ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

Doktor A’s mini-mechtorians are here! And cheers to the Dok and MINDstyle for making minis awesome again.  This is the first wave of mini-mechs, and it contains the six characters: DJ Gramo, Mr. Head, Sentry Wheel, Sir Shilling Copperpenny, Skuttler and a teeny tiny Stephan LePodd. This line from the Mechtorians site is (gramophone) music to my ears: “Each 3″ tall figure is window boxed so you can get the one you want.” Hooray! I like getting what I want. And the greatness doesn’t stop with awesome figure quality and authenticity and being able to pick and choose figures (or get the whole set), the boxes apparently rule too. Vinyl Pulse already got a case and showed off the splendid packaging. I compiled a couple photos below, and here’s a snippet of Jack talking about the boxes:

Following [MINDstyle's] tradition of sophisticated figure boxes – MINDstyle has gone with a slip-off window box featuring embossed printing. Lifting the top portion up and off, reveals the figure packaged in a blister sitting atop a bottom tray…this is next-level reusable packaging for the serious collector.

This style of packaging should suit collectors who like to keep their figures on display, those who want to play with them a bit and finally mix of the two types. Looking at DJ Gramo below, you’d be hard-pressed to keep him boxed up and not want to check out his insides. The figures are on sale today for $14.99 each. Some stores are selling the entire set of six, too. If your local store doesn’t have them yet, they’re on the way.

One item to note. It’s fairly evident that I don’t favor blind-box packaging, but I’m not anti-fun. With this series, MINDstyle appeals to serious fans and collectors who don’t have time for BBs, folks who may know of steampunk and not Doktor A and absolutely need Copperpenny for their cubicle and those who enjoy the magic of a golden ticket chase. Yes, that’s right. Hidden randomly in some of these boxes are golden tickets that are redeemable for a “special limited edition figure.” I don’t say this everyday, so cheers to Doktor A and MINDstyle: I love every aspect of this.