Warming up to Minimates

Minimates.  I'm normally stoked to see Alpha Flight included in any type of merchandise release, but I hated these on sight.  They just struck me as being brutally ugly.

As a result of adding the Guardian minimate on the Collectibles page, I looked into them a little more and I admit that they are winning me over. If you also heard of these 2" inch toys but dismissed them as I did, here's some cause to reconsider.

There is a degree of detail involved that I didn't appreciate at first.  The accessories are interesting.  Whomever designed these toys (this set, the first of two, includes Northstar, Marrina and Puck) knew his or her stuff or, at the very least, did the necessary research.

The helmet is removable, which I did not realize at first.  But not only can you reveal a rather surly looking Mac...

...you can also substitute the head of that evil metal bitch, Delphine Courtney, that impersonated him shortly after his death (huh...the first one) in the original series from the early 80's.

Neat!  Not that I would use that feature a whole lot, frankly, but the salute to history is appreciated.

The last-but-not-necessarily-least piece is the flight base (or whatever name it goes by) shown at left; a clear stand to give your minimate the illusion of flight.  The first thing that occurred to me when I saw it is that it may have worked better with a yellow tint to simulate the trail from Guardian's suit, but it's still a cool idea and handy for display purposes.

So I may find myself getting my hands of these after all. They offer more than the initial glance revealed.  And of course, it would be tough to get only half of Alpha Flight, so you'd be compelled to get the second set which includes Aurora, Shaman, Snowbird and Sasquatch.

What, no Heather?  Sure, she is in a separate set with Box.  Throw that in the cart too!

Note: Some of the pictures used for this post are cropped versions of images displayed on this Luke's Toy Store page.