Around The BLOCKhead

By: Erich Arendall

Episode 5: Street Fought, Street Defeated?


Hi-yaaa!
I'm in the midst of a move this month, so 90% of my toys are safely locked away in boxes. However, since the Street Fighter II / Dark Stalkers MiniMates are currently making an appearance in Attercap.Net this month, I still had those out and handy to write about. Since I'm moving soon, though, I need to get back to packing so this article will be cut short--just like the line.


Hello sailor, new in port?
Appearing in 2005, Art Asylum's run of Street Fighter II / Dark Stalkers MiniMates had a very limited shelf-run. Outside of online stores, the initial run of this line was hard to find. GameStop had ceased selling toys and the video-game based toys have always been a niche market in general. Even from the beginning, things looked grim for the line.


Hodoken!
The distributor, Diamond Select Toys (DST) made a special boxed run of the first line for Toys 'R' Us, some of the newly-boxed figures even came with "Player 2" alternate color schemes for characters like Chun Li and Morrigan. Unfortunately, flagging sales and lack of necessary support canceled line 2 from being produced.


You look good. No, you look good!
The MiniMates were molded the now-standard 2" style and came with "special effects" accessories, like a kick motion for Chun Li, fireball for Ryu, etc. The first wave consisted of Street Fighter II characters Chun Li, Ryu, M. Bison and Akuma. Each figure also had a "Player 2" alternate color scheme. For Dark Stalkers, the first wave contained Dimitri, Morrigan and a limited-release Lilith.

It's a shame that the line was canceled after the first wave as many of the more unique characters were scheduled for wave two like Blanka, Felicia and Zangief. Despite the years, however, hard-core fans have kept the dream alive as Art Asylum still has the license to produce future figures. Today, the first wave still tends to be found in online stores for their original $7 per two-figure pack.

If you're a fan of the classic run of Capcom games or MiniMates in general, this is still a worthwhile line to get. It's got some great character faces and, really, who doesn't love anime-inspired hair? For now, though, I've got to get back to packing. See you next month!

-erich

Erich Arendall is currently featuring some of the Street Fighter II MiniMates in his webcomic, Attercap.Net.

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