Scarecrow

Thanks to an error on the part of Toys R Us, an error which when we pointed out they then decided to change in our favor, we got our Movie Master Scarecrow figures for $5. That's a great price. I've been hovering over this guy for a while. I really love the Batman Begins approach to the Scarecrow, it's easily one of the best movie translation character designs ever. It's a perfect way to marry the superhero comic approach with the real-world sensibilities of live action film.

That said, $13-15 when he's got that annoying bolo tie bit from the sculpt they're reusing of one of the Joker henchmen... And it doesn't really fit the other DC comic figures I've already got in this scale. I know he's a Movie Master, but due to the scale and articulation, I've always just seen the Movie Masters line as part of the DC Universe Classics line. So that's how I'm classifying him. And compared to that he looks odd... ERNGH... no.

$5? Yes!

He comes with a burlap scarecrow mask which is in some wacky scale. Doesn't fit the figure, doesn't fit any figure, but is way to small for real life. I guess it could fit a 12 inch figure. Or maybe my thumb... wait... yes! Thumb puppet!

90's Beast & 90's Rogue

Continuing the process of releasing minimates of the 90's X-men, specifically the ones from the 90's X-men cartoon, here we have Beast and Rogue. We've already had both characters released, but this Rogue has a jacket and the big poofy hair that everyone remembers and is basically the iconic version of the character despite all the redesigns over the last 20 years. It's a great figure except for the big boots that go past the knees. Thos are actually attached to the feet, so it results in some awkward posing any times the knees have to bend.

Even weirder are the oversized Beast limbs. The enlonged fore-arms are actually just really just long hands. I get that Beast's thing is supposed to be his odder limbs that allow for increased agility, but damn, it looks wrong. Dude looks like a furry Mr. Fantastic. He does come with alternate hands so you can replace the longer forearms with normal hands, so that's actually pretty damn cool. It's a great figure.

Black Panther & 90's Storm

I think this is the first minimate 2-pack with a married couple. Oh, wait, no, sorry, forgot about the Cyclops/Dark Phoenix 2-pack. But hey, Black Panther figure is cool. I've got a few Storm figures already, but this is 90's storm. I don't know why that's important because I don't know what the character was doing in the 90's that was so impressive. She was on the fricking Gold Team for craps sake. The non Jim Lee team. Who cares.

Actually I guess this is interesting because it's the start of figures that look like the characters from the 90's X-men cartoon. Man, I hope they release a Morph figure.

I gotta say though, I'm not loving the capes. I hate capes on action figures, even minimates, because they restrict posing options. And on these guys... yeah. I forgot Black Panther had a cape. I'm not happy to be reminded via minimate.

Doctor Who ebay Lot: Rose

Next up from the 22 figure ebay lot is Rose, the 9th & 10th Doctor's companion. I never thought I'd get the companion figures, but after getting Captain Jack I became much more open to the idea. There have been two different Rose figures. The first one was horrendous, in that it had almost no articulation and had a really awkward pose. This one has a more natural/neutral pose. It's also wearing a far more fashionable outfit, unless I'm mistaken it's the outfit from the story New Earth.

Which actually means that this figure could also be of Cassandra in Rose's body. So it can serve double duty! Hooray. Although I seem to remember the outfit in that story having more buttons done up. One button? That's kind of risque isn't it? Kid's show!

The likeness is fairly good. You can tell it's supposed to be Billy Piper, although the sculpt makes her seem more masculine than I remember. The articulation is more limited than later figures in the line, with no bicep swivel, no elbow joint, and no cut wrists. This results in a more natural looking arm, but a sadly less posable figure. The legs don't have a mid-thigh swivel but other than that have the surprisingly good articulation of the Doctor Who figure legs. All in all I like this figure, which surprises me because the lack of arm articulation would have made me think I'd be against it. But no, it's actually a really nice figure to look at and fits in well with the rest of the line. Glad it was in the lot.

Doctor Who ebay Lot: Cassandra

The next figure from the 22 figure Doctor Who ebay lot I purchased is Cassandra, the last human. I've actually wanted a Cassandra figure for a while. She's one of the more significant Doctor Who foes to be introduced in the new series, and certainly one of the most intresting visual designs. A flap of skin stretched over a frame, connected to a brain jar. However I've never been tempted to buy the figure because it's essentially a small statue with wheels at the bottom. It makes sense, why would the figure be articulated? But it just felt like paying the MSRP of $15 for the figure was a little too expensive for what you were getting. And I've never seen this on sale.

So getting the figure through this ebay lot was actually pretty nice. It's a cool figure and is exactly what I thought it was. No big surprises, although it feels flimsier than I would have hoped. All in all, glad to have it.

Mole Man & Sue Storm

I already have a Sue Storm minimate, although I have to admit that this version is a lot more detailed and attractive than the other one which featured the limited design of the early minimate line. Imagine the difference of style of the Silver age comics and of modern comics and you get a pretty good idea of how insanely different these figures are. Also, that figure only came with a small transparent shield to implicate her invisibility powers. This one has a stand that simulates her ability to levitate using her invisible shields, she has a transparent shield, and she has both solid paint limbs and semi-transparent limbs to simulate her "turn invisible" ability. It's a far superior minimate.

The other figure is the first minimate appearance for a rather important Fantastic Four Villain: Mole Man! So yes, this pack was a must get for me. Mole Man has tiny feet to simulate his shortness. It's odd, but it does create a perceptible height difference between minimates. He's not a midget, but he seems smaller. His cape is too heavy, making it damn near impossible to make his stand up unassisted. (In this photo he's leaning against the case in the background. In the future I'll probably need a lego brick.) I hate that damned cape.

Iron Man & Whiplash

Hey, the Iron Man 2 minimates were on sale at the Toys R Us website which means I now have a movie accurate Iron Man minimate figure. (I already have the Stealth version of the figure that never actually showed up in the movie, but allowed them to sell a quick and cheap variant. It's a pretty good figure.) Admittedly I got this for the Whiplash figure because: Mickey Rourke minimate figure!

I never followed Iron Man so I have no idea about his villains, so I can't comment on having a Whiplash figure, but dam, Mickey Rourke.