from the editor - Mega Miniatures

61002 Panther $3.99 Jim Johnson
Panther is well-muscled human male sculpted in the “ heroic” 28mm scale. Like the majority of the figures from Reaper
Panther does not come on a slotted base, but is standing on what is sculpted like a stone slab. Panther is posed in a
traditional beefcake pose that I have decided after standing in the mirror is entirely unnatural. As part of the “ Exalted”
line, Panther is fantasy styled figure intended for use in White Wolf games. He is armed with two ornate wrist blades that
are attached to rather thick looking leather gloves. The rams’ heads at the base of the blades are well detailed with the
daggers sprouting from between the two horns. Wearing baggy pants and no shirt, it is easy to see that Panther has a
tattoo of a sunburst on his chest. Sporting a rather short crew cut hairstyle, sandals, and wearing three pouches Panther is
a generic fantasy figure, but with the right paint job he could easily blend into almost any role-playing game as a beefcake
character, especially in a post apocalyptic setting. With very little flash, my only complaint is the visible mold line that
runs down both legs, both arms, his chest, and most unfortunately his face. While the most pronounced part of the line is
on his arm and is easy to remove the line across his face spoils any high quality paint job unless extreme care is given to
cleaning it.
61004 Horned Snow Hunter $3.99 Jim Johnson
the Horned Snow Hunter is my favorite of the three Exalted figures that I received to review. The Horned Snow hunter is
a demonic wolf-like figure with, you guessed it, horns. The figure comes in two pieces, the body of the Hunter and the
horns that attach in a deep depression on his forehead. While the actual stance of the monster is static, the long fur
appears windswept back from the face. The face is very well defined with the Hunter baring his fangs and teeth in a
grimace that lends his static stance a feeling of waiting to pounce and attack. The ear canals are surprisingly deep,
rivaling the depression for the horns, and help to frame the grimacing face. Once again another Reaper figure is on a
sculpted base, this time one of gravel and rocks. The Horned Snow Hunter has no mold lines that I can find. This is
great due to the difficulty in cleaning mold lines off of fur. Some putty work will need to be done when attaching the
horns to the head, but this is more a function of the intricate fur than a poor fit of the horns. One of the reasons that the
Horned Snow Hunter is my favorite is its utility. From a mutated guard
dog of a sci-fi adventure to a magically summoned hell spawn of a
fantasy genre, the Horned Snow Hunter can be used as a universal four
legged, furry, horned monster. *Note the packaging attributed the
sculpting to Jim Johnson, but the Reaper Website credited Sandra
Garrity. No offense is intended if Sandra was the artist responsible for
the Horned Snow Hunter.
Panther
Horned Snow Hunter
Duke Gerard
61005 Avaku $3.99 Jim Johnson
Jim Johnson delivers another White Wolf inspired figure for the
Exalted range. This heavily armored male is armed with a single
punch dagger. Avaku is helmetless, with wind tussled hair, which
shows off his goatee and eye patch over his right eye. The shoulder Avuku Fire Dragon Blooded
pads of his armor sport spikes that resemble two spearheads sprouting from his shoulders. The filigree on his breastplate
is an image of two strands of laurel leaves meeting in a pentagram. Avaku’s breastplate sports a high armored collar in
between his spiky shoulder pads. Additional filigree resembling flames adorn the bottom edges of his breastplate on the
sides and back. From the waist down the figure is wearing pants with knee high boots. Avaku is standing on the same
looking sculptured stone slab as Panther. Avaku is posed in a rather static position with his punch dagger in his right
hand and his left hand raised shoulder height in a clenched fist. The quality of the sculpt on Avaku is very good with
three pieces of flash needing to be cut off and most importantly no mold lines.
14068 Duke Gerard $5.99 Werner Klocke
The Duke is a multiple piece miniatures that comes with a separate shield, back banner and axe. The back banner and
shield each came off of the metal sprue easily but care needs to be taken with the axe as the shaft is kind of thin and it
could easily bend and weaken. You’ll also want to remember about the shaft on the axe being thin after you’ ve
assembled and painted the figure. Each piece did need some cleaning in regards to flash and the mold lines. After
cleaning you might want to prime and paint the shield and back banner separately as they will obstruct other areas of the
figure that are visible but will be hard to get to if he’s completely assembled. That’s what I’ll be doing. Gerard is
dressed in very heavy plate armor and has a stern look on his face. If he had a helmet on that left his mouth and chin
exposed you’d swear he was Judge Dredd. He looks pretty opposed to taking carp from anyone. Lots of decorative
emblems have been sculpted onto his armor and these will be easy to pick out when painting. A flowing cape blows
behind him and there is also a longsword, belts and a pouch
on his back. The shield is about two-thirds as tall as Gerard
himself and is not decorated at all, but there are a few rivets
poking out on the front. Gerard’s armor is the star of this
show but his back banner runs a close second. It has a large
pair of wings that come out from behind a large circle and
cross emblem that has the text Via Virtus inscribed on it.
Very cool indeed. This would make an outstanding figure for
a paladin or any of the various holy warrior prestige classes.
Now, if they made a version of Gerard that was mounted on a
Griffon, see next review, I’d be on Cloud 9 for sure. The
only downside to him is that he comes with a plastic base
instead of the metal ones that I’ ve become so fond of.
14077 Griffon $15.99 Sandra Garrity
This is an impressive piece. In addition to the large base, the griffon model has four pieces - the body, the left
foreleg, and the wings. The body was cast as a single piece which simplifies assembly quite a bit over a twopiece
cast. The left foreleg fits snugly into a square pegged space. The wings fit into slots cut into the back of
the body. These slots are larger than the tabs on the wings and I had to shim the wing tabs with some masking
tape. The model is in a rampant pose - raised up on its hind legs with its forelegs extended. The wings are
sculpted straight out as if in the middle of taking off. Most importantly, there is room on the neck of this
creature to mount a rider model. All in all, the griffon is a very impressive piece as either a monster for an
RPG, or a mount for a character or table-top general.
Griffon
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