Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => VSF Adventures => Topic started by: Vermis on April 30, 2014, 02:15:56 AM
-
So many uses for these but I guess VSF is the most likely one...
Like the topic says, I was in Home Bargains in Belfast and it looks like they've got their hands on a whole bunch of toys from the Walking With Dinosaurs 3D movie. Of particular interest to the wargamer: packs of the three main pachyrhinosaur characters for 99p, and 'collectible', blind-bagged, glow-in-the-dark models for 19p each.
Packaging:
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7198/14069693525_e73c04e1c1_o.jpg)
Size comparison with Empire of the Dead Sherlock, Red Box elf, and old placcy bretonnian:
(https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2906/13883088729_33f9dd19f3_o.jpg)
(Full size) (https://www.flickr.com/photos/65937633@N05/13883088729/sizes/o/)
The movie was ruined at the last moment by committee suits shoving in voiceovers and bookends, but before that the dinosaurs were overseen by a group that included David (http://www.davidkrentz.com/davidkrentz/David_Krentz.html) Krentz (http://www.davidkrentz.com/Krentz_Presentz_Sculpture/Home.html), so you know the quality is going to be good and as accurate as 2013 knowledge allowed. What with some visible but faint horizontal lines on the models, I'd guess they were printed from the original (or modified) animation models, albeit at a low res for cheap plastic toys. That is one caveat - the shallow, slightly blobby detail - but it is there, looks improvable with a judicious paintjob, and it is on cheap placcy toys! A fiver will get you a herd of fifteen and that'll hide most of the very few drawbacks. :D
They're 80-85mm, which at 1:56 makes them between 4.5-5m. A bit wee for Pachyrhinosaurus, but then with the lack of frill spikes (also in the film stills on the accompanying cards) I guess these are meant to be young versions of the characters, which helps. ;D Anyway, anyone who remembers how to roll plasticene snakes should be able to easily whip up a variety of putty horns to attach to turn them into proper Pachyrhinosaurs (http://dinotoyblog.com/2010/03/19/pachyrhinosaurus-papo/), or reasonable approximations of smaller ceratopsians like Centrosaurus (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2012/june/muscle-reconstruction-reveals-how-dinosaurs-stood111815.html), Styracosaurus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Styracosaurus_dinosaur.png), Einiosaurus (http://www.fossils-japan.com/img/dinosaur/Einiosaurus.jpg), Achelousaurus (http://atrox1.deviantart.com/art/Achelousaurus-horneri-161575309), Diabloceratops (http://baryonyx-walkeri.deviantart.com/art/Diabloceratops-376645574), etc. etc. etc...
The blind-bagging of the luminous models is annoying, but I was able to feel the frills of the pachyrhinosaurs through the bag and avoid duplicates of those. (Though if you don't mind standing in a middle of a shop and fondling the merchandise for a while, you'd get them for even cheaper) I ended up with the Troodon, which - despite the up-to-date-feathering - isn't very inspiring for any kind of wargaming use, as far as I can see.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7360/14069694545_e47079f204_o.jpg)
Still, detail isn't too bad on close inspection, aside from slightly miscast feet. Though looking at the range in non-glowing form (http://www.bbcshop.com/walking-with-dinosaurs/walking-with-dinosaurs-single-figure-1-supplied-blind-bags/invt/50705), I think I'd much rather get me hands on a couple of those Gorgosaurs or Quetzalcoatlus instead. Maybe Hesperonychus...