Battlestar Galactica Cylon Minimates

Source: SciFi Weekly

The Cylons that rebelled again humanity have evolved again-and this time they've gotten smaller

The Twelve Colonies of Man, populated by human settlers from Kobol, created a robotic servant called the Cylon to serve and protect them. Cylons, tall, metallic soldiers, eventually rebelled against their human masters and evolved.

In the newly revived version of the 1978 TV series Battlestar Galactica, the Cylons evolved into human form, indistinguishable from humans, with 12 different models that were designed to blend into Colonial society as sleepers or moles, some even unaware of their origin and mission. But despite this evolution into human form, the Cylons still keep their metallic forebears around and use them in the same way humans once did. (You'd think they'd learn.)

Diamond Select has created a series of Minimates, small, blocky action figures based on these new metallic Cylons from the 2003 revival series.

The figures measure 2.5 inches in height, stubby representations of the tall, thin Terminator-like robots. Each comes packed in a small window box, with a sticker on the back indicating which model is enclosed: Downloaded Cylon, Cylon Centurion, Cylon Cannon Centurion, Battle Damaged Cylon or "Valley of Darkness" Cylon. The five figures are essentially the same deformed Cylon figures with variations in parts and paint.

Each Minimate has ball-jointed shoulders and hips with rotating hip/torso joints and hinged knees and elbows. The feet rotate on pins. The heads snap onto a cylinder and would rotate if not restricted by the chest armor. The heads can pop off, though, for some rotation if necessary.

Diamond Select sells these in sets of a dozen (four Centurions, three Cannon Centurions, two Battle Damaged Cylons, two "Vally of Darkness" Cylons and one Downloaded Cylon). A box set containing each of the five is available as an exclusive to Suncoast Video.

The future is toast

The figures are basically the same, though they do have different parts and paint. The main, most notable difference is the hands, which in the Cannon Centurion and the Battle Damaged Centurion have been replaced by three-pronged cannon weapons, as often seen in the series. The other three figures have hands composed of three long, spiky fingers and a thumb.

The other major difference is in the paint. Four of the figures are painted essentially identically, in dull gray, but with differing details. The fifth, the Downloaded Cylon, is painted in shiny silver to represent a new, untarnished body. This is meant to reflect the unique ability of Cylons to download their personalities and experiences into new bodies after dying.

"Valley of Darkness" Cylon (named after the episode) has a blood-red handprint on his chest and other bloodstains on his head and hands.

Battle Damaged Cylon, contrary to his promotional prototype pictures, does not have multiple bullet marks, but does have a more subtle dark paint to indicate battle scoring. This effect is a bit too subtle, though probably more accurate than the original plan, which appears to show bloody bullet holes.

The Cylon Centurion and the Cannon Centurion have no battle damage and differ only in their hands.

Some of the parts can be removed and interchanged if desired. Most of the joints are either on simple pins or ball joints that aren't sealed in any way.

Fans of Battlestar Galactica (and they are many) will enjoy getting their hands on these mini "toasters."

I have to say that generally the Minimate concept baffles me somewhat. Originating almost as Lego figures, they have evolved to have more free-moving joints, but these days there is barely a licensed science fiction character that doesn't have a Minimate version. —Sean