There’s probably not a whole lot of folks out there that collect them, but I know for a fact that Marvel Micro Muggs collectors do exist! And for those collectors, this is the time to get psyched up, because Hasbro has brought Micro Muggs back to stores this winter with a whole new assortment of twelve Avengers Micro Muggs blind boxed figures! My Target finally reset and put out these Avengers Assemble Micro Muggs that were sitting in the back room for weeks, and while I’ve avoided being bitten by the Micro Muggs bug up until now, that was before Hasbro brought out Micro Muggs Loki and MODOK…

I always thought that Mighty Muggs were one of Hasbro’s best ideas of the past decade that flopped. I love collectible vinyl figures, and while Mighty Muggs were a bit more hollow than most, I still thought that they were usually very cool and fun (especially the Marvel Mighty Muggs). When Hasbro brought out Marvel Mini Muggs for the Avengers movie, I was hoping the smaller size would yield bigger sales. Nope–those also flopped hard.

But with the 1.75″ tall Micro Muggs, Hasbro may have finally found its money-maker! Not because these sell especially well, mind you, but because these are likely so incredibly cheap to produce that Hasbro makes a killing for every Avengers Micro Muggs blind box sold. Seriously–$2.99 for a 1.75″ low-detail, unarticulated figure is a pretty killer deal (for Hasbro).

As much as I adore vinyl-style figurines, I thought the Micro Muggs were a bit too much of a ripoff for my sensibilities, so I avoided the Iron Man 3 Micro Muggs all last year. I was planning on doing the same with this year’s new line of Avengers Mighty Muggs when I saw them at Target–right up until I looked at the characters on the side of the box and discovered Micro Muggs MODOK, Red Skull and Loki. Curse you, Hasbro–you sure know how to hit a guy hard!

Avengers Assemble Micro Muggs Series 1 includes Nick Fury, Captain America, WWII Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Hawkeye, Kang, Red Skull, MODOK, Loki and Ultron. While I could not yet bring myself to pull $3 blind boxes from a series where I only really want a handful of the figures, it’s really only a matter of time until I give in and go spelunking for Loki.

While I think it’s pretty freaking ridiculous that this series contains two versions of Micro Muggs Captain America but ignored Black Widow completely, I am utterly in love with the villains. Little chibi Micro Muggs Red Skull and Kang are certainly the cutest they’ve ever been, that’s for sure!

The Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk Micro Muggs are unfortunately either just repacks or minor recolors of their previously released Micro Muggs figures from the Avengers Assemble Micro Muggs four-pack.

Avengers Assemble Micro Muggs Series 1 has now been released at retail. Each case contains 24 Avengers Assemble Micro Muggs blind-boxes with a retail price of $2.99 each. I’d imagine that these all have the same case layout, so if anyone buys a full case and wants to share their layout with others, feel free to let me know and I’ll post that information here on the site.

Alright, Marvel fans. I think we can all agree these figures are exorbitantly overpriced, but even with that being the case, who’s planning to pull at least a couple of Avengers Micro Muggs blind boxes?