Minimates

Minimates are a block-styled miniature action figure originally created by Art Asylum in 2002 and now released by Diamond Select Toys.

Released in both specialty stores as well as mass-market retailers, Minimates are made for both kid-friendly and adult-oriented properties, giving them a diverse fan base.

These included Dark Angel, Star Trek, Kung Faux, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the films of Bruce Lee, along with a Rock line featuring KISS, Rob Zombie, Ozzy Osbourne and Alice Cooper.

However, a Lord of the Rings line produced by Art Asylum and Play Along Toys in 2004 added a third body type, which stood 2.5" tall, to further illustrate the size differences of the various races of Middle-Earth.

In 2007, Art Asylum became a division of Diamond Select Toys,[1] and the Minimates body type has since been applied to dozens of licenses from comic books (The Walking Dead, Invincible), TV (24, Star Trek again), movies (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Universal Monsters, Marvel Studios), animation (The Real Ghostbusters, Peter Pan) and video games (Halo, Tomb Raider, Marvel vs. Capcom 3).

Both two-packs and four-packs have been offered at major pop culture conventions, including San Diego's Comic-Con International, New York Comic Con and C2E2.

Currently, Diamond Select Toys is producing stop-motion animation for its in-house brands – Calico Jack's Pirate Raiders, Minimates M.A.X.