, yellow and red in the comics: the Minimate is a bit more tasteful, with black instead of red. He's got his billy clubs slung on his hip, and they're individually removable. They've been gang-molded with the rest of the body, so they're yellow (and thus on the red Daredevil, they're red). There are more details on this costume than on the modern version, including small red circles on the boots and gloves.
His mask has bright red eyes and teeny-weenie little sculpted horns. It can be removed to reveal Matt's pink-pupiled white eyes beneath, though that also leaves him bald. They could have given him a hair block like Bruce Banner had - heck, it would even have glasses for him! Just paint the lenses red and call it a day.
I got the chase Elektra because, well, she's more rare. Yeah, I know, I'm weak. At least she looks good in black. Exchanging her red thong for a more stealthy shade, Elektra has big pouty lips and the appropriate doe eyes. Her bandana and hair are one piece, able to be swapped with any other Marvel Minimate headgear. She comes with two tiny sais, though she doesn't have a handy holster to corral them.
All the Minimates share the same body with different paint decos, and they all move at the same 14 points: neck, waist, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles. That's a heckuva lot of motion for something so tiny.
Sold in character-related multipacks, the small size of the Marvel Minimates makes them perfect for creating dioramas. Since anything else would soon take over your entire house, the smaller 'mates can be given just a shelf to call their own. Art Asylum really put some thought into this line, and even though it's a departure from what has gone before, it's still very good.
-- 09/03/03
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