BLAM!

I was going to post hobby stuff but I've just got back from seeing 'The Avengers Assemble' and I thought I'd share my feelings on the film (without giving anything away...NO spoilers here!).

By now, everyone will know all of the characters in the film and so I feel safe mentioning names. All of the characters were good and were suitably expanded from their individual films. Old characters cropped up and were similarly expanded.  I thought all of the characters held their own (even diminutive ones like Agent Colson) but none as impressively as the new Hulk. In both Banner and Hulk forms, the character ROCKED! Gone are the boo-hoo, I'm a victim side to Banner. Here is a character who knows what he is capable of, knows the responsibility he has and knows when the right time to act is. He has humour and intelligence and he put the rest in the shade.

My overall view of the film was...YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS FILM.

... and remember, it's a Marvel film so stay until the credits are finished...for all you comic nerds out there, a metaphorical Pandora's box is opened after the credits that you won't want to miss.

See this one in 3d, see it often and buy the DVD... you won't be disappointed.

From this film... leaders find their path and stand forward, through pain a team finds it's way and watch out for the comic moments... PUNY HUMANS!

Whew! I'm still full of excitement and need to land a bit.

Oh... I forgot... something different? You're damn right!

This weekend has been a weird one for a lack of sleep so I can not be held responsible for what I do. Therefore, I decided to dig out some miniatures that I remembered as a result of a conversation at Salute. Last year, I met a guy who had a little line of home made miniatures that he was casting. He didn't have a spin caster or pressure pot... just silicon/rubber moulds and a pouring jug. He gave me his card and I remembered seeing his little site on my web-travels and I thought I'd buy some of his miniatures. This year he popped by and stirred my memories again so I thought I'd dig them out and paint them. I have only painted two so far but I have another two to go. The website is Silent Spectre Studio and you can find the miniatures I have painted HERE. So, here are two Dhurn with a Grymn to show how big they are:

Click the Pic!

Now I know that the guy who runs this little project has had some stick for his work and I would like to adjust the balance a little with some observations that I have made. I will be taking the fact that these are pour-cast miniatures in my findings.

What is good?:

• The cast is as crisp as you'd find on some spin cast miniatures
• The edges of the armour are sharp and not soft at all
• The drapery is good and shows different behaviour for different materials
• The faces are filled with character
• The weapons are well proportioned and sharply detailed (and look like weapons rather than an assembly of 'gubbins')
• Each of the miniatures work well together and all have the same stocky feel to them

What could be improved?

• There were a couple of voids that were in some of the deeper recesses
• Anatomy

I really had a blast painting these and can't envision painting the other two being any different. As you will see, I have chosen to paint the skin yellow. I did this because I have chosen to portray these as aliens rather than Dwarf-Humans because the anatomy is a little off around the neck and shoulder area.

Now for the anatomy issue. In order for these to be Human styled Space Dwarfs there are a few areas that need to be looked at:

• The shoulders are too high
• There doesn't appear to be any neck... the head seems to be attached to the front of the torso
• The hands need to be more defined and hands need to be studied to get the proportions right
• The musculature on the arms needs to be improved
• The heads need to have larger brain cases

That may seem over critical but I am only making observations. As far as I am concerned, a decent anatomy book is all that is needed to transform these from short aliens into proper Human styled Space Dwarfs. Everything else is brilliant...the pouches, armour, clothing and weapons are all bang on so the ability is there. All that is needed is for the sculptor to refine his anatomy knowledge and these would cater to a wider audience. Add a spin caster into the mix and these could hold their own against many producers out there. Not bad for an amateur sculptor who just thought he'd 'give it a go'.

I think these make excellent little alien mercenaries and I hope that the range expands so that I can buy a few more.

Right... I'm off to continue painting Dhurn.

See you from the Quin-jet!

##EDIT##

After having a chat with Silent Spectre, the position of the neck and shoulders was the chosen style for his particular race of Space Dwarfs... a more alien approach. So I was right to think they were aliens :) . Hopefully there will be more to come.