The second series of Topps' Garbage Pail Kids MiniKins mini figures is finally out!
This new set was initially supposed to be released in March as the follow up to last Fall's first series, but got delayed until June. I was beginning to get a little worried as June neared and there was still no official announcement from Topps about the line, but thankfully they finally began to trickle out in stores.
As with Series 1, the new set consists of 26 different sculpts that are made of a bouncy rubber and are available in both "base" painted versions and monochromatic, unpainted versions. The Series 1 monochromatic colors--red, blue, green, yellow, and super rare black--are back for Series 2, in addition to a new sixth color, "classic peach." Here's a shot of all 26 painted base figures as well as a set in mixed mono colors:
The peach color, which is no doubt a nod to the similar color used in classic '80s mini figure lines like MUSCLE and Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys, is only available in "hobby" boxes of MiniKins. That means that you can only get it in packs sold at comic shops, card shops, and places like that. It takes the place of the yellow-colored figures, which are only available in retail packs (for example, ones bought at Target). I think it looks great!
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| Peach & black figures |
Also following suit with Series 1 is the way the figures are packaged. Once again, they are available in blind-bagged two-packs (each including one painted and one mono figure) as well as "jumbo" four-packs (containing one visible painted figure, one hidden painted figure, and two hidden mono figures). I can't help thinking these toys would attract more attention from kids and adult collectors alike if they were packaged more like Trash Pack multi-pack figures--where there are 5-to-12 figures per package, with a few being visible--but we may never know.
The new packs also still include little character stickers that correspond to each of the figures and include funny character bios on the backs.
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| Outer Space Chase, Weird Wendy & Many Lenny MiniKins with their character stickers |
Sculpt and character selection-wise, I'd say Series 2 is an even more interesting group than Series 1, and I might even prefer it.
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| Graffiti Petey & Double Heather, as both Cheap Toys & MiniKins |
We've also been treated to a bunch of other iconic GPK characters that hadn't yet officially been released in mini figure form, including Weird Wendy, Slobby Robby, Outer Space Chase, Karate Kyle, Grim Jim, Mad Mike, Oozy Suzy, and Michael Mutant.
Then, there's some more oddball/unexpected characters like Clark Shark, Yeti Eddie, Mushy Marsha and Pete Seat.
As with Series 1, the sculpts take some liberties with the characters as compared to their card artwork. For example, Mushy Marsha is upright in her ice cream cone instead of sideways and splattered. I think that's to be expected when dealing with figures that are just around one inch tall, though, and it doesn't really bother me.
Here's the back of a package showing all the character names:
Overall, I'm very pleased with the second series of MiniKins and wish the line would carry on to a Series 3 and beyond. These things are really fun and give me almost the same feeling I used to get opening up packs of Monster in My Pocket, MUSCLE and other lines as a kid. Unfortunately, from what I've read, the prospect of more figures beyond Series 2 doesn't look great. I'll keep holding out hope, though!
What about you? What do you think of the new batch of MiniKins?