Vampifan's Views 52 - My 500th Post

Vampirella with unfeasibly large boobs by Julius Zimmerman

Hey, it's my 500th post! Let's party! Let's celebrate! Let's have a competition to win some cool prizes!
For a long time now I have wanted to run a prize draw competition on my blog, but I needed a good enough excuse to run it. When my blog celebrated its 5th anniversary earlier this year, I could and possibly should have ran it then. But I didn't. I did however notice that my 500th post was approaching so I decided to wait for it in order to celebrate.
First I'll explain the rules of the competition, then I'll tell you about the prizes. Yes, that is prizes, plural. Inspired by a question and answer session ran by Johnny/Lord Siwoc and copied by a few other bloggers, I wanted to run my version of it, but with a few tweaks to the format.
So, you can ask me any three questions you want, based on any subject and I'll give you my honest answers. If you want to ask less than three questions that's fine by me. Just send your questions in the comments section of this post. I'll run the competition for a week and announce the winners along with all of my answers next Wednesday (16th of July 2014). So now let's move on to the three prizes I'm offering.

The first prize will be a boxed set of 20 plastic 28mm scale zombie dogs from Zombicide season 2. If you don't play Zombicide, you can still use these figures in any post-apocalypse or zombie apocalypse game. There are four types of dog and five of each type.

Sticking with the theme of dogs, the second prize will be a boxed set of 6 plastic 28mm scale dog companions from Zombicide season 2. This set contains two of each of three breeds of dog. Because these are "normal" dogs you can use them in pretty much any game or genre.

The third prize is a set of 6 Armorcast 28mm scale Road Kill Animals. Unlike the previous two prizes, this prize comes fully painted by me. From left to right are an armadillo, a coyote, a jack rabbit, a raccoon, a rattlesnake and a skunk.
If you are wondering why I am offering these as prizes it is simply because they are all duplicates. I only need one set of each, so I thought I'd offer my duplicate sets as prizes. If there are any prizes you specifically want or don't want please mention it when you send in your questions. It is entirely possible that one person could win all three prizes! If you don't mention the prizes I'll just assume you don't mind which one(s) you might win.
Be creative and be entertaining with your questions. Let's have a bit of fun and may the best man (or woman) win. In the meantime, a MASSIVE THANK YOU to everyone for helping me reach this historic milestone. Here's to the next 500 posts and hopefully, many more!

Assorted 28mm Scale Vampirellas

This is a bit of a self-indulgent post, seeing as I seem to be the only fan of Vampirella. Mind you, I do know of one follower, who resides in Slovenia, who has been badgering me to post this and you'll see why later. Anyway, I thought I'd start 2014 off with a look at my collection of 28mm scale Vampirella figures.

At the far left of this photo above is my oldest Vampirella figure (or should that be non-Vampirella figure, seeing as none of them use her name for copyright reasons). She is also the smallest, given that she's actually a 25mm scale figure. I bought her in the 1980's from a German firm (now long defunct) called Metal Magic. She isn't as well sculpted as more recent figures but she still has a certain charm about her and I do like the bat she's holding. Her boots are too long but I can forgive that. For many years she was my only Vampirella figure and so I'll always view her with fondness.
Next in line is another non-Vampirella figure with thigh length boots. She comes from Black Orc Games and is called Paloma (no, I don't know why). She was sculpted by someone with the initials PF (Paloma Faith, perhaps, LoL!). She is nicely sculpted and rather slim but her costume isn't quite right. Apart from her boots being too long, her costume doesn't show enough stomach. Unforgivably, you can't see her tummy button. However, what I do like about her is her hair. She is ridiculously cheap, costing a mere $1.00.

Far and away, the sexiest of this figure collection is the third in line, produced by Blood Moon Miniatures (who appear to be no longer trading). She is the tallest of my Vampirella figures and unquestionably, the bustiest. Whoever sculpted her has overcompensated her in the boobs department. Contrary to many people's opinion, Vampirella is not a busty female. Her vital statistics are a nicely packaged 36C-24-36. She stands 5' 11" tall and weighs 115lbs. Hey, only someone called Vampifan would know that! Her hair isn't quite right but my God, she has curves in all the right places! She is one incredibly sexy figure. I'm not sure why there is a piece of red cloth between her feet. It seems to serve no purpose.
The fourth figure in line is by Ground Zero Games and can be found in their adult-rated Gentleman's Club range of figures as GC25 - Vampyrelle. Hmm, who are they trying to kid? Of course, she's Vampirella. She is in an almost identical pose to the figure by Blood Moon Miniatures but seems to be more in proportion to what Vampirella should look like. You can still buy her and she costs £2.40 from the GZG webstore. It is interesting to see that she is baring her fangs.

Moving on to the second batch of figures, I start with another Out Of Production figure. The female vampire in the red mini-dress was made for the Horrorclix game by Wizkids. She was one of the six unique figures who came with the original starter figure boxed set. You may well ask yourself, did Vampirella ever wear a dress like this? Well, yes, she did. I can remember her wearing this very dress in one of her adventures in New York in her short lived Vampirella magazine series produced by Harris Comics. Sometimes, Vampirella did go incognito by wearing normal clothing, although I think she'd attract just as much attention if walking down a street in that red mini-dress as in her skimpy costume.
Second in line is a figure produced by Armorcast - LL21610 Sexy Female Vampire. Well that certainly gets round any copyright problems! The main problem I have with this figure is that I think her head is too big for her body. From the neck down, she is perfect. It is such a shame. She is available for sale from the Armorcast webstore for $3.00.

The penultimate non-Vampirella figure is produced by Black Cat Bases. You can find her in their webstore under the heading of "Vampires" and she is listed as Vampire Girl, priced at £2.00. Her hair is good, her costume is good, her pose is different but her boots are wrong. They're too long and not tight-fitting. I should make mention of Vampirella's skin tone. Vampirella is not a traditional vampire. Garlic, religious icons and sunlight do not affect her. Apart from when she grows her fangs, long talons or wings, she can easily pass for a human. She does not have the anaemic pallor found in most vampires. So I tend to paint her as a healthy looking human female. This is consistent with how she appears in the colour comics.
The final figure in line is unique and holds a special place in my heart. She is a conversion based on HFL503 Hasslefree Female Armature (price £2.50) and was a present for me from Mathyoo (aka Matevz). He wanted to get me something special as a thank you for letting him stay with me last year. Those of you who have seen Mathyoo's blog will know that he's not a bad sculptor. So he added the hair, costume and boots to the Hasslefree armature figure to create something unique. He covered the base in static grass but I added a few pieces of rubble so that she fits in with my other figures. Mathyoo painted her for me, which explains why she is so pale looking. I don't mind that at all.
So, out of these eight figures which one do you think is my favourite? It's that oh so sexy Blood Moon Miniature. Pure sex on legs! Mathyoo's version comes a very close second.

Armorcast Road Kill Animals

When I posted July's Monthly Musings post I mentioned that I was painting some figures whose identity I wanted to keep a secret. Well, the secret can now be revealed. These six unique figures are from the Armorcast 28mm scale ACM001 Road Kill set.

As soon as I saw these on the Armorcast webstore, I knew I had to have them. They just appeal to my sick nature! I have arranged them alphabetically, so from left to right are an armadillo, a coyote, a jack rabbit, a raccoon, a rattlesnake and a skunk. When it came to painting them I could have easily copied the colour schemes from the Armorcast webstore. However, I was bit suspicious of the accuracy of their paint schemes when I saw the rattlesnake painted green. So I did some research using Google Images and all of my colour schemes are based on real life photos of the various animals and are thus accurate representations. I am very happy with how they have turned out.
As for using them in games, these are like any other piece of street furniture or corpses. They aren't an essential purchase but they will undoubtedly add to the ambience of your gaming board. I would not recommend using all six on the same gaming board. One, or at most two, will work best. But you can ring the changes from game to game. I am often complimented on the corpses that litter my game boards when I run my batreps. Now I can (and will) add a bit of variety to the human corpses.
My only criticism of them is that they are rather limited for use in the USA. It is, I must admit, a very minor criticism. If you wanted to use them here in the UK, the coyote could be repainted as an Alsatian dog, the jackrabbit as a hare, the rattlesnake as an adder if you cut off its rattle, and the skunk as a squirrel. You could only justify the inclusion of the armadillo and the raccoon if they had escaped from a local zoo.
I'd like to see a second set made up of domestic pets - a cat, three dogs (small, medium and large), a hamster and a rabbit.
As I said, these are not an essential purchase, but my god, they are a lot of fun! I can guarantee that if you do use them in one of your games, they will be a talking point if anyone sees them. This set costs a very reasonable $6.00.

Armorcast Mystery Machine and Wrecked Car

A while ago I mentioned that I had bought the Armorcast 28mm scale Mystery Machine van, along with an extra one for my friend Joe/Zabadak. See here for his enthusiastic review of it http://zabadakszombieworld.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/bits-pieces.html
I thought it was about time that I do my own review of it. The Mystery Machine is sold as set ACAU001 Clue Contraption Hippie Van. At the same time as I ordered the two vans I also ordered set ACCS020 Wrecked Import 1. Here they are.

 I have included my figure of Vampifan in all six photos purely for scale purposes.

The Mystery Machine came in five parts, with the four wheels being separate from the body. The wrecked car came in two parts. The large I-beam girder was a separate piece that had to be glued in place. I suppose it could be left off, but I think it looks more dramatic with it on.

Armorcast are an American company (you can tell by the way they spell "armor"), which is why they have described the wrecked car as an import. I'm afraid I am absolutely hopeless when it comes to car recognition, so I can't identify the make of this model, although I'm certain it is based on a real life design. Perhaps one of you can let me know which car this is modelled on. Incidentally, in case you're wondering I do not drive and nor do I have any desire to learn how to.

Doesn't the Mystery Machine look small? And yet it is in scale. Obviously, you can paint it any colour you want but it's going to be really hard to get away from the Scooby Doo influence. For me, there was never any doubt that I'd paint it in the Mystery Machine colours. I did question my ability to paint the words "THE MYSTERY MACHINE" accurately and the same size on the sides of two vans, so I cheated! I had a 28mm scale colour paper model of the van that I'd downloaded from the Interweb, so I printed out two copies of it and then carefully cut out the logos to stick on to the sides of the resin models. Job's a good 'un as far as I'm concerned.

This photo above shows the number plates of both vehicles. I'm not sure what the actual registration number of the Mystery Machine should be, so I came up with SC 00 BY to spell out the word "Scooby." The registration of the wrecked car is VWM 562 and I decided that VWM should stand for Very Wrecked Motor!

Both vehicles are sculpted in resin and are nicely detailed. Incidentally, I painted the wrecked car in Foundry Spearpoint (i.e. silver) with a hint of Anita's Acryllic Metallic Sapphire to give it that nice silvery-blue shade. I'm very happy with the way it's turned out.
To give it its official name, the Clue Contraption Hippie Van costs $12.00, whilst Wrecked Import 1 costs just $8.00. If you own the Hasslefree not-Scooby Gang, you're going to want to get the not-Mystery Machine to go with them. Armorcast are selling the van with the Scooby Gang for $35.00 but be warned their Scooby Doo is not the Hasslefree figure but the Beaumont Miniatures Buster the Scaredy Dog, a much inferior figure. Incidentally, Kevin White, Hasslefree's sculptor, has recently made a set of armed Scooby Gang figures. They are very nice figures and ideal for those of you who want to use the Scooby Gang in a post-apocalypse setting. I'll be buying them as soon as they go on sale. Suffice to say, a review will follow.