S is for Solid Slime!

This'll be the seventh post on the Aliens franchise this year, so clearly 'the year of the Aliens' here at Small Scale World . . . purely accidental, or coincidental! These are another iteration of the EMCE 'Nanoforce' figures with an additional Alien sculpt and no Colonial Space Marines!

Further branded to both Diamond Select and Previews Exclusive (PX), who have been associated with a lot of the EMCE 'toy soldiers' stuff, the slime has, over time, set solid! The material is a sort of bouncy-ball rubber now, so I had to break them out physically, rather than just pull them gently away from the gloop!

The solvent for slime is apparently vinegar (discovered for a forthcoming post!), but I'm not sure it would succeed in re-hydrating these lumps! I kept a few of the larger lumps as a 'might be useful later' addition to the 'spares box'!

Of the six possible, I managed to end-up with four sculpts, which is not bad going, when I already have the standard ones, but there is a surprise here, in a sixth pose (a 'Facehugger'), as the previous issue only had the five adult Xenomorphs. It's not a very good sculpt, and out of scale (unless you collect Action Man/GI Joe dolls) but may - therefore - remain uniquely in the glow-material, as far as being a collectable goes.

The Facehugger is not on the press image (left), probably because it's a bit shit, but the box clearly states "collect all six Aliens!". The box is shown as being apparently a 24-egg double-decker, while mine only has the one layer of 12 eggs, which also calls for a shout-out to eBay seller 'silver-acre' (Darryl Jones, Silver Acre Comics) who sent me the whole box with a multiple purchase even though it wasn't part of the offer - cheers dude; got a post out of them!

N is for Nanoforce

Mentioned in the previous post; they aren't 'nano', nor even micro, or mini, but Britains 'standard' 54mm'ish!

A funny one this, coming after a discussion the other day on Brian Heiler's Faceplant Group page and Shawn's Fantasy Blog just posting the Star Trek figures (I have one; The Next Generation, but Original Series aren’t on UK Amazon yet) leading me to feel a look at EMCE, the common thread in a number of nice figure sets is in order.

The set here is designed by EMCE under a Nanoforce^TM brand-mark, and sold by Diamond Select Toys (operation behind the 888-comic-book shop locator portal, President & CEO; Steve Geppi) under a PX / Previews Exclusive brand mark, all four brands are on the header card! EMCE were/are a design team, originally set up by Paul “Dr Mego” Clarke (licensee, marketer?) with Joe Sena (sculptor) on board.

Joe Sena was already President of Spherewerx, another brand, and the EMCE connection was a partnership which has (temporarily?) ended, although it appears Joe now controls (or can still use) the EMCE branding. Now, for those who need to know more, there is tons out there, especially on Youtube, as the bigger story involves Mattel, Mego and huge licences for action-figures, about which I have little interest.

But they have produced quite a few "2-inch figures" (their words), or 51mm, under the umbrella brand Nanoforce, of which we have seen the WWII Zombies here already, are - here - looking at the Aliens figures, and have Fallout, Gears of War and the aforementioned Star Trek in the long queue!

Some of the newer stuff (Gears' and Fallout) is actually closer to the full 54/56mm (with their thicker bases), but 'Trek, Aliens (here) and the Zombies at War are closer to 50mm, this is as complete a list as I can muster, alphabetically;

• Aliens -vs- Colonial Marines (35 figures, out of production, but findable, getting a bit pricey - Diamond Select Toys / PX Previews Exclusive  / designed by Nanoforce by EMCE Toys) Licensor - 20th Century Fox.
• Fallout 76 (12 figures per bag, 3 sets, 4 boxed sets include a 4" figure and extra [blind pack] poses, still around, affordable - Bethesda / Toynk / Nanoforce by EMCE Toys / Forth castle) Licensors - Bethesda Softworks a Zenimax Media Co.
• Gears 5 (Gears of War), (5-figures + droid, bag, glow in the dark variation, still around, affordable - Nanoforce by EMCE Toys (a brand of) Forth Castle Macromedia) Licensors - The Coalition / XBox Games / Microsoft, UK retailer Toynk (?)
•  John Carpenter's Halloween (12 figures + 1 4" figure, very rare, limited edition of 2500 units, very expensive when found - Fright Rags / Nanoforce by EMCE Toys) Licensor - Compass International Pictures
• Night of the Living Dead (12 figures + 1 4" figure, very rare, limited edition, very expensive when found - Fright Rags / Nanoforce by EMCE Toys / Image Ten)
• Star Trek (12 figures + micro-ship model, 2 boxed-sets so far, newest, affordable - PX Previews Exclusive / Nanoforce by EMCE Toys / Fanwares a division of Fanwraps) Licensor - CBS Studios
• Universal Monsters (planned/cancelled? EMCE / Mego?)
• You Will Emerge (24 figure bag, Fallout expansion, still around, affordable - Bethesda / Nanoforce by EMCE Toys / Forth castle, no Toynk) Licensors - Bethesda Softworks a Zenimax Media Co.
• Zombies at War (35 figures, out of production, but findable, getting a bit pricey - PX Previews Exclusive / Brilliant Novelty Co. / Diamond Comic Distributors / EMCE Toys (a brand of) Forth Castle Macromedia, no 'Nanoforce')
•  Zombies -vs- Zombie Hunters (35 figures, out of production, but findable, getting a bit pricey - PX Previews Exclusive / Brilliant Novelty Co. / Diamond Comic Distributors / EMCE Toys (a brand of) Forth Castle Macromedia, no 'Nanoforce')

Glow in the dark versions of both the Aliens (not Colonial Marines) and Zombies (not Hunters) were available in glowing slime as blind-capsule purchases from shop-counter boxes, five sculpts each.

The figures are OK, but a bit clumpy, like the Zombies at War, not as polished as the current Gears'/Fallout/'Trek set's figures. You get 35 figures in total, with 5 sculpts for each 'side' and you are pretty much guaranteed to get at least three-each of all ten poses in a set.

Z is for Zombie Toy Soldiers!

These came out a couple of years ago; EMCE Toys 'Previews Exclusive, Zombies At War', and come three each of five poses in two colors for a full 30-count, medium hardness PVC and a tad on the small size at around 45/50mm

This was originally going to be it, as far as imagery goes - along with the captioned one at the end - but I was never too happy with it, it enlarges OK but it's a bit grainy and the contrast is all wonky but it shows all the figures, and can stay, as I hate chucking every image from a shoot!

The GI's, placed somewhere between WWII and Vietnam (one's got a M16-alike), they're not heavily equipped and the chap with a pack has one that defies ID'ing as a piece of service kit!

What's more  of a mystery is that two of the figures; 3rd and 5th from the left, appear to have been designed to interact with accessories - which are not present - both having almost 'grippy' hands and poses that need a support of some kind?

The Germans are clearly WWII, with no's 2 and 3 from the left also seeming to need-/be designed for- missing props or scenic items. That second one is also equipped with a similar main pack and utility 'bat-belt' as the GI!

The guy with the Luger/Mauser/Captain Scarlet blaster is doing a good job of balancing on one leg, and while the commander (middle figure) is holding someone else's leg; number five is holding his own arm in a rather macabre fashion!

Kelly's Zero's

As always with this horror/fantasy stuff; Shaun was way ahead of the wave, so there's more here.