Marvel Minimates Wave 4 - Unmasked Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus
Here we have a pack containing another Spider-Man variant and Doctor Otto Octavius, also known as Doc Ock. With the release of the Spider-Man 2 film only a few months away, creating a pack with Spidey and Doc Ock in makes good business sense.
Packaging
Wave 4 is the first "proper" wave to feature the new, box-style Marvel Minimates packaging which now is an enclosed box with pictures of the Minimates in action poses.
In a nice touch similar to the Giant-Size X-Men Boxset, pictures of the 2 Minimate's heads are on the side of the box.
The packaging is a smaller than the old carded 2-packs, and immeasurably cuter. Interestingly, these new boxes are also smaller than the Magneto and Professor X exclusive, too. The Minimates information page has been updated with comparison shots of all 3 types of packaging used for the 2-packs, as well as with a new shot of the back of the box, which now shows a selection of characters both old, new and upcoming.
The figures are packed in a bubble tray, and have no twist-ties holding them in. Instead, a second clear tray piece fits over the top and then locks in, meaning that these figures are held in well and can be seen from each side.
As I mentioned before, I wasn't sure about the packaging change to the boxes with the Magneto/Professor X 2-pack, but seeing all of wave 4 and 5 in these little cute boxes has changed my opinion totally. They are just adorable and will definitely help to sell them.
The Figures
Unmasked Spider-Man
Another Spider-Man variant, this time unmasked, is the first figure in this set. Unmasked Spider-Man is effectively Peter Parker's head on Spider-Man's body. Spider-Man's body is excellent, as it is the same body from the classic wave 2 Spider-Man and therefore the detailing is sharp, the web lines are all painted on nicely and the colours are crisp. However, it seems a bit cheap to have exactly the same body as an existing figure.
The Peter Parker head doesn't look at all like the Peter Parker exclusive figure, which can be seen as a good thing as I thought with the glasses and smile he looked unnecessarily geeky. This figure's expression is a bit more stern and reflective, which perhaps suits the character more.
The hairpiece is also different from the Peter Parker figure, however the fit of it to the Minimate's head is atrocious. It's completely flat to his head, there is no 'hole' for the top of the head to plug into or an overlap with front pieces of hair, therefore it just sits on top of his head and falls off very easily. As well as being a pain, the lack of front pieces of hair makes Peter look like he's got less hair than he should have, which is an unsettling thing for a Minimate to show.
Unmasked Spider-Man also comes with a nice accessory, a backpack made of webbing which he uses in the comics as a repository for his civilian clothes.
Overall, Unmasked Spider-Man has some good things going for it, such as the web backpack and the better-looking face, but the downsides of being mostly the same as an existing figure and the hair looking bad and not staying on really hurt the overall score.
MMC Score - 4 out of 10
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Doctor Octopus
The second figure in the set is the evil genius that got telepathically bonded to his robotic tentacles, Doc Ock.
Doc Ock has a very cartoony look to him, both in his colours and the expression he has on his face, which is a gritted teeth scowl of hatred. He has his bowl haircut and spectacles, which look good, but the real fun is had when you remove the hair/glasses piece - Doc Ock has these huge eyebrows which really add to his character.
Doctor Octopus is primarily green and yellow. The paint application is average - you can see some bits of green on the yellow of the neckpiece and gloves. The black lines painted onto the top of the boots to indicate where the yellow of the boots finishes and the green of his costume begins has the yellow paint app overshooting well into the green paint app. This is not a huge problem - it's done the same way on the packaging - but I think it looks sloppy.
The main draw with Doctor Octopus is of course his robotic tentacles, and Minimate fans were anxious to see just how they would be implemented. Thankfully, they have been done well. Doc Ock has an oversized chest piece which not only makes him look fatter at the front but also has an attachment piece for his four grey tentacles at the back. These tentacles plug into the 4 sockets on the back and that means that they are somewhat posable, turning at the socket joint for additional playability. However, they can be pulled from the sockets quite easily.
Overall, Doctor Octopus is a unique figure that has been well executed, and in Minimate form represents another worthy addition to the list of Spidey's foes.
MMC Score - 7 out of 10
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