Toys for use as minis

[Psion]

At a local hobby shop, the had some educational packs of plastic bugs and dinosaurs... both about the right size to be believable in D&D for giant vermin and... dinosaurs.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

As Psion suggested, the plastic animals and dinosaurs may be a good investment for a couple of bucks.

Using figures from board games and other collectable and non-collectable mini games may also be useful although I don't think that is what you were originally asking.

Olaf the Stout

 

[frankthedm]

I'm always checking out the toy sections of my hobby shops, toy stores and groceries.

I've found (what would scale to D&D minis as) giant squid, octopi, and others. Dinosaurs are an easy find, as are frogs and lizards.

Hidden Kingdom toys has a variety of posable tarantulas, dragonflies, scorpions, etc.

Same here. Dollar stores and garage sales work well too. Some fast food toys even had enough detail for minis: The Taco bell toy for the US godzilla had a tone of detail.

The baby vampire from the Van Helsing toys waspretty good.

The Narnia toy line had lots of decent figs.

I am just waiting to use the Diablo toy for some gargantuan fiend.

My minis thread has a lot of action figures being used as Minis.

 

[Glyfair]

As Psion suggested, the plastic animals and dinosaurs may be a good investment for a couple of bucks.

Yeah, rumor has it someone a long time ago found some that even had reason figures to use for the bulette and the rust monster (and it shows up occasionally still in dollar stores)

 

[Asmor]

Yeah, rumor has it someone a long time ago found some that even had reason figures to use for the bulette and the rust monster (and it shows up occasionally still in dollar stores).

If by "Rumor" you mean "Confirmed bit of D&D history," I suppose...

I'm not sure of the details, but from what I recall Gygax bought a cheap bag of plastic made-in-china minis from a dollar store or something. That's how the Bulette and Rust Monsters were born.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Yeah, rumor has it someone a long time ago found some that even had reason figures to use for the bulette and the rust monster (and it shows up occasionally still in dollar stores)

Quite true, Gygax said that several times in his Q&A here.

Does anyone happen to have a photo?

 

[Kestrel]

Just confirming the Heroscape Minis...one of my players bought a ton of these. Equal or better than DnD Minis.

 

[Imagicka]

Greetings...

I have been known to use a Small Plush Cthulhu for creatures like the Kracken.

I'm tempted to post pictures of the other plushies now...

 

[thedungeondelver]

I'm not sure of the details, but from what I recall Gygax bought a cheap bag of plastic made-in-china minis from a dollar store or something.

Heh. In 1972ish or thereabouts it was probably closer to a five-and-dime, in the literal sense of things costing a nickle or a dime!

(And that's not a dig at Gary's age, either...while not as seasoned as the esteemed Col., they still had them when I was a lad in the mid 70's, although prices had gone up somewhat...)

 

[Shades of Green]

For a more modern game, Army Men would probably fit the bill.

I've even encountered a set of FUDGE variant rules on the net using Army Men as miniatures, but unfortunately that site is now offline.