M is for Minions!

This is an odd one as I was sure I'd handled them before, but once I got them out of the box, they ceased to feel familiar, turns out I'd selfied a similar set last Christmas in TK Maxx, today's was the reduced end of line/scruffy last set in The Works a week or two ago.

This set differs from the one we saw lasttime in a number of ways, firstly - there are no duplicates and secondly there are non-minion items, a monster rock-ape-dog-boar thing and a unicorn?

Now I've noticed that unicorns are everywhere this Christmas (or this autumn if use of the 'C'-word is still too early for your sensibilities!), mugs, toys, cushions, egg-cups, stuffed-toys ('plushies' for those who indulge in baby-talk), fleeces, you name it I've seen it unicorn shaped or unicorn decorated in the last few weeks, 18 months ago you may remember a similar summer fashion trend for flamingoes, that didn't last long!

Another way they differ is that they all have their arms down, the previous set had far more animation in the individual sculpts included. This pre-production publicity shot also has them all with a printed logo on their dungarees which didn't make it to the production batch contained within the box!

The artwork is cleverly arranged to reveal the full extent of the playability; the heads come off and you can pull the monster-pet's legs out, and  . . . err . . . that's it! Although you can also pull the feet out with a sharp tug, they are actually - like the gloves to the hands, the arm-sections to the dungarees and the goggles to the faces - glued on/in.

Lining-up against the new backdrops! Four of the characters have the same basic body, arms and legs (including the pair on the left here) while one is taller and thinner, the other shorter and fatter - whereas the previous set seemed to have more variety or uniqueness between sculpts; with the Despicable Me 3 set only the heads differ on four of the figures.

The other two with common parts, the reason they didn't seem so similar when I'd opened them is that last time I only studied them on-store, and later from the shelfie. Now, it looks in that old set as if they do all come apart fully, but I suspect lost components led to poor customer feedback and as a result with this set the gloves are firmly attached; trying to pull them off stretches the arm, and as it's made of that crumbly new faux PVC - damage would have occurred had I persevered!

Likewise I tried to prise the arm/side units out but they are stuck-fast somewhere in the middle of the figure. However you can remove the feet, by turning sharply until you hear the non-solvent bond between the two polymers snap and then the feet become almost too free!

They also serve who only stand and wait! The previous set had 4 each of 5 poses, this set has one each of six, plus these two.

They're really just Kinder-egg capsules with dungarees and faces drawn-on aren't they, let's be honest; there's nothing new under the Sambro sun!

Be Bad!