Zombie Characters/Bosses (Tengu stuff added 22/03/2011)

[warrenss2]

Possible Boomers, with a little greenstuff work?

http://www.trollandtoad.com/products/search.php?searchmode=basic&search_category=1177&search_words=blob&Image1.x=0&Image1.y=0

And

http://www.trollandtoad.com/products/search.php?searchmode=basic&search_category=2131&search_words=bertha&Image1.x=0&Image1.y=0

[cheetor]

Possible Boomers, with a little greenstuff work?

Normally I am very wary of sculpting work: my "skills" in that department are rudimentary to say the least.

That said, I decided to make an effort to get a little better at sculpting recently, starting with my L4D Chargers.  I am pleased with the result.  As I have a Blob figure at home I might see if I can make his attire look a bit more day to day looking than a gigantic leotard

I have always had a fascination with that repulsive Bertha Horrorclix.  She does seem like the ideal candidate for Boomer-isation.

I finished painting my Chargers last night.  I will hopefully get to varnish them and maybe base them this evening.  With some luck I will be able to post up some photos before next week.

[cheetor]

More Left 4 Dead "special" infected, this time Chargers from L4D2.





Chargers as they appear in L4D2 are strangely mutated infected, even amongst the odd special infected that appear in the franchise.  Their dominant feature is one hideously overgrown arm with a correspondingly massive diametrically opposed leg.  The remaining limbs have atrophied almost entirely: it looks to me from the reference pictures almost as if they have been chemically burnt away.






I was tempted to paint the wasted limbs in a similar way, but i was afraid that they might just end up looking a bit unfinished or confusing in the context of the other huge scaly arms, so I left the smaller limbs painted as the rest of the "normal" flesh is.


Like the other L4D special infected that I have put together/painted I wanted to go for an immediately recognisable look, but I didnt want to feel that I had to copy the concept exactly.  Like the hoodies on the Hunters I thought that the hillbilly dungarees would help to suggest "Charger" so when I spotted the Cold Wars zombie in dungarees I figured that that sculpt would be good for use as the "chassis" for the figures.






The right arms are made from a GW Chaos Mutation sprue arm and an Ork arm respectively.  Both of those have had a lot of green stuff work done to them to blend them in, to bulk up the shoulders and add the scales.  I had never used Green Stuff to do anything other than fill holes before these two figures and so I am pleased that they came out as well as they did.

The Charger on the right also had a head swap with a West Wind zombie.

The Hasslefree "Mutant Grant" figure is the obvious not-Charger figure available (but it isnt out until Salute in a few weeks I think).

I am a very big fan of Hasslefree figures but I must admit that Mutant Grant isnt really as Charger-y as I would like.  Grant obviously has a huge deformed arm but for whatever reason Mr. Hasslefresian decided to sculpt Grant with two normal legs.  That is of course up to him but it surprised me really.

The diagonal contrast of deformed big versus deformed small is one of the things that I like about the L4D Charger design.  As a result I chopped off one of each of my Chargers feet and replaced them with feet from Heroclix figures (Wendigo and M&M Beast to be exact).  Not that I am favourably comparing my very amateur sculpting and converting to anything from Hasslefree you understand, its just that I thought that it was a pity that Mutant Grant didnt have the one-big-foot look that I like.

Probably some Resident Evil "special" zeds next time.

Comments and critcisms all very desirable

[Steve F]

How does anything charge if its legs are mismatched?  Wouldn't it hop, stumble, shamble or fall over instead? 

[cheetor]

Wouldn't it hop, stumble, shamble or fall over instead? 

Definitely  

"Hopper" may have been a better name for the zombie type, but they probably couldnt sell it to the marketing department

Its ridiculous and no doubt about it, but I like the way that it looks.  In the video game it doesnt seem to cause them any serious ambulatory impairment anyway.  I suspect that Chargers probably gallop a little like a large ape, except that they use one leg and one arm to propel themselves, rather than two big arms.

The bionic man also only had one bionic leg if memory serves.  He seemed to do alright

[Commander Vyper]

Captured the essence well my friend.

[warrenss2]

Those chargers are looking awesome! During the game I like to get them to charge... then move out of their way. They smash into something and stun themselves! 

"The bionic man also only had one bionic leg if memory serves." - He had both legs bionic... just one bionic arm though.
http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Bionic_Man_Sounds.aspx 

[The Hooded Claw]

This is one from my 15mm collection. More of a character than a boss, but you tell the undead elephant he's not in charge.

[cheetor]

Captured the essence well my friend.

Thanks.  I think that it will be quite obvious to anyone who has played the video game exactly what the figures represent.

Those chargers are looking awesome!

Thanks.  They were a bit of a gamble really, I didnt know if I could get them to look anything other than daft.  Although there are a few things that I would change (I would make the poses more aggressive and dynamic for one thing), I am happy with the end result overall.

He had both legs bionic... just one bionic arm though.

I must have been getting his limbs mixed up then

I read an English comic in the late 70s or early 80s about a kid who had an accident and had bionics inserted, I think without him knowing.  Naturally, he used them mainly to play football.

He only had one bionic leg and the writers used to go on about him having to ensure that when he jumped that he lifted off on the correct leg.  Does anyone know what that story was called?

Meanwhile, back on the topic of zombie bosses...

This is one from my 15mm collection. More of a character than a boss, but you tell the undead elephant he's not in charge.

He looks like fun.  No question that he is dead either with that huge chunk missing from his flank.

I am on the fence about zombie animals in general.  I am ok with the idea of one or two species being succeptable to infection (like dogs in Resident Evil and the movie version of I am Legend) but if any species can become a zombie then it gets a little too silly for my tastes.

Still, if a species has to be chosen as vulnerable to zombie-itis, it might as well be a big scary elephant

Wasnt there an elephant who had mutated due to exposure in Resident Evil 2 or 3 (the games that is, not the movies)?

[supervike]

My Hero strikes again!!         



(in case you didn't know, that is ringing endorsement of your Charger!)



You continually impress me with your fantastic work.  I love L4D, but have to admit, I love minis more....

[cheetor]

You continually impress me with your fantastic work.

Very kind. Thanks.

I love L4D, but have to admit, I love minis more....

Me too.  The next zombie character stuff that I work on will probably be Resident Evil but I have more L4D stuff in the pipeline, in various stages of completion.

[warrenss2]

"but if any species can become a zombie then it gets a little too silly for my tastes" - OMG!!! Isn't that the truth!!! Zombie fleas to spread the love, anyone?

[warrenss2]

Just found these. New to me, but I"m sure you all already know about them. D@mn!! It always seems that I'm 2 or 3 steps behind you guys! 

Hasslefree Charger?
http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/pack.php?pack=2268

Hasslefree Tank?
http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/pack.php?pack=2267

[Commander Vyper]

Just found these. New to me, but I"m sure you all already know about them. D@mn!! It always seems that I'm 2 or 3 steps behind you guys! 

Hasslefree Charger?
http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/pack.php?pack=2268

Hasslefree Tank?
http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/pack.php?pack=2267

Yup still are, these are for the Hasslefree participation game at salute 10.

Oh do keep up 007!

[cheetor]

This installment has a couple of "special" zombies from Resident Evil, the iconic Licker and the less well known but eerie Regenerators from RE4.  Both will be going up on my blog over the next while.



I am a big fan of the Resident Evil video games and Lickers have been one of the my favorite "special" zombie types in the franchise since the release of RE2 on PS1 back at the end of the last century, in 1998.



I am not much of a sculptor (I prefer to stick various components together rather than to sculpt bits) and so I was wary of getting the signature exposed brain look on my Licker. This has put me off trying to put together a suitable Licker miniature for years. I finally decided to bite the bullet and give it a go.  I am happy with how the scuplted areas came out.  I wont win any prizes for it, but it is adequate and the figure looks recognisable, so thats a score as far as I am concerned



The original miniature (a Horrorclix "Tickler", pictured below) had a row of spines on its back.  Although they dont strictly correspond with the Licker "canon" I left them on for a bit of visual interest.  Mutant variation like that is very in keeping with the whole RE thing anyway.


Next a pair of Regenerators from RE4.



Regenerators are one of the more memorable bad guys from Resident Evil 4.  They are the zombies that are animated by a number of Las Plagas parasites throughout their bodies (well they are called parasites, but I dont think that parasites inhabit dead things, do they?). 

They were as creepy as all get out and required judicious use of the infra red sniper scope to surgically dispatch the various parasites that controlled it.  Regular damage to a Regenerator was ineveitably... wait for it... regenerated.  They were great bad guys and according to the Resident Evil Wiki, they are the only true zombies in the entire game.  The rest of the bad guys generally being living humans inhabited by a parasitic bug of one sort or another dontcha know.



(The Iron Maiden above is a boss version of the Regenerator.  As it is hard to find a decent picture of a Regenerator online you will have to settle for the boss version.  The only real visual difference is the spikes that protrude from the Iron Maiden.)

The miniatures are Tortured Shamblers from Pardulon.  The figures are resin and the pair that I got had a lot of flashing and a few bubbles.  As a result I had difficulty painting them, particularly on the legs which had I had scraped almost featureless.



They worked out ok in the end although I would approach the painting differently if I were to paint them again. 

The figures are a reasonable approximation of the game villains.  Particularly, they figures have that somewhat palsied look that is very suggestive of the RE Regenerators, plus they are quite tall: very zombie boss like.

Finally, below is a comparative shot for scale purposes.



L to R: Horrorclix Tickler (the basis for the Licker model), Pardulon Tortured Shambler, Lead Bones not-Leon S. Kennedy, Licker (converted Horrorclix), Hasslefree Ray, Pardulon Tortured Shambler.


Comments and critcisms all very welcome