Also a bit of a box-ticker as it's got a
big section in/on Boardgamegeek and has been Blogged elsewhere/elsewhen. It's a
funny one for another reason; I have the whole set which when I was preparing a
few board-game articles for One Inch
Warrior (link below) years ago I realised was
missing one of the character figures.
At a show in Birmingham (NEC) some chap had
a set's-worth of figures in a tub for about 50p per figure, this was about 6/8
years ago, so I picked the gold character figures out, he too only had five,
but I thought "Well, chances are!" only to find that actually Murphy
dictates that sod's law trumps chances-are, and the missing figure
was the same (it's one of the two women but as they are all in storage I can't
report which one).
At probably the last Car Boot Sale I
attended, also about 6 years ago, I got four in a bag of game pieces, still
with the same missing figure, as one of the two absentees! Some time ago, maybe
a couple of Plastic Warrior shows
ago I picked up another five with one female missing but still didn't know
which one, and with the other growing pile in storage, still couldn't blog the
whole set!
Then last weekend Gareth brought me a small
bag of stuff among which were the full set: 'Good things come to those who
wait'! So I can now Blog them, but all the player characters, killer satellites
and micro-rocket ships are still in storage, so you win's some you lose some .
. . anyway I had fun taking the pictures!
So these are the six character figures (I
think the names are with the right piece) each in charge of an army of a
different colour in a game with a Risk-type
look (the mechanism however, is much more convoluted), the first thing that become clear is that there are two sizes and
what looks to be three sculptors across the set (including the two 'army'
figures) and I believe there is a naughty reason for this . . .
. .
. although I can't pin them down (yet), several of them look familiar, and I
suspect they are all lifted from metal sets of the era (the game was issued in 1988), there were
tons of companies around '78/82-onwards advertising regularly in the modelling press
with this sort of stuff, and I think that's where they come from?
The smaller-scale hooded-girl on the left (Adarla?)
for instance, looks very familiar as a role-play 'sneak thief', the equally
small guy (Killer Kane?) on the other end of the line-up also seems familiar,
while the guy next to him with the 'aytees' jumpsuit and notebook (Doc Huer, supposedly
an older man?) looks likely to be based on the Guildford, Surrey dwelling alien
- Ford Prefect - from the BBC's TV
rendition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to
the Galaxy? Again I seem to remember him from a Hitchhiker's set (not the Denizen Miniatures set) announced in Military Modelling's On Parade or G2?
The 'army builder' figures, I've only got
the one big one here, but it's all you need for a post like this!
Again a massive difference in size and
sculpting style, with the smaller one looking like he's been taken from a lead/whitemetal,
post-apocalypse, Sci-Fi, war-games, street-gang, while the larger one looks
like he's from a 28mm Role Play range, and possibly based on some cartoon
figures from Heavy Metal, the
graphic novel magazine, I also remember a set of space warriors called 'Doomguards' who looked a bit like this
figure, is he a Drilliet or Mobius character?
If you followed the BBG link though, you'll know he's meant to be bigger...genetics!
The only contemporary plastics were the Matchbox Adventure 2000 figures (ironically copied by HG Games in their equally poor Buck Rogers set), one of whom has the
same hussar-jacket buttoning (which has a special name I know, but: no Internet
at home, library in storage!) as one of the Buck
Rogers figures, they (the Matchbox)
were also a bit bigger yet.
Although, giving it a moment's thought - as
well as possible connections with the TV series and maybe lead figures, along
with the Matchbox design similarities
it must be said; both the main TV characters also bear more than a passing
resemblance to the equivalent figures in the Airfix 54mm set, also contemporary with both the TSR and Matchbox issues, and containing other figures which paid homage more
to both Dr. Who characters and
members of Blakes 7's motley crew.
Playing on the plains of Planet
Bhoringcova! Daleks with mind-slaves (why not - Cybermen seem to have them
these days!) maneuver into attack formation, a mixed group of older (but much
better) Daleks and Cybermen surround a last stand of the characters, and . . .
"Can you tell me where I am . . .
and when, please?"
Sometimes in Picasa you highlight say, two Merit
shots, you want to collage, then, accidentally - or absentmindedly - hit the
collage tool for the set of photo's in the folder above - the result was so abstract
that I thought it suitable to subject you to!
I realised afterwards that the gold-backed character
line-up has the look of Nigella Fáràgê (rymes with c**t) meeting The Trumpton (war with Iran now odds-on!)
in that wholly overblown and tasteless vestibule last week!
A man who decorates his corporate HQ like a
set on Dr. Who, circa 1983 has just
been elected President of Oohessay, but then, I guess he has kept his
hair-style from 1983! Mullets and war, with sexism and rusty pick-up trucks,
there's your end-of-year predictions for what to look forward to in 2017, from
the oracle at Waltii, get that tinned food in now.
If any of the metal guys recognise the
sculpts let the rest of us know, if not I'll do a little digging myself in a
couple of weeks (I happen to know I have four days of unlimited free Internet
coming-up - whoohoo!) and see what I can come up with!
4 comments:
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Hi. In your later post you have Buck and Black whatsis' names exchanged. (I think you are correct here.)
The lacing is called frogging, the jacket is an attila.
And Wilma and Ardala are exchanged as well.
Cheers Molina _ sorry I missed your comment at the time, I try to answer all comments, but we haven't been getting the email alerts for a while, blogger is supposed to be doing something about the problem!
Gisby - I do try! I'll check with the little line drawings in the rule booklet and correct whichever one is wrong!
H
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