Where can I find good animal miniatures?

[Pielorinho]

Awhile ago, I purchased a few animal minis: a dire ape, a couple dire rats, and a packet of familiars (a bat, a cat, a hawk, a pseudo dragon, a rat, etc.). But I'd love to find a good tiger (or other greatcat) and a good bear miniature. Ideally, they should be figures without accoutrements -- no saddles, armor, etc.

Anyone know of where I could get these? I may end up picking up some plastic toy animals from Toys are Us, but a real mini would be fun.

Daniel

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

I saw this one at DiscountHobby.com:

http://www.discounthobby.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=DIS&Product_Code=265B

They have some bears too, but they have dwarves on top. They are probably seperate pieces though...

 

[Mark]

Action Products International ( http://www.apii.com ) has "Bitty Buckets" and "Big Boxes" in their "Play and Store" line ( http://www.apii.com/brands.asp?idDept=14 ) that include many reasonably priced collections of animals in a good scale for gaming. They have a search feature to find stores in your area, as well, so you can hopefully see them first hand.

 

[Dimwhit]

They have some bears too, but they have dwarves on top. They are probably seperate pieces though...

I have the two bears. The Dwarves are separate, and the bears are great. They have what I would describe as a saddle blanket on, but that's it. All in all, quite good.

I, too, have been looking for good animal minis. It's surprising they're so hard to find. One solution of mine: I went to Toys 'R' Us and bought some colored plastic animals that were about the right size.

 

[apocalypstick]

Reaper has a nice winged tiger - I imagine that you can use green stuff to fill in the wing slots and paint it as a regular tiger.

But yeah, animal minis... tough to come by (that helps a lot, doesn't it?).

 

[Pielorinho]

That sabretooth is nice -- I might get it!

I've seen the dwarf-and-bear sets, and I just don't like that saddle on the bear's back. I'm probably too picky.

Maybe next week I'll swing by the toy store and see what I can pick up. Meanwhile, if anyone out there works for a minis company, we're talking about a game in which animal companions and wildshaping exist -- animal miniatures would sell quite well!

Daniel

 

[Dimwhit]

I've seen the dwarf-and-bear sets, and I just don't like that saddle on the bear's back. I'm probably too picky.

I agree with you, but it was a necessary compromise for me. I need a bear for my Druid, who is almost always in bear form. The one I use, though, doesn't have a saddle. Just a blanket. When it's painted, it doesn't look too bad.

But I agree that straight animal minis would sell quite well. Bears, tigers, wolves, crocodiles, etc. I'd get one of each.

 

[Conaill]

For difficult-to-find miniatures...

Try searching for charm bracelets on EBay! No seriously. I had been looking for a spider monkey familiar fig for months, until someone pointed me towards EBay. Turns out they had over a hundred different monkey charm bracelets for sale. I eventually wound up with one that only cost me $3.50, shipping included. Just needed to file off the loop on top, and it's now my familiar miniature...

 

[Sinistar]

100 kingdoms has a few good cat miniatures. They have a cheetah that is very good. They also have a couple of howler monkeys that are not too bad. I would do a web search, but I don't know how to post links...

I have a miniature that I use as a key chain fob (drilled through the head and attached to a loop of wire) so that I have one with me everywhere. I carry it in case I find something to see if it works in scale. Don't worry, it was a miniature that had met its end naturally...

But that way I have found some in-scale boats, netting, gloomwings (plastic butterflies that are in scale to be about 3 feet) and other assorted paraphanalia.

So far I have not found a good "normal" animal source, but I have not been to a toy store in quite some time... The last time I went I got a rubber shark that is probably of "Gargantuan" size if not bigger. It hasn't come into play, but with the boats it makes the characters nervous...

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

Severe Hijack: How about a real PURPLE bear?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030722/168/4rc2v.html&e=1&ncid=1756