14.02
Here we have a Minimate exclusive that was only available at the February 2005 Toy Fair held in New York. Whilst it was a giveaway, some have made their way onto eBay. This particular one that I’m reviewing came from the fine folks at ASMzine.com, who covered Toy Fair ’05 with their usual panache and plethora of photos, including some great Art Asylum Minimate pictures.
Packaging
Like the blank Minimates given away at previous Toy Fairs, and the more recent Santa Spidey from last year, the Toy Fair 2005 Minimate is packaged in a small baggie. Unlike the blanks, but like Santa Spidey, the printed text is on a sticker attached to the baggie, rather then being printed directly onto the baggie itself.
The back of the baggie has the logos of Diamond Select Toys and Art Asylum, along with a silhouette of the NYC skyline in black, the logo of Toy Fair 2005.
The Figure
NY Toy Fair Blank
Like the blank Minimates available previously, this is a very simple Minimate. Predominently white in colour, the only addition to the previous blanks is the black Toy Fair 2005 logo stamped on the chest with the Toy Fair 2005 legend underneath. Luckily it makes a fantastic contrast and really adds to the look of this exclusive.
The Minimate’s head, despite being featureless, has the hole in it that started with the Marvel waves 8 and 9. This is a really nice touch and once again puts these exclusives across as showing the changes in the Minimate body over time. The rest of the figure is constructed like the Santa Spidey exclusive, with the longer torso peg, and differently aligned legs. Neither of these features have made it into the regular Minimate run yet but I’d say it’s a good bet they will. Interestingly both Santa Spidey and this exclusive have the older hexagonal torso hole rather than the latest wave’s dual V pieces. Maybe the longer torso peg helps the torso stay on better so they don’t need the newer design, I don’t know.
Much like Santa Spidey and waves 8 and 9, the joints on this figure are very tight, and the build quality seems excellent. This exclusive doesn’t have any accessories – hey, he’s essentially a blank – but does have C3 feet.
Like the other non-retail exclusives, I don’t think it’s right to give him an MMC score, but again, he’s a very solid example of top-quality Minimate engineering.
Review and pictures by Danny Mills
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