Sunday 30 January 2011

Hasslefree Survivor Females 02

Without further ado here is part two of my review of Hasslefree's 28mm scale female survivors from their Adventurers range. This time, they are all armed with firearms.
At the far left is HFA001 Eve, who looks remarkably like Lara Croft of Tomb Raider fame. I had already painted up a Copplestone Castings not-Lara as my own Tomb Raider, and didn't want to paint this version up in the same colour scheme. I compromised by giving her a Union Jack T-shirt, which wasn't easy to paint! Kev's version of not-Lara is a much more animated sculpture than the Copplestone figure. The way she is holding her pistols is excellent. Note that her arms are separate castings. I thought that I'd have some difficulty in gluing her arms on but I didn't. I used epoxy resin to glue them and they were an excellent fit. My only criticism of the figure is that she is lacking holsters for her pistols. Actually, looking at the five figures in the photos above I see that none of the ladies are fitted with holsters. An oversight, perhaps?
Next up is HFA015 Dionne, who was based, once again, on Selene from the Underworld films. Remember Kat from last time was also based on Selene. I've made a few changes to this figure to convert her into Violet Song jat Shariff (played by Milla Jovovich) from the film Ultraviolet. I lengthened her hair and gave her a short jacket. I liked the Ultraviolet film, despite what the critics had to say about it, so I'm very happy to have a figure of Violet in my collection. As conversions go, this was very easy to do. Technically speaking, she should go in a post on vampires, but first of all, Hasslefree don't make vampires, and secondly, Violet is not a traditional, supernatural vampire but a product of a test-tube.
As a companion piece to Kat and Dionne is this figure, HFA021 Dionne (b). Yep, this is a conversion of the previous figure, in which Kev has added a long leather coat. Now the figure looks far more like Selene when she sets out to hunt down Lycans. It's a lovely figure but for me it's not the definitive Selene figure. That accolade goes to Copplestone's female werewolf hunter, who is in a superb action pose with both guns blazing and her leather coat sweeping around her. I will do a review of her soon. I've painted my figure as a Dionne rather than Selene and gave her a red leather costume underneath her coat. I will point out just how popular this figure is amongst us ATZ bloggers as Willy uses her as LTL Mom in his campaign and Oliver used her as Mrs. Whiteface in his campaign before she ended up being infected. My fellow bloggers clearly know a good figure when they see one!
Fourth in line is HFA031 Kendra. I like how this figure is posed. She has a two-handed grip on her pistol and as she is walking, she's checking all around her for possible threats. She looks like she knows what she's doing. Kendra is an unusual name and the only other time I've heard it being used was in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series when Kendra the Vampire Slayer popped up in a few episodes before being killed by Drusilla. This figure is most definitely not Kendra the Vampire Slayer.
Finally, in this batch of figures is another female armed with two pistols, HFA043 Kitty. I wonder if she's called Kitty because she has a Hello Kitty rucksack on her back? Her jeans look like they have been sprayed on her; they are just so tight. Some of my followers will be pleased to note that she's wearing a thong - you can see the sides of it riding high on her hips. Like the figure of Eve, she comes with separate arms and again I had no problem gluing them in place. Her pose, where she is checking who or what is behind her, is full of movement and animation and perfectly shows just how good Kevin White is at sculpting females. She is an exquisite mini!
Next, are four females armed with heavier weaponry. At far left is HFA014 Suzi. This is the original Suzi that HF produced. The Suzi holding a katana that I showed in my last post was a conversion done by Kev. Here, Japanese schoolgirl Suzi is armed with a MAC10 sub-machine gun. The naughty girl is still flashing her panties! Has she no shame? LOL!
The next figure in line is HFA020 Sadie (b), a conversion of HFA019 Sadie shown last post. This version of Sadie comes with a choice of three sets of arms and weapons. There is the Remington 870 shotgun version, which you can see in the two photos above. Alternatively, you could arm her with a katana or you could go more high-tech and give her an Aliens style assault rifle. After bemoaning about the lack of holsters for the five figures shown at the start of this post, it's nice to see this figure with a holstered pistol. With so many options on offer it might pay you to buy more than one of this figure. I'll be buying a second one soon to arm with the katana.
Proving that Kev must really like this figure, here is HFA063 Sadie (c). Yep, it's a fifth version of Sadie! This time, it's back to a one-piece casting and she holds a MAC10 SMG with silencer in her right hand, whilst in her left hand she is shining a torch at something. It is a very clever conversion and I like her a lot. Again she has a pistol holstered at her right hip and she totes a small backpack, which could hold any number of smallish items, like spare ammo, medical supplies, food, drink or make-up. Hey, there's no reason why a girl can't look her best just because there's a zombie apocalypse!
Finally, is HFA022 Madge, nicely posed reloading a double-barrelled shotgun. As you can see, Madge is a more mature lady, and full marks to Kev for not being ageist. Madge looks like she's a country type, like the lady of a manor or a wealthy farmer's wife. There is oodles of character in this figure and she'd make a great "mother" figure to a group of younger adventurers.
There were a couple of female adventurers whom I almost included in this post (HFA005 Maria and HFA035 Morgan) but they are quite small so I've included them with the kids, and I'll post a review of them next time. When it comes to picking or adding female survivors for your party you really are spoilt for choice with Hasslefree. 
Prices for this batch of figures are as follows: Dionne, Dionne (b), Suzi, Madge and Kendra are £3.50 each. Eve, Kitty, Sadie (b) and Sadie (c) are all £4.00 each. Worth every penny in my opinion!

22 comments:

  1. Excellent. I love the fact you have shown the different versions of each miniature. I always struggle to decide which to use - so many choices. You are bringing me around to the 'one of each' approach!

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  2. Thanks, Adam. I'd say, if you can afford it, go for one of each. It all depends how you stand financially.

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  3. Another great post Vampifan. You've done a great job on all these figures, I'm really appreciating all your hard work.

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  4. Thanks, Phil. Receiving comments like yours makes it all worthwhile.

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  5. Great job on these. My favorite is Madge. You did an excellent paint job on her, especially, though they all look very well done.

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  6. Great work again Bryan! You put the rest of us to shame ... well me anyway! ;)

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  7. Dionne is a beauty among your beauties, I know I say it a lot but beautiful work my friend.

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  8. @Lucky Joe. I like Madge as well. It's nice to see someone older amongst all the nubile young maidens!

    @Colin. Thanks, mate, but don't be so disparaging of your own work. You do some good stuff as well.

    @The Angry Lurker. Once again, thank you for your kind words. Dionne is a very popular figure indeed.

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  9. I love 'em all, but Eve is my favourite. Really, really great painting.

    By the way, I think LTL Mom is Copplestone's werewolfhunter, not Dionne(b). But this miniature has also been used for Sweetpea (Mrs. PDoid). It's such a fantastic miniature. Her legs, the curve of her belly are just perfect...Kev White is an artist.

    Whiteface / Oliver

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  10. You are so right about LTL Mom, Oliver, she is the Copplestone werewolf hunter. I do hope she'll forgive me as she has a fearsome reputation for dealing with folks who annoy her! Oh, and sorry to PDoid for forgetting about Sweetpea! This is what comes of relying on my memory without doing proper research! It won't happen again, folks!

    Reading everyone's comments, it's interesting to note that everyone has their own opinion about which figure is the best. For myself, I like all of them for different reasons but if you were to pin me for just one, I'd choose Eve. Why? Because I love how animated her pose is and for nostalgic reasons, as she was the first HF figure I bought.

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  11. Nice paint jobs as usual Bryan. Kendra isn't all that uncommon of a name. I have worked with a couple different Kendra's (all super cuties too, LOL).

    I definitely am going to have to try and order me some Hasslefree figures when I have the funds available. I have a growing list of the ones I want, and a couple of them I want multiples of due to the extra arm options, and to have one or two sets of twins. Also definitely want the Suzi figures to paint up as Anime schoolgirls to go with the Reaper Chronoscope Anime Heroines (Candy and Sugar) that I have, of course we all know their ride of choice would be the Desert Pink Ebbles 4x4 Jeepvee (maybe with Hello Kitty painted on the hood, LOL).

    As always keep up the good work.

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  12. These ladies look strikingly like the buxom badasses who reside in the seedier parts of my own Chicago neighborhood.

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  13. @Doug. I love your idea for the Anume girls' choice of wheels. Such a wacky idea it has to be done!

    @A Beer for the Shower. First of all, hi and welcome to my crazy blog! Yeah, I hear you, man. It's the same where I live, only thing is, quite a few of these figures would be considered overdressed!

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  14. Hey, I like flashing panties!
    I'm late to the ball once again. I just survived three days at Owl con and am regrouping..

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  15. I've just checked out your blog, Willy. It looks like you had a fantastic time at Owl con. Welcome back to mundane world!

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  16. Bryan- I am actually looking for some good Hello Kitty pics to possibly put on the Pink Jeepvee. The main Hello Kitty image I am leaning towards right now is the AK Kitty one http://icrontic.com/uploads/2009/08/Hello-Kitty-AK47.png I have also found a black and white version of this image and one of her in Pink, if I don't, use the AK Kitty might just go with the Hello Kitty Head .

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  17. Very nice Vampifan, great work as always, I'm liking the chick with the 'Union Jack' Boob tube !

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  18. "@Colin. Thanks, mate, but don't be so disparaging of your own work. You do some good stuff as well."

    I like the use of the word SOME in that sentence ... makes me feel so encouraged ....

    And my 2-cents on the favourite figure question; I know it's going to raise a few eyebrows, but I'd have to go with Madge. She is just so different from all the young, busting out of their clothing figures you can get from lots of companies - e.g. Copplestone, Shadowforge, etc. She actually looks like a real person and the pose is great too! It's as if Nora Batty was in the zed-alypse ...

    And I think that both you and 'A Beer for the Shower' have better scenery than where I live!!

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  19. @Doug. Ha, I do like AK Kitty! You seem like you're a man with a plan. I can't wait to see how this turns out. When I ordered my Jeepvees, the pink version was one that I did not buy. I just couldn't see a use for it. But well done, Doug, you've proved me wrong.

    @The Extraodinarii. Another vote for Eve!

    @Colin. Okay, scratch "some" and replace it with "loads." I clearly wasn't thinking when I typed that.

    A second vote for Madge. I agree with everything you said about her - she does look like a real person and I'd love to see more of her ilk.

    A visit to the Bigg Market in Newcastle during the evening or night of a weekend would be quite an eyeopener for you and you'd discover that the Geordies' reputation for wearing minimal clothing no matter how cold it is is not exagerrated!

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  20. Bryan, I was only pulling your leg!!

    As for eye-opening, I watched half of 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding' last night ... I'm still recovering from that dose of eye-candy ... and I think I will be for a while!

    I liked the Kitty with AK pic as well - migth have to have that on an advertising billboard on my terrain I think!

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  21. Great painting, I like Madge the best, I'm sure I've seen a photo of the Queen in a very similar pose, add a touch of grey to the hair (not ageism), and help protect HRH from the hordes of whatever!!

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  22. Ray, you're very probably right. After all isn't Madge just an abbreviation of your majesty? And we all know just how much the Royal Family love to blast defenceless creatures to smithereens with shotguns.

    What a bizarre thought - Lizzie Windsor, Zombie hunter!

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