Recreational Conflict Survivors 02

I bought this set of four Recreational Conflict 28mm scale survivors at the same time as I bought their combi Civilians and Survivors sets but I've only got round to reviewing them now. Sorry, I got sidetracked with loads of police stuff. All four figures are based on characters from films, computer games and literature. You may recognise the first two, but I think the second two will be much harder to place and only a true Vampifan will recognise the fourth figure in the colour scheme that I've painted him!

At the far left of this group is a figure based on Kurt Russell's character, R.J. MacReady from the 1982 flim, The Thing. This is still one of my all-time favourite horror films. He is posed holding a flamethrower in one hand and a bunch of sticks of dynamite in his other hand. I can't help but think that he could do a lot of damage with them in a zombie apocalypse game. I know that other firms have made their own versions of MacReady, after all, he is a popular character, but this isn't a bad rendition of him. One thing that you must be careful about when handling this figure is that the barrel of his flamethrower is thin and easily bent out of shape, so handle with care.
Next in line is Leon Scott Kennedy, a recurring character in some of the Resident Evil computer games and he also appears in the animated film, Resident Evil: Degeneration . Not being a computer gamer, I was not familiar with this character and so I had to do a Google search on him to learn who he was. Having seen some artwork of Leon, I have to admit that this figure is a very good likeness of the computer character. Hats off to sculptor Brian Cooke. Leon wears a sheepskin jacket and is armed with a pump-action shotgun. Apparently, he will appear in the fifth live-action film, Resident Evil: Retribution and will be played by Johann Urb. No, I've never heard of him either.

The third figure in line surprised me by her inclusion as she is teenage detective, Nancy Drew. I doubt if she'd even make it onto my list of survivors from media sources that I'd like to see sculpted. Once again. I must profess almost total ignorance of this character but I have learnt a lot about her by resorting to another Google search. In game terms, I can't see much use for her, although a team up with Hasslefree's Scooby Gang might be fun for a one-off adventure. I'm more inclined to use her as a generic teenage girl, most probably the daughter of a civilian. She may have some useful skills or knowledge but I don't see her as a fighter. In a zombie apocalypse I'd fear for her survival. Incidentally, that's a cardigan or jumper that she has draped over her shoulders, not a backpack.

As soon as I saw the fourth figure in line I knew who I wanted him to represent. He is supposed to be Harry Dresden, hero and contemporary mage from The Dresden Files series of books by Jim Butcher and TV series of the same name. But for me, being such a huge fan of Vampirella, I saw a remarkable resemblance between the figure and Vampi's old friend, Mordecai Pendragon. For those of you who have never heard of Pendragon (that's probably all of you) I've included this illustration to the left by one of my favourite Vampirella artists, Jose Gonzalez, so you can see what I meant about the resemblance. The figure wears the same coat as Pendragon in the illustration. Note that Vampirella is also wearing a coat - a very rare occurance! Pendragon is an illusionist. He wasn't that good until he met Vampirella and she became his assistant for a time. After she gave him a blood transfusion during one of their adventures, he developed the ability to perform real magic. At first he was seen as a coward and a drunk but he has always been a loyal companion to Vampirella and as his magical ability has grown, a powerful ally. For obvious reasons, he is my favourite figure out of this group.
These figures come on integral metal bases, which are small enough to fit onto slottabases or whatever else you use for your bases. However, in the case of Pendragon his base is almost as wide and as thick a 25mm diameter plastic slottabase. He is the tallest figure out of the group and that base, if stuck on top of whatever you use for your bases would have made him even taller. This was not acceptable to me. So I cut off most of his base, leaving just a thin strip beneath his feet, which I filed into a slottatab. I was then able to slot him into a 25mm diameter slottabase with his feet flush to the ground. It worked a treat and helped to reduce his size by a couple of millimetres.
Recreational Conflict are selling this set of four figures for $10.00. I have copied their colour schemes for all of them except my version of Pendragon. Their Harry Dresden version has a green coat and dark brown hair. It is undoubtedly an ecletic mix of survivors and they may not suit your tastes, or maybe you like one of them but not all. In which case, you'll be pleased to know that you can buy them individually at $2.50 per figure.