Studio Miniatures Survivors 02

These three 28mm scale survivor figures were recently released by Studio Miniatures. From left to right they are Memphis, Ohio and Hawk. These are the names chosen by the Studio team, presumably to get round copyright problems. However, I believe in calling a spade a spade so I'll say what we all know to be the truth - they are from left to right, Tallahassee and Columbus from Zombieland and Snake Plisken from Escape to New York.
Anyone looking for a well armed survivor for their zombie apocalypse game would be well advised to check out the Memphis/Tallahassee figure, so memorably played by Woody Harrelson in what in my opinion is his best movie role to date. This figure is armed to the teeth with a pair of Mini-Uzi machine pistols in his hands, two pump-action shotguns strapped to his back and a pair of holstered pistols. With that amount of weaponry, he doesn't need to worry about running out of ammo. If he does, he can just draw a new firearm. He is very well sculpted and the sculptor has achieved a good likeness of Woody, thankfully without making his head too big, which was a failing with the cast of Scrubs in the boxed set of Studio's zombie medical staff.

Much as I love the sculpt of Memphis/Tallahassee, I think the figure of Ohio/Columbus is even better. That is because the sculptor has perfectly captured Jesse Eisenberg's look, from his face to his scrawny teenage body. Even if you don't use him as Columbus, this figure will still make a great sidekick. He is armed with a double-barelled shotgun, which looks to be as long as he is tall. These two figures are sold together, which I think is only fair.

Next up, is the Hawk/Snake Plisken figure. He is armed with an Ingram MAC 10 machine pistol fitted with silencer and scopesight. A nice combo! He has a pair of pearl-handled pistols strapped to his hips for back-up.Again, the sculptor was captured the iconic look of Kurt Russell very well, although the head is just a tad too large. I suppose there will be those comparing this figure with Hasslefree's Cobra (their version of Snake) from their adventurers range. To be honest, I think the Hasslefree version is better than the Studio version. It is certainly more animated. But I'm not knocking the Studio version for being a poor figure. Far from it. What may be a deciding factor for those of you on a limited budget is the fact that the white metal Studio version of Snake is 51 pence cheaper than the Hasslefree version, which retails at £4.50.

Moving on, these five figures come from a boxed set called Dorothy and the Gang. It is clear where the inspiration for these survivors came from - The Wizard of Oz. At the far left of my two photos above is Toto the dog. On the Studio website, this has been painted as an Alsatian. I already heve a few other figures of Alsatians, so I wanted to paint mine as a different breed. What I don't have in my dog collection are any Border Collies, a breed I particularly like, even though I'm more of a cat person than a dog person. So I Googled pictures of Border Collies and painted the figure you see above. I'm especially happy with how he came out. Prior to the release of I, Zombie, the only dogs in ATZ were the ones found in random encounters being chased by 1d6 zombies. Now, however, you can include dogs as part of your group.
Standing next to Toto is Dorothy, who looks like she knows how to handle herself in a fight. She is armed with a pair of pistols, and is aiming with one, whilst keeping the other by her side. She is quite small in comparison to the male characters from this set. If you wanted a pair of teenage siblings for your party team up Dorothy here with the Ohio/Columbus figure shown earlier. Looking at them side by side they really do complement each other very well.
In the centre of this group is the scarecrow character. I suspect he is just a tramp who has teamed up with Dorothy. He wields a pitchfork in his hands, which going by its condition, looks to have seen better days. I added a lot of muddy affects to him by drybrushing Citadel Tausept Ochre and Citadel Graveyard Earth after I'd finished painting his clothes. You want him to look scruffy.
Next in line, is the tinman, who has come up with some imaginative ideas for his armour. The most obvious one is the dust bin, with holes cut out for his head and arms. I added a rusty girder to his base just to emphasise his metallic nature. He wields a large two-handed axe.
Finally, we come to what has to be the most striking figure out of the bunch - the cowardly lion. The sculptor has used great imagination to transform the lion into a mascot for a football team or some other sports team. It is a concept that works amazingly well. He is very tall - from the soles of his feet to the top of his head he is 47mm tall. I suspect that he sees out of the lion's mouth as there is no way he could see out of the lion head's eyes. Like his two male companions, he is armed with a two-handed melee weapon, in this case, a hockey stick. I'm sure that's classed as an improvised weapon in ATZ.
This is a very unusual theme to adopt for a group of survivors and is not a one that I would have thought of. However, the concept works and I salute Studio for coming up with something so far from outside the box. Their originality is to be applauded.
As for the first three survivors that I reviewed here, all I want to say is, can we have figures of Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) from Zombieland? I appreciate Studio making Memphis/Tallahassee and Ohio/Columbus but they're only half of the team. So, pretty please, can we have the female half of the team?
Okay, let's look at prices. The white metal versions of Memphis and Ohio cost £7.99, whilst the resin versions cost £9.99. The white metal version of Hawk costs £3.99, whilst the resin version costs £4.99. Finally, the boxed set of Dorothy and the Gang costs £15.99 for the white metal version and £24.99 for the resin version. If anyone has bought the resin version of any of the Studio Miniatures range, please let me know.
Finally, if anyone hasn't seen the Hasslefree version of Snake Plisken and they can't be arsed to check out their website, don't worry. I plan on doing a review of him, and a few other Hasslefree adventurers, soon. That way you'll be able to compare the two.