Hero miniature colors

[Blackthorn]

Do the NA Mercenaries and Ogres exhibit this same lack of detail? My guess is yes.

I have both the North American and European mercenary figures, and they have the same amount of detail in my opinion.

[Seb]

were sculpted and molded entirely by the US arm of MB

Makes sense considering how divergent the sculpts in later HQ expacks were compared to the original set. I mean, the elves were shockingly different compared the original hero.

[Blackthorn]

...the elves were shockingly different compared the original hero.

An effect of their allegiance with Chaos.

[Daedalus]

Why are the Mercenaries/Men-at-arms barefoot? Did they gamble their boots away?

[Blackthorn]

I think they're supposed to be leather boots of some sort. At least that's what it shows on their cards from the Quest Packs.

[Daedalus]

Yeah, that's probably it. Maybe mercenaries actually wore such footwear with open toes? Weird.
Thanks for the side-by-side comparison, it's very useful.
Two differences in the figures I noticed in the pic:

• The red Man-at-arms has a good deal of excess material formed off the right foot--sloppy. Also, the pantaloon details appear less crisp on the red's right leg.
• The red's crossbow has a much smaller hole to represent the trigger guard.

The rest of the details seem to be of the same quality. Maybe the mold degraded for the red's run. A quick check of red mercenaries here at the Inne's files for Wizards of Zargon show some differences on the right foot. The crossbow has the same small trigger guard, however.

What is apparent for the crossbow at least is that the North American gray version has better detail. The right foot of a gray Mercenary also seems to more regularly come out with less flash (or whatever that excess is). This is contrary to what Seb has noticed with the UK and US figures. Hmm. Perhaps this is specific to Men-at-arms vs. Mercenaries. Or not--can't tell without more samplings of different figures. Oh well, reduced to speculation again.

Are differences in quality attributed to degradation of individual mold runs no matter the location of production, or are certain molds for certain figures just better? Perhaps the plastic is different and forms differently (they are different colors, after all). Other possibilities could be plastic temperature or even cooling time before release.

[Blackthorn]

Hmmm, your observations made me examine these miniatures more closely. I compared the six gray figures from FH with the twelve red ones from WoM and they are really identical when compared side by side with about the same level of flash on the right foot. The hole in the crossbow is larger on the gray ones, but really I think this opening is unintentional. It's more of a gap than a molded detail.

Hey, 100 posts! I'm a Chaos Warrior!

[Frozen88]

I've got a friend that just bought a handful if white pieces from frozen horror set - if these are recasts, will the quality be good or did he get hosed?

[tasoe]

You are probably talking about an italian ebay seller who sells those white recasts.
They are not original and they are not of good quality.

But I suppose they might work for someone who does not intend to paint them.

[Frozen88]

Well that's not good - he planned to paint them, I think it was an Italian guy. I will see if he can get outbid paying for them. That's bad luck.