Gambit & Psylocke Minimates
I don’t collect a lot of superhero stuff. I find some of it very cool and can appreciate it; I just don’t have unlimited space and funds.
That said I happened to be at Discount Comic Book Service when they were having a sale on MiniMates. And you know I couldn’t pass up a mini figure of Gambit…
Psylocke:
Psylocke is one of those X-Men characters that has evolved and changed over time. At one time, Betsy Braddock was essentially a psychic character in the same vein of Professor X and Jean Grey. As her character evolved, Psylocke became more of a warrior. She also learned to harness her powers to create energy blades.
This Minimate represents Pyslocke in her Ninja phase, but without the facial tattoos. One thing block figures don’t represent well is the curves of the human body. It’s a lot more evident here, where the character is a sexily dressed woman that shows a fair amount of skin in the comic books.
The arms and legs are pretty much standard with flesh tone portions. However, the torso piece has that great ’90s X-Men comic art. Her, uh, hmm, curves are definitely there in the art work, but the block form doesn’t show her as really feminine.
Her face and hair are another story. The face is minimal, but is girly. Big lips, thin eyebrows. Pretty. The purple hair would be the envy of your neighborhood punk girl. Long with a nice violet color.
Betsy comes with a couple accessories. The first being a sword. While famous for using a katana type sword, this weapon looks more like a European type weapon. It isn’t curved and the detailing is a little more generic. The weapon is also not a psychic energy creation.
However, her psychic dagger is. It’s a piece that fits over her hand to create the comic book look. There’s a down side; the peg is a little long and doesn’t stay well attached on mine. Also, the peg is longer and the hand won’t seat against the wrist.
Gambit:
I have to say I was a fan of the Ragin’ Cajun back when I was reading single issue comics on a regular basis. The black sheep of the X-men family suffers from having a love him or hate him relationship with fans. I happen to like my heroes to be the loners with issues.
Gambit’s classic look is pulled off pretty well here. The long trench coat is a separate piece and has a nice collar. My only slight issue is I wish it was a bit more open at the bottom to allow for more poses. The arms are limited a bit as well by the coat.
The chest is done in an artwork style. To give it a little more depth, the neck piece is a sculpted piece molded in silver blue.
The bottom part of his legs benefit from custom pieces, as well. The foot pieces give the technology look that Remy shows in the comics. A really nice touch is the stripes going up the side of his legs.
Where Gambit really shines is the accessory category. The first piece is a slim stick that represent the staff that Monsieur Lebeau uses for balance, defense and attack. The second piece is an extra hand that has a single “energized” card in it. The fingers on this extra hand are a little oddly shaped and I’m really not sure if they’re right. There is an “A” on the card but paint would go a long way to making the card stand out.
The final accessory is an energy accessory that represents Gambit dealing some pain to his foes. There are three cards in flight being thrown from Gambit’s hand. I like the idea of the accessory, I just couldn’t find a pose I like it in. Again, some paint on the cards would help quite a bit.
Overall:.
A pretty nifty little two pack with a fair amount of accessories. Psylocke is a decent figure of one of the fearsome Marvel femme fatales. While her curves are hampered by the block form, the paint does a good job of representing her in comic form.
Gambit benefits from a number of accessories. When a character like him has one look, you pretty much only get one chance to get it right, and they did a great job here. I wish he could move a bit more, but the trade off for getting the look right is worth it.
Engineernerd Score: Gambit 94/100 Psylocke 92/100
Category: Featured, Marvel, Toy Reviews
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Nice set. I don’t go out of my way often to get Mini-Mates or Mez-Its, but these look interesting enough to warrant a look next time I hit a comic store.;)