Toys R Us Minimates Wave 11

When I was looking for Legos I found the Toys R Us Wave 11 Exclusive Marvel Minimates! I skipped the First Appearance Iron Man & Hulk, because I've got like four 1st Appearance Iron Men already and so, so many Hulk minimates.

But what I did pick up was:

Fantomex and Mr. Negative: Two characters that have nothing in common whatsoever! Fantomex is an X-men character created by Grant Morrison whose mutant power is basically to be ironically amazing. Mr. Negative is a multiple personality Spider-man villain whose secret identity is an Asian philanthropist. He got his powers the same time and way as Cloak and Dagger. Basically Mr. Negative is his dark half who has mind control and Marin Li is his light half who can heal people. Each side is aware of the other but does nothing to stop the other's plans. The figures are very basic, almost entirely defined by their paint jobs. The Fantomex is in his X-force Grey costume and works okay in a dull, muted way. I kind of wish we had gotten his white original costume. Mr. Negative meanwhile looks just as he does in the comics, like a photo-negative, which is a reference people aren't going to remember if digital photography completely replaces film stock. He even comes with a photo-negative sword, which makes no sense to me but is a neat concept. He also comes with alternate Black arms, so you he can go around wearing just a shirt and no jacket.

It's Betsy Braddock & Nightcrawler. They're both X-men characters, or at least now they are. Betsy originally started as a Marvel UK character but was eventually moved to the X-men. Meanwhile Nightcrawler would leave the X-men proper to hang out with Betsy' brother, Captain Britain, in the Excalibur comics. This is the third figure for both, although Nightcrawler is actually just the exact same minimate that came in the Excalubur box set. The only difference is that his BAMF base is a slightly different shade of purple and a little more transparent.

Meanwhile the last two (or three) Betsy figures have all been of Psylocke, her superhero alter-ego. This is the second British version of Besty, before she became a sexy Asian ninja. I think this minimate reflects her original look, but I can't be sure. It might be the look she had during the Psylocke/Dazzler/Rogue/Longshot era of the X-ment team. It's the poofy sleeves that make me think that. And hey, to reflect the poofy sleeves they created a new arm piece.... that's got to be showing up on another figure soon. They can't have just made that for this figure.

Lego minifigures series 5, part 2

BRITISH: Graduate, Queen's Guard, Detective
You gotta get the Detective. He's clearly modeled on Sherlock Holmes. And his magnifying glass actually kind of works. I particularly like the deerstalker cap (which is how you know he's Holmes). Now you can have him solve all your Lego mysteries.

The Queen's Guard has a neutral expression (or as my sister called it, "pissed off") because the guards aren't supposed to show any emotion while on duty. He's actually one of the easiest figures to find (and by that I mean determine what figure it is in the blind packs) because his hat is so prominent and the texture so unique.

As for the Graduate, I was shocked to realize his cloth gown wasn't in that cardboard protector that you usually get with Lego cloth capes and such. I only figured him out because he has that smooth plate block for a diploma. His hat is pretty awesome though.

MANLY MEN: Lumberjack, Dinosaur Costume, Boxer
What surprised me about the Boxer was that the gloves aren't really an accessory. They've replaced the standard Lego hands you usually get with a figure. Fortunately wrist articulation is still there. I don't exactly know why, but I love this guy. He's got a secondary face on the back of his head with a beaten face and tears. Hilarious.

The Lumberjack is pretty easy to figure out in the blind bags thanks to the axe. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the white trash vibe I'm getting off the dude, but that might be based on my own prejudices. I don't actually know if the flannel and trucker hat is a stereotype or not. If it isn't, then my bad. Although I want to say that if you want to go with a standard lumberjack they should have included a snow cap, a hard hat, or a lumberjack hat.

Then there's Dinosaur Costume. If I could have only one figure from this wave, it would be Dinosaur Costume. Because I love Dinosaurs and costumes. The tail is actually ingenious in its implementation, it's actually a neck piece like a Lego backpack. Look at it, it's glorious.

Finally there's the Eskimo. I was going to skip him until I realized that he's an Eskimo. And as such he counts towards Lego's Asian Stereotype figure for this wave. It's a pretty good eskimo figure, based on everything that mass media has taught us about Eskimos. And I have to admit, I don't know much more than Lego about Eskimos. So for all I know this could be pretty accurate. But I'm gonna guess it's not.

Lego minifigures Series 5 part 1

When they revealed the figures in Series 5 I was bummed because I wanted almost all of them. And at 3 bucks a pop that would mean it wouldn't be cheap. But this weekend I went to Toys R Us where they had a crapload of them. So I was able to pick up all the figures I wanted. All 13 of the 16.

So this is going to take a while. To make it more fun I've arranged the figures into categories to go over them.

HISTORICAL:  Gangster, Egyptian Queen (Cleopatra), Gladiator.
Each one of these guys has so much personality. The Gladiator was on my MUST HAVE list, but I like them all. I wanted Cleopatra to match the Pharaoh that we got in an earlier wave and the Gangster was just a nice historical touch as Lego goes through US history in these waves. Although every time I see a gangster I think of the gangster character from Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego. The Gangster (with opening violin case!) has a criminally smarmy smile and a gun. The gun fits in the case, although you'd think the case was meant for something with more firepower. Cleopatra should be easy to find since she's the only one with the wedge dress piece. She also comes with the snake that she used to kill herself. (Kinda morbid, Lego.) And the Gladiator is awesome with his helmet. Seriously, that helmet makes the guy.

WOMEN: Cavewoman, Aerobics instructor, Zookeeper woman
Okay, let's get this out of the way. The only reason I wanted the Aerobics instructor was for the purple boom box. I think that's hilarious. And it fits so well with the douchebag figure's boombox from the last wave.

Similarly the big draw of the Zookeeper is the monkey figure. Because of that  monkey I tend to think of this ass the Jane Goodall figure. Of course I also love that the zookeeper is tempting the monkey with a GIANT banana. I'm going to assume that's an inflatable banana and the zookeeper is taunting the monkey. I actually opened these in front of my sister and she loved the monkey and banana so much I ended up giving her an extra one of these I picked up. I also gave one of these to a married couple who are both anthropologists, it was a big hit.

The Cavewoman was desired to pair up with the Caveman from wave 1. On that criteria it's a win, but I have to admit that I'm really digging the design. Her faces has scratches on it, like she's just been in a fight. But her expression is unfazed, like she's used to it and its not anything special. And her hair is made out of rubber instead of the normal hard plastic to apparently better accommodate that bone.

Golden Age Captain America and Dum Dum Dugan

Yeah, I pretty much got this set for the minimate version of Dum Dum Dugan. On that criteria it's a pretty awesome minimate. I especially like the shotgun holster on his back. Also the bowler hat - mustache combo is particularly Victorianesque. If Victorians fought Hitler. (they didn't.)

As for Golden Age Cap, he's a good mix of the comic book and Ultimates version of Cap. That's good. I've got so many Cap minimates that a little variation is always welcome. I also like the Golden Age shield. I've already got one from the Invaders set, but it's a nice retro-accessory that really sells the historical feel of the character.

Gah! No! Bad toy company.

Hold the hell up. There are two versions of the Idris figure in the 6th series of Doctor Who figures. In one version she comes with a psychic cube. With the other version she comes with 5 psychic cubes.

I call bullshit.

Firestorm

Picked up a Firestorm from Target. This is the original version of Firestorm, the one that I was only familiar with from cartoons until I began reading DC Comics in the 90's. Firestorm has the power to rearrange molecules and for a while could only transform into a superhero by combining his body with his college professor who would talk to him in his mind while they fought crime. He's been a perennial B-lister, but he's a staple of DC Comics so he got his own DCUC All-Star figure.

As shown here.

Its a nice simple figure with some neat hand accessories to simulate the visual of his alchemy-esque powers. So if you keep them on his arms he's constantly turning things into other things. You can imagine the only reason the Justice League keeps him around is that they wanted a cheap air ionizer.

He can also shoot energy blasts from his hands, but that's a pretty generic superhero power.

Green Lantern Comics 3