We all remember where we were when first saw Back to the Future, and we all remember the joyous feeling of watching that movie for the first time. Well, Diamond Select Toys has brought that feeling back… to the future! The second assortment of Minimates Vehicles is in stores now, and not only does it have a new, customizable MAX Tech Stealth Jet and the first highly detailed Pirate Raiders pirate ship, it also has a time machine! Featuring hover-mode wheels and the Mr. Fusion modification in the rear, the new Back to the Future II car comes in regular and “phasing” versions, and can glide across the floor like it’s flying! The regular version comes with Doc Brown and is exclusively at Toys “R” Us, while the phasing version is at specialty retailers and comic shops, and comes with the first-ever Jennifer action figure! While each car seats two, we managed to get Jennifer to sit on Marty’s lap, for emergency trips to the year 2015. Check out our gallery of BTTF Minimates photos, and pick one up today!

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With the Avengers movie fast approaching, Avengers mania is at an all-time high, and we’re recruiting some of the team’s most famous members for an all-new wave of comic-based Marvel Minimates! As we first saw yesterday on Marvel.com. the 44th wave of two-packs includes:

- Iron Man (Heroes Return armor) and Captain America
- Hulk (Pantheon) and Thor (Heroes Return)
- Ant-Man/Giant-Man and a Kree Sentry
- Ant Man II (Scott Lang) and a Kree Sentry

Wave 44 will be exclusively available at specialty stores and comic shops in the spring of 2012. Each Minimate stands 2 inches tall with 14 points of articulation and a variety of removable and interchangeable parts and accessories.

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Marvel Minimates have been around for a decade, and Diamond Select Toys has made hundreds of different characters, but at the end of the day, everybody wants a Minimate of their favorite hero or villain, in the costume that they love best. So for those of you just getting into Marvel Minimates, or simply looking for the essential version of a Marvel icon, DST presents a 10th Anniversary “Best of” wave of two-packs: Wolverine and Sabretooth, Spider-Man and Green Goblin (with glider), Captain America and Thor, and Iron Man and Thing. These timelessly comic-styled Minimates are a great jumping-on point for any collector or retailer, and they’re only being offered though Diamond Comics Distributors’ Previews catalog, which means they’ll hit your local comic shop, specialty store or online retailer this spring!

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Everyone already knows that Minimates make great stocking stuffers, but what if you have a lot of Minimates, and want a fun new way to show them off to your friends and relations? Well, we’ve got an idea — why not trim the tree with them? Due to the interchangeability of Minimates, it’s actually pretty easy. Here’s how you do it:

1. Remove the Minimate’s head.
2. Clip the loop end of an ornament hook onto the exposed neck peg. (In a pinch, you can also unfold a paper clip into an S shape, and wrap the smaller end around the peg.)
3. Place the head back on, as well as the Minimate’s hat or helmet.
4. Bend the hook/clip upwards, so the hook can be seen over the Minimate’s head.
5. Place on tree.
6. Repeat.

At about $7 for a pack of two, that’s cheaper than most ornaments, and you can show your love of Marvel Comics and movies, Capcom games, Halo, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Universal Monsters, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, pirates, fireman, policemen, SCUBA diving and much more! Beat that, Hallmark!

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While Minimates have a primarily North American fan base, collectors the world over have discovered the joys of the highly poseable 2-inch mini-figures from Diamond Select Toys. To show how far and wide that joy has spread, we want you to send in your photos! Take a picture of a Minimate in front of a famous attraction — or a scenic vista only found in your area — and post it on our Facebook page. Better yet, take it on vacation with you! Mount Rushmore! The Great Pyramids! The Kremlin! The Gateway Arch! Mount Fuji! One winner a month will get spotlighted our newsletter as well as on Minimates.com, so be sure to tell us your name and where you shot the photo, and we’ll also contact you to send you a cool prize! We’ll post them as long as we keep getting them, so there’s no time limit, but don’t let someone else beat you to the best attractions! (Note: All submitted photos become the property of Diamond Select Toys.)

The MAX Tech Stealth Jet has had a few different incarnations, but since there are probably a handful of people out there who still haven’t picked up one of these collectable, connectable beauties, we thought we’d put together a short music video showing how much fun the thing is. The latest version, in clear blue, is at comic shops and specialty stores now as pat of Minimates Vehicles Series 2 — look for a black variant at Toys “R” Us, and plug ‘em together to make a superjet!

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2001 is a special number. It’s the year the original Halo game, Combat Evolved, first graced our Xboxes, but it’s also the number of “likes” Diamond Select Toys recently passed on Facebook! And just as Microsoft recently re-released Combat Evolved in an updated anniversary edition, we wanted to celebrate the number 2001 in our own way. So we’re giving away a copy of the new game, Halo: Combat Evolved… plus a set of Halo Minimates Series 1 prototypes! This Halo two-pack and four-pack come in preliminary mock-up packaging, with unpainted test-shots in the trays, and we’ll even throw in a mocked-up test package of the Warthog boxed set — which actually contains a production-model Minimates Warthog with driver! Simply “like” this posting on our Facebook page and you’re entered, but “like” it soon, because this contest ends Monday at 5pm PST!

This year may be the tenth anniversary of Halo, but next year is the tenth anniversary of Minimates, and we’re kicking off the year with a flashback line of Halo Minimates to celebrate the recent release of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary! The January 2012-slated Toys “R” Us line-up includes four 2-packs:

Master Chief (Mark V Armor) & Cortana w/Holo Chip
ODST Rookie & Spartan Hayabusa Armor
Prophet of Mercy & Arbiter (Dark Silver Armor)
Gold Chieftain & Rtas Vadum

Additionally, a box set released to comic shops and specialty stores at the same time will include Cortana, Master Chief, Jacob Keyes and the Prophet of Truth! Look for them all in January 2012!

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The world of the X-Men is so far-reaching and complex that sometimes they even exist in an alternate universe! This “Age of X” Marvel Minimates box set from Diamond Select Toys bundles up four of the most popular characters from that particular alternate-reality storyline, in which mutantkind is holed up in a fortress and surrounded by the armies of man. The good news is that you don’t have to travel to a parallel universe to get them, just head on down to your favorite local comic shop or specialty store in January, or pre-order them today online!

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The big-screen adventures of Thor and Captain America may be gone from theaters and released on DVD, but the anticipation for their return in the Avengers movie is already palpable. And so is the anticipation for the next wave of Marvel Minimates! There are a few different versions of Cap and Thor to collect, as well as some of their friends and foes, and with some figures only at specialty stores, and some only at Toys “R” Us, you’ll need to make a couple of stops to get them all:

Wave 42 (specialty stores and comic shops, 11/23):
- Armored Thor with Beta Ray Bill (metallic)
- Captain America (leather jacket) with Arnim Zola
- Thunderstrike with Stone Man (SPECIALTY MARKET EXCLUSIVE)
- Eric Masterson as Thor (rare variant) with Stone Man (SPECIALTY MARKET EXCLUSIVE)

TRU Wave 12 (Toys “R” Us stores and Toysrus.com, late November):
- Armored Thor with Beta Ray Bill (metallic)
- Captain America (leather jacket) with Arnim Zola
- Jack Kirby Thor with Balder (TOYS “R” US EXCLUSIVE)
- Secret War Captain America with Crossbones (TOYS “R” US EXCLUSIVE)

Look for the Toys “R” Us assortment to hit shelves shortly after the specialty assortment arrives, and check out our galley of images here!

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