Studio Miniatures' Survivors 04 and Zombies 17

It's time for a look at some more astounding figures from Studio Miniatures as I review their latest batch of 28mm scale survivors and zombies. I'll start with looking at the survivors, Michelle, Mel and Dixon.

At the far left of this group is Michelle, aka Michonne from The Walking Dead comics and TV series. As an avid reader of the graphic novels I have to say that Michonne is my favourite character from the series. Before the Outbreak she was an attorney and one of her hobbies was kendo, which stood her in good stead when all hell broke loose. She is a natural fighter with her katana. Studio's sculptor has depicted her as she first appears in both the comics and the TV series, dressed in a hooded poncho with a pair of armless and jawless zombies in tow. Read on to see her two zombie followers.
In the centre of this group is Mel, who is unmistakably "Mad Max" Rockatansky as he appeared in the film Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. A number of figure companies have made their own versions of this iconic, post apocalyptic survivor but none have captured his likeness as well as Studio Minis have! This really is a superb figure. He is armed with his double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun. Note the spanner and binoculars hanging from his jacket. The leg brace on his left leg has been accurately sculpted. I have done far more dry-brushing on his leather clothing than I'd normally do, but it has certainly paid off. He just is Mad Max!

At the far left of this trio is Dixon aka Daryl Dixon from The Walking Dead TV series. Daryl is a new character created for the TV series. He does not appear in any of the comics. I have become a big fan of Daryl due to his no-nonsense attitude. He is an outdoors man with excellent survival skills. His favoured weapon of choice is a crossbow, which is perfect for killing zombies from a distance because it is silent. For close in kills, he uses a knife (you can see it on his right hip). There is a dead animal, which I have painted as a grey squirrel hanging from his belt on his left hip. Note that his spare quivers for his crossbow are held in place underneath the front of the weapon. That has to make it easier to reload.

Moving on, here are Studio's latest zombie figures. The two at the left of my photos are from a set called Fat Man and Little Boy. I can't argue with the description of the Fat Man but Little Boy? He's not that little. You can usually rely on Studio to make perfectly scaled 28mm scale figures but for some unknown reason, they have made Fat Man huge. He stands 40mm tall from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Is he based on a computer game character? I wouldn't know because my knowledge of computer games is very basic. He is, as you can see, totally nude, although I'm not sure what has happened to his genitalia. Are they hidden under his enormous belly or have they been bitten off? I've hedged my bets by painting gore on his inner thighs. He is grossly obese with numerous wounds covering his body and limbs. I painted him differently to most of my normal zombies. I gave his flesh a mixture of grey and cadaverous green and added subtle patches of green, purple and yellow. I'm very pleased with how he has turned out.
Little Boy appears to be a teenager, not a boy. He wears his hoodie with the hood pulled up and his shirt or T-shirt hangs over the top of his trousers. There are a few holes in his clothing but most prominent is the large hole in the centre of his back, probably an exit wound from a gunshot to his chest. I have smeared his hands with blood.

The two zombies at the far right can be found in the same pack as Michelle from above. They each have a collar around their necks. From these collars, Michonne attached a chain to drag them along behind her, just as a dog owner would use a chain and leash on his dog. To prevent them from attacking her, Michonne hacked off their arms and jaws. As a point of trivia, one of these zombies was Michonne's former boyfriend before he became infected. One of them has punk-style vivid green hair and a gaping wound in his belly, from which his intestines are spilling out. The other one has the beginning of a beer belly and is slightly overweight. Both have cuts to the legs. These have to be the most harmless pair of zombies in existence. With no arms or jaws what can they do to harm you? Perhaps bleed on you? Michonne kept them close to her to mask her smell from other zombies. She was certainly not sentimental about them as the first thing she did when she met Rick Grimes and his group of survivors was to decapitate them with her katana.
Once again, Studio Miniatures have pulled out all the stops to produce another bunch of incredibly well sculpted figures. Fat Man and Little Boy retail at £8.99 for the pair. Michelle and her two zombie followers retails at £7.99, whilst Dixon and Mel cost £3.99 each. Don't baulk at the prices. What you are paying for is quality of the highest standard.