DC Direct Con Exclusive John Stewart Green Lantern Mini-Mate

By Daniel "Julius Marx" Pickett

"In Brightest Day.."

That was the "phrase that pays" every afternoon at Comic Con 2006 at the DC Direct booth. The week before the con, DC Direct posted on their web site two different "secret phrases" that fans could walk up to the DC Direct booth and say and get something cool. For the morning it was "Who's Who." That would get you one of the blind boxed series 1 Who's Who sets.

In the afternoon if you walked up and said "In Brightest Day" you were rewarded with a sneak peek at DC Direct and Art Asylum's upcoming DC Mini Mates line. And they were quite strict with people really saying the phrase. People that just walked up and asked for one were turned away, unless it was a child, and then they were given a few hints until they got it. They didn't seem to ming bystanders helping others, but you had to say the phrase if you wanted a figure.

This fall Art Asylum relaunches the DC Mini-Mates without the C3 construction sets of last year. This time they partner with DC Direct and we have already seen a diverse character line-up including many villains and use of both the 2" and 3" Mini-Mates scale. Standard characters will be 2" scale (matching the Marvel and Indy Mates lines) and larger characters will use the 3" Mate body used for the Lord of the Rings and Star Trek Mini-Mates.

They even remember to paint his ring on the top of his hand.

John Stewart along with the Superman and Batman from the C3 sets.

Here is a comparison shot with the DC Direct "Pocket Hero" line. Pocket Heroes were DC Directs first entry into the block figure arena, even though they are not bock figures per say. I was a fan of the Pocket Heroes line and own them all (except for the LOSH ones), but I have to say I'm really excited by what I'm seeing with the new Mini-Mates line. Pocket Heroes were very uniform with most of the detail being done with paint and capes with the occasional accessory. From the designs we have seen of the first three waves of the DC Mini-Mates, we can see that Art Asylum and DC Direct are not afraid to craft new pieces in addition to the paint details to separate the characters and give them their unique costume designs. I have high hopes for this line.

I have ONE spare DC Direct John Stewart Mini-Mate to give away to a reader. Email the same phrase that you needed for the DCD con give away to: amazingjlojm@aol.com by Friday 8/18 at midnight PST along with your address and I'll pick a random winner over the weekend. US/Canadian readers only please.

You can pre-order the first three waves of DC Mini-mates at LegendsAF.com or YouBuyNow.com.

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