Dark Platypus Tentacles & Eyeballs Kickstarter

[zoroaster100]

I saw this Kickstarter advertised here in ENWorld and was wondering if anyone has heard of this company and what people's thoughts are on this Kickstarter. I went in on the Reaper Kickstarter because I was familiar with Reaper's good reputation on customer service, product quality, etc. I am hesitant to go in on other Kickstarters but might consider it if it is also from someone with a proven track record. The sculpts for this one are pretty expensive, but they are resign and metal, and pretty complex. They are for some of the interesting oddball (no pun intended) monsters that seem to be in demand but rarely made in mass produced lines of minis, probably due to complexity of sculpts. On the other hand, it seems that several of the more complex ones require assembly and I find kind of intimidating, especially from a company I don't know. Here is a link to the Kickstarter page:

Tentacles & Eyeballs: An RPG Horror Miniatures Set by Dark-Platypus Studio — Kickstarter

 

[Stormonu]

That's a great selection of miniatures - I really like the Deathkiss and Abilith (Aboleth) Lord the most - these seem like they would great if you were running something like I, Tyrant or Night Below campaign.

From his blog, looks like the man behind this has done miniatures before for Magnificent Egos and DCC minis.

 

[zoroaster100]

The sculpts definitely look cool. I especially like the big guys, and most especially the Alibeth Lord, which is the miniature that most accurately represents an aboleth so far that I've seen. The Deep Mother is also pretty cool looking. I've never assembled any metal miniatures, so I'm still a bit hesitant to pledge just because it would require me to learn another level of craft to put them together (or so I imagine). But I'm considering maybe pledging at $50 to get the Alibeth Lord. For someone that is confident about their skills at assembling miniatures that need assembly, and who has some cash to burn and likes aberrations, it is definitely interesting. There is a $3 option for the Floating Eye miniature for someone that doesn't want to spend much.

 

[Stormonu]

I've never assembled any metal miniatures, so I'm still a bit hesitant to pledge just because it would require me to learn another level of craft to put them together (or so I imagine).

Ah, there's nothing to it; super-glue and (at most) 30 seconds of holding two pieces together will get you through. At worst, you're looking at cleaning off some flashing with an Xacto knife. If you've ever peeled a potato, its no more difficult to get off flashing.

If its painting metal minis that have you hesitant, there's usually folks you can find who will paint them for you for a small fee - heck, they might do the assembly for you as well.

 

[D'karr]

The guys from Dark Platypus have put out some really interesting products over the years.

Their magnetic battlemats, their condition tracker flags and their dungeon walls (cave walls) are really good. I've been using their stuff for a long time. Check out their site Dark Platypus Studio | Gaming Tokens, Life Counters & Fantasy Art.

 

[frankthedm]

I'll pass. It looks too likely to get a Cease and Desist letter from Wizards of the Coast. There is a fine line between being inspired by art verses copying art. Not to mention the differences between with fan work for personal use versus for commercial purposes, which this is. IMHO The "Doomkiss" goes over the line. Doomkiss / Deathkiss is well crafted, looking very like it's Monsters of Faerun illo down to the distinctive pupil.

It does seem like DPS has pulled some uses of the word beholder, but not all. IIRC while they can edit the main entries on the Kickstarter offerings, the sidebar cannot be changed. So the Main entry on the Lensman changed from

The Lensman is a minion monster associated with beholder-kin.

To

The Lensman is a minion monster associated with Eye Abberants.

However the side section still has the beholder mention.

PLEDGE $250 OR MORE
Get it all -- Get 3 Floating eyes, 1 each of all 3 Peepers, a Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing, a Lensman, a Guath, one resin-and-pewter Huge Alibeth one resin-and-pewter Doomkiss Beholder, and one resin-and-pewter DeepMother. International backers should add $20 for shipping.
Est. Delivery: Dec 2012

As to some of the other models, I'd say the Deep Mother design improves over it's inspiration, ditching the head of hair on the tentacle faces / tips. Along with making the body sphere shape less uniform, adding a more organic look.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mof_gallery/MonFaePG33a.jpg

 

[zoroaster100]

If all it takes to correctly assemble a multipart mini is superglue, that would not be so bad. But all the online tutorials I've read about assembling large metal multipart minis talk about drilling and pinning the parts before gluing them on, and that is where it gets intimidating for me since I've never done it, and I'd hate to ruin a $50 mini as practice. I wonder if the fact that the bigger ones are resign body with metal tentacles means it is more, or less, likely to need pinning in addition to gluieing to stay well put together after assembly?

 

[frankthedm]

Tentacles? More likely to break than a normal limb since length = leverage to break the join. Possibly much more likely to break depending on how the sculptor designs the join area. No way to know for certain until the unassembled model is shown.

TBH pinning is a good idea for just about any join on a miniature, especially if you are using superglue.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQTsyEqr9tM]How to Pin a Miniature - YouTube[/ame]

For minis, you basically need the following tools

• Small Files
• Pin Vice
• 1/16" Drill Bits {keep oiled]
• Paperclips ( way cheaper than brass rods for pinning )
• X-acto / Hobby Knife

A 1/32" drill bit will be useful too but be gentle with it.

Resin means you should be wearing a face mask on when filing any mold lines, filing any flash or drilling for pinning.

TBH If I was going to gamble on this kickstarter I'd probably magnetize the tentacles on the deepmother so they could be re-positioned as needed.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x9YepCks6E[/ame]

 

[frankthedm]

And as expected, Wotc took issue with the sculpts.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...nd-eyeballs-an-rpg-horror-miniatures-se/posts

Recently, Wizards of the Coast contacted me and asked me to remove or modify several monsters from the core set, as they felt they were too close to their own monsters. Not wanting to fight, I agreed that I would change the appearance of the monsters under contention.

Those monsters are: The Doomkiss, the DeepMother, the Alibeth, the Wolf-in-Sheep's Clothing, the Lensman, the Guath, and the Deep Eye.