“Sorry,” said Aragorn solemnly. “But we already have enough commandos for the secret ‘free the hostages’ mission in the Overlord’s castle.”

“What?!?!?!” yelled Fake Gold Spidey. “You have every Spider-Man in your group except me! Surely I can go too!”

“No,” answered Aragorn. “We really don’t need anymore Spider-Men. And stop calling me Shirley.”

“This is an outrage! I am JP1000’s best friend! And you’re taking that Beat-Down Spider-Man over me?!?!?!” charged Fake Gold Spidey. “You’re picking him over me?!?!”

Aragorn frowned. “Freeing JP1000 is a secondary mission. The primary mission of the commandos is to free the women. And I’m sorry, but no one else can join the team. Unless the Broken-Arm Spider-Man ever shows up. We’ll make an exception for him.”

Mmm…delicious!

By Fujis

How’d you like a bowl of crunchimates with multicolored marshmallowmates mixed in?

If you said “yes” you’re not the only one. I found this on a website called The Realms of Suckadelic under the name Cerial Wars: Super Minimate Illout. Now I have no idea what an ‘illout’ is nor do I know why the Sucklord chose to misspell ‘cereal’. It probably has something to do with the fact that this is a piece of art. And as Andy Warhol has shown us sometimes art doesn’t need an explaination.

But since I like an explanation I spoke to the Sucklord himself about this piece which was featured in the first Art of the Action Figure Exhibit.

****************************

MMHQ: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview.

Sucklord: ok..

MMHQ: Can you tell us a little about the minimate cereal piece that you created?

Sucklord: (I) had 2 sizes of MM. Painted the little ones to look like cerial and the big ones to look like marshmallows. Set them up in a bowl and poured castin resin on them to look like milk. I like cerial.

MMHQ: You mentioned that it was created for the first Art of the Action Figure Exhbit. How did you become involved with Jesse DeStatio and SubCultures Design?

Sucklord: I think I met him at comicon 2003. He knew my Star Wars work that was reviewed in TOYFARE. He wanted me to be involved and got KID ROBOT to pay for my plane ticket

MMHQ: The ToyFare article (pictured above) mentions your Suckadelic! show. Can you talk a little bit about it and have you had other shows since?

Sucklord: Yeah. I just filled up my friends store to coincide with Episode II. I have had about a show a year since then. The last one was at High 5 in Williamsburg for the Mary Paper$ figure party. We usually get drunk and wear costumes. It’s fun.

“Where on Earth have you been?!?!” yelled Prototype Man as he embraced his long lost friend, Fake Gold Spidey.

“I’ve been on a long spiritual quest,” replied the surprised Fake Gold Spidey.  “I searched a great distance for my creator.”

“Wow,” said Prototype Man.  “Did you find him? Or her?”

“Not exactly,” sighed Fake Gold Spidey.  “I had always assumed Gold Spider-Man and I had the same father.  But as it turns out, we aren’t even related.  And my secret identity isn’t Peter Parker like all of the other Spider-Men.  Still, I’m close to solving the mystery.  I am either Jack Stanson or Chippy Chipperson.  God, I hope my real name isn’t Chippy Chipperson.”

“Never mind that!” yelled Prototype Man.  “An evil clone of JP1000 called the Overlord has conquered the world!  And he’s holding poor JP1000 hostage in his castle dungeon in Latveria! We’ve got to save him!”

“Oh no!  JP1000 and I didn’t part on the best of terms.  But I can’t let him anguish in prison,” replied a concern Fake Gold Spidey.  “Do you have a plan?”

“Yes, I do,” answered Prototype.  “But first we must join the RESISTANCE!”

The tribe has spoken.  Here are the results of the latest fan poll with 57 people voting.

What should be next for Minimates?

We need more solid color blanks - for customizing!: 7% (4)

We need a giant build-a-figure in future Marvel waves like Marvel Legends!: 33% (19)

We need generic character Minimates - like soldier Minimate, police officer Minimate, businessman Minimate (etc.): 23% (13)

We must have Star Wars Minimates!: 16% (9)

I don’t care - just release what’s already been planned already!: 21% (12)

Total Votes : 57

Don’t forget to vote in the next poll: What other MGM movie Minimates should be made (besides Rocky)?

And tomorrow: THE RETURN OF FAKE GOLD SPIDEY!

The “Eight Questions” column appears regularly at Minimate Headquarters. In it I interview minimate customizers and other fans of minimates. This interview is with Gambit, maker of the New X-Men Angel Minimate pictured here.

1. If Art Asylum created new playsets for Minimates, what style should they be (type, theme, etc.)?
Building Blocks playsets similar to c3 stuff.

2. What would you call/name a massive multiplayer online game (MMOG) featuring Minimates?
MiniMates MultiPlayer

3. Should Art Asylum re-release some of the harder to find and chase Minimates from the earlier waves (Black Symbiote Spider-Man, Martian Manhunter) to help out new collectors? Why?
Sure, Demand has gone up for rarer MM

4.Would you sign a petition that asked Marvel to allow DST to produce Marvel Minimates larger than 2” for larger characters?
um… sure.

5.What is your best secret for customizing Minimates?
Well it wouldn’t be a secret… I just get lucky…

6. Do you own a Martian Manhunter Minimate?
Yes

7. What is the craziest thing you would do for a Gold Spidey Minimate?
Nothing… Had one Ebay’d it when did spidey wear gold?

8. Spider Woman or Power Girl?
Power Girl

I know a lot of Minimate fans are eagerly awaiting the arrival of their exclusive San Diego Comic Convention 2006 Green Lantern: John Stewart. Here are some close up pictures to tide you over until yours arrive.

By Jatta Pake

I survived my first San Diego Comic Convention, and I’m back to tell about it! I was unable to attend the comic convention on Saturday as planned because I hit six hours of gridlock on my way from Los Angeles to San Diego. Luckily I had a hotel for Saturday night, so I shifted gears and went Sunday.

Sunday turned out to be a great day to go. Apparently DC Direct had additional Exclusive John Stewart Minimates to give away which they didn’t have on Saturday. Everything went wrong on Saturday but it turned out everthing went right on Sunday.

I was able to hook up with Timbo after lunch. Timbo has been doing a lot of hard work during the four days of the convention gathering exclusive John Stewart Minimates for the forum members, and he graciously agreed to give me the grand tour. I had a lot of fun talking with Timbo, and I’m going to have to spend some extra days at SDCC with him next year.

Forum members have been rounding up a lot of great pictures from the convention, and you can see the pictures of the DC Minimates rounded up here. Timbo has some great pictures of the other ‘mates here. I decided to make it my mission to “fill in the blanks” with any pictures of the Minimates not already appearing online.

First off is the Street Fighter 2 four-pack. Timbo introduced me to Art Asylum’s Vice President, Adam Unger, and he said these are set to go into the Toys R Us stores this fall.

The next picture is a shot of the Marvel four-packs set to go to Target and Toys R Us this fall. Art Asylum has slowly been building shelf space for Minimates in the store. These four-packs will replace the Darktide set which was designed to introduce Minimates to the mass market. These will be sold along with the familiar two packs.

Next is a shot of the poster showing the designed/planned classic Battlestar Galactica Minimates. I don’t remember seeing designs of the red dudes before. Someone will need to let me know who they are. I vaguely remember them being something like imperial cylons for Baltar. Like devious thinkers always up to doing some palace intrigue. But I could be wrong.

The next picture is a shot of the contemporary Battlestar Galactica poster. Notice the red eyed Six in the middle?

That pretty much wraps up my “fill in the blanks” pictures of the Minimates. There are already a lot of great pictures online of the new DC Minimates so be sure to check them out. The below picture is a fun shot of Vader’s buddies.

The above picture reminds me that I saw someone dressed up like Dark Helmet from Space Balls. He had a giant black helmet and looked just like Rick Moranis. It was hilarious. I would have taken a picture but my hands were full with food and other assorted goodies.

My wife took the above picture. She laughs at Picachu. (I have no idea who the kid is, you couldn’t get a picture of Picachu without getting a picture of some kids too.)

Study the below picture of people leaving the convention for a few minutes. Notice anyone familiar in the crowd?

Final thoughts: I had a great time at SDCC. I was able to pick up a couple extra John Stewart Exclusives for the board members and get one for myself. I enjoyed meeting Timbo, and he can verify that Fake Gold Spidey is still around. In fact, Fake Gold Spidey was examined by Adam himself! It was nice meeting Adam and hearing him talk about the passion Art Asylum has for Minimates. I am sure we can expect a bright future for Minimates with Adam and Art Asylum.

Check back tomorrow night for some pictures and reviews of the 2006 San Diego Comic Convention! -Jatta Pake

By Cappy

Please join me in welcoming a guest edition of JP1000 and Friends by Cappy!

By Cappy