1/72 Multiverse

The specious enmity between vampires and werewolves has been explained in various places (e.g., Maverick-Werewolf), so I won't go into it other than to say that it seems like another instance of stan culture spreading into mainstream belief.

Many people say that the rivalry was popularized by the film Underworld, but it has been present in film since the days of the classic Universal Pictures monster movies. A Wolf Man vs. Dracula film was even proposed, but never came to fruition (though elements seem to have been incorporated in the House of Dracula).

Creepy #7 Feb 1966 Cover by Frank Frazetta

To go along with this theme, there are two new sets from Dark Alliance that bring us figures of vampires and werewolves.

The Vampires set consists of 48 figures in 12 poses.


The figures include Vlad Tepes, three classic Dracula-style vampires, and a very elusive Orlok-style nosferatu.


I am particularly fond of the nosferatu, but I felt some of the other face sculpts were a bit lacking. It would have been nice if they could have made more variation by perhaps replacing one of the caped Dracula vampires with the version from the Francis Ford Coppola Dracula film.

Bram Stoker's Dracula, 1992

The next group of figures are of three vampire brides, and a prospective vampire bride (I think).


The third vampire bride figure from the left looks like she may have been modeled after Marishka from the Van Helsing movie.

Marishka

The final group of figures are what I assume are lesser vampires, though the first figure from the left may be a human servant of some sort, while the third may be another nosferatu.


The figures can also double as zombies, given their poses and the torn clothing(?) on the two figures to the right.

The WereWolfes [sic] set consists of 40 figures in 10 poses.


The first two figures are Gabriel Van Helsing and Anna Valerious from the 2004 film Van Helsing. The third figure looks like a classic Lon Chaney-style Wolf Man.


The sculpts are good representations of the characters, though I don't think Kate Beckinsale really has legs that long.

Kate Beckinsale in Hollywood with Dolls Kill Extreme Appetite for Destruction Platform Boots

The next group of figures are human sized werewolves.


The bases on these figures (and many of the others) were all warped for some reason. For expediency, I just shaved the bases to allow the figures to stand, but I'll have to fix them to be more level later on.

The final set of figures include a couple of giant werewolves, and two crouching werewolves.


Overall, both sets are quite nice, though I have to admit that I now have more vampires and werewolves than I know what to do with. However, if you still are looking for other vampire and werewolf figures, see my post from 2009.

This post will show some recent miniatures that I bought, and consists of various non-related things that I found interesting.

The first groups of figures are Boggles. D&D Boggles take their name from the folkloric bogle. They made their first appearance in AD&D Module A2 – Secret of the Slavers Stockade.


The two painted Boggles are from the Icons of the Realm line (Fangs & Talons #05, Wild Beyond the Witchlight #06), while the unpainted figures are from Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures (WZK90437).


The figures are based on the 5th edition depiction of the creatures, with enormous heads, and scale out almost exactly to their stated 3' height in 1/72.

The next figures are the Brigganock Miner (Wild Beyond the Witchlight #01), Ija, Human Summoner (Advanced Iconic Heroes 20F8), and a Sewer Ooze (Bestiary Unleashed #23).


The Brigganock comes from the Icons of the Realm line, and remind me of Kobolds from World of Warcraft (except for being lime green).


I was more interested in the Soul Light that is part of the figure, which I will use as a standalone hitodama miniature.


Ija is a Pathfinder miniature representing one of their so-called iconic characters from the Mwangi Expanse. She is the perfect size to use alongside 1/72 scale figures, but I don't know why her right arm was sculpted so short. In any event, I went and lengthened her arm with a metal staple, and Kneadatite.


I don't have too much to say about the Sewer Ooze other than the fact that I got it because it reminded me of the riding beasts from Ralph Bakshi's Wizards.


The next miniature is an Icons of the Realm Amber Monolith (Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft #28).


I'm not sure if an Amber Monolith is the same as the Amber Sarcophagus also mentioned in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, but it is described as the vestige of some powerful dead entity that is trapped in a gigantic block of amber.

The final miniature is an Icons of the Realm Zombie Clot (Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft #27). Not much information is given about the creature, and it is merely described as being formed by "crushing an entire horde into a single, rotting titan".


When I first saw this figure, I thought of the Brian McNaughton story The Return of the Colossus from the anthology The Averoigne Legacy (which I read not too long ago).


However upon re-reading the original Clark Ashton Smith story The Colossus of Ylourgne, I realized that the McNaughton version of the Colossus was quite different from the one described by Smith.

In the McNaughton story, the Colossus is made up of fused cadavers, while in the Smith story, the flesh of the cadavers was rendered down, before being used to construct a giant zombie (something that somehow slipped my mind despite being shown on the cover of one of my favorite D&D modules).


In any event, the Zombie Clot (despite its massive size) is too small to represent the Colossus, and in hindsight is more like The Rotten from Dark Souls II.

The Nazgûl were ancient human kings bound to the Dark Lord Sauron through nine Rings of Power.

To normal eyes, they appeared as vaguely human figures cloaked in black robes and capes.


On the metaphysical plane, they appeared as ghostly warlords.


They were portrayed as fearsome and powerful entities in the books and movies, yet I always came away with the impression that they were rather ineffectual, despite their reputation.

I have two mounted Nazgûl from the old Heritage Servants of Sauron set (Lord of the Rings 1751). I think these are the two best poses from the set.


They are single piece castings, and represent the Nazgûl as cloaked figures, though the axe and scythe are a bit odd as weapon choices. They are true 25mm figures, and don't seem too out of place with 1/72 figures.

Another cloaked wraith is the Fiend Factory Wraith Rider on Undead Horse (Citadel FF3).


There are two versions of this miniature. A single piece casting, and a subsequent two piece casting (which is the one in the image). This figure is also true 25mm, and does not look bad with 1/72 figures either.

There probably should have been at least one horse in a more static pose given the choice of sculpts for the riders, but all the horses are in motion with flowing tails.

Dark Dream Studio has released their latest group of 1/72 fantasy sets. These miniatures extend their range of Middle Earth figures, and also include some generic fantasy figures as well.


The Black Riders don't seem to have made their way to North America yet, so a review will have to wait for another day, but I was able to get the other figures.

The figures are well sculpted, and much taller than humans. They are also very muscular, so they're not quite like the more mummified movie versions of these creatures.



They look more like the elves from the Lord of the Rings movies, and they aren't as bandy-legged as the figures from Set 1.