New Pulp Figures Company

[Hitman]

I just spotted this on TMP (The Miniatures Page) tonight. Some interesting figures and stories to go with them. The company is out of Poland. Check it out at the link below:

http://www.pulp-city.com/shop/

[Burgundavia]

Interesting, although it is 1980s Pulp, not 1930s or classic pulp. Plus their prices are nuts.

[Doc Twilight]

Yes, they've been out for some time. Nice miniatures, and apparently it's a decent game.

The odd thing is that they insist the stuff is Pulp, and are very defensive about it. I agree it looks like fun, but I really think the term "Pulp" is overused these days. When I use it, I refer strictly to roughly 1914 to 1945, but I am a rather odd one;) What ever happened to "B-Movie"?

-Doc

[Orctrader]

Nice figures.

Too expensive.

Not "Pulp."  I don't care what they call their game.  In fact, I think they missed a sales opportunity by not thinking up a really original name.

Pulp is a genre.  It is inter-war.  The books are easily recognized.  The figures are made in Canada...

[Remington]

Any knowledge on their scale? Some of them look quite interesting.

On the pulp matter, maybe "wargamer's pulp" is placed in the interwar years, but I don't think it would be a stretch to call these miniatures "pulpish". Even going back a bit to the old pulp magazines, then anything that deviates from historical fact could be pulp. Even fantasy settings, like Conan, are pulp.

[Plynkes]

I disagree about Pulp meaning inter-war. That's the heyday of the Pulp magazines for sure (and even then, the setting doesn't have to be inter-war: just look at Conan), but the mass-market paperbacks of the 50s and onwards are certainly Pulp in my mind, and they are certainly included in most definitions of the word. Wagamers' idea of what Pulp means has entirely divorced itself from the real world.


If that enormous pile of seemingly identical trashy Western, Crime and Romance novels that clog up half of my local second-hand bookshop aren't Pulp then I don't know what is. 

[dodge]

I disagree about Pulp meaning inter-war. That's the heyday of the Pulp magazines for sure (and even then, the setting doesn't have to be inter-war: just look at Conan), but the mass-market paperbacks of the 50s and onwards are certainly Pulp in my mind, and they are certainly included in most definitions of the word. Wagamers' idea of what Pulp means has entirely divorced itself from the real world.


If that enormous pile of seemingly identical trashy Western, Crime and Romance novels that clog up half of my local second-hand bookshop aren't Pulp then I don't know what is. 

Haven't we done this before , I feel like I'm having a Deja Vue moment.

Plynkes is right in his definition of pulp - cheap novels and comics throughout the 20's, 30's etc.......

We have redefined Pulp a little as wargamers but essentially we have it right I think.

These new figures are nice and seem to be  a more modern twist on robots and monsters heros and villains, seems like a pulp setting to me 

Feel free to argue , I'm up for it today 

dodge

[Plynkes]

We have done this before, half a million times, on half a dozen forums.

But I'm up for it again! 


Going back to the figures, this Pulp City thing seems hazily familiar to me. Are we sure they are new? I'm sure I've seen this website before, a long time ago... Maybe I dreamt it. 

[postal]

well going back to the minis,I wont argue whats pulp or not,but those look like super heros to me.

[Orctrader]

Didn't realize that this was a "serious" and long-running debate.

Not being a gamer "pulp" is a state of mind when I'm painting - or thinking about painting figures.  It's black and white movies of a certain type, fiction I have read, etc.  When I paint a figure I know, instinctively, whether or not it's Pulp.  So, personally - just me - if I were painting one of these I wouldn't be thinking "Pulp."  And I wouldn't put the pictures in my Pulp gallery. 

[dodge]

We have done this before, half a million times, on half a dozen forums.

But I'm up for it again! 


Going back to the figures, this Pulp City thing seems hazily familiar to me. Are we sure they are new? I'm sure I've seen this website before, a long time ago... Maybe I dreamt it. 

I think there are lots of figures along similar but not quite the same, I haven't seen these before but they do seem familiar if you know what I mean 

Anyway I wouldn't argue with you on this subject as we are in the same camp, and always will be 

Didn't realize that this was a "serious" and long-running debate.

Not being a gamer "pulp" is a state of mind when I'm painting - or thinking about painting figures.  It's black and white movies of a certain type, fiction I have read, etc.  When I paint a figure I know, instinctively, whether or not it's Pulp.  So, personally - just me - if I were painting one of these I wouldn't be thinking "Pulp."  And I wouldn't put the pictures in my Pulp gallery. 

Its definately about favourites too, the shadow, indiana jones that sort of thing is my favourite and so when I look at pulp that's my favourite.

But the term is all about cheaply made mass produced fiction, but it is also what you make it so there is no real right or wrong answer 

Lovecrafts short stories appeared in pulp style magazines , I think they were anyway 

dodge

[Remington]

Yeah, Lovecraft pupblished mainly in Weird Tales, didn't he? It's interesting to have a look at characters that were a subject in pulp magazines. Conan, Zoro, Fu Manchu, Hoppalon Cassidy, Tarzan... just to name a few I've always enjoyed. It makes it so difficult to put them all in one drawer.

Still... I wonder what scale these miniatures are. The Apebot looks quite tempting.

[Operator5]

Pulp City has been around for over a year. They seem to put out a figure about every 2-3 months.

If I recall correctly from GenCon, they are big 28mm (meaning closer to 32mm). I could be wrong as I don't have any but that is what I remember them as.

[Malebolgia]

well going back to the minis,I wont argue whats pulp or not,but those look like super heros to me.

Totally agree. Pulp City is basically a game about superheros and hardly pulpy in the classical sense. I still think it's odd they called it Pulp City as it gives a lot of people the wrong impression of the game.

[Doc Twilight]

Size wise, Richard is right; they're large 28s. Nice castings, for the most part. Their latest release, though, still looks like Don Johnson from Miami Vice wearing a cloak and luchador hood... especially the way he's painted...


Allow me to chime in regarding the Pulp definition since I unintentionally started this polite argument again. I'm not sure what the definition is in Europe at the moment, but I began my interest as a collector of pulps and radio serials, starting with some stuff from my father, and it's something I've been following for some time. I don't consider myself an expert, but I know a little bit about it at least.

"Pulp" refers to a very specific genre of crime, adventure, romance, sci-fi, horror, etc. stories printed on cheap, pulp type paper and produced chiefly between 1914 (really 1918, b ut there were a couple early pulps at the beginning of WW1) and 1945 (some stretch it to 1950). It gave birth to, and was published alongside for a time, some of the early Comic Books (the so-called "Golden Age").

Basically, a shortage of wood pulp as a result of the war killed the genre. There was an abortive attempt to bring them back at the end of the war, but the new mags were flashy, full of color, etc. and the old format just couldn't compete. Several "pulp" characters were republished as cheap novels, with their format changed (no illustrations or minimal illustrations, smaller type, several story arcs bound together, etc.), and this is how most of us came into contact with Doc Savage, Lovecraft, etc.. as the reprints were done several times during the 1950s and 1960s.

The term has since been stretched to cover any form of "B-Movie" grade (and that's the only other way I can think of to describe it) fiction, novels, etc. They're also called "Trashy Novels" , "Pot Boilers", "Bathroom Reading", "Children's Fiction;)", etc.
I think you'll find that most collectors would probably say "True" Pulp ends around 1950, and is officially killed off by the "Atomic Age", but again, there's some wiggle room there.

One major difference between, say, a Pulp Adventure and a Comic Book, is that the villains usually end up dying. Another difference is that the Pulp tales tend to be a lot more lurid, gritty, with some adult language and situations thrown in, as they were meant for
a variety of audiences. Not that I don't love me some Batman, but they were initially targeted at different demographics.

I love all of the stuff (well, except the romance stuff... never did understand that genre), so you can feel free to call it whatever you want. Personally, I think the best stories are from the Interwar Period, because they still have that sense of innocence and adventure that somehow gets lost with the Cold War. But again, that's my -personal- view, and utterly unscientific!

My only issue now is that because Pulp era stuff is selling well and is popular, every new company wants to label itself "Pulp". I've seen this with Pulp City (and again, I still disagree, looks like a world inspired by Silver Age Comics and 80s television to me), and I've seen it with several other companies. One guy even proposed a Victorian Science Fiction line over on the miniatures page and called it "Victorian Pulp" (?!). (Being a huge fan of Wells and Verne, that cannot be allowed to stand if his range is produced!;) ) I recently saw some fantasy miniatures described as "very pulpy". Huh? If they were wearing trench-coats and fedoras, maybe, but...

So, yeah, there's my view on it, for what it's worth.

-Doc