The next pair of Avengers destined for the Marvel Minimate treatment in wave 16 were announced earlier today on Raving Toy Maniac. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch make their minimate debut. Pictures below. Can’t wait for this two pack!

 

Marvel Adventures: The Avengers #9
written by Jeff Parker, art by Juan Roman Cano Santacruz, cover by Cameron Stewart

Holy. Crap. Look at that cover, man.

Now, to be fair, the Avengers aren’t fighting your traditional M.O.D.O.K. They’re fighting M.O.D.O.C. This is because the K in M.O.D.O.K. stands for Killing – as in, Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing – and the Marvel Adventures line is supposed to be more kid-friendly, so the words “kill” aren’t allowed. So the C stands for Conquest. I guess it’s alright if the kids lead lives dedicated to conquest, then.

For those of you out of the loop, the ‘Adventures’ line is like the Ultimate line: It’s a separate continuity from the main Marvel U, allowing for more accessible, less continuity-intensive storytelling. The lineup for the team (in case the picture is a little unclear) includes: Captain America, Iron Man (on the same team? gasp!), Spider-Man, Wolverine, Storm, the Hulk, and Giant-Girl (as I understand it, it’s Janet Van Dyne, AKA the Wasp, but she uses her powers for BIGNESS).

The writer also happens to be Jeff Parker, the writer of the excellent Agents of Atlas, and the successful X-Men: First Class. I’m not as familiar with Santacruz, but I’ll say this about him: He draws a GREAT Avengers-as-M.O.D.O.C.s (see the preview pages).

For more M.O.D.O.K.-related reading and links, go here and enjoy – And definitely continue after the jump for that 6 page preview!

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Its been quite a busy week in the world of Minimates. The DC Minimates will have another wave coming. This one will hit around September of 2007. Wave 5 will consist of the following pairings:

Captain Marvel and Mary Marvel	Guy Gardener and Kilowog
Hawkman and Hawkgirl	Red Tornado and Ma Hunkel

DC fans should note that this is only the second wave to not include a Superman. The only other wave, Wave 3, to not feature Superman featured Batman.

Yesterday, Diamond Select Toys revealed the most asked for marvel minimate for the past several waves, The Mighty Thor. Wave 16 of the Marvel Minimates will be an Avengers themed wave. Each day this week, starting today, a new pair of figures will be announced with the whole group being revealed on Friday. Each announcement will be made on a different site. (Today, ArtAsylum.com; Wednesday, Raving Toy Maniac; Thursday, MinimateMultiverse.com)

The initial announcement featuring the Thor pictures was here at Diamond Select Toys.

Today’s announcement was made on the ArtAsylum boards. They revealed Loki and Bearded Thor (Eric Masterson) as the first pair. This bearded Thor will be the variant.

 

From a couple smaller fan forums comes fresh looks at resin prototypes for 2 of the biggest and most talked about Transformers figures for the new movie.

Gen1TF and Nuklear Power have diverging looks at what may be the Optimus Prime that will populate toy shelves this summer. Also, get a load of Megatron, who definitely takes after his Energon counterpart.

It’s nearly impossible to tell how big these resin prototypes are without comparison shots, but the level of detail leads me to believe we’re looking at something in the $40 range, like Transformer leaders of the last few years.

There’s been a lot of pictures floating around the net of various toys lately from this line, but I didn’t think many of them were that special until I saw these.

In a move designed to avoid a situation like The X-Files(went on too long) or Alias (too short), TV Week reports that the producers of Lost are in negotiations with ABC to determine an end date for the series.

Lost has been very successful in its first 2 and a half years on air, but fans and critics worry the show may be wearing too thin or may pile on more mysteries than it can solve. A definitive end date would push writers toward a finish line they know when they’re supposed to cross. Its been suggested they go to 100 episodes or 2 more seasons, which may be a comprimise between those who want to end it before it wears out its welcome and those that might want to keep it on air until its dry.

Whatever the case, the good news for fans is February 7, 2007 is the date the show returns from hiatus; now over 70 days from the crash. ABC.com is running short clips until then.

Day Break may be returning to Canadian TV February 1st 2007.

Fans of ABC’s Day Break, starring Taye Diggs, were disappointed to learn of the show’s early cancelation last month. This show was slated to run its 13 episode course during Lost’s hiatus but was canceled after a mere 6 episodes due to poor ratings. As all episodes of this show have already been made there are plans still in the works for ABC to release the show online. Apparent problems with rights to music have hindered this process and it now seems they may be released online in late February.

The Canadian channel that played the show, Global TV, was even less forgiving than ABC and stopped airing the show 2 weeks earlier than ABC did. [Read the rest of this entry…]

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing Apocalypto, the Mel Gibson directed epic about a Mayan tribesman who is captured and seperated from his family. This was perhaps the most graphic and violent movie I’d seen in some time, and the fact that it was presented as historically accurate it shook me more than the same level of graphic violence does nightly in various video games.

I felt that same shaken feeling after Children Of Men. [Read the rest of this entry…]