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Marvel Minimates Wave 10 - Silver Sable and Sandman
Here we have a pack containing Silver Sable and the Sandman, two supporting characters in the Spider-Man universe. Like most Marvel villains, both of these started off as bad guys and then reformed, making them excellent (if slightly obscure) choices. The kind people at stuckakid sent this set for review, many thanks to them for that, and for also providing the prizes for the Design A Vehicle contest.
Packaging
Like the other sets in wave 10, this set has quite dynamic artwork, wisely putting the emphasis on the Sandman's huge hand accessory. As a Spider-Man-heavy wave, you'd expect the Spider-Man logo to be on these sets, but instead it's the generic Marvel Universe logo. A missed opportunity, seeing as the Spider-Man brand name is quite high profile at the moment on the back of the two films. 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.
The back of the packaging is new and only shows waves 10 and 11.
Each set in wave 10 also has a two-sided poster, featuring all of the Marvel Minimates released so far, excluding wave 10 & 11 but including the SDCC Dark Phoenix/Cyclops exclusive.
The poster is a nice little addition and does show how far the Marvel line has progressed in 2 years.
The Figures
Silver Sable
Silver Sable runs a business-minded mercenary syndicate. Highly skilled in firearms as well as hand-to-hand combat, she has been a thorn in Spider-Man's side. When their objectives are shared through her clients, she has also been an ally to the wallcrawler.
Silver Sable has a great experssion on her face, with raised, immaculate eyebrows and a small grin on her full lips. She also has a microphone headset/earpice as detailing, and a silver headband. In a really nice touch, the headband goes all the way around the head, even though most of it is obscured by the hair piece. Ah yes, the hair piece. It's New X-Men Phoenix/Jean Grey's hair. In white. Again. Just like the Black Cat. Still, it looks the part, so we can't complain too much. The hairpiece isn't pegged, and there is no hole in the head, presumably due to it being a reused hairpiece.
The costume, like all the female characters in this wave, is very simple but looks superb. The silvery grey sheen of the costume is amazing, making Silver Sable look highly distinctive. Combined with the white hair, gloves and boots, this is a colour scheme that works really well, and actually looks even better in real life than in pictures. Added to this, the detailing is top-notch, with not a line out of place. Despite the new Minimate body being used in the recent Indymates set, Silver Sable has the older body with the smaller torso peg.
For accessories, Silver Sable has a silver-coloured rifle. This rifle is reused from the Assault Punisher, but as it was a really nice accesory to begin with, that's not a problem. It's nice to see more weapons in the line, and also in this wave that was sorely lacking in accessories.
Overall, great paint apps have turned this Minimate from what could have been an also-ran into the highlight of wave 10.
MMC Score - 9 out of 10
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Sandman
The second figure in the set is William Baker, who in the usual '60s Marvel tradition was caught in a radioactive blast which gave him the power to convert his body to sand. He then used this power for evil and became the Sandman.
The Sandman's face, being based off an older comic, has quite a lot of detail. The leering smile on the Sandman's face is great, and shows his villainous side. His eyes are yellow and he has a rather pointed hairpiece which would be great for a Norman Osborne custom.
The Sandman's outfit is quite colourful. Although his lower torso is one uniformly drab brown, the chest piece has a vibrant green and black striped jumper. The stripes go around his arms, but are not painted on the sides of the chest block, a shame as it does spoil the look slightly. The left arm and hand are nicely detailed with a more yellowy texture, giving the effect that the arm is beginning to turn to sand. Sandman is constructed from the older Minimate body design, the same as the others in this wave.
The Sandman has one accessory, a giant sandy fist, mimicking his ability to convert his body into rock-hard offensive weapons. This is a reuse of the Super Skrull's large, rocky "Thing" hand. It works for the Sandman, but it would have been nice to get something else that was a good reflection of his powers. One idea that was suggested on the Art Asylum was another torso piece, static with no articulation, that looked like a pile of sand, which you could plug the body on top. This would have been an innovative idea, but with wave 10 being constructed solely of reused pieces, it was never going to happen.
Overall, this is a good but not especially exciting Minimate.
MMC Score - 6 out of 10
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