Friday, April 10, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Demonweb Review
(Here is a link to a galley of the set I am writing about)
Demonweb is kind of a bitter sweet set. It marks what is more or less the end of the DDM I have come to know since Harbinger. However, it has been disappointing to see the quality of the sets decline over this year. It is like watching Michael Jordan playing for the Washington Wizards, still by any measure a good basketball player but far below the peak I wanted to remember him at.
I understand if WOTC faced a dilemma caused by rising production costs, charge more or give less (in terms of quality). Still, it is hard to accept that the days of Blood War, Deathknell, and Unhallowed are far behind us.
The new direction of WOTC’s miniatures efforts should be interesting. I was only for random boosters in the sense that they were what made the line possible at that price. Now that randomness no longer seems to deliver what it once did, I’ll give semi-random sets a chance.
1) Dragonborn Paladin of Bahamt: This is one of those PC minis that fall into the grey area where it would be an excellent uncommon or a so-so rare. I like the purple wash on the shield. The armor is well detailed, as usual for this line. However the legs are black and unpainted. The unpainted black armor has been a perennial disappointment since Harbinger. It is like those minis listen to too much Smiths and Cure.
2) Huyutha, Exarch of Bahamut: The exarch has a dynamic pose, nice sculpt, and overall looks pretty sharp. It could have done with more finishing on the paint job so that it didn’t look so flat. I also suspect that the sword was supposed to have some sort of energy effect, likely whatever “radiant” energy is colored. Which isn’t silver I would guess. I have mixed feelings about the wingspan. It looks good but it getting problematic on the game mat.
3) Halfling Archer: This is a decent uncommon PC figure. Again, an unpainted black cloak covers a lot of surface area. It would be possible that the Halfling would wear a black cloak for camouflage but the powder blue armor would have to be a liability.
4) Mezzodemon: Demons in their “many and varied forms” are the embodiment of “chaos”. So why are we getting what amounts to the left handed doppelganger of the Blood War Mezzoloth? Seriously, these two are nearly identical in sculpt and paint job. They even share rarity. This figure belongs in a category I call “Typical Cover Song”. Like most cover songs, this figure is redundant, bringing nothing new to the idea. If WOTC is going to put out covers of figures put out in the last two years they should be Jimi Hendrix covering “All Along the Watchtower” and not Michael Bolton covering “When a Man Loves a Woman”.
5) Grinning Imp: A lot like the Mezzodemon. Only, the paint job makes it an even bigger offender. Shouldn’t the transition from tiny to small mean better detail? This one looks like it was literally just dipped in red paint and put into the booster box.
6) Infernal Armor: I’m not sure that the “Infernal” part is referencing something infused with dark force. More like the way you would refer to a malfunctioning toaster or vacuum cleaner as being “infernal”. The elongated legs makes the figure look like it came from Heroclix in order to get away from Daredevil.
7) Rakshasa Assassin: A really great figure. I like the detail of the sculpt and the amount of effort that went into the paint job. It is unlike the other Rakshasas that have appeared in DDM. It looks like it popped out of the 4E Monster Manual.
8) Tiefling Cleric of Asmodeus: Good enough for an uncommon. There is nothing really wrong with it, but nothing that really stands out as good.
9) Vicious Bearded Devil: A lower quality version of the Harbinger figure. I understand that the old one can be hard to get for newer players and some veterans. I just can’t shake the feeling that I would have been more impressed with what a Blood War Bearded Devil resculpt would have been.
10) Deathgrasp Sarcophagus: A cool piece of dungeon dressing. It is something I wish we had seen more of. I have difficultly imagining the Monster sets having room for dungeon dressing, no matter how interesting.
11) Drow Adventurer: I’m so sick of cannon fodder drow. A so, so figure only makes it worse.
12) Drow Demonbinder: If I even run a long campaign involved drow I won’t ever have to worry about using the same figure twice. To this figures credit, it isn’t something that we have seen before in DDM. Also, the sculpt and the paint job are pretty good.
13) Lolthbound Goblin: A decent goblin. Like the Blue, it would work well as a contrast to other generic goblins. It looks like a goblin monk or ninja.
14) Runespiral Demon: This one moves close to Wrackspawn territory. The two redeeming qualities it has are that it looks interesting and it could be a substitute for any small beetle.
15) Shardsoul Slayer: On the plus side it looks like the MM V illustration. On the negative side, who knows how long this monster will take to see a 4th Edition version.
16) Solamith: This is one of those that I didn’t realize I wanted. The feeling is similar to a lot of the Eberron inspired minis. It is just a fun sculpt for a gluttonous eater of souls.
17) Soulrider Devil: If this figure has appeared in any D&D sourcebook, I can’t remember it. This version of a human under the thrall of a visible parasite presents a more intuitive visual of the situation than a raggomoffyn mini would, but I can’t help but imagine a raggomoffyn would look better. The “Question Face” on the human is disappointing. I wonder how difficult it would have been to add any kind of facial features.
18) Deathlock Wight: This is definitely one of the better ghost-type commons. I’d want more of them if I wasn’t already up to my gills in this type of figure due to earlier DDM sets and a Warhammer Undead collection.
19) Draegloth Favored One: This is a pretty good figure. It has the paint job and sculpt quality that I have come to expect in rare figures. It is Drow themed, but it is a much different kind of drow than we’ve had in the past so I will give it a pass.
20) Drow Assassin: #$%^& #@$^@! Another freaking “sneaky” drow. I’m starting to think that drow are just an excuse to not put as much paint on figures.
21) Shadow Flayer: A more physical type of Mind Flayer is nice. As a rare, I think it would have benefited from more colors/painting.
22) Spiderbound Drow Warrior: More black plastic with white and silver paint. I know that a set called “Demonweb” would have some drow in now. That doesn’t explain why DoD 1 and DoD2 both had two drow in their sets.
23) Thoon Hulk: IIRC this is a monster from one of the last 3.5 Monster Manuals. Not only is it a well made figure, but it also adds depth to possible mind flayer encounters. I never liked the idea that all illithids were more or less the same.
24) Black Dragon Lurker: Some of the unlikeliest failures of Against the Giants turned out to be the dragons. It is good to see this set, for all of its faults, does dragons right. I even like it better than Unhallowed version.
25) Concord Illithid: A decent, but unnecessary, illithid figure. The main flaw of this figure is that the paint job on the face doesn’t do much to bring out the features. I expect better from medium sized rare figures.
26) Phaseweb Spider: The most charitable thing I can say about this piece it that it would make good dungeon dressing. The lack of paint, aside from the white swirl in the center of the web, makes it difficult to distinguish between the spider, the web, and the wall.
27) Skull Lord: This is a great piece. The three headed skeleton is a new addition to the DDM line. The paint job is a good as most Warhammer players would produce. Even the straps to the skulls are a different color than the belt. The Skull Lord is just a very detailed piece.
28) Gnoll Demon Adept: An adequate uncommon figure. The all black shield is a bit of a cop out. Otherwise it does a good job of portraying a savage, demon-worshiping beast. Gnolls seem to get a short shrift in the official D&D products. Enough Gnoll miniatures have been made since Harbinger. However, relative to Drow, Orc, and Goblin minis, Gnolls are practically obscure.
It seems like a chicken vs. egg problem: Are Orc popular because so many appear in different adventures and source books (especially ones for low level characters) or do so many products include orcs because they are so popular? Why are Orcs more essential to the launch of a new edition than Bullywogs? Mechanically, both fill the same role.
29) Yuan-Ti Malison Incanter: Not to be confused with Guan-Di, protector of the bean curd. A nice, little snake man. The lack of paint detailing on the staff is disappointing.
30) Ogre Pulverizer: Pretty standard for an Ogre and a Large Uncommon.
31) Stormrage Blue Dragon: This is more evidence that the astounding ability to make terrible, unappealing dragons in Against the Giants was just a fluke. It is noticeably bigger than the other Large Blue. The pose on this one is also more dynamic. The dragon looks like a viper ready to strike.
32) Bugbear Strangler: At first blush the strangler seems an odd match for the biggest of the goblinoids. Then I realized it was smaller than the current bugbear figures. Maybe in a Bugbear centric society the smaller ones have to rely on guile to survive.
33) Bugbear Warrior: Pretty meh. Has a lot of limb overhang like a lot of the Bugbears for some inexplicable reason.
34) Human Bandit: It is ok as a generic fantasy figure, but aren’t the miniatures intended to represent a particular participant in a fight? When players see this figure are they supposed to have their character’s run away screaming “Look out! He has the Silver Hammer of Maxwell hanging from his belt!”
35) Spiretop Drake: I’m going to go ahead and consider this one a White Dragon Wyrmling.
36) Scythejaw: Makes a very interesting Trap or Animated Object.
37) Autumn Wind Ranger: This is a very nice figure. It looks like a breeze is picking up both the cloak and the elf’s hair. The armor has nice earthy tones that would help the ranger blend into the forest.
38) Blood Slaad: Somewhat better looking than the old Red Slaad. Ironically, it is redder than the Red Slaad.
39) Brutal Orge Warhulk: This is like hearing Patti Smith cover “Gloria”. A dynamic pose, clear sculpt, and a paint job that brings out little details.
40) Curse Slaad: I never really played Planescape, so maybe I am missing some of the lore. That said, this stylistically seems like a departure from earlier Slaad minis. The crocodile face and the elongated arms being the most noticeable changes. Not inherently bad, but the changes don’t look very appealing.
41) Cyclops Hewer: I’m a little torn on this one. It is nice to have more Cyclops and the sculpt is nice. However, the paint job gives the impression that they intended to do a really nice paint job, but ran out of funding a quarter of the war into it.
42) Ettin Spirit-Talker: A great, savage counterpart to the Ettin, Jack of Irons. The Ettin’s tone is set by well conceived weapons and clothing that leaves an impression of a primitive creature.
43) Minotaur Warrior: The default Minotaur in 4th Edition is Medium sized, like the Dragonlance minotaurs. With that in mind, I think it is a good figure. The rare frequency is justified by the detail of the figure. It is definitely better than the Young Minotaur.
44) Sharn Redcloak: A generic archer. The three color paint job isn’t great, but should be expected with common figures.
45) Warforged Battle Champion: I’ve really liked the Warforged minis. They just have a kind of texture that really works well in three dimensions. I also like the sentient construct concept. It is a thing that appears in a lot of fantasy fiction but had been surprising absent or low profile in D&D until the Eberron Setting was released. It would have been a great PC to include in the core book, but I understand that the Dragonborn was already upsetting enough traditionalists.
46) Corruption Corpse: No thanks.
47) Hobgoblin Warcaster: It is nice to get a new Hobgoblin Spellcaster.
48) Guard Drake: The documentary “Comedian” has a scene where Jerry Seinfeld has a joke that he loves but can’t find a way to make it work with the audience. He finally accepts that the joke won’t work and he gives it up. For the minis team, this resculpt of the Fell Drake is that joke. I don’t think anyone was really complaining about the difficulty of getting a Harbinger Fell Drake, or a Chainmail one for that matter. Stop trying to sell the fans on this monster, we don’t like it and exposing us to it more frequently isn’t going to help.
49) Quickling Runner: It is nice to see a classic monster make it into a minis set.
50) Kruthik Hive Lord: A pretty good uncommon, much better than the hatchling from an earlier set. The swarmer monster concept was a little dicey in 3rd Edition but works much better in 4th.
51) Troglodyte Brute: A good common mob piece. Two colors, nothing fancy. The new style of the Troglodytes is interesting; it helps to distinguish them from kobolds or lizardfolk.
52) Troglodyte Curse Chanter: A good caster figure for Troglodyte fights.
53) Crazed Kuo-Toa: The sculpture lacks strong detail and the paint job is very flat with very little definition. It looks like a featureless green humanoid. I also miss the froggy look of the creatures.
54) Deathcap Fungus: A nice little piece of dungeon dressing. Maybe WOTC should try a traps and hazards blister pack along the lines of what they are doing with PC minis.
55) Kruthik Adult: This is basically a bigger version of the hatchling, but with a brown underbelly.
56) Stirge Drone: Another monochromatic, featureless mini. It is definitely a downgrade from the prior version. I suppose it does put more stirges out into the pool.
57) Web Golem: A really nice golem. It looks like a construct made of spider webs by worshipers of Lloth.
58) Dire Bear Mauler: I think this figure would have looked better if it wasn’t trying to stand up.
59) Girallon: Not that different from the earlier version. Not bad, but not really interesting. It is like Van Halen’s version of “You Really Got Me”.
60) Iron Dragon Prowler: Again, this is a sharp looking figure. Most of the DDM Dragons are. The rusting of the wings and the horns are a really nice touch. I look forward to seeing this monster’s debut in the Draconomicon 2. I also like getting these breaks from the traditional five chromatic and five metallic dragons. Dungeons & Dragons, not surprisingly, has a lot of neat dragons out there that haven’t made an appearance in plastic (or metal) form.
Looking at the Iron Dragon and the Web Golem before I put them on the shelf, I hope that the new format won’t ignore the monsters and the player characters that are more obscure; the ones that maybe only appeared in the Fiend Folio, Lords of Madness, or maybe only in one published adventure. That was what I considered one of the major strengths of DDM. Dwarves, Goblins, Orcs, Skeletons; these are in basically any miniatures line. Only DDM brought stuff like the Blood Golem of Hexxor and the Behir.
Demonweb is kind of a bitter sweet set. It marks what is more or less the end of the DDM I have come to know since Harbinger. However, it has been disappointing to see the quality of the sets decline over this year. It is like watching Michael Jordan playing for the Washington Wizards, still by any measure a good basketball player but far below the peak I wanted to remember him at.
I understand if WOTC faced a dilemma caused by rising production costs, charge more or give less (in terms of quality). Still, it is hard to accept that the days of Blood War, Deathknell, and Unhallowed are far behind us.
The new direction of WOTC’s miniatures efforts should be interesting. I was only for random boosters in the sense that they were what made the line possible at that price. Now that randomness no longer seems to deliver what it once did, I’ll give semi-random sets a chance.
1) Dragonborn Paladin of Bahamt: This is one of those PC minis that fall into the grey area where it would be an excellent uncommon or a so-so rare. I like the purple wash on the shield. The armor is well detailed, as usual for this line. However the legs are black and unpainted. The unpainted black armor has been a perennial disappointment since Harbinger. It is like those minis listen to too much Smiths and Cure.
2) Huyutha, Exarch of Bahamut: The exarch has a dynamic pose, nice sculpt, and overall looks pretty sharp. It could have done with more finishing on the paint job so that it didn’t look so flat. I also suspect that the sword was supposed to have some sort of energy effect, likely whatever “radiant” energy is colored. Which isn’t silver I would guess. I have mixed feelings about the wingspan. It looks good but it getting problematic on the game mat.
3) Halfling Archer: This is a decent uncommon PC figure. Again, an unpainted black cloak covers a lot of surface area. It would be possible that the Halfling would wear a black cloak for camouflage but the powder blue armor would have to be a liability.
4) Mezzodemon: Demons in their “many and varied forms” are the embodiment of “chaos”. So why are we getting what amounts to the left handed doppelganger of the Blood War Mezzoloth? Seriously, these two are nearly identical in sculpt and paint job. They even share rarity. This figure belongs in a category I call “Typical Cover Song”. Like most cover songs, this figure is redundant, bringing nothing new to the idea. If WOTC is going to put out covers of figures put out in the last two years they should be Jimi Hendrix covering “All Along the Watchtower” and not Michael Bolton covering “When a Man Loves a Woman”.
5) Grinning Imp: A lot like the Mezzodemon. Only, the paint job makes it an even bigger offender. Shouldn’t the transition from tiny to small mean better detail? This one looks like it was literally just dipped in red paint and put into the booster box.
6) Infernal Armor: I’m not sure that the “Infernal” part is referencing something infused with dark force. More like the way you would refer to a malfunctioning toaster or vacuum cleaner as being “infernal”. The elongated legs makes the figure look like it came from Heroclix in order to get away from Daredevil.
7) Rakshasa Assassin: A really great figure. I like the detail of the sculpt and the amount of effort that went into the paint job. It is unlike the other Rakshasas that have appeared in DDM. It looks like it popped out of the 4E Monster Manual.
8) Tiefling Cleric of Asmodeus: Good enough for an uncommon. There is nothing really wrong with it, but nothing that really stands out as good.
9) Vicious Bearded Devil: A lower quality version of the Harbinger figure. I understand that the old one can be hard to get for newer players and some veterans. I just can’t shake the feeling that I would have been more impressed with what a Blood War Bearded Devil resculpt would have been.
10) Deathgrasp Sarcophagus: A cool piece of dungeon dressing. It is something I wish we had seen more of. I have difficultly imagining the Monster sets having room for dungeon dressing, no matter how interesting.
11) Drow Adventurer: I’m so sick of cannon fodder drow. A so, so figure only makes it worse.
12) Drow Demonbinder: If I even run a long campaign involved drow I won’t ever have to worry about using the same figure twice. To this figures credit, it isn’t something that we have seen before in DDM. Also, the sculpt and the paint job are pretty good.
13) Lolthbound Goblin: A decent goblin. Like the Blue, it would work well as a contrast to other generic goblins. It looks like a goblin monk or ninja.
14) Runespiral Demon: This one moves close to Wrackspawn territory. The two redeeming qualities it has are that it looks interesting and it could be a substitute for any small beetle.
15) Shardsoul Slayer: On the plus side it looks like the MM V illustration. On the negative side, who knows how long this monster will take to see a 4th Edition version.
16) Solamith: This is one of those that I didn’t realize I wanted. The feeling is similar to a lot of the Eberron inspired minis. It is just a fun sculpt for a gluttonous eater of souls.
17) Soulrider Devil: If this figure has appeared in any D&D sourcebook, I can’t remember it. This version of a human under the thrall of a visible parasite presents a more intuitive visual of the situation than a raggomoffyn mini would, but I can’t help but imagine a raggomoffyn would look better. The “Question Face” on the human is disappointing. I wonder how difficult it would have been to add any kind of facial features.
18) Deathlock Wight: This is definitely one of the better ghost-type commons. I’d want more of them if I wasn’t already up to my gills in this type of figure due to earlier DDM sets and a Warhammer Undead collection.
19) Draegloth Favored One: This is a pretty good figure. It has the paint job and sculpt quality that I have come to expect in rare figures. It is Drow themed, but it is a much different kind of drow than we’ve had in the past so I will give it a pass.
20) Drow Assassin: #$%^& #@$^@! Another freaking “sneaky” drow. I’m starting to think that drow are just an excuse to not put as much paint on figures.
21) Shadow Flayer: A more physical type of Mind Flayer is nice. As a rare, I think it would have benefited from more colors/painting.
22) Spiderbound Drow Warrior: More black plastic with white and silver paint. I know that a set called “Demonweb” would have some drow in now. That doesn’t explain why DoD 1 and DoD2 both had two drow in their sets.
23) Thoon Hulk: IIRC this is a monster from one of the last 3.5 Monster Manuals. Not only is it a well made figure, but it also adds depth to possible mind flayer encounters. I never liked the idea that all illithids were more or less the same.
24) Black Dragon Lurker: Some of the unlikeliest failures of Against the Giants turned out to be the dragons. It is good to see this set, for all of its faults, does dragons right. I even like it better than Unhallowed version.
25) Concord Illithid: A decent, but unnecessary, illithid figure. The main flaw of this figure is that the paint job on the face doesn’t do much to bring out the features. I expect better from medium sized rare figures.
26) Phaseweb Spider: The most charitable thing I can say about this piece it that it would make good dungeon dressing. The lack of paint, aside from the white swirl in the center of the web, makes it difficult to distinguish between the spider, the web, and the wall.
27) Skull Lord: This is a great piece. The three headed skeleton is a new addition to the DDM line. The paint job is a good as most Warhammer players would produce. Even the straps to the skulls are a different color than the belt. The Skull Lord is just a very detailed piece.
28) Gnoll Demon Adept: An adequate uncommon figure. The all black shield is a bit of a cop out. Otherwise it does a good job of portraying a savage, demon-worshiping beast. Gnolls seem to get a short shrift in the official D&D products. Enough Gnoll miniatures have been made since Harbinger. However, relative to Drow, Orc, and Goblin minis, Gnolls are practically obscure.
It seems like a chicken vs. egg problem: Are Orc popular because so many appear in different adventures and source books (especially ones for low level characters) or do so many products include orcs because they are so popular? Why are Orcs more essential to the launch of a new edition than Bullywogs? Mechanically, both fill the same role.
29) Yuan-Ti Malison Incanter: Not to be confused with Guan-Di, protector of the bean curd. A nice, little snake man. The lack of paint detailing on the staff is disappointing.
30) Ogre Pulverizer: Pretty standard for an Ogre and a Large Uncommon.
31) Stormrage Blue Dragon: This is more evidence that the astounding ability to make terrible, unappealing dragons in Against the Giants was just a fluke. It is noticeably bigger than the other Large Blue. The pose on this one is also more dynamic. The dragon looks like a viper ready to strike.
32) Bugbear Strangler: At first blush the strangler seems an odd match for the biggest of the goblinoids. Then I realized it was smaller than the current bugbear figures. Maybe in a Bugbear centric society the smaller ones have to rely on guile to survive.
33) Bugbear Warrior: Pretty meh. Has a lot of limb overhang like a lot of the Bugbears for some inexplicable reason.
34) Human Bandit: It is ok as a generic fantasy figure, but aren’t the miniatures intended to represent a particular participant in a fight? When players see this figure are they supposed to have their character’s run away screaming “Look out! He has the Silver Hammer of Maxwell hanging from his belt!”
35) Spiretop Drake: I’m going to go ahead and consider this one a White Dragon Wyrmling.
36) Scythejaw: Makes a very interesting Trap or Animated Object.
37) Autumn Wind Ranger: This is a very nice figure. It looks like a breeze is picking up both the cloak and the elf’s hair. The armor has nice earthy tones that would help the ranger blend into the forest.
38) Blood Slaad: Somewhat better looking than the old Red Slaad. Ironically, it is redder than the Red Slaad.
39) Brutal Orge Warhulk: This is like hearing Patti Smith cover “Gloria”. A dynamic pose, clear sculpt, and a paint job that brings out little details.
40) Curse Slaad: I never really played Planescape, so maybe I am missing some of the lore. That said, this stylistically seems like a departure from earlier Slaad minis. The crocodile face and the elongated arms being the most noticeable changes. Not inherently bad, but the changes don’t look very appealing.
41) Cyclops Hewer: I’m a little torn on this one. It is nice to have more Cyclops and the sculpt is nice. However, the paint job gives the impression that they intended to do a really nice paint job, but ran out of funding a quarter of the war into it.
42) Ettin Spirit-Talker: A great, savage counterpart to the Ettin, Jack of Irons. The Ettin’s tone is set by well conceived weapons and clothing that leaves an impression of a primitive creature.
43) Minotaur Warrior: The default Minotaur in 4th Edition is Medium sized, like the Dragonlance minotaurs. With that in mind, I think it is a good figure. The rare frequency is justified by the detail of the figure. It is definitely better than the Young Minotaur.
44) Sharn Redcloak: A generic archer. The three color paint job isn’t great, but should be expected with common figures.
45) Warforged Battle Champion: I’ve really liked the Warforged minis. They just have a kind of texture that really works well in three dimensions. I also like the sentient construct concept. It is a thing that appears in a lot of fantasy fiction but had been surprising absent or low profile in D&D until the Eberron Setting was released. It would have been a great PC to include in the core book, but I understand that the Dragonborn was already upsetting enough traditionalists.
46) Corruption Corpse: No thanks.
47) Hobgoblin Warcaster: It is nice to get a new Hobgoblin Spellcaster.
48) Guard Drake: The documentary “Comedian” has a scene where Jerry Seinfeld has a joke that he loves but can’t find a way to make it work with the audience. He finally accepts that the joke won’t work and he gives it up. For the minis team, this resculpt of the Fell Drake is that joke. I don’t think anyone was really complaining about the difficulty of getting a Harbinger Fell Drake, or a Chainmail one for that matter. Stop trying to sell the fans on this monster, we don’t like it and exposing us to it more frequently isn’t going to help.
49) Quickling Runner: It is nice to see a classic monster make it into a minis set.
50) Kruthik Hive Lord: A pretty good uncommon, much better than the hatchling from an earlier set. The swarmer monster concept was a little dicey in 3rd Edition but works much better in 4th.
51) Troglodyte Brute: A good common mob piece. Two colors, nothing fancy. The new style of the Troglodytes is interesting; it helps to distinguish them from kobolds or lizardfolk.
52) Troglodyte Curse Chanter: A good caster figure for Troglodyte fights.
53) Crazed Kuo-Toa: The sculpture lacks strong detail and the paint job is very flat with very little definition. It looks like a featureless green humanoid. I also miss the froggy look of the creatures.
54) Deathcap Fungus: A nice little piece of dungeon dressing. Maybe WOTC should try a traps and hazards blister pack along the lines of what they are doing with PC minis.
55) Kruthik Adult: This is basically a bigger version of the hatchling, but with a brown underbelly.
56) Stirge Drone: Another monochromatic, featureless mini. It is definitely a downgrade from the prior version. I suppose it does put more stirges out into the pool.
57) Web Golem: A really nice golem. It looks like a construct made of spider webs by worshipers of Lloth.
58) Dire Bear Mauler: I think this figure would have looked better if it wasn’t trying to stand up.
59) Girallon: Not that different from the earlier version. Not bad, but not really interesting. It is like Van Halen’s version of “You Really Got Me”.
60) Iron Dragon Prowler: Again, this is a sharp looking figure. Most of the DDM Dragons are. The rusting of the wings and the horns are a really nice touch. I look forward to seeing this monster’s debut in the Draconomicon 2. I also like getting these breaks from the traditional five chromatic and five metallic dragons. Dungeons & Dragons, not surprisingly, has a lot of neat dragons out there that haven’t made an appearance in plastic (or metal) form.
Looking at the Iron Dragon and the Web Golem before I put them on the shelf, I hope that the new format won’t ignore the monsters and the player characters that are more obscure; the ones that maybe only appeared in the Fiend Folio, Lords of Madness, or maybe only in one published adventure. That was what I considered one of the major strengths of DDM. Dwarves, Goblins, Orcs, Skeletons; these are in basically any miniatures line. Only DDM brought stuff like the Blood Golem of Hexxor and the Behir.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Faces of Evil: Prometheus One Shot
So Prometheus figured out that Gunfires weakness was that he would be paralized if his neck was broken? Looks like be have another contender for World's Greatest Detective.
I wonder what Mr. Terrific's weakness is, a Bazooka to the face perhaps?
I wonder what Mr. Terrific's weakness is, a Bazooka to the face perhaps?
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Sentry Test
I have a simple proposal for Marvel writers.
If you could replace the Sentry with this guy:
and it wouldn't affect the outcome of your story in any way, then don't bother putting the Sentry in your comic.
No one cares about how powerful the Sentry could be. Potential isn't a good reason to put someone on the Avengers roster if that promise is never realized.
Teaming up with Bullseye because the Green Goblin is your land lord? Key-Rist, what an awful, awful, awful excuse for a superhero.
I guess that the Sentry really captured the imagination of Brian Michael Bendis. The tragedy is that he won't share it with the rest of us.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Rock-It
Everytime I fire a large ruined book into a raider's head, I imagine the Vault Dweller yelling "Reading is FUNdamental!"
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Dark Reign - what the Initiative should have been?
I've started to read some of the books that are introducing the post Secret Invasion status quo. I'm a lot more interested in heroes as outlaws when the sheriff is the Green Goblin, then when it is Iron Man. You know Norman, after a team up with the New Avengers, isn't going to turn a blind eye to them running away. There is actually a sense of danger, which makes the stories compeling.
I hope Dark Reign stays the status quo for a while. I think there are a lot of stories that can be told under it.
One of the things that kept Civil War, World War Hulk, and Secret Invasion, from having any punch was that they were over quickly. They weren't changing the status quo because the status quo has been crossover events.
Of course focusing on storytelling rather than stunts may be difficult when the EIC can't conceive of any good stories about a married Spider-Man or of a new young hero that would fill the idea space left behind when Spiderman is allowed to grow up.
I hope Dark Reign stays the status quo for a while. I think there are a lot of stories that can be told under it.
One of the things that kept Civil War, World War Hulk, and Secret Invasion, from having any punch was that they were over quickly. They weren't changing the status quo because the status quo has been crossover events.
Of course focusing on storytelling rather than stunts may be difficult when the EIC can't conceive of any good stories about a married Spider-Man or of a new young hero that would fill the idea space left behind when Spiderman is allowed to grow up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)