03.02
Wave 3 gives us more of DC’s signature characters, plus some crucial supporting characters and some villains. This review features Aquaman and Ocean Master. Again, it’s a hero vs villain set which is always nice to see.
After Playalong/Art Asylum’s “Minimates with building blocks” attempts in the ill-fated C3 range, DC Direct decided to snap up the licence, bringing us 2-packs of Minimates a la Marvel, but with no chase figures. 8 waves were produced in all.
Packaging
The packaging style for this wave is the same as the first two waves, meaning a consistent look for you MOC’ers. The Minimate’d picture this wave is of Wonder Woman. The figures are held into the back tray of the blister by twist ties.
The back of the card shows off the rest of the wave. I’d’ve liked to see some small bios incorporated like the newer Marvel sets.
The Figures
Aquaman
Aquaman has blonde hair and blue eyes with an intense expression. He looks similar to Steve Rogers or Danny Rand, with defined cheekbones. His hairpiece is very nice, giving him a very windswept, tousled look.
In terms of colour Aquaman is brilliant. Only a superhero could get away with bright orange and green for their outfit! Not a great deal of paint detail on Aquaman – but that only emphasises the comic-book look of him as a Minimate. The torso has some scale effects on the front and the back, along with some muscular detail, but that’s about it. Oh, the pelvis piece has an A symbol too.
He has unique feet, each with a fin sculpted on the back. They look good and give the Minimate an additional visual quirk.
Aquaman comes with his trident. It’s made of very pliable plastic and is susceptible to bending. The size of it is nice though and Aquaman looks great wielding it.
Overall, a very colourful representation of a classic character. Simple yet effective.
MMC Score – 7 out of 10
Ocean Master
Ocean Master is Aquaman’s half brother and rival to the throne of the undersea kingdom of Atlantis. He has no water-based powers, instead using magic as his weapon, via his trident.
Ocean Master has a big “fishy” mask over his head. The three fins give it a lot of mass and make Ocean Master look taller. The mask reminds me of Mer-Man in the Masters of the Universe cartoon. Two big, bulbous fish eyes are painted on. The mask can be removed to reveal a normal-looking face (Not being familiar with the character, I was expecting something a lot more marine-like). With his bushy eyebrows and red beard he looks a bit ticked off.
The detailing and sculpting on this figure is pretty good. He has a cloak with a high neck-piece, which, along with his mask, actually gives him quite a regal look. This appearance is completed by gold bracelets and a big golden belt. I found that the purple colours really stand out on this figure. So much so, that if you remove the mask and the cloak he really looks like a different character because your eyes aren’t initially drawn to the grey. He has a red symbol on his chest which looks similar to something Batman would have but I’m sure that’s entirely co-incidental.
He comes with a trident, although this one is different to Aquaman’s. Instead of having 3 prongs in a fork-like configuration, on Ocean Master’s trident the 3 prongs surround a ring. It looks nice but again has issues with the bendy plastic.
Overall, nice to get an Aquaman villain in the same set. Most people won’t know the character but he makes for a suitable Minimate, just not as iconic as Aquaman so he suffers a little in comparison.
MMC Score – 6 out of 10
Review and pictures by Danny Mills
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