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The first promo Minimate of 2006 was created by Jaycen from SillyGooser Toys and Collectibles to promote the Emerald City Comic Convention held in Seattle at the start of April. In order to get some hype for it, he ran a “Lucky 25” competition on the Art Asylum forum, where 25 winners would get a set of all 4 blanks. 4 blanks? Oh yes, this promo pulled out all the stops: Two different colors, and two rare chases.
Minimate Headquarters has an interview with Jaycen on how the promo went from concept to execution and don’t forget to check out SillyGooser’s eBay shop to get your promo Minimate fix.
The “Lucky 25” set contains 4 blanks, one green with the Emerald City Comic Con logo, one blue with the Emerald City Comic Con logo, and two limited chase figures, which are one green without a logo, and one blue without a logo. Finally, a signed Minimates promo postcard completes the set.
Packaging
The packaging is totally unique. Sure, it’s a baggie, but it’s blind bagged, which means you don’t know what color you are getting. One side has a sticker with all the details on it, leaving the other side blank. It looks striking but I can’t help thinking it would have been better to be able to see exactly what the figure was – it’s a promotion after all. However that would have somewhat negated the chase aspect of the promotion, so I understand why they went for the black look.
The “Lucky 25” set has 4 baggies, but only 2 are blind. The other two are marked at the bottom of the sticker with the number of the 100-limited run.
The last item in the set is the postcard. The front of the postcard shows the two colors of the ECCC-logo’d blank and the possibility of a mystery figure, which we know is a logo-less blank in either color.
The back of the postcard has been signed by Jaycen and has a dedications list on it. This is a really nice display item, and not just because it has a dedication to Minimates Central on it!
The Figures
Emerald City Logo Blank
The Emerald City version of the ECCC Minimate is a very dark translucent green. This is a visually pleasing change to the normal blanks which are one solid color, and long-term Minimates Central readers will know I am very fond of the translucent Minimates in general. The Minimate has no features and no detailing except for the Emerald City Comic Convention logo, which is a very cool representation of the Space Needle with a superhero flying round it. The logo has been printed very cleanly.
As with all of the 2″ promotional Minimates since Santa Spidey, this promo is created using the newest Minimate body. There is a hole in the head, the torso hole is hexagonal, the torso peg is longer, and the legs have the reversed knee joint connections. This doesn’t mean that its legs bend the wrong way, but that the shin piece has the longer outward connector rather than the thigh piece, which has it on most non-blank Minimate bodies.
The other really interesting thing, which is true for all versions of this promo, is the fact that there is no copyright information printed on the back of the legs or pelvis piece. All the previous promos have had some copyright information, but there isn’t anything printed on the back of these Minimates at all.
Like all the other promo blanks, the ECCC Minimates have no accessories. Can’t expect a blank to have any, really.
Overall, this is a blank that is quite different to the others released for the Wizard World conventions last year. If you’re a fan of the blanks then it’s really worth picking one up.
Seattle Blues Logo Blank
The blue version of the ECCC Minimate is structurally identical to his green-hued brother. I do prefer this dark blue translucent colour, and to these eyes it makes the ECCC logo stand out slightly more. However as it is the Emerald City Comic Convention, I would say that the green one is more of the signature look for this Minimate, even though the blues and greens are produced in the same quantities.
ECCC non-logo’d blanks
The two chase blanks are again the same as their logo’d counterparts, using the latest Minimate bodies and having no copyright information on them. Indeed, they are true blanks, with nothing on them whatsoever front or back, and that’s what makes them look so unique. They are Minimates distilled down into their very essence, with no distinguishing features, and yet they still manage to convey a personality. This is the biggest strength of the Minimates design, and why the format works with so many different licenses. These are again worth picking up if you are a fan of chase figures, or blanks, but you have to be able to appreciate the minimalist design.
Review and pictures by Danny Mills
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