Sunday 7 March 2010

Studio Miniatures Zombies 07 - Xmas Nightmare

It just seems wrong to be reviewing Studio Miniatures' A Christmas Nightmare set in March but such is life! I'm sure that the good folks at Studio Minis would have liked to have released these in time for Christmas 2009 but they weren't released until mid-January 2010. Unlike their other boxed sets of 28mm scale zombies, this set only contains four figures, not eight. Without further ado, let's have a closer look at them.
At the far left of the group is zombie Santa. This guy looks evil! The way his eyes are hooded in a threatening grimace suggests pure menace. I like how his beard and moustache are clearly false - you can see a thin piece of string or elastic holding them in place if you look very closely (maybe not too clear from my front-on photo but from the side you can see what I mean). Zombie Santa is suffering from quite a few wounds, the most serious of which is his stomach wound. His intestines are just starting to wriggle free. He has been shot in the back, bitten in the left leg and holed in both arms. As per the website photo of him, I have smeared his beard with blood as it dribbles from his mouth. His sack contains more than just nicely gift-wrapped presents - there is a child's severed foot and hand in there as well!
Next up is zombie Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, or to be more precise, a zombie in a Rudolph costume. He wears a false nose, just like Santa's false beard, which is held in place by string or elastic. Check out the wound on his right arm - it is brilliantly done! The flesh has been totally chewed away from his lower arm, leaving just the bone showing through. The hand dangles uselessly. In addition, he has two vicious cuts to his stomach as well as numerous holes in his legs and left arm. His antlers have been damaged with a number of points having been snapped off. This guy has been in quite a fight and come off second best!
At first I thought that the two little Santa's helpers could have been children due to their size but a closer look at the female shows she has a fine pair of breasts on her. She's no kid, she's a fully grown woman, which means she must be a dwarf. In all likelihood, so too is the male. So, we have zombie dwarves. Ho-ho-ho! The male holds a striped lollipop in his left hand. A large bite wound is prominent on his right arm and he appears to have been shot in the back. The female is dressed similarly to her colleague but note that she has short sleeves on her coat and the shoulders have been puffed up. She too, sports a wound to her left shoulder-blade but that is her only wound. I smeared blood around her mouth, chin and collar to show she has fed recently.
These are absolutely delightful figures and as far as I'm aware, totally unique. When I was recently looking for a zombie Santa the closest I could find was the Foundry skeletal Santa, so full marks to Studio for filling in the gap. I'd just like to emphasise on behalf of Studio that these are NOT limited edition figures. If you want the metal versions of A Christmas Nightmare set, it will cost you £11.99, whilst the resin versions cost £16.99. Studio Miniatures continues to go from strength to strength, producing outstanding zombie figures, and these come with my highest recommendation.

4 comments:

  1. Ha ha, I love em. All I can say is that I already have my Christmas series for this year all figured out. Zombie Santa will be an imposter, the real Santa (from Copplestone) will be in dire straits, and it will be up to the LTL gang to save Christmas. You think the penguins can take those nasty little elves?

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  2. Now that's what I call planning ahead, Willy! I almost feel sorry for zombie Santa and his crew because once LTL Mom finds out that he's threatening the real Santa he's going to get his ass handed to him on a plate. Roll on Christmas!

    Hey, just reading through some of the comments on your own blog, isn't it amazing how many fans of LTL Mom there are? She's becoming something of a cult personality and a zombie killing superstar in her own right. LTL Mom rocks!

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  3. Nice review Bryan. These are excellent figures. I am thinking Christmas Mall massacre. In fact they are so good they should have a movie built around them. The newer movies are such crap, this would be a great idea for a holiday release. I agree Studio continues to raise the bar. I hope to see more stuff like this. That Santa may be the best zombie mini of all time. Even the best holiday fig, sorry Sophie, even nude you cant beat this guy!

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  4. Is zombie Santa the best zombie figure of all time? I dunno. I certainly like him a lot and I agree that he has to be a strong contender. But I am struggling when pressed to name my all time favourite zombie figure. There are so many contenders out there that I really like.
    I have to agree that a movie about zombie Santa and his minions would be worth seeing if done properly.
    As cute as Sophie is (and boy, is she cute!) zombie Santa beats her hands down for pure malevolence. He is one evil-looking critter!

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