When ‘The Big Bang Theory’ first premiered way back in 2007, I don’t think that anyone suspected it would become the massive success story that it’s become today. The series has won numerous awards and has been able to maintain high ratings throughout the length of it’s series run so far, which is why it isn’t shocking to see ‘Big Bang Theory’ merchandise has been hitting the market and taking the world by storm! With each passing season, the merchandise based around the hit geek-based sitcom seems to have gotten better and better, and now it’s culminated with what is arguably the greatest bit of ‘Big Bang Theory’ merchandise yet- Minimates!

What are Minimates?

So first off, for the uninitiated, what’s a Minimate? Minimates are DST and Art Asylum’s ongoing line of mini-figures that are based on anything and everything you can imagine! Each figure (well, most of them) stands 2-inches tall and has interchangeable parts that work with almost every other Minimate, making these guys great for customizing and making your own original figures! Minimates have been in production since 2002, so with over a decade’s worth of figures on the market, it isn’t hard to see why the line has such a huge fan base!

So yes, that’s right, ‘The Big Bang Theory’ now has their very own series of Minimates available from BifBangPow and Diamond Select Toys! The series itself is made up of two separate figure 4-packs, which are available exclusively on EntertainmentEarth.com! Today we’re going to look at the first of these two sets, which contains Howard, Raj, Amy, and Sheldon in a ‘Green Lantern’ tee-shirt! So how well do these 2” scale mini-figures live up to their on screen counterparts? Let’s take a look at The Big Bang Theory Minimates Box Set 1!

Howard

Starting us off is Howard Wolowitz! Portrayed on the hit series by actor Simon Helberg, and this Minimate figure captures his likeness perfectly! It’s always great when a figure can match up with the actor they’re trying to emulate so well, which is something that Diamond Select has really learned to excel at over the years. Howard is sporting his usual attire that he is seen wearing on the show, a tee-shirt over a long sleeved turtleneck with sneakers, tight-pants (although with Minimates, I suppose they all look tight?) and an iconic looking belt buckle. The buckle varies from time to time on the show, but it’s really nice to see that the design team on this figure didn’t skip over a detail like that with the addition of the alien-head buckle he’s wearing! The only thing I would change about this figure is the color scheme he has going on. Between Howard, Amy and Raj, this four-figure-set is rocking a lot of people decked out in purple. Howard is known for purple, but has also been seen repping plenty of other colors over the last decade’s worth of episodes. Still, if the color scheme of a figure’s outfit is the only thing that comes to mind as a complaint, that usually means you’ve got a quality figure on your hands!

Amy

Next up is Amy Farrah Fowler, as portrayed on the show by actress Mayim Bialik. Amy’s Minimate is another one that looks pretty much spot-on to the actor that it’s designed after! Much like Howard, her outfit is based pretty directly off of her usual attire on the TV series. Most of the characters on this show have a pretty distinct style or color-set, so it’s easy enough to replicate that in toy form. Overall, Amy is a really nice figure, but she (and the rest of the females in this set) all suffer from a serious design flaw- skirts! The skirts look really nice, but the issue with them is that they’re a solid hard piece of plastic that completely hinders these characters leg articulation at the knees! You wouldn’t think that this is really a big issue, but then you realize that these figures come packed with a couch as an accessory, but they can’t even sit down! That detracts a bit from her enjoyability, but at the end of the day this figure is still a nice representation of the character.

Raj

Of all the figures in this set, the only one that strikes me as a bit on the weak side is Raj. While he is very much instantly recognizable as Raj, his facial design doesn’t quite catch as well as the others in the series. He doesn’t look terribly like actor Kunal Nayyar, does he? As far as his design goes as a whole, he looks pretty much like how you would expect a Raj figure to look, so it does definitely have that going for it. It does come back to the whole “too many people wearing purple” thing again, but of all the people in this set I feel like Raj is the one who wears purple on the most regular a basis, so he makes the most sense as a character who should be wearing it. Still, his jacket and vest combination do sort of just scream “Raj”.  I feel like this one could have come out better, but he is by no means a bad figure.

Sheldon

And finally we’ve got Sheldon, as played by the incomparable Jim Parsons! This Minimate reflects the Sheldon persona perfectly, and looks pretty spot on like Parsons, so it’s a double win! Sheldon sports a comic-book tee shirt (Green Lantern in this instance) over a long sleeved shirt which ahs the sleeves partially rolled up, along with khakis. It makes a world of difference that they licensed DC Comics character brands for Sheldon to be able to wear the shirts seen in these sets (you’ll see the other one in the next review!), as his character is almost always wearing a DC Comics logo of some kind on his tee shirts. I love the sheepish little smirk on Sheldon’s face, looking so smug in his brilliance. It’s a very fitting look for the character. The design team here did a bang up job on this figure, and his color scheme really pops, making him stand out as a bright spot amidst a sea of lightish-purple figures.

Accessories

Each of the two ‘Big Bang Theory’ Minimate Box Sets includes some killer accessories! For example, each of them comes packed with a couch piece so you can recreate the iconic living room set-up form the hit series! The couch accessory is a really fun idea and makes a wonderful display piece for these figures! It’s especially rewarding to collect both sets to be able to set up both couches side-by-side for the full effect!

Minimate Box Set #1 also includes a few other special accessories, including Sheldon’s ‘Roommate Agreement’, a soda-can hand, and a set of hands that are holding chopsticks and a Chinese-food container! This are probably some of the coolest individual accessories I’ve seen in recent memory, and they’re very fitting for this set of figures. The Chinese-Food hand-set is a really nice touch considering how often you see these guys eating Chinese-Food on the show. The soda-can makes less sense, but fits in well enough. The only accessory that feels out of place is the ‘Roommate Agreement’, and even that is still a nice piece! It just seems like it would make more sense to have included it in Box Set #2 instead, since that set includes another Sheldon and a figure of his actual roommate, Leonard! Even so, these accessories are really neat and make great inclusions!

Overall, The Big bang Theory Minimate Box Set #1 is a really nice figure 4-pack that includes a pretty solid set of characters, and easily some of the most interesting accessories we’ve seen lately! They’re a great pick up if you’re a fan of ‘The Big Bang Theory’, and even if you aren’t necessarily into the show, this figure set has so many great pieces in it that there are plenty of cool parts to raid for your own devices! We’re highly recommending this set! Pick yours up today, sold EXCLUSIVELY at EntertainmentEarth.com!

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