About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

E is for Elven-folk, by Games Workshop, Mithril & Mantic - Part 1, building the unit

Elves, I got the bug to paint some elves, and it's snowballed into a comparison, vignette (possibly?) diorama, don't-quite-know-yet, morphing-as-it-goes type project!

Top - this is how the Lord Of The Rings (LOTR) figures from DeAgostini/Games Workshop come/came, with issue two of a part-work, with below - the packaging for the new Mantic elves - sculpted by Bob Naismith. They seem to be using an old video box to market their figures, with double boxes for the larger items or 'army packs'.

We looked at the packaging for the Mithril figures the other day, while the two GW 'Warhammer' elves came attached to a copy of White Dwarf magazine a (fair?) few years ago.

Inset is a comparison of the various figures in approximately chronological order of first issue. The GW Warhammer's are vast in comparison with the other three ranges while the Mantic seems to reference the armour of the LOTR figures but with a waspish waist which stops them being my favorites. Their detail is better than the other two (DeAgostini and Mithril) but the anatomy makes them a little too alien...humans and elves are supposed to be able to mate, everybody knows that!

Well, I started looking at doing four archers, but didn't have a Mantic archer, so decided to have a spear-man, then I photographed the packaging for the two big-sprued sets and remembered that my GW figs. had come with White Dwarf, so thought - I'll do both figures and add another each of the Mantics and LOTR's. So we have a mixed war-band of 7 likely souls.

Paint-job was going to be the daffodil yellow and azure blue of the Mithril girl, but I think she'll get a repaint and the group will get a bottle-green and deep red scheme which is an old favorite of mine. But...elves are supposed to be all light and airy? Or is that only post-Peter Jackson, some sources have them altogether darker and more sinister, while the Victorians put them in the same vein as faeries? Oh G..osh, you'd think colour would be the least of my problems!

Well, got to put them together first...

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