Fortress Figures Zombies 01

I'm always learning new stuff about the art of blogging. I was looking at someone else's blog-site earlier this week and they had typed under each of their pictures "for a closer look click on the picture" When you clicked on the picture it appeared on a new page and just about filled the screen. That's cool, I thought. I wonder how he did that? I went back to my blog-site and clicked on the first picture. Lo and behold, a new screen opened and there was my photo, full screen sized. These good folks at Blogger make life so easy! The purpose of this rambling is to let viewers who were not aware of this feature that if you want a close look at my photos then just left-click on any picture and it'll open up in a new screen. Mind you, at that size, every little mistake is magnified greatly. I've included the instructions under the header of my blog-site to remind you and it saves me from typing it out after each photo.

So onto this week's review and once again I'm looking at some of my older figures from my collection of zombies. These are 35mm scale zombies from Fortress Figures, an American based company. They come in packs of two and first up we have sets ZZZ212 Susan & Chris and ZZZ214 Wannabe & Lil Sarah. I've grouped them together as a family of mum, dad, son and daughter. The figure of Chris (dad) reminds me of Marvel Comics' Simon Garth the Zombie. Sarah is very tall and slim. Wannabe (what kind of a name is that?) has the surly teenage look just about right. Lil Sarah clutches her favourite teddy bear to her chest. None of these figures appear to be badly wounded and could just as easily be painted up as ordinary civilains, especially given their poses.

The next two sets are ZZZ213 Fireman Bill & Deputy Dan and ZZZ215 Deady Page & Johny Rotten. Apart from a few holes in their clothing the cop and the fireman aren't badly wounded. However, Deady Page (clearly inspired by Betty Page) has suffered greatly. Her midriff and lower arms have been completely chewed away, leaving nothing but bone behind. The punk, Johny Rotten, is in a ridiculous pose for a zombie. Zombies do not kick - fact! At least not in any game I run. As a consequence I have painted him as one of the living. He sports no wounds whatsoever, which lends further credence to making him a live human.

Moving on, we have sets ZZZ211 Dr. Laura & Dr. Drew and ZZZ216 Skip & Matt. Yet again, the two doctors could pass for humans with a more healthy skin tone and if you filled in the few holes in their clothing. I went over the top with Dr. Drew, assuming he was killed by whoever he was operating on in his surgical theatre and thus soaked his clothing in blood. Skip makes a great zombie "dragger," having been cut in half. Matt is obviously dead. He lies spreadeagled on the ground with his decapitated head nearby. Most folks know if you remove the head you kill the zombie.

Finally, is set ZZZ217 Mailman Steve & Roadkill (great name for a zombie dog!). Teaming up a postman and a dog is such an obvious choice. Mailman Steve is another zombie with relatively few obvious wounds, although his face and pose are clearly that of a zombie.The dog is huge and I don't know enough about dogs to identify its breed.
Each set of figures retails at $6.00. I fully acknowledge that this range of figures is not going to be to everyone's taste. For a start, there is their size. At 35mm these are some of the tallest zombies around and they will tower over many smaller ranges. Secondly is the standard of their sculpting. They have an almost cartoon-like quality to them and in no way could you describe them as being realistically sculpted. The heads on some are oversized, especially on Dr. Drew and Matt. Despite that, I find them rather appealing and so I was quite happy to buy them. I'm all for a bit of variety in my zombie horde. However, they would not have been my first choice of zombie figures to buy and I doubt if they'd be many other people's first choice either. If you want to pack out your horde with tall zombies then go buy 'em, otherwise I'd advise you to steer well clear of them.