Action figures have long been a perfect compliment to comic books, since every kid (or kid at heart) has that natural desire to act out adventures with their favorite heroes off the drawn page. Every so often, a unique style of figure comes along that breaks the mold, so to speak. Each Saturday, Donny B will be showcasing various offerings from Art Asylum’s take on the ‘block figure’, with a weekly spotlight on Minimates.
Not every Minimate is welcomed with open arms. Sometimes, Art Asylum releases a character that just plain stinks. The Hulk is a prime example of this, since many of his releases are experimentations with “bulking up” the look of a Minimate without changing it too drastically. Many fans feel that his first release was the best, and every attempt to “improve” him have failed horribly… but the Hulk isn’t alone. In DC’s second Minimate outing, they introduced the larger sized bodies for appropriately larger character. On top of doing that, they added on rather encumbering pieces that hid a large amount of the distinctive blocky look that Minimates were built to embody. We are going to see that concept as we examine Gorilla Grodd.
Grodd, from the Flash’s rogues gallery, is a big character. To convey the bulkiness of his hairy physique, his Minimate form was “over dressed” as some fans would argue. It caused a small outcry from the Minimate community, many of whom had no hatred for the release aside from how it simply didn’t look much like a Minimate:
Behind the Image:
I’ve shown off several photoshop-heavy images over the last couple of weeks, so this time I went for one that had no post production work whatsoever. I wanted a very ‘organic’ feel for this week’s photo, just to keep from getting in a rut of over-producing my shots (which I am very fond of doing). And what better way to give a very ‘real’ feeling to a photo than to surround the subject in nature?
So I took my Gorilla Grodd ‘mate outside and placed him in a tree. ’nuff said 😉
On Ebay: Gorilla Grodd
funny. ’cause i think he looks cool especially because he’s noticeably different from the standard minimate design. ah well … diff’rent strokes and all that jazz.
Comment by Doorman — August 20, 2010 @ 7:45 am
Indeed, the diff’rent strokes thing is rampant throughout the Minimate community. For example, I personally loved the Salaak (Green Lanter) Minimate, but no matter how many people think it was a masterfully designed ‘mate, there are always collectors who are very vocal in their opposition to its overall look.
I picked Gorilla Grodd to make this particular point because he is a prime example of a Minimate that has pieces that cover him so completely that he no longer really resembles a Minimate – and it is whether or not the release can be identified as a Minimate that determines the approval rating, not how cool that particular character looks. Go figure 😉
Comment by Donny B — August 20, 2010 @ 5:30 pm