eBay Clearance Sale!

It's that time of year again to clear out some inventory from the Super-DuperToyBox! Click the eBay Clearance Sale badge at the top of the right sidebar of this blog to bid on some great Imaginext minifigs, MiniMates, and more! Hurry- the bids are already popping up due to my low pricing! Follow the Super-DuperToyBox Instagram to see live updates on a few of the items as they are going up for auction:

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Iron Man 3 MiniMates

I got these Iron Man 3 Minimates months ago, and while currently on a MiniMate kick here at the Super-DuperToyBox, I decided to go ahead and photograph them. I've said before that Iron Man is a character that lends himself well to action figure variants, of many in four and six inch scale I've already amassed- these two packs significantly filled out my Iron Man armory in MiniMate scale! Four MiniMate 2-packs is a lot for one post, so I'll try to keep the verbiage brief and let my pictures do the talking   :)

It seems appropriate to start off with the Mark 42 armor,  Tony Stark's new tech in Iron Man 3, the look of which I liked a lot. This is the TRU version in yellow, the regular release metallic gold, which I actually prefer. He looks good however, and comes with an extra helmet with removable face plate- it's a bit tight, so I'll keep the regular one on. The combination of extra arm and torso slip-overs restrict this figure's range of motion unfortunately, but he remains one of the most elaborately sculpted/painted MiniMates I've ever seen.

Mark 42 Iron Man with Marvel NOW! Iron Man...

Enter the Mandarin... !

Mark 42 Iron Man was packed with the Mandarin, a character whose comics continuity was radically altered in the film. With no real emotional attachment to the villain, I found the treatment a surprise, but cleverly done. Diamond does a great job with a lot of their facial caricatures, and this rendering of actor Ben Kingsley, who did a great job with his part. That said, if you want to read a great graphic novel, check out Enter the Mandarin (Marvel, 2007). Joe Casey and Eric Canete's treatment of the character evoked a certain mid-century/atomic age feel that fit well onto their reimagining of Tony Stark's first tangle with the villain.

I think this is a cool MiniMate! His rings are sculpted onto the hands, as are the cuff and lapel detailing on the coat. I wish the coat overlay was shorter as it restricts his leg positioning, but it looks great. The gun and extra bearded hair piece really top it off- he's rad!

Iron Patriot was another armor I was keen to adding to my MiniMates collection- a really decked out Iron Man like the Mark 42, but with the addition of shoulder mounted artillery. The gun doesn't pivot horizontally, but can be "disengaged" to the side with a twist. I'm pretty sure I prefer this figure, due in part to his slightly better range of motion in the shoulders.

I liked the patriotic treatment of Iron Man armor before I knew the origins of the character.Lt. Col. James Rhodes wears the armor in Iron Man 3, but we are given what I assume is an extra Norman Osborn head. There's some great detail on the body if you want to strip the overlay off it or the Mark 42.

Iron Patriot with Fighting Chance Capt. America...

Mark 42 Iron Man and Iron Patriot take off...!

Iron Patriot was packed with an Extremis Soldier, which I had little interest in, although the flak jacket and blonde hair piece included did make him a little more interesting. He also came with a pistol that can be holstered, if with some difficulty, at the thigh.

The Silver Centurion and Skeleton Armor share the third Iron Man 3 MiniMates 2-pack we'll look at in this post. I understand there are some reuse of parts here, but these are unique among my armory. They could have been made better with a different/more paint treatment on the plain white chest repulsors, but are otherwise nicely detailed sculpts.

Unlike the Iron Patriot and Mark 42, the Silver Centurion and "Bones" have no painted detail under their shoulder overlay. They look better with the armor on however, which is less restrictive than the Mark 42. One fun aspect of collecting all these Iron Man MiniMates is the array of Tony Stark expressions Diamond put under the helmets...

'85 Silver Centurion with Iron Man 3 Silver Centurion and Rescue Armor Pepper Potts...

I was glad to get extra civilian hands and feet with this Iron Man 3 Tony Stark- the armored gauntlets and boots were a movie accurate touch, but it's nice to have him without as well. I'm sure I could assemble a civilian Pepper from my other female MiniMates if I wanted them to go on a picnic or something   :)

Tony with Age of Ultron Iron Man...

Tony Stark was packed with the Heartbreaker armor, created for the film as an artillery-level suit with an oversized chest repulsor for heavier firepower. Though his color scheme is conventional red and gold, he's unique to my MiniMate armory. 

The last MiniMate to star in this post, the Heartbreaker is certainly not the least interesting. This figure has a ton of great detailing in the sculpt and paint, and a great scowling Tony Stark face under the helmet. There's no detailing under the torso armor, but no reason to display this figure without- it looks killer, and not nearly as restrictive as the Mark 42.

My entire Iron Man MiniMate Armory...

See all the cinematic Iron Man armors at IronMan.Wikia!

Visit the MiniMates Database! 

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Wave 48 Fantastic Four MiniMates

Back to one of my favorite subjects lately here on the Super-DuperToyBox, Marvel MiniMates by Diamond Select! In this post we'll look at three of the four 2-packs released in the 48th wave of these fun 2 1/2" action figures, completing the other half of my Fantastic Four MiniMates team, and adding a couple villains I was interested in, namely Blastaar and Puppet Master!

Right off from the start, I'll say I was disappointed when the ball peg from Reed Richards' neck extension broke off inside his head. Fishing it out of his head so I could have a serviceable Mr. Fantastic left his head wobbly as well. That's a shame because this is otherwise such a great MiniMate, and one I looked forward to getting.

I love the classic blue & white FF outfit this wave featured! Reed came with normally proportioned extra limbs, but his stretched alternate limbs make him great! His twisted base and giant fist are the same as the Super Skrull MiniMate, one of my favorites.

Diamond thoughtfully gave Mister Fantastic the Ultimate Nullifier, which he used against Galactus as a last effort to stop him from devouring Earth. Appearing first in Fantastic Four #50, the exact functionality of this weapon has remained vague, but is described as the most powerful weapon in the Universe, able to wipe out any opponent or his whole timeline if not destroying the one who wields it first.

At first I wasn't so keen on Puppet Master, having read very little about him, but his accessories make him a unique and fun MiniMate. The work apron is a nice piece, but the tiny MiniMate dolls he comes with really make him great, and he can be dressed completely civilian using the additional arms and torso overlay included- really great!

Sue Storm the Invisible Girl, who later went on to marry Reed Richards, also came with great accessories. In addition to extra limbs cast in transparent plastic, Diamond included a force field base and alternate 90's hair piece that is... well, a mullet.  Her alternate limbs were difficult to change, so I'll probably leave them on, as I prefer anyway. 

Sue came with a Moloid from Subterranea, one of Mole Man's minions in her 2-pack. I read about the Moloids in  X-Factor Annual #3 a couple years ago, part of the Evolutionary War title crossover that ran through several Marvel annuals in the summer of '88. More recently, I've enjoyed their antics as children (Mik, Kor, Turg, & Tong) in Matt Fraction and Mike Allred's FF.

So with the addition of Sue and Reed, I now have the complete Fantastic Four!

With parts from Reed Richards and the Flame On Human Torch that came in the wave of MiniMates, I can assemble Johnny Storm, younger sibling to Sue, the Invisible Girl. Now I can photograph him in different phases of his transformation into the Human Torch! Johnny came with a normal head, but the Flame On head is the star, alight with translucent plastic, and blank yellow eyes, under a fiery & furrowed brow. A tornadic swirl of flames circle his bases, cast in the same translucent orange that most his body is composed of...

Flame On Human Torch with Nova Flame Human Torch...

Flame On Human Torch came packed with Blastaar...

Blastaar is a super-villain from the Negative Zone, enemy of the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the Inhumans, and Earth in general. He's a beefed up MiniMate whose blast accessories fit nicely over his over-sized hands. The hair piece on this one is great, as are the Silver-Age armor details on the torso overlay.

Blastaar makes a great enemy for Johnny and the Thing to battle...!

Since I now have such a broad swath of Fantastic Four characters, such as Annihilus, Super Skrull, Silver Surfer, and Dr. Doom, I thought it would be another great opportunity to shoot a group photo with one of my favorite toys, my ToyBiz Cosmic Power Galactus...!

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