Homo sapiens sensu lato

The classification of early humans has been complicated at best, and the taxonomy of specimens has been termed the "Muddle in the Middle [Pleistocene]" by paleoanthropologists.

Advances in DNA sequencing have started to bring more clarity to the field, but many scientist show clear bias (whether for or against) when it comes to proposals to establish a new species, or to reclassify and retire old species names.

I am partial to the opinion that many of these hominin "species" should be more properly classified as sub-species, since it is clear that interbreeding occured between different populations of early humans that are otherwise characterized as different species.

The latest set from Linear-A consists of a group of early humans. I received the box a couple of weeks ago, and made an unboxing video over at 72chan.

The first image is of the Denisovans and a single Neanderthal.

The Denisovans are sculpted as shorter overall than the Neanderthal, but an epigenetic study by Gokhman et al., published in Cell seems to suggest they fall in between modern humans and Neanderthals in height.

The rear Denisovan hunter had a big blob of plastic filling the void between his right leg and the javelin(s) he holds, so a bit of cuttng and sculpting was needed to make him look closer to the production figure on the back of the box.

The second image is of the Neanderthals.

The first Neanderthal figure looks like it was modeled after "N" from das Neandertal Museum just outside of Düsseldorf, while the second figure might be loosely modeled after the figure of a Neanderthal woman from the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid. The final Neanderthal seems to be a mutant with an abnormally huge right hand that exhibits polydactyly.

The final image is of the Homo sapiens.

A comparison of Phersu, Linear-A, and munich-Kits figures reviewed in a previous post.

I will round out the post with some metal miniatures of more archaic hominins.

The first group are 15mm Monkey Boys from Rebel Minis (RMPA4).

The figures remind me of Cha-Ka and the Pakuni from Land of the Lost. The LOTL fandom wiki suggests that the Pakuni belong to the putative Paranthropus genus (which are considered a sub-species of Australopithecus by some).

The second group are 15mm Wildmen of the Savannah by Khurasan Miniatures (Mystri Island MYST-800). The figures seem to be modeled after the man-apes from 2001: A Space Odyssey which are probably members of the genus Australopithecus.

I modifed a few of the figures by removing their weapons for more general use.

Mirelurks

Yurians are the crustacean people of the D&D world that have evolved from the crabmen of the Fiend Folio to the Aldani of D&D 5E.

The original crabmen are only represented in miniature form by Citadel in their Fiend Factory line.

The Citadel figure is difficult to find, and from what I can tell, way too big to use for 1/72 scale.

Citadel also made a Crab Man as part of their C38 Chaos Beastmen line, which I think was previously known as the Bird Man from the C27 Chaos Beastmen line. But outside of having crab claws for hands, it isn't really crab-like.

In 15mm, Khurasan Miniatures makes Sponks that are similar to 2nd/3rd edition crabmen.

Each set comes with three different bodies, and six different claws. The models are designed with pins on the arms that fit into sockets in the body, allowing not only different combinations for the arms and bodies, but a degree of posability as well. Some of the holes did need to be drilled out a bit, but I appreciate the consideration that went into the design of these models.

For my three models, I copied the builds used for the Khurasan showcase pieces. The bases are really narrow, and one of the miniatures kept falling over after its claws were attached.

The Sponks also resemble the Mirelurks from the Fallout video game series. Though they lack the horseshoe crab-like tail, they seem to be about the right size for 1/72 scale.

Mirelurks first appeared in Fallout 3, and just like the Yurians of D&D, they underwent design changes with newer editions of the game.

In Fallout 4, Mirelurks start to look like Garthim from Dark Crystal. The design from Fallout 5 might have been inspired by London Fashion Week.

I still prefer the original Mirelurk from Fallout 3 myself.

Reaper makes an amazing giant crabman that looks very similar to the 2nd edition crabman as well, but I think it is entirely too large for 1/72 scale. Still, I'm tempted to get one to use as a giant mutated Nukalurk.

Bones Black 44110

Another type of Mirelurk is the Mirelurk Hunter. The original Hunter looked no different than other Mirelurks in Fallout 3. The new version in Fallout 4 is said to have mutated from lobsters.

It reminds me a lot of the Aldani from 5E, albeit with a regular lobster head instead of a humanoid head. I guess the Lobstrok from World of Warcraft might be a better Aldani analog, but I don't mind using them as Mirelurk Hunters.

The first figure is a regular Aldani (Tomb of Annihilation #13). The second one is armed with net and trident (Tomb of Annihilation #17). The third is a modified Aldani that I removed the net and trident from.

The last member of the crustacean-like Mirelurks is the Mirelurk Queen.

My own inclination is just to use the D&D CMG Chuul (Legendary Evils #09) or the Reaper Tidal Lurker (Bones Black 44099) as Queens.

The Tidal Lurker looks closer in appearance to the Queen in the video game, but neither are particularly similar. They do complement the Aldani though.

The sole non-crustacean member of the Mirelurk family is the Mirelurk King.

The King is said to be mutated from a snapping turtle, but it looks more like a Deep One in the concept art.

In the final render, it still looks very fish-like, and reminds me a lot of the Reaper Tiik Champion.

Bones 77187

I don't have this particular miniature, but I'll probably get one in the near future.

Larval Stalker

The Larval Stalker is a ghost-like entity that comes from the original Silent Hill video game. They don't get much in the way of attention because they are harmless, and don't really play a large part in the game.

I've always liked them because of how strange and mysterious they were, so I decided to finally create a sculpt after years of toying with the idea.

The beta texture for the Larval Stalker offered the clearest image to base my sculpt on, since it is not transparent.

I carved the body out of plastic sprue, then used staples to make the arms and legs. The head, limbs, and details were fleshed out with Kneadatite.

Once things settle down a bit and I am able to get more stable with my finances, I'll try to order some mold making supplies so I can cast the sculpt in clear resin.

Part of the lore in Silent Hill is that Larval Stalkers eventually turn into Stalkers, but I'm more of the opinion that Stalkers are just a variant of the Gray Child (just more difficult to see).

Making Gray Children was easy because I planned on modifying pre-existing figures.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I received an order from Khurasan Miniatures at the beginning of the month, and part of the reason I made the order was because The Flayed from their Apoc666 line of horror minatures, looked like good candidates for Gray Children.

The miniatures are possibly a bit shorter and thinner than I would prefer, but they'll do.

There are two different looks used for the Gray Children (or three if you include the Mumbler).

In the Japan/Europe release, the Gray Child was changed to the Mumbler because of concerns that the final texture for the Gray Child was too similar to a human child.

In any event, I sculpted both the beta texture and the final texture versions of the Gray Children by building up the heads of the Flayed with Kneadatite.

I then drilled some holes into their hands and added some filed down staples to represent knives.

If you are wondering about the blue Sharpie markings all over their bodies, it's for an experiment to see if I can produce veining on the figures.

After spraying a coat of solvent based primer, the Sharpie bleeds to the surface. I think the technique doesn't quite work on figures that are this small, but the primed figures kind of resembles the Gray Children from the Silent Hill movie.

I'm not sure how well the blue will stay visible after I start adding my gray washes, but we'll see.

On a separate note, the other Apoc666 figures are also quite interesting. I got some Lurkers in Dark Places, and I would have gotten the Cercopyths as well except I didn't want to go over budget.

I'm thinking these guys can make great Bone Devil imps (while the Cercopyths would make great Demogorgon quasits) along the lines of what's happening in D&D with Yeenoghu quasits or Yeenoghu dretches in Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus.

The aforementioned creatures are available in the D&D Icons of the Realms line. Yeenoghu's Dretch (Baldur's Gate Descent Into Avernus #12) is on the left, while Yeenoghu's Quasit (Baldur's Gate Descent Into Avernus #01) is on the right.

The Lurkers are taller than the quasit, but I think they all look good together because they have similar builds.

Colonia Security vs The Green Slime

Despite having to endure a salary cut due to the current COVID-19 situation, I went ahead and placed an order with Khurasan Miniatures which came in the mail today.

I'm only going to show the science fiction miniatures I received, and leave the rest for future posts.

First up are the Tentacled Starbeasts, which are essentially the space monsters from the Kinji Fukasaku film The Green Slime.

There are three different poses waving their electrified tentacles as they search for victims.

The miniatures are undersized, but the creatures in the film vary in height, so these three can represent immature slimes.

Next are 20mm sci fi miniatures from Khurasan's Under Three Suns line, which apparently is their take on James Cameron's Avatar.

The line currently only contains the Colonia Security set, which are the colonial security forces of the Western nations.

The set consists of seven different poses in battledress with exoskeleton frame.

The figures are well sculpted, and I like the look of their suits, but I wish they were just a tiny bit taller.

I'm not sure how I'm going to use these figures or how to paint them up, so they'll probably languish in the lead pile until something catches my imagination.