15.06
1991’s Infinity Gauntlet has proved to be one of Marvel’s most influential storylines, paving the way for many similar storylines, elevating Thanos from obscure cosmic Marvel villain to major player, and serving to inspire the ongoing plot-thread for the first 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In 2009 DST released a boxed set based on the classic cross-over, featuring prominent players Adam Warlock, Mephisto, Drax, and the main man himself Thanos in their looks from the series.
The Packaging
The packaging for this set was quite similar to others at the time, and like the Champions set, uses images from the actual comic as a background. This time around, the set’s name is nice and prominent, and the purple color really accents the figures well. Head over to the Minimate Database to check it out.
The Figures
Thanos
Thanos is the most important character in the set, being the wielder of the titular item. He’s also the most prominent character, thanks to being the focus of not only this year’s big Marvel movie, but also to a plethora of big cross-over events that featured him in a centralized role.
Thanos has 6 sculpted add-ons: helmet, torso cover, gauntlets, and boots. The boots were originally used on several figures from DC Minimates. Everything else was unique to this figure. Everything has some great detail work. Thanos is one of the few Minimates to actually have 10 defined fingers. I’m still uncertain of this move, but DST wanted to get the gems of the Infinity Gauntlet to line up properly, so this is what they went with. The helmet’s is far too bulky; Thanos was usually depicted has having a rather small head compared to the rest of him, and this piece makes him look a bit like a bobble head.
The paint on this figure is easily the worst in the set. The muscles on his torso are set too far down, and every instance of gold is sloppy and uneven, which really makes the figure look pretty bad. The face actually turned out nicely, but gets lost amongst the missteps of the rest of the figure.
Thanos included a spare set of un-gloved hands, which are fine, but don’t really meld well with the rest of his look.
Thanos, who should have been the star of the set and is worth the big bucks on the aftermarket, is easily the worst in the set. He has some good qualities, but he’s a miss overall.
MMC Score – 6 out of 10
Drax the Destroyer
Drax the Destroyer is the character in this set that was probably least known when it was released, but has gained a lot more recognition thanks to the Guardians of the Galaxy films. This figure is inspired by his classic design, though, which is markedly different from the modern interpretation that influenced the films, so he’s quite unique looking.
Drax has 7 sculpted add-ons: cowl, cape, bracelets, pelvis add-on, and boots. The cape is new to this set (though shared with Warlock), the bracelets were originally released on Ocean Master, and the pelvis piece and boots have been used on numerous figures. The cowl is a new piece, though it appears it might be a re-tool of the helmet used on one of the Classic Iron Man releases. So, he’s a bit of a mix-and-match of parts, but it works.
The paint work on Drax is pretty good. He’s better than Warlock, though there is still a little bit of slop. He has a butt-load of detail lines, though. I do wish his belt detailing continued down just a bit further, so he didn’t have that small green patch there. Otherwise, he’s a great figure.
Drax includes no accessories, but there are once again very few options that come to mind.
Drax is my personal favorite offering from this set. His classic design translates quite well to the medium, and he’s a fun variant of the character that we aren’t likely to see again.
MMC Score – 9 out of 10
Adam Warlock
Adam Warlock is an interesting character. He was created back in the ‘60s by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby while they were working on Fantastic Four, but there he was just known as “Him.” It wasn’t until 1972 that he would acquire his name in a story written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Gil Kane. The character really came into some popularity under the helm of Jim Starlin, who would go on to use him as a prominent character in The Infinity Gauntlet. He’s presented in his third costume, which also happened to be the first time he actually had pants. So, yay for pants, I suppose.
He has 2 sculpted pieces: his hair and his cape. These were both new pieces to this figure. The hair has since been used for Wave 60’s Banshee, but was otherwise unique at the same time. The cape was shared with pack mate Drax. Both pieces look accurate to the source material, and have lots of very cool finer details.
The paint work on the figure is passable, but not great. The detail work, especially the face look great, but some of the basic paint apps are sloppy or fuzzy. The collar of his cape gets hit the worst by this, with some pretty bad over bleed from the red of the rest of the cape.
Warlock’s one accessory is his Karmic Staff. It’s appropriately detailed, and looks like his staff should, but is unfortunately a little bit warped out of the package.
Warlock is a solid figure, held back only by some very slight flaws in regards to paint. Nevertheless, he’s a figure that still holds up, even 9 years after release.
MMC Score – 8 out of 10
Mephisto
Mephisto is the Devil. No, seriously, Mephisto is the Marvel universe version of the Biblical Devil. That’s pretty much his whole deal. He serves as an advisor of sorts to Thanos during The Infinity Gauntlet. Mephisto’s had two looks in the comics and they’ve gone with the original, which was a good move. The other design was from the 90s, and no one wants to see that.
Mephisto has 5 sculpted add-on pieces: hair, cape, belt, and clawed hands. The clawed hands originally were released on the X-Men Origins: Wolverine version of Sabretooth. The cape, hair, and belt were new pieces, with the cape later being reused on the classic version of Mandarin. The new pieces really have some expertly handled detail work, which is impressive to see on a Minimate.
The paint work is clean and well detailed. The face in particular looks spot on to Perez’s interpretation of the character from the series.
Mephisto included no accessories, though I’m not certain what he could have included.
Mephisto is another strong entry in this set, and has the added benefit of being useful to more than just the cosmic side of things.
MMC Score – 9 out of 10
Agree? Disagree? Why not vote for yourself below, or comment further over at the Minimate Multiverse MMC Review Forum.
Review and pictures by Glantern.
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