Castle Doom Minimate Display
I love the Fantastic Four. Starting with a quarter bin double-sized issue (#358, I believe) and re-reading it cover to cover, my collecting days were born. My favorite find was the first appearance of Doctor Doom from the Kirby days, issue #5:
The story has Sue kidnapped by Doctor Doom, and the other three are forced to travel back in time (via Doom's Time Machine, of course) to obtain Black Beards treasure. According to Doom, the treasure contains mystical properties--for which he'd use to rescue his mother's soul from the devil. Wow, what a story! One panel in the book in particular stood out in my mind as the classic heroes vs. villains stand-off:
The bound and gagged damsel in distress. The smug villain on his throne with pet tiger. The three heroes held at bay.... So where am I going with all of this? I also collect minimates and when the opportunity presented itself to properly display them (thanks to friend Dan's model car display case) I jumped on the idea of re-creating this scene (without tiger). Here's what I've come up with....
I went a little bit more detailed than Kirby's original panel, but I felt it needed it. I love the drapped curtain creating that sense of royalty, a true castle. And the paintings of Doom--his ego knows no bounds. I felt I shouldn't stop there. What's Doom without his laboratory? I quickly whipped up a basement level...
I wanted to keep the curtain--but this time it's drawn back revealing something more sinister than a stone wall. Doom's command center- one screen to tabs on each member of the FF at all times, along with a larger screen for other potential threats to Doom's plans. In this case, Galactus. Doom's always trying to obtain the power cosmic or some other alien technology. I think Galactus there is pretty upset. "I know what you've done, Doom...and Galactus is coming for YOU!" The floor tile is a nod to Thing's rocky texture. Plain and simple, brown and orange grit. Here's the two levels together...
And because you've been patient enough to read this far, Here's each level with my minimates...
"Say, Where's Doom at Stretch?" "Hmm...good question Ben..."
"Your power is now MINE, Surfer!! Who dares stop Doom now?"
And there you have it. One Castle Doom Minimate Display. Stay tuned next week when I post my X-Men and Ghostbuster Displays in similar fashion. (They won't be nearly as wordy, I promise) (:
