"Fictional or real character most often portrayed in lead?" Topic

I recently noticed that Reaper is introducing their new "Chronoscope" range, which includes yet another "Not Indy" adventurer, and it got me thinking how many versions actually exists of this dear character( all of which I have to own, of course).

But there are others, contesting Indys claim to being the character most often sculpted in lead. A quick guess at the top 3:

I´ve got Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi style) as the winner, closely followed by indiana Jones on second place, while
third place is a tie between Lara Croft and Sherlock Holmes.

What do you think? Is it really Alice of Wonderland or a historical person? Napoleon? Or Elvis (zombie, wherewolf or otherwise)?

Please feel free to contest or expand the list to top 10 or beyond…

Have to go for Napoleon.

I am, of course, resticting this to Wargames depictions.

The Blob?

There's no one defining 'pulp aviator' character in fiction that I'm aware of but there sure are a lot of pulp aviator figures out there.

Nearly every pulp range I've seen has a least a couple of pilots, most have lots!

I'd say Biggles as the one defining aviator, save that there's nothing currently out, and he's mostly a British thing as far as I can tell…

I haven't counted Indys, Draculas (there may be more Max Shrek Nosferatus about than Lugosis) or Holmeses. Updating the occasional "Figured Out" columns I used to run in Ragnarok, here are my estimates for some other characters:

Robin Hood: At least 3 x 54mm (Britain's, Marx, Schylling), 1 x 40mm (Figure Trader), 11 x 28mm (Citadel, Dark Ages, three versions by Gladiator [now Black Hat], Hinchcliffe, Qualiticast, Warrior, two versions by Foundry, Blue Moon), 2 x 1/72 (Airfix [now HaT], Tumbling Dice), 1 x 10mm (Kallistra)

Buffy Summers: 1 x 40mm (Graven Images), 5 x 28mm (CoolMiniOrNot, Foundry, Nightshift, two versions by Hasslefree), 1 x 25mm (Ground Zero)

Lara Croft: 10 x 28mm (Four by Brigade Games, two by Copplestone, Hasslefree, HLBSCo, Freebooter, Shadowforge), 2 x 25mm (Ground Zero)

I'd say Biggles as the one defining aviator, save that there's nothing currently out

Indeed. Artizan makes a Captain Biggleswade:
link
But clearly that's not the same person as Bigglesworth. Different British aviator altogether.

You might also be able to find the Biggles figure Mike Owen sculpted as a Wargames Illustrated subscription freebie a few years back on eBay.

It might indeed be Robin Hood for a fictional (?) character – there is a new 54mm from Barzso, too. For historical, and probably outdoing Robin Hood, I am sure it's Napoleon.

If you go non-wargaming (and not lead, but pewter), it's possibly a Disney character. Mickey?

Conan

Actually, by "nothing currently out" I wasn't talking about figures so much as books/movies/cartoons/etc – the more mainstream stuff that our pulp figures draw inspiration from.

No western range seems complete without a guy in a poncho with no name.

For historical characters, I guess Napoleon or Alexander the Great, closely followed by Hannibal.

"a guy in a poncho with no name"

Even rendered as a Dwarf in one case.

Sonny & Cher

So which are the other not-Indys? Off the top of my head, I can only think of three: Artizan, Copplestone and Citadel (for Talisman), plus the official Indy by West End Games. But there must be others.

I know of at least 3 Benedict Arnolds.

I know of at least 3 of Elvis, one a skelton Elvis.

Pulp Figures makes an Indy. It's not a very good pose. Standing still with a coiled whip in his left hand and a giant machete in the other, chopping off his own leg.

Practically every manufacturer of anything remotely Old West has Custer. I think it's a conspiracy spawned by Hollywood. Why else would the industry produce so many Apaches & Custers?

I haven't done any surveys, but if we accept archetypes I'd have to go with a "Ranger" all of which are modeled on Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. A "Barbarian" would be a close second, modeled on Conan, but over the years I think I've seen way more Ranger figures.

If we accept rank and file I'd have to go with Orcs. Er wait, maybe either "Romans", British Redcoats, or French Napoleanic soldiers -- sorry I don't know the right name, it's those Blue- Uniformed- Guys- With- Tall- Hats- And- Muskets- With- Bayonets.

(I realize you posted this in the Pulp message board, but you didn't say the answers had to be restricted to Pulp.)

I've noticed most (from what I've seen) WWII Soviet manufacturers make the Soviet Captain (Sergeant, whatever) with the pistol over his head urging his mean forward. From the propoganda poster. I know I have at least 4 different lines that have that (or a very similar) pose.

Grenadier had a Not-Indy in one of their Call Of Cthulhu packs. The name and code number, unfortunately, escapes me.

Elvis and Ranger in general are good.

Pulp-wise it seems like there are a lot of rum running era gangster types. They cross over into a number of genre: cthulhu era horror, pulp, and gangster rpgs. The gangster rpgs have not (to my knowledge) but I seem to recall at least one from the 1980s which I have some figures for (along with a moll, a police officer, etc).

The answer to this question is elementary, Hans..:-)

There's at least 6 Sherlock;s in 25/28mm .. I'd count but they're packed away somewhere in moving boxes ..

Steve, HorrorClix and Blue Moon make a "Not Indy" as well

;)

What about Tarzan? In 54mm and 1/72 plastics alone, I can think of seven manufacturers.

Sophie the succubus! Lost count!

Looking at the Artizan figures on Brigade Games, I see an Amelia Earhart figure. I'm betting that is the only one anyone makes of her.

For historical, I would guess Napoleon with Lee or Grant a close second

For non-historical, if you count "generic huge barbarian' or Conan-type, there would be a lot – also vampires and detectives

They may not be in the top 5 for historicals but most companies that make ECW figs have a Prince Rupert & a Cromwell.

Wow, neat topic. I'm no expert on this, but Dracula (not just generic vampires but the count himself) must be up there.

-Will

Okay, so for Indy, we've now got: 8 x28mm (Artizan, Copplestone, Citadel, West End Games, Reaper, Grenadier, WizKids, Blue Moon). Any more, eg in other scales?

For Sherlock Holmes, I can think of: 7 x 28mm (2 RAFM – including the only one not in that blessed deerstalker and inverness, Foundry, Spyglass, Citadel, West Wind, Blue Moon). Any more?

For Lugosoid Dracula – which I take to mean dinner-jacket-and-cloak style – I can think of: 4 x 28mm (West Wind, Grenadier, Reaper, Blue Moon). Of course, there are lots of other versions of Dracula. Leading Edge must have made at least that many different versions of Gary Oldman. But I suspect that this is where I am missing most. Any suggestions?

The Man with No Name (except "Joe" and "Blondie"): I can think of 3 x 28mm versions (Artizan, Old Glory, eBob). Which others are there?

Pending additions, my chart of named fictional characters currently looks like this:

1. Robin Hood (19 versions identified)
2. Lara Croft (12 versions)
3. Indiana Jones (8 versions)
4= Sherlock Holmes (7 versions)
4= Buffy Summers (7 versions)
6. Lugosi as Dracula (4 versions)
7. The Man with No Name (3 versions)

I'm omitting Lord of the Rings characters, since D&D merged them so closely with archetypes. But I suppose that might also be said to be true of Lugosoid Draculas.

Nice list Steve,

I have a few more for you:

Indy: 2 GW (1 Talisman Timescape) 2 Grenadier (old & new version) 1 TSR, 1 Ral Partha

Sherlock: 2 Foundry, 2 GW, 1 Brigade, 1 Chiltern

And a newcomer: Jack The Ripper
7(!)Foundry, 1 GW, 1 Grenadier,1 Blue Moon, 1 Westwind, 1 Chiltern: 12 versions!

What about that guntoting chick from Underworld?

That's a lot of Rippers. Strictly speaking, not a fictional character, but all interpretations of what he looked like are fictional, I suppose.

What about that guntoting chick from Underworld?

Selene? 3 Hasslefree, 1 Copplestone, 1 RAFM, 1 Guardians of Order, 1 Ground Zero, I think. That would be 7.

I'll update the chart tomorrow,

Wow…I gotta mess up your count even more…

Old Glory made two, (3 if you count the mounted and dismounted figures as seperate) Men With No Name: one for their Cowboy wars (mounted and dismounted) and one in their Warpaint line.

Well, I'm still counting archetypes that look like original characters, and I've thought of another: Gandalf, or Bearded Old Wizard In Tall Wide Brimmed Hat With Staff.

Gandalf and several other LotR characters will get high counts just from specifically named miniatures, thanks to GW doing many multiples, Mithril having duplicates in several cases, and the old Heritage lines.

Throw in "derived as a stereotype" and Gandalf's numbers go way up. Then you look at Gimli, and realize that just about every dwarf miniature ever made is either him or one of Thorin's Companions.

Adding in the figures identified by Hans and Bunker Monkey:

1. Robin Hood (19 versions)
2= Lara Croft (12)
2= Indiana Jones (12)
2= Sherlock Holmes (12)
2= Jack the Ripper (12)
6= Buffy Summers (7)
6= Selene (7)
8. The Man with No Name (5)
9. Lugosoid Dracula (4)

I'm sure that there must be some other Draculas missing, even limited to Lugosi lounge-lizards.

I'm a bit uncertain about Jack the Ripper: most of those Foundry figures are explicitly supposed to be different suspects. If we allow such different versions of a similar concept, how about Doctor Who? Harlequin made at least 15 different version of the Doctor, Citadel 5 and Fine Art Castings a few more. There are 3 versions in the Micro-Universe range, and Not-Doctors from Heresy (in 28mm-ish) and Graven Images (40mm). So that's upwards of 25.

If anyone wants to count up the GW and Mithril specific versions of Lord of the Rings characters and add them to the list, please do. The derivative miniatures are harder to deal with, though. Some we can reasonably assume were intended to be lookalikes by another name (eg in the old MiniFigs Mythical Earth range), but others, like Farstar's "every dwarf miniature ever made", while traceable back to Lord of the Rings, are not intended to be substitutes. Gotrek Gurnison would not make a good Gimli, for example, even if he is inconceivable without him. I have no idea where to draw the line!