Wednesday 16 December 2009

Studio Miniatures Zombies 06 - Mob 6

The arrival of a new set of Studio Miniatures 28mm scale zombies is something I always look forward to. When I heard that they were going to make a set of doctors and nurses to complement set 005 the hospital patients I thought it was a great idea. Alas, my joy turned to indifference when I saw that all of the figures were based on the cast of the US TV series Scrubs. You can probably guess that I am not a fan of Scrubs. I've only ever watched four episodes of it and never laughed once, leaving me wondering why it is called a comedy. Seeing as Studio Miniatures are a UK-based company, I wonder why they chose to pick an American hospital series over an English one. My choice would have been for Green Wing, which was a far racier comedy than Scrubs could ever aspire to be. Anyway, enough of my moaning, let's take a closer look at the figures, starting with the four in the two photos above.
At the far left is John "JD" Dorian, whom I believe is the star of the show. He is in a very static pose. To me, his head looks too big for his body. I wonder if the sculptor made the heads slightly bigger to achieve a closer likeness to whover the figure was supposed to represent? No question, he really does look like Zach Braff. He isn't the only figure to suffer this fault. He has a small hole in the left knee of his trousers and his only wound is to his right cheek.
Next up is the first of the two females in the set, Dr. Eliot Reid. As hard as I looked, I couldn't find any wounds on her. I do wonder if the sculptor likes these characters too much that he does not want to disfigure them. I have no qualms in slapping the gore on, so I gave her a stomach wound with the blood seeping through to her pristine white coat and smeared her left hand in blood as if she attempted to staunch the blood flow.
Dr. Christopher Turk is dressed in his green surgical scrubs. He has a small hole in his back and he also suffers from a cheek wound, this time to the left side of his face. I've made it bleed profusely, so that the front of his uniform is covered in blood. Again, he stands in a very static pose, and he too, appears to have a slightly over-sized head.
Last in line, is Nurse Carla Espinosa, who I think is married to Turk. I saw the episode where they got married but I have no idea if they still are and nor do I care. I'm not too sure what she is meant to be holding in her right hand. I've painted it up as a disposable surgical glove, which seems like an apt choice. The right side of her face has been bitten off - at last, a decent injury! I also added a couple of scratches to her left arm.
Moving on to the next batch, we begin at far left with Dr. Perry Cox. I like the stethoscope slung casually around his neck. He has lost his left shoe and his sock has a big hole in it that shows a few of his toes poking through. Again, this is a nice touch. I've bloodied both his knees, seeing as his jeans had holes there. He has had a small bite taken out of his left cheek. Yet again, I am forced to criticise the size of his head - it's just too big.
Standing in exactly the same pose as Cox is Dr. Bob Kelso. The only differences between the two are the heads (obviously) and Kelso wears a shirt and tie instead of a T-shirt. Kelso has a hole in his upper back, which I've painted as a bullet wound and also added blood to the front of his shirt for the entry wound. I have slightly bent his right arm forwards just to make his pose a bit more different to that of Dr. Cox.
I'm not 100% certain of the identity of the figure in the centre of the group but I'm guessing from my Wikipedia search that he is Ted Buckland, the lawyer. I'm sure that any Scrubs fan will correct me if I'm wrong. This figure came in two parts. His briefcase was a separate casting that slotted into a peg on his right hand. This is the most animated figure out of the group and thus, my favourite. He is staggering forward on bent legs. His jacket is all awry. I've painted him with a missing left eye, so blood has covered the left side of his face and severely stained his shirt.
The figure with the sink plunger is apparently known only as the Janitor. He too, has had a bite taken out of the side of his face - a popular injury amongst this group! How I'd love to have seen at least one of them disembowelled! I've added a small bite wound to his left arm and gave him a bloodied right knee.
The final figure in this group is the free figure that you can get if you buy sets 005 and 006 together. My initial reaction upon seeing him was "who the hell is this?" I later found out from the TMP Horror Forum that he was another cast member of Scrubs, someone called Todd Quinlan or The Todd. This changed my reaction to one of "meh!" He is dressed in a posing pouch, boots and socks and a surgeon's hat. He has a bite wound to his lower left arm and he is eating some unidentifiable body part.
Zombie Mob 006 costs £15.99 if you buy them in white metal or £24.99 if you buy them in resin. If you want The Todd figure then you'll need to buy Zombie Horde 003 (comprising Zombie Mobs 005 and 006), which costs £29.99 for the white metal figures or £44.99 for the resin cast figures. I must admit to being very disappointed with this set. This is primarily down to my dislike of Scrubs. I can't relate to the characters so these will just be generic doctors and nurses when I use them. I do welcome the inclusion of zombie doctors and nurses. In any zombie outbreak they are going to be right in the frontline and will suffer severe casualties.
I would say to any fans of the show that I would seriously consider buying two sets, one to paint up as zombies and one to paint up as ordinary humans. Apart from filling in a few holes in their clothing there is very little work needed doing to make them all human. The poses are such that you could easily get away with it. Your thoughts on this set will surely depend on what you think of Scrubs.

5 comments:

  1. I like the second batch best as they have a wee bit more animation. Thanks for another good review. I think I will put these on the back of the buy list and start with some of the goodies you've already reviewed.
    I don't know these characters as I never watch TV.
    Willy

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  2. I'd say in your case, Willy, not knowing that these figures are based on the cast of a TV series is an advantage. You'll just view them as bog-standard zombie doctors and nurses, which is what I plan on doing. I don't know if what Studio have done is going to help their sales or hinder them. It'd be interesting to know how popular this set turns out to be.

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  3. The figs are great, Bryan. Great review and spot on about the stupid show. I never watched the show so I checked one out tonight. It was so beyond juvenile stupid humor that it was embarrassing. This has been on for 4 years?
    I am starting to worry about getting too many hospital figs, too. At least until my herd grows and they disseminate better. So I am going with other less specific figs for a while. Or I could always make up a new game Undead ER...

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  4. Vampi- Not to sound like a know it all but, as far as I know, Carla is an Nurse not a Doctor. though this may have changed in the last season or so. Havent watched any of the past couple seasons of the show.

    Yeah the show is stupid, but there are some episodes that are real gems. IIRC one was with Elliot coping with the loss of a patient (the first patient of hers to die while in the hospital).

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  5. @Eldorf. Thanks for correcting me. I've edited the post accordingly.

    @Roger. According to Wikipedia there are nine series of the show. Go figure! Undead ER? Sounds like you might have a winner there, Roger! Who gets to be the braaaaaaaaiiiiins surgeon?

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