Last of the Mohicans

Last of the Mohicans was released in theaters about 10 years ago, and I remember rather liking the film. The 1992 film was a remake of the 1936 movie, which is of course based on the 1826 novel by James Fenimore Cooper. The story is set in the North American theater of the Seven Years War, which we in the US know as the French-Indian War.

I doubt that there was much merchandising surrounding this film, and I don't think that any figures representing the characters have been created in metal, so I was rather surprised recently to find that BUM has produced a set of 1/72 figures titled "Film Characters Last Mohican" (BUM 2010) depicting the characters in this film.

The first image is of the various characters in the film, made in a soft rubbery resin.  From left to right they are: Chingachgook, Uncas, Alice, Duncan (?), Cora, Hawkeye, and Magua choking the life from Colonel Munro.

Hawkeye is a bit wide, but I have to say that the sculpting for BUM figures has come a long way since the days of their knockoffs of old figures from other companies.

There is also a diorama-style piece of Major Heyward pinned under a rather undersized horse in resin.

And a vacuform terrain piece.

The set also comes with a set of Huron warriors that are also made in the same type of resin.

These same poses also come in plastic, which was what I was hoping for in this set, but from what I see at PSR, maybe these resin figures hold detail better than their plastic counterparts.

I keep wanting to give BUM a chance since they produce subjects neglected by most other companies, but I am always left with mixed feelings about their figures. High price tag aside, why do they keep using the crappy rubbery resin that they do? These figures do not have the brittleness of some of the earlier releases, but after trimming the sprues from the bases, the remains reminded me of nothing so much as rubber pencil erasers.

I just don't understand why BUM cannot find a better resin than what they are using given the cost of their figures. I'm sure there are plenty of resins that hold detail just as well as the current stuff, and much more suitable for making figures. The rubbery material they are using makes me uneasy, and I get the feeling I should seal the figures as soon as possible or they may dry up and crack like old windshield wiper blades.

絶望した！ BUM に絶望した！

P.S.

If people are interested in this film, the current US DVD release is not the theatrical version, but a recut director's version. From what I understand, the region 2 UK version is the only theatrical version available.

Critters

The Crites are small ravenous aliens first introduced in the movie Critters. The film proved to be fairly popular, and went on to spawn a number of sequels.

Over the course of the films, the appearance of the creatures changed sightly, but by and large, the Crites from the first film were not overly different from the later ones.

In one of the films there was also a giant alpha Crite.

The popularity of the films also crossed over to the world of gaming, and there are three companies that make miniatures of these creatures. I have examples of miniatures from two of those three.

The first three miniatures are Space Munchkins from Wargames Supply Dump (MIS10). These can be used as larger Crites in 1/72 scale.  The next three are Munchers (PLA-10) from Khurasan Miniatures, and despite being sold for the 15mm market, are probably more appropriate for 1/72 scale.

I modified some of the Khurasan Munchers to represent Crites from the first film, and various unique Crites from the later movies.

As far as gaming goes, the Crite have a number of abilities that make them dangerous to the standard horror movie character, but I doubt that they would prove much of a threat to a party of typical D&D type adventurers.

Fuzzy sapiens

Fuzzies: Small aboriginal creatures of the planet Zarathustra which first appeared in the novel Little Fuzzy, by H. Beam Piper. They are known as Gashta in their own language, and stand about two feet tall.


Fuzzies made their RPG debut in Ultima III: Exodus. For some reason, I seem to remember that they were in Wizardry as well, but I may be mistaken about that - it's been a long time since I played either game.


Fuzzies armed with their traditional weapons, as well as with blasters were made by Archive miniatures as part of their Star Rovers line. Below are a pair of Fuzzies with their hodda. They stand about 15mm high, so are actually about foot and a half taller than a Fuzzy should be (in 1/72 scale).


Ewoks: Shameless products for merchandising, or symbols of the triumph of resourcefulness over technology? I was neutral about Ewoks when I first saw Jedi, but always thought that the Battle of Endor was rather ridiculous. If they were consistently portrayed as primitive man-eating (why do people keep saying Ewoks are cannibalistic?) savages, they would have worked for me, but unfortunately they were flanderized with respect to their "cute" characteristics, and I've developed somewhat of a bias against them.


Galoob made a number of Ewoks as part of their MicroMachines Star Wars line. The first four poses (starting from the left) come from the Ewoks figure set (66080), while the last two poses are unique to playsets. They stand about 15mm high, and come painted in typical MicroMachines fashion.

So who would win in a fight? Me, I'm partial to the Fuzzies.


To crush your enemies...

...see them driven before you...

...and to hear the lamentation of their women.