Make it So: Game of Thrones Minimates
If there’s one thing we geeks love to do, it’s wax theoretical on all the things that could have been or should yet be involving our favorite characters or properties. Whether an unseen final season or a never-produced line of action figures, we want them. Now. Make it so!
Take one hot property. Merchandise like a mofo. Profits. This IS one of the few tried and true recipes for success, and few properties are hotter as of late than HBO’s Game of Thrones based on George R. R. Martin’s best-selling literary series – A Song of Ice and Fire. Best of all, the show (and the books that spawned it) have really captured the imaginations of the fanboy/fangirl community and as HBO launches its second season (which premiered last night) the time is right to strike while the anvil is hot and forge some filthy lucre with tie-ins. Most necessary among these? Collectible figures. But with such a large, rich, and ever growing (well, occasionally shrinking) ensemble cast, how could you ever truly please the fans? A single Jon Snow or Eddard Stark simply wouldn’t do. Even an assortment of four figures – Ned, Robert, Jaime, and Daenerys; one from each of the primary houses – would be insufficient. Ah, but what to do? Enter…
Yes, Minimates, my old friends, would be the perfect solution to the quandary in which we find ourselves. Why?
- Size – The diminutive figures would allow for a larger collection to be amassed and displayed, and given their compatability with Lego sets, building the seven kingdoms would actually be a possibility. Imagine that… your very own Twins and Eyrie, all to scale…
- Assortment – Minimates tend to come two-per-pack in waves of three to four, meaning with each assortment released to stores, fans would be able to scoop up 6 to 8 of their favorite characters, thus greatly increasing the likelihood of getting all of the major players before the line’s inevitable conclusion. With luck, we might even get our hands on some of the less-prominent characters as well, such as Syrio, Samwell, and Ser Loras Tyrell.
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"My lord's meat... is bloody tough!"
Accessorization – With so many damned swords in play, along with a handful of other relevant bits of stage dressing like three-eyed crows, iron thrones, and tomes of lineage, Diamond’s tendency to load their mates to the gills with accessories would be a welcome way to ensure our players have all the props they need. And who wouldn’t love to see a golden crown for Viserys or a spare hand for Greatjon Umber, carved away to indicate the fingers Grey Wind took from him?
- Customization – Consider this… Minimates are nigh-infinitely customizable simply by way of parts-swapping. Whole armies could be built from new combinations of armor; the heads from a few spare figures laying around could create an innumerable host of Gold Cloaks to patrol King’s Landing; and with all those extra heads laying about…
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How do Minimates make Direwolves? They do it doggystyle!
Innovation – In their Ghostbusters line, Diamond discovered they could turn ordinary base figures into giant hulking hell hounds. A similar treatment would give us our Direwolves with their appropriately exaggerated proportions and, dare I say it, some adolescent dragons when the time comes.
- Precedent – Though not one of the best received of the Minimate lines, the Lord of the Rings mates already dabbled in the realm of medieval fantasy; though not exactly the mystical White Walkers, we’ll soon be seeing zombified ‘mates in the Walking Dead comic book line. And let’s just be honest… if Dawn and Magdalena can warrant Minimates, so too can the denizens of Westeros and beyond.
Clearly, this would be a match made in heaven. Perhaps DST could even break out their old super-sized molds to give us a somewhat larger-than-life Hodor? Hodor! Though speaking of scale, that does bring us to the one sticking point…
I suspect Tyrion would have a rather smart jape about the redundancy of making him a Minimate
Hey, if Legos can figure out a way to make dwarves, I’ve faith in Diamond.
Filed Under: Columns • Make it So
Only if Eddard Stark comes with an alternate tarred head, complete with impaling spike.
ENTIRELY POSSIBLE! And if he doesn’t come with the spike, well… that’s what Legos are for.
Dammit, I have a clever joke I want to make about parts-swapping, but it contains a major book 3 spoiler.
Repaint: http://minimatedatabase.com/acc.php?i=629&n=Lockheed
*Season 1 finale/2 premiere babies, naturally.
GodDAMN, son! Why didn’t I think of that!?
~_^
It’s unfortunate they couldn’t use the old LoTR method, too, of making most characters out of the larger mates, and then using the current standard size for Tyrion, Bran, Arya, and maybe even Joffrey, but I think the time has long since passed for a line built around the larger mates. I know – I – wouldn’t want to see it at this point…
DC used the LotR “Human/Elf/Orc” scale for larger characters like Bane, Croc, Clayface, Grodd, etc.
And we wouldn’t have the 2″ Minimates if it weren’t for the 3″ ones (Star Trek, Bruce Lee, Ozzy Osbourne, Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon) kicking off the entire brand.
Joffrey isn’t small, he’s tall. #NerdNitpick
Ten – I know that the 3″ mates were the ones that paved the way, and that the DC line used them quite a bit. Still, I don’t know that a whole line based around them, at this point, would really work.
Josh – I know Joff isn’t meant to be small, but I simply figured it would be a good distinction for the “children”
But…Joffrey is adult-sized. It’s particularly noted in the text that he towers over Tyrion, so to make them the same-size would be blatantly incorrect.
However, I’m totally on board with Arya, Bran, and Rickon having smaller ‘mates. And Tyrion, natch.
I’ve been saying the same thing for months. You know you want to, DST! I’m at least gonna’ get the parts and a couple Lockheeds to repaint for some Dragon Queen action.