08.02
Wave 8, the final wave of DC Minimates was, for better or worse, as diverse and eclectic as many of the previous waves. We at MMC apologise for having taken so long to have gotten these reviews to you, as these figures are a couple of years old now, but no one could have predicted the Minimate deluge of the last few years. Wave 8 kicks off with a pair of Minimates based on Mark Millar’s Elseworlds tale of a Superman whose spaceship crash-lands in Communist Russia rather than the USA. It’s an extremely popular tale, but does it deserve Minimateification?
Packaging
Standard DCD Minimate blister pack featuring a yellow card with a curved blisters. Both figures can be viewed through a window created by a cardboard insert, which this wave is themed by a Minimate-style Sinestro.
The back of the pack follows the same format as previous waves with large pictures of the figures from each two-pack
The Figures
“Red Son” Superman
Superman’s primary colours have been replaced by muted tones of grey and black, whilst even the red is much less vibrant than normal. His facial expression is stern rather than heroic, and the famous ‘S’ shield motif has been replaced by the Soviet-era hammer and sickle.
It’s not an awful-looking figure, but the dark colour palette and dour expression on the Minimate’s face make for a very ordinary figure that gets lost in the crowd among the more brightly coloured heroes and villains. I question the decision to make this Minimate in place of so many more deserving characters from the DCU.
Red Son Superman has no accessories. We don’t even get a chunk of Kryptonite this time.
In Conclusion: An unnecessary Minimate, committing the cardinal sin of being a boring figure.
MMC Score – 5 out of 10
“Red Son” Wonder Woman
Red Son’s re-envisioning of Wonder Woman still has her being Diana of Themyscira, but where Superman goes, Wonder Woman follows. The Amazon nation sends their envoy to the USSR instead of the USA.
Like Superman, this Wonder Woman has a far more businesslike expression than usual. She has unmistakably a female face but the set of the eyes definitely informs all that no funny stuff will be tolerated. The hairpiece looks to be exactly the same as we have already seen on the other two versions of Wonder Woman – wave 6’s battle damaged and wave 3’s normal version – that have featured in the DC line previously.
This version of Wonder Woman wears a version of her costume that harks back to the character’s beginnings with it’s rather modest skirt over the leotard that Wonder Woman wears in the modern DC Universe. The design of the bustier is quite clever as it continues the avian theme of the regular costume but has a definite Soviet slant. With more flesh on show Wonder Woman stands out a bit more than Red Son Superman but she is still slightly underwhelming as a Minimate, with the colours again being very drab visually.
Red Son Wonder Woman is accessorised with a golden lasso, again! This is the third use of this accessory, with no variation!
In Conclusion: Red Son Wonder Woman is better than her counterpart, but still an unnecessary Minimate.
MMC Score – 6 out of 10
Review and pictures by Rad Kerrigan
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