Worst of the Worst Discussion -Savage Encounters

[coyotee]

To go along with the the "Best of the Best" polls....

Over the next several months, I will be polling users on their LEAST favorite miniatures from past sets.

Set Link:
https://www.minisgallery.com/index.php? ... ncounters

Poll Link:
viewtopic.php?t=2649

Please use this thread to discuss your least favorite minis from this set.

[Guyra]

It's hard to choose bad minis from such a great set, and it took me a long time to choose a third. But I got there in the end.

Bodak Skulk - What's with the deep blue paintjob? Also, is it metallic? The pose is pretty stiff and unnatural as well.




Specter - I know specters have been portrayed as having slightly amorphous shapes in some art, but it's always been easy to see at least a vague humanoid shape. They're basically just ghosts. But this mini just looks like goo. It's terrible at representing the creature it's supposed to. If I had this mini, I'd use it to represent some slime monster, not a Specter. But even then I'd probably use some other slime mini. It's just all around bad.




Goblin Skullcleaver - Nowhere near as bad as the other two, but I just don't like the pose on this one. Also, D&D goblins now suddenly green skinned?

[deadsmurf]

Only two really stand out as especially not great in this set -
Goblin Skullreaver - first I really dislike green-skinned goblins. They are orange/brown/yellow skinned only in my D&D, and this pose is just not good.
Gray Slaad - They look so thin, and the pose is just so silly. Just don't give me a good Slaad feeling.

[Cusm]

I am not a big fan of the WotC PPM minis, a lot are very simplistic sculpts and lots of goofy poses. This is one set that this is not true with a few exceptions. I will add these to the above lists.

Death Knight - Just don't like the sculpt

Goblin Wolf Rider - Again don't like the sculpt

Vampire Guildmaster - A fine example of WotC goofy pose. Is he supposed to be leaning on a bar with that pose? I see these a lot in the WotC Star Wars line, I have some in this exact pose.

[coyotee]

I am not a big fan of the WotC PPM minis, a lot are very simplistic sculpts and lots of goofy poses.

I think the wizkids minis have about the same percentageof lame poses as the old Prepainted DDM line. But the sculpt details and paints are almost always better with the old DDMs than the new wizkids minis.

The "worst" minis we single out with the DDM polls,
are pretty much standard quality for the wizkids Common/Uncommon minis.

The Uncommon (and even some Common) DDMs are as good or better than the wizkids Rares.

[berk the black]

I am not a big fan of the WotC PPM minis, a lot are very simplistic sculpts and lots of goofy poses.

I think the wizkids minis have about the same percentageof lame poses as the old Prepainted DDM line. But the sculpt details and paints are almost always better with the old DDMs than the new wizkids minis.

The "worst" minis we single out with the DDM polls,
are pretty much standard quality for the wizkids Common/Uncommon minis.

The Uncommon (and even some Common) DDMs are as good or better than the wizkids Rares.

As a non-painter, I’m probably not as critical about the paint jobs between the Icons of the Realms, Pathfinder Battles and Dungeon & Dragons Miniatures lines But there are a few glaring examples of minis that really needed more paint in all three lines The Boneyard Bone Naga, Fleshwarp, Ghonatine and Solamith all came off as unpainted plastic, even though at least some of them were actually painted.

With the Wizkids lines, the use of tamp on details has added a lot. I like that books have writing in them, and that clothing can have patterns on the edges, it really adds to the look.

I’d say one of the biggest factors I have favoring the older DDM line at this point is the artwork for which the minis are based on. Since I’m playing in an older version, many of the older minis match better. This has nothing to do with the quality of the minis, it is more about fit. But in a lot of cases I have found that improvements in the new versions are better, or that older versions stand the test of time and outshine newer remade minis.

I think the takeaway from all this is not that one line is better than another, but that we have almost 21 years of PPM to draw upon when looking for minis to game with. I see a lot of new collectors snub the DDM line out of hand, which I think is a mistake. Should they seek all those old minis, no way. There are plenty of stinkers and some that are just simply outdone by newer reiterations of the same characters or creatures. But there are also a wealth of good minis that stand the test of time and can enhance your game. The scarcity of the older minis can drive up the prices and make them much harder to obtain, but some are still just as affordable as the latest minis. In many cases, the fact that a newer version of the same mini was made helps to drive down the price of some of the old rares.

[DnDYuan-Ti]

The old DDM had some good painting touches, like an occasional wash or even highlights. But I think the colors were overall worse and too dark and grimy, even if IotR might err in the other direction sometimes. I also generally do not care for many of the DDM sculpts, so many are just goofy or bizarre. So I guess I choose IotR, despite my intense nostalgia for DDM. Either way I prefer stuff I painted, despite not being a master.

[Guyra]

The old DDM had some good painting touches, like an occasional wash or even highlights. But I think the colors were overall worse and too dark and grimy, even if IotR might err in the other direction sometimes.

Yeah, this is a very good point, IMO. It's basically completely different styles, and based on the art styles of very different editions(art style wise).

[DnDYuan-Ti]

The old DDM had some good painting touches, like an occasional wash or even highlights. But I think the colors were overall worse and too dark and grimy, even if IotR might err in the other direction sometimes.

Yeah, this is a very good point, IMO. It's basically completely different styles, and based on the art styles of very different editions(art style wise).

Absolutely yeah. I will say, though, that although I never played 3.5 beyond a couple of one shots, I actually really prefer the 3.5 art to the 5e art. I think it’s just more in the style of like Dark Horse comics and old Star Wars roleplaying books that I read as a kid. But I’m still more in favor of IotR minis, I think. DDM can still be great, I don’t mean to besmirch that line. I think it was pretty good for PPM until the weird 4e flat colors kinda took over.

[Guyra]

The old DDM had some good painting touches, like an occasional wash or even highlights. But I think the colors were overall worse and too dark and grimy, even if IotR might err in the other direction sometimes.

Yeah, this is a very good point, IMO. It's basically completely different styles, and based on the art styles of very different editions(art style wise).

Absolutely yeah. I will say, though, that although I never played 3.5 beyond a couple of one shots, I actually really prefer the 3.5 art to the 5e art. I think it’s just more in the style of like Dark Horse comics and old Star Wars roleplaying books that I read as a kid. But I’m still more in favor of IotR minis, I think. DDM can still be great, I don’t mean to besmirch that line. I think it was pretty good for PPM until the weird 4e flat colors kinda took over.

Oh yeah, absolutely. And I don't think you "besmirched" it at all, btw. Preferences for the miniature style don't necessarily overlap with one's preference for the art style they're based on, either.

Personally, I don't mind the bright colours of IotR, I just prefer it in moderation, which is one of the reasons I prefer the DDM line overall between the two. But I guess we're going a bit off topic here, hehe!

[BBShockwave]

I see everyone agrees on the Goblin Skullcleaver. Let's be realistic here... whose skull is this guy going to cleave in, unless they politely bend down? There is a reason I also find Halfling barbarian PCs ridiculous. The pose is not helping, it looks like he is trying to jump up and score with a basketball. I have one but I like to pretend he is a big braggart who tries to pretend he is a super strong action hero. And yes, 4E suddenly switched to green skinned Goblins, which to me was always a Warhammer/Warcraft thing, I am glad they went back to yellow-brown.

The Inhabited Corpse is a completely pointless mini that you can replicate with any cheap Common humanoid by breaking it off base and putting it on its side.

The Nightwalker is a darn shame, the sculpt is not bad, but whose big idea was to shrunk down the utterly terrifying negative energy plane embodiment of entropy to such a small size and make him translucent? The WotDQ one is superior.

Lastly, I have had that Spectre for ages and still cannot make out what it tries to be. Some ragged cloak wrapped around an invisible column, with elongated rubbery goo-arms? It is especially unfitting for a Spectre because they are famously, similar to their living appearance, it is Wraiths who are cloaked and distorted.

I agree on the Bodak being weirdly metallic, but I did not care at the time, I was just happy we got the classic Mönsch scream-face!

[Guyra]

Let's be realistic here... whose skull is this guy going to cleave in, unless they politely bend down?

This honestly got me laughing out loud, just imagining it!

I was just happy we got the classic Mönsch scream-face!

I was not expecting an Edvard Munch-reference today, but yes! It does look a bit like the Scream. I hadn't thought of that.
Fun fact: Despite how pretty much every English speaking video narrator will say it, the name is actually pronounced with a hard K sound at the end instead of the "sch" sound. And the u is like the English "oo" sound, but fast. Incidentally, even Norwegians often pronounce the name wrong, using a regular "o" sound instead of the "oo" sound, as that's how we pronounce the Norwegian word for "monk", which is "munk".