Sunday 28 November 2010

Blue Moon Zombies 02

Following on from my last post, here are the second batch of ten 28mm scale zombie figures from Blue Moon Manufacturing's boxed set BMM111A Box 7 "I Just Can't Seem to Get a Good Night's Sleep." Whereas the first ten figures from this set that I reviewed were armed with melee weapons, this batch are all unarmed.
 At the far left of the two photos above is a female, whose face is extremely skull-like. Her long, crimson dress hangs in tatters as she lurches forward with her right arm stretched out to grab someone. Her limbs are covered in bites, cuts and scratches. She is the only unarmed female in this set and I think she's a terrific zombie, who appears to have been dead (or should that be undead?) for a very long time.
I mentioned last time that this set included four nude male zombies, who were all missing genitals and ears. I sculpted the missing appendages back on to this figure and I gave him an Afro hair-do as he was originally bald. Plus, I wanted to paint him as an African-American zombie. His wounds include a bite to his neck, which explains why his head leans to one side, and a few cuts and minor bites to his legs and torso. I have covered his right hand in TCR (Tamiya Clear Red) to indicate that he has used it to rummage around inside a victim to pull out a nice juicy internal organ.
There's an interesting tale about the figure in the middle of this group. He is the zombie who doesn't exist. If you look on the box cover or on the Blue Moon website for this figure you won't find him. Someone at BMM has made a boo-boo and replaced him with a zombie woman in a red dress. The woman also appears on the cover of Box 9, which is where she should be, as that is the set that includes her. I noticed this slip-up when I was looking to see how BMM's artist had painted him and couldn't find him anywhere. I opted for a simple colour scheme of white shirt, blue jeans and black shoes. There is a massive wound to the front and left side of his torso. Look closely and part of his rib cage is exposed. He also suffers from a large bite to his right thigh and a few minor bites to his arms.
The fourth zombie in line is my favourite out of this set. I used him to represent BMM in my size comparison photos. This semi-naked zombie, isn't just fat, he's obese. Such is the size of his massive belly that it can support three vicious wounds, one of which is deep enough to allow his innards to leak out. Strips of flesh have been ripped from his shoulder blades and he appears to have been shot in his right shoulder. I gave him a broken nose and finally, he has a deep cut to his left leg. I wouldn't want to mess with him!
Last in line is a sight you rarely see - a zombie monk. Thoughts of an undead Friar Tuck immediately sprang to mind when I saw this figure. However, it is worth noting that monks still exist today so there is no reason not to use him in a contemporary setting. He's dressed in a traditional monk's garb and is bare-footed. His only visible wound is to his left knee. A chunk of flesh has been bitten off to reveal the kneecap below.
And so we come to the final five figures from the set. Starting at the far left of the two photos above is a zombie in a very animated pose. He is crouching down in what could be a fighting stance. His hair is very long. I painted his trousers as faded denims and he is another zombie who is lacking any footwear. Most of his wounds are on his back and arms and are quite severe.
The zombie standing next to him is unusual in that he wears a hat. You don't see many men (or women) wearing hats these days. His arms are held rigidly by his sides as he bends forward with his mouth fully agape. He has lost his right shoe but still wears his left shoe. Another unusual feature of him, is that he wears a cravat, another item of clothing you don't see very often. A chunk of flesh has been torn from his right cheek. He has a cut and a small puncture wound to his back but his most severe wounds are to the thighs of both legs.
Moving to the centre of this group is a zombie with a severe stoop, captured by the sculptor in a shuffling pose as he advances remorselessly. Like a lot of zeds in this set, he is bare-footed. His shirt has been ripped to shreds and most of it has gone. Large chunks of flesh have been torn from his back, stomach and left shoulder and his left cheek has been sliced open.
The next zombie in line is stooped over even further. His hands are clutched in front of his belly... perhaps to hold up the robe that is draped around his lower torso, although modesty is not an emotion you associate with zombies. The most noticable aspect of this particular zombie is that his lower jaw has been ripped off, which ought to make biting very difficult if not impossible! His other wounds are relatively minor, consisting of a few bites and cuts.
Last of all, is a zombie crawler, whose body is covered in bite wounds. He wears nothing more than a loincloth. He is another zombie with an almost skull-like head and he is totally bald. As with all of the zombies in this range, he is extremely well sculpted.
If you order this boxed set of twenty 28mm scale zombies directly from Blue Moon Manufacturing it will cost you $40.00. Good news for those of you living in America. However, I ordered mine from Old Glory, based not too far from where I live in England and they cost me £30.00. This meant that I could order all three boxed sets from them and not worry about getting ripped of by H.M. Customs.
As I mentioned last time, I held off from buying these for a long time as I was put off by the melee weapon armed zombies. But now that THW have introduced smart zombies to ATZ, I'm really glad I bought them. Their integral metal bases are just short of 25mm in diameter, meaning you don't have to base them if you don't want to. I did, but only to tie them in with my other 28mm scale figures.
One thing that I particularly like about these zombies is the fact that they look old. By that I don't mean that they look like old age pensioners. No, they look like they've been dead for a long time. These do not appear to be freshly created zombies. If you're after zombies who have been shuffling around for years after the outbreak, these are the figures to go for. It's a subtle distinction but it is worth pointing out and I think they are all the better for it.
I'll review the second boxed set very soon, as I'm sure that most of you will want to see what Team Vampifan gets up to in my next ATZ batrep more than another figure review!

6 comments:

  1. Theres some nice mini's in there. Thanks for the review. The weapons arn't so big an issue with me. It looks as though, for the most part, with the right paint job these same figures could be used in both fantasy and modern games.

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  2. Nice stuff! My favorites are the obese zombie and the friar from the 1st 5 and the 1st zombie from the 2nd 5.

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  3. More superb painting as always Vampi! I've tried TCR and thanks for recommending it - it makes such a difference!

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  4. @Dangerous Brian. This is a set that will work for a fantasy or a contemporary setting, so well done to BMM for pulling that feat off.

    @Luckyjoe. I love the obese zombie, too. He's just so gross!

    @Colin. I'm glad you've found such a difference using TCR. As I keep on saying - it's a zombie painter's best friend!

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  5. Truly grotesque!
    I'm supposed to be getting ready for our convention this weekend and here I am cruising Bryan's blog.

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  6. Willy, at least you're not wasting your time! LOL!

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