January 2017 Collection of MARVEL MINI-MATES!

Marvel Mini-Mates Series Series 69 and Blind Bag Series 01 - DST 2017

This has been an amazing month for Minimates. It's uncanny how they come in such surges (at least the interesting female characters). We can go through an eleven month dry spell only to have six new figures come out within a week of each other. It can be pretty overwhelming. I'm combining the Marvel Series 69 releases with the first series of Marvel Blind Bag figures for this review. The Mini-Mates Series 69 is dubbed "Most Wanted" and is definitely impressive for including both an Enchantress and Tigra. (Indeed two of my most wanted figures). The Series 01 Marvel Bling-Bags offered us amazing figures of Silk and X-23 Wolverine, a cool unhooded variant of Spider-Gwen, and an unexpected Deadpool 2099. I'm really excited to see what other figures they squeeze into future blind bag assortments. I'm hoping we'll see a Gwenpool, Moongirl, and Riri Ironheart at the very least. Toy Fair always has a few fun reveals and I'm certainly looking forward to it. Let's check out all the ladies below!

Marvel Legends - ENCHANTRESS (V2)!

Marvel Legends - Dormammu Series - Mystic Rivals - Enchantress - Hasbro 2016

When this Enchantress figure was announced this past August I was royally pissed off. I had just dropped roughly $140 for the giant SDCC exclusive Raft boxset (specifically to get the Enchantress figure and sell off the rest). The Dr. Strange/Dormammu wave was only a month from hitting the shelves and the lineup had been announced, or so we thought. But five days after the SDCC Hasbrotoyshop sale they announced this slightly repainted version would be a secret addition to the retail wave. I felt really taken advantage of. And I had been on cloud nine with the Marvel Legends line for years so that really bummed me out. But then when I saw her in person I decided there were enough color variations to warrant a duplicate purchase. Yes, both figures are blonde in green outfits, but almost every shade is different. This character gets so little play in the merchandise world that I couldn't help myself. Anyway, I still feel like a sucker so I put off this review for 4 months. Let's (finally) check her out below!

Marvel Legends - ENCHANTRESS!

Marvel Legends - The Raft SDCC Exclusive Box Set - Hasbro 2016

This figure is a very bittersweet one for me. I have had a longstanding obsession with Enchantress. The first time I encountered her was in the New Mutants Special #1 from 1985. This story was part of the Asgardian Wars storyline and featured all the young mutants getting scattered and stranded on Asgard with Enchantress being their main adversary on these adventures. I don't think I've read a single comic issue more times in all my life. So with all that longstanding adoration of Amora, I was really excited to see her in Legends form. It wasn't the first time that I splurged for an expensive SDCC exclusive while only intending to keep one figure. I'm ususally happy to do it because I can sell the others without much hassle. But this year, a mere two days after I got my Raft set in the mail, Hasbro announced that she will be a part of the Doctor Strange wave due out in September. I'm trying to balance the feelings of betrayal versus my joy over this figure. It's quite the existential crisis for me. Sigh.