.

Both waves 17 and 18 have the same style of packaging which features a distorted Manhattan cityscape set against a midnight blue background. I have a feeling this references Peter Parker’s dream from the movie (Spider-Man 3) where he wakes up wearing the black symbiote suit. The pictures of the two Minimates are well placed making it look as though Spidey’s on his last legs and Sandman’s about to put the killer blow upon him.

The box flaps feature larger pictures of the Minimates, while the back has a nice group photo of all the ‘mates in the wave including variant.

In all 3 films Spider-Man takes a beating and has his costume and mask shredded, so it is an iconic look for the movie version despite being the fourth(!!) battle-damaged Spidey that DST have bestowed upon us. However this one is a bit of a hit and miss (zing!) affair.

The costume suffers from the same problems as the wave 17 Spider-Man so they won’t be addressed here. The damage to the costume is actually very well represented. Some sections of costume are missing entirely. Others are ripped with portions of cloth hanging down. There’s some damage to the back of the ‘mate but it’s confined to the chest block. It’s well applied especially as it breaks up the large red spider on Spidey’s back. Small areas of damage to the arms and legs complete the decoration to the body.

The damage to the mask is very good indeed with what looks like the vestiges of an eyelense just about hanging on. I also like the way that the damaged portion of the face is bisected by a small shred of intact mask. Unfortunately the features beneath the mask let the ‘mate down. There’s no damage to the face whatsoever, and Peter’s expression is more that of a man who’s wondering if he left the gas on than a guy who’s just had his behind handed to him.

Battle Damage Spider-Man has no accessories, and his head is solid rather than the usual peg-holed head.

In conclusion, the battle damage aspects on this Minimate are very good but the whole appearance is sadly let down by a neutral expression.

MMC Score – 6 out of 10

Compared to Wave 17’s Sandman, which was the human representation of Sandman, this one is in full-on ‘having fun with superpowers’ mode. Is it even a Minimate? Minimates have fourteen points of articulation, this one has three, so technically this ain’t no Minimate, but then again… Minimate’s are fun. They’re cute little two-inch (mostly) figures based on fun characters from fun comics, movies, and TV shows. So while this ain’t your average Minimate figure it’s most definitely a ‘mate in attitude. There’s not a whole lot of play value in it, but anyone who checks it out is going to have a grin on their face because it’s such a cool looking little toy.

Sandy’s face has an expression of pure rage, I love the way the features, while present, aren’t quite fully formed especially the inside of the mouth which has a kind of unfinished look to it. This is Sandman as an elemental force of nature, not some screwed up villain with wacky powers.

Having said that, the guy does have an enormous hammer for a hand so there is a hint of wackiness too. The figure looks great, I’m impressed with the way the legs have been replaced with a shifting pile of sand. Legs aren’t as important as looking surly and being able to clump someone with ruddy great hammer hands. Yes the mate is limited in what can be done with it pose and articulation-wise but when it looks this good who cares?

In conclusion, not really a Minimate in the broadest sense but still great.

Review and pictures by Rad Kerrigan

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