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Welcome once again Marvel Minimates fans! As Secret Wars is ripping apart the current Marvel Universe, today we’re reviewing a two-pack that tied into 1984’s Secret Wars. This two-pack was released in March 2010 as a Toys ‘R’ us exclusive. There was a Toys ‘R’ Us exclusive Secret Wars four pack released before this that featured Beyonder, Photon, Spider-Man and Doctor Doom and this was done to supplement that. If you’re looking at these characters and thinking it’s an odd pairing, you’re right, it is. Back in 1984, Marvel reached a deal with Mattel to produce action figures based on their brand. As part of said deal, Marvel needed to promote the toy-line through a comic event that featured all of their characters. Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter said that kids always wanted to see a story where all of the heroes and villains fought each other. So several heroes and villains were plucked from Earth and placed onto a “Battleworld” planet where they fought each other over a prize. Storm and Klaw were both on Battleworld so that’s why they paired up here. Let’s take a look!

Klaw

Dispersed across the universe by Dazzler, the sonic-based Klaw was reassembled by Dr. Doom during the Secret Wars. Though driven insane in the process, Klaw’s powerful sonic converter remained as powerful as ever.

Ulysses Klaw was originally created as a Fantastic Four/Black Panther foe in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. He is very obviously a Jack Kirby design, with the zigzag patterns and bizarre face. Klaw is composed of “solid sound” hence the solid red  costume. The fact that he’s solid red doesn’t always translate into the most exciting action figures. He was never made in the original Secret Wars line and didn’t actually receive a figure until a Marvel Universe two-pack commemorating you guessed it, Secret Wars. Klaw has recently received a slight surge in notoriety due to appearing in the Avengers sequel, so let’s see how the Minimates version came out!

With Klaw, you really only need to get a couple things right. The face, the sonic cannon, and the Kirby tights. That’s all done perfectly here, the sonic cannon is a new piece that replaces his hand. Thankfully, he’s a nice bright red instead of being translucent or anything like that. He really pops standing next to your other Minimates. If there’s one complaint, it would have been nice if he could get SOMETHING to add a little excitement. Klaw always created constructs out of “solid sound”, so some translucent red blast effects would have been nice. In all fairness, back in 2010, DST didn’t really go all out with accessories like they do now.

He looks like Klaw. Unfortunately, that means he’s a little bland. Some cool sound accessories could have made this guy perfect. As is, he’s a great addition to your villains collection. That alone bumps him up a grade, classic villains are always welcome. 7/10

Secret Wars Storm

Despite the presence of Cyclops and Professor X, the powerful weather-witch Storm retains leadership of the X-Men during the Beyonder’s Secret Wars and leads the X-Men against Earth’s most powerful villains!

Punk rock Storm! Despite being an iconic version of the character, this version of Storm never gets any action figure love. She has only appeared in the Marvel Universe line as part of a Secret Wars two-pack (sound familiar?). Storm has received Mohawk figures before, but it’s always her in an X-Men costume. If you’re an X-Men fan of the 1980’s, this is your Storm. While on a trip to Japan, Storm befriended Wolverine’s adventurous ally Yukio. Yukio taught the normally reserved Storm to let loose every now and then, and as a result she radically changed her look, cutting her long hair and adopting punk-rock style leathers instead of a super hero costume. Shortly after changing her look, she lost her mutant powers as the result of an accident involving the inventor Forge.

Storm is on a basic Minimate body, the only add-on pieces she has are a collar, wrist cuffs for her gloves, and a white Mohawk re-used from Daken. Unfortunately, in all the Storms I’ve seen, the Mohawk is warped in the back. Her face looks perfect, they got the blank pupils and eyebrows right. All of the Storms so far have had great faces. Since she’s mostly bald, the ears are drawn on the head block. I’m normally not a huge fan of this method, the ears always look out of place, but it looks fine here. In a nice touch, she has crushed leather details on her legs instead of just using solid black. I also approve of the vest being detailed on instead of a separate piece. You don’t want to add too much bulk to female Minimates. They made the right choice here. Unfortunately, Storm has no accessories. She should have came with a knife, her weapon of choice from when she was powerless.

Secret Wars Storm is an absolute must have Minimate for X-Men fans. I’m a huge fan of the Paul Smith/John Romita Jr. era of X-Men and here’s hoping we get some more looks from that time. The mid-80’s era of X-Men is poorly represented in merchandise so it’s awesome to get this version of Storm. She just needs a knife. 8/10.

These Minimates came out during a time when the Marvel brand was really on fire with their character selection. Punk rock Storm is an absolute must-have and Klaw is a much needed classic villain who has crossed paths with nearly everyone in the Marvel Universe. The lack of accessories hurts the grade slightly, but otherwise this set is really fun. This set sells for somewhat reasonable prices on the aftermarket, so if you don’t have one and see one for  a decent price, pick it up! Thumbs up for Secret Wars Storm/Klaw!

Pictures and review by BigVis497

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