Here’s another proxy job for my 40mm miniature collection, it’s funny how much energy I spend trying to find that “goldilocks” scale! Rogue in classic MCP suffers from Jim Lee design syndrome, and again… I’m not knocking Jim Lee’s design, I would just like to acknowledge that she’s had other, really cool costumes!
Luckily, I had extra bases from other MCP figs, so I swiped an engine piece from a Necromunda model for her to perch on, and she looks pretty cool!
This is probably my favorite Rogue costume ever, so kudos to the folks who put in the work on it!
I am currently working out some fantasy prints in this scale, as I’m realizing that there are some benefits to working large like this. I love the challenge of painting 15mm scale minis, and you can’t beat the storage options, but 40mm has it’s charms as well! I’ll explore them more in depth in an upcoming post!
I am back after a seven month battle with my pancreas that saw two hospitalizations, a major surgery, and an inability to eat food due to the cessation of my digestive tract. The surgery was undertaken to fix that issue, and I am happily able to eat now! I apologize for the absence, although my pancreas has informed me that it will happen again.
With that out of the way, though, let’s look at some minis! I love the X-Men, and, while I was a fan of the Jim Lee costumes that debuted 33 years ago, I don’t think they’re the end-all, especially when it comes to the original five students of Charles Xavier. Jean’s costume in particular never really gelled for me.
When the Krakoa storyline started a few years ago, I was really happy to see Jean’s first non-school uniform show up again, and spent some time looking for a suitable proxy model to use.
Before anyone rattle a pitchfork too mightily in my direction, I have a staunch take on proxy use! I always strive to own the original model, since I am playing a game that someone spent a lot of time and resources on, I want to support that. I also make sure that my opponent is cool with me using a proxy before we play. This allows cool battles like X-Men VS X-Men, with an obvious time travel element thrown in because of the costume variations!
I found this file of Jean in her Hickman era costume, and here’s how she looks painted up!
While I’m not 100% sold on the pose, I think the sculpt is actually pretty good!
I really do hope that Atomic Mass Games are able to branch out and explore more costume designs in future minis, because there’s a vast and wondrous world of X-Threads beyond Jim Lee, but let’s face it; those costumes were iconic, immortalized in the ’90s cartoon, and nostalgia sells war dollies better than any other marketing tool!
This was the first mini I popped out of the Earth’s Mightiest Box Set from Marvel Crisis Protocol, and I managed to get him painted up in less than 24 hours, so I’ll be crossing off another box on my hobby bingo card today…
I really, unabashedly love what Captain America stands for, even if that sometimes doesn’t pair up with what the country is actually doing at the moment. I’m trying to look past the nationalism and at the actual symbolism of what the character can stand for: Our better angels, doing what is right for everyone. Protecting everyone, not just the people that like you. Not being distracted or divided. That’s kinda cool, even if I don’t see that much of anywhere anymore.
The sculpt on the figure is really good, probably the second best Cap model in the line. Definitely the best Steve Rogers Cap. I’ll be posting the best Cap sculpt when a certain movie comes out next month!
I am blaming my friend Randon for this. I just fell helplessly back in love with Marvel Crisis Protocol. It’s not entirely his fault, the models are incredible, fun to paint, and really easy to collect… but I’m blaming him, primarily because he’s a fun guy to pal around with, but he’s also an incredible painter, which can get the inspiration juices flowing pretty easily!
The first model off the workbench is Cain Marko, half-brother of Charles Xavier and the wielder of the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak… but you probably know him as the Juggernaut!
This model is incredible! He’s so dynamic, and the base alone conveys the brutal stompiness of the character in such a huge way! I also love that Cain just grabbed a stoplight to hit someone with on his way to the fight!
Juggernaut is one of those characters that I’ve loved since I was a kid. He’s a bad guy most of the time, but he seems to have some redeemable qualities. There was a run in the early 2000’s when he was a member of the X-Men that I loved, especially his friendship with Sammy the Squidboy. Good stuff, and it still hits me like a ton of bricks 20 years later!
There’s a bunch more MCP on the way, but Juggernaut is a great way to kick off this year’s projects! He also lets me check off a hobby bingo square, since he’s been sitting partially finished on a shelf for almost two years! Woohoo!
I love Groot! His miniature from Marvel Crisis Protocol is pretty sweet, but alas, I don’t have a personal aircraft hangar to store MCP figs, so I’ll have to do with these Marvel Zombies figs from Zombicide.
It’s a pretty solid sculpt, with plenty of room to play with tints and really break away from the monotony of painting a guy made of wood.
Here he is with Drax, the galaxy’s greatest saxaphone player!
Trying to catch up on my backlog, and I swear I would get through it if I would just stop buying more miniatures…
But we all know that isn’t happening, so I’m just going to put my nose to the grindstone and hope to at least make a dent!
I started the FantasticFour figures from CMON’s Marvel Zombies version of Zombicide back in the spring of 2024, and it’s been slow progress, as shaky health and other, far more distracting miniatures jockey for favor with my attention span.
The Human Torch is next off the list, I’m not as happy with this outcome as I would like to be, fire is just tricky when it’s the whole damned figure. Still, it works, and I’m sure I’ll stop being as critical of it when I get more distance from the monotony of painting it.
He does look pretty sweet posed with the Thing, though! I’m not sure if it’s still canon with the Fantastic Four, but it was revealed in the early 2000’s that Ben’s nemesis, the Yancy Street Gang, was Johnny Storm just pulling pranks the whole time. I hope in my heart of hearts that is still the case!
Still playing catch-up on the never-ending mass of miniatures from the Marvel Zombies Zombicide game from CMON! Today it’s all about Drax. Or Mr. Destroyer, if you’re feeling fancy.
I’m pretty consistently surprised with the quality of these figures from CMON, considering the first Zombicide minis I painted were not the best of experiences!
Also, I LOVE that these miniatures have base details already. That’s a really great addition that goes a long way towards selling the mood of the game!
I still haven’t played a game of Zombicide, but it could happen. Regardless, I’m happy to have these around for any super-hero action that might come along!
I’m an absolute dork for the stupid-ass villains that plague Spider-Man’s life. The dumber, the better. It’s a real testament to the design genius of the old Marvel art stable that these guys still resonate with me half a century after I discovered them as a kid!
Sandman will be kicking off my collection of Spider foes from the Marvel Zombies Zombicide game from CMON. I’m really digging the added sand work on the base, he was a lot of fun to paint!
Next up on the Spider-foes docket is the Scorpion!
When I was a kid, I thought Ben Grim was the coolest Marvel super hero in the world, and then I discovered the X-Men, and all that went out the window. Still, I devoured almost all of John Byrne’s run on Fantastic Four when I was a kid, so it was a lot of fun for me to get to work on this pretty spiffy miniature of the Thing from Zombicide: Marvel Zombies!
Right off the bat, the quality of these Zombicide sculpts is hands-down some of the best work CMON has done. The detail is pretty nice, and even the plastic quality appears to be a higher grade. That’s pretty good news for sure!
There’s quite a few Fantastic Four characters in this box to get to, so I had best get to work!
I picked up the Kickstarter All for the Marvel Zombies: Zombicide game from CMON during a moment of weakness. Okay, more like a month of weakness while watching the stretch goals slip by. Sure, there is already a perfectly good Marvel based miniatures game out there, but I really don’t like 40mm miniatures from a storage perspective, and if I’m going to paint up a mini range, I would rather it be from something more reasonably scaled.
Plus, the mins are actually pretty cool and have pre-textured bases. What would I have to lose, other than half a week’s pay?
The boxes arrived several thousand years later (and before it comes up, I don’t do Kickstarters anymore, they’re kinda terrible for independent game stores). There was, one fateful afternoon, a box on my porch the size of a small Yugo, or perhaps a very large mini-fridge. Inside were an assortment of even smaller boxes, crammed full of little plastic super-heroes.
I pulled out half a dozen, put the horde of zombies in the “who gives a damn” box, and set to base coating. Since I was going for quick over quality (I’ve since changed my logic on this) I sat down and put some paint on a test model. And, lo and behold, she didn’t turn out half bad!
I am having a hard time spotting the mold lines on these models, and the plastic CMON uses is a little on the soft side, so sometimes they can be a little tough to clean up. Still, not a bad first effort, and I’m excited to get more heroes painted up!
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