Studio Miniatures Zombies 05 - Mob 5

It is always a pleasure to review a new set of Studio Miniatures 28mm scale zombies. Zombie Mob 005 is something different from Studio's previous offerings, this time concentrating on hospital victims. This is such a logical choice for zombies. When the zombie apocalypse kicks off the hospitals will quickly become overwhelmed with victims, many of whom will turn into zombies. These will inevitably create more zombies in the hospital. For the first time, Studio have gone with a 50-50 split between male and female zombies, a move I applaud. I'll begin my review by looking at the male zombies, shown in the two photos above.

Note that the three zombies in the hospital gowns are all a variation of the same figure. I know that this concerns some people but I have stated before that it does not bother me. There is enough variety in the poses to make them all different. The zombie at the far left stands with his arms hanging loosely by his sides and his mouth wide open. He is dressed in socks and slippers and an operating gown, that inevitably does not tie up properly at the back, thus exposing his bum. There is a hole in his right thigh and his left knee is badly grazed. I have added blood to his mouth, which has dribbled down to pool around his neck and stained the top of his gown.

The zombie to his left has had most of the flesh stripped from his right arm but not his hand. His head hangs loosely against his left shoulder. He has a bandage around his left wrist. Most worryingly of all for him, he appears to have been castrated. It looks like a zombie has feasted on his manhood. Now that just brings tears to the eyes thinking about it! It is amazing to see what disgusting new wounds the sculptors can come up with!

Next in line, the sculptor has resorted to that old standby - disembowelment. The zombie clutches his stomach in a vain attempt to stop his intestines from spilling out. He has a bandage wrapped around his head. His left knee is also badly grazed.

Last in line is something truly unique - a zombie breaking free from a body bag. He has somehow clawed holes in the bodybag so that his arms and legs are now free. This makes a lot of sense if you are playing any game where it takes time for a dead body to reanimate as a zombie. In the early days of the zombie outbreak paramedics will naturally put any corpse they find into a bodybag and transport it to the morgue, where inevitably it will rise as one of the undead. The first thing it will do is to try and get out of the bodybag. Ten out of ten for originality with this sculpt, even if it did remind me of the Honey Monster when I first saw it! "Tell 'em about the honey, mummy!"

Next up are the females and again, the three zombies dressed in the ill-fitting hospital gowns and slippers are all a variation of the same figure. First in line is a zombie clutching a bloody piece of meat in her left hand. She has a blood-stained bandage on her right arm. She appears to be chewing a piece of flesh or vomitting something from her mouth. I've gone for the first option and have stained the top of her gown in blood. Note that her right slipper has gone missing and her toes poke out of her sock.
Next to her is the zombie that I find the most disturbing out of this group. She is clearly pregnant. But look at the way she clutches her blood-stained groin. Something "very bad" has happened to her and her baby. We don't know what and it is left to the imagination what has happened to her. Horror left to the imagination can often be far more frightening than "in your face" gore. She creeps me out... and it takes something special to do that!
The third of the trio has her left arm in a sling. I've sculpted her right slipper back on as I did not want all three women to have lost one of their slippers each. Once again. I have smeared blood around her mouth to show that she has recently fed.
The final figure of this group and indeed of this set, is a female zombie crawling out of her bodybag. Her face is hideously ugly and she has wounds to her right shoulder blade, lower right arm and right breast. I suppose that you could paint her bodybag as a sleeping bag if you wanted to set a scenario at a campsite. She is an outstanding figure, however you decide to paint her.
Zombie Mob 005 costs £15.99 if you want white metal versions of the figures or £24.99 if you'd prefer resin cast figures. I always go for the white metal version. This is a very welcome addition to Studio's ever-growing horde and it is great to see the company producing so many fine quality sets on such a regular basis. Zombie Mob 006, which features doctors and nurses to accompany this set is already on offer and I'm eagerly awaiting for them to arrive through the post. Expect a review of them very soon as they'll be jumping to the head of my painting queue when they arrive. When it comes to making zombie miniatures I put Studio at the top of the pile and this set only enhances their reputation for being the best in the business. As if their figures weren't so good, just check out how they are packaged. They still come in the old-style video boxes that are such fun to receive.