Pin-Mates SPIDER-LADIES and BAT-LADIES!

Pinmates - An Assortment of Marvel and DC Characters - Bif Bang Pow! 2017

I'm kind of obsessed with these Pin-Mate figures from Bif Bang Pow! Throughout my childhood my home was littered with Fisher-Price Little People. My siblings and I had a ton. We had really old wooden ones and more modern plastic ones. But they were all in the simple peg-style of the time (not like the chubby vinyl things the line has morphed into now). And when we wanted to add more characters to our playsets, we would decorate one-piece wooden clothespins with markers and crayons to add to our ranks. When I first saw these PinMates, I half loved them and half hated them. But after I picked up a few and they continued to roll out cool characters, I'm definitely a fan. I have a handful of Bat-Ladies and Spider-Ladies, and now I want more. I've skipped a few cool movie-based characters (like Gamora, Nebula, Mantis, Hela, and Suicide Squad Harley Quinn) because I dig the retro and comic styles a lot more. But now I want Silk, Anya Corazon, Huntress, Poison Ivy, and a ton of others. Let's check them out below!

Marvel Legends - GWENPOOL!

Marvel Legends - Spider-Man (Lizard BAF Wave) - Gwenpool - Hasbro 2018

Comedic characters are always a tough translation into plastic. Most companies excel at making stoic or angry faces for their figures. But the minute you try to add some whimsy or a sardonic grin, things start to get pretty wonky. Even the smirk on the recent Enchantress figures looked more creepy than mischievous. But this Marvel Legends Gwenpool figure nails it. The standard head with the big smile is great, but the alternate tongue-sticking-out head is simply fantastic. If you're unfamiliar with Gwenpool, she was originally conceived in a series of Gwen Stacy-themed variant covers as a mashup between Gwen and Deadpool. She became very popular with fanart and cosplayer communities and soon began starring in backup stories and special issues before getting her own title in 2016. She is unique because her character knows she's in a comic book.. which leads to her constantly breaking the fourth wall, cracking all kinds of comic in-jokes, and killing with gleeful abandon. It's pretty great. Let's check her out below!

Late 2017 Collection of MARVEL MINI-MATES!

Marvel Mini-Mates Series 72, TRU 24, and Walgreens Wave 5-7 - DST 2017

Photographing small toys is a bit cumbersome for me. My photo tent is set up for 6 inch figures, so when it comes to the little guys I have to construct a stage of sorts to ensure they're properly lit. So out of laziness I tend to pile up a bunch of tiny figures and photograph them all at once. Mini-mates are a prime example of that. This post will collect all the Mini-mates I've picked up since May (when the Guardians of the Galaxy waves hit). Included will be Spiral, Hela, Gwenpool, Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel, Black Cat, Proxima Midnight, Spider-girl (Petra Parker), Medusa, and White Tiger. Diamond Select Toys really haven't been skimping with character selection. It seems like every couple months there is some heavy-hitter heroine on the shelves. Plus I love having yet another reason to stalk all my Walgreens stores. I hope Mini-mates last a long long time and I will keep buying them as long as they keep this level of character diversity up. Let's check out this newest batch of Mini-mate ladies below!

Marvel POP! Vinyl - GWENPOOL (AND VARIANT)!

Marvel POP! #197 Gwenpool & #213 Unmasked Walgreens Exc - Funko 2017

One of my favorite things about being a comic reader is when a character evolves organically due to pure fan excitement. One of the most notable examples off the top of my head is Spider-Girl, who was originally introduced in a random episode of What If? and was such a hit that she had two subsequent solo series with over 130 issues. Anole is another case. He was originally an unnamed background character in the 2003 New Mutants series. He never got his own series, but he has been developed into a fan-favorite X-Man. Gwenpool was first introduced as a Spider-Gwen themed variant cover. So essentially she was just a concept design. But then the fans got ahold of her and the internet was suddenly festooned with cosplay and fanart. Soon she was starring in Howard the Duck backup stories and her solo series was inevitable. The first time I paid any attention to her was in her Holiday Special, and I was instantly smitten. She's terribly violent, but she's so quirky and nerdy that it's almost cute.