"Need Hippies - the Definitive Flower Power Thread!" Topic

Ok, there were a few older Hippies threads from years ago but I'm hoping this one can incorporate all that material that is still relevant, add updates, and explore new areas.

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius and I want hippies! Many, many hippies! No one really makes hippie figures. (Do they?) So this thread is a place to identify figures that are satisfactory (even if not sold as "hippies" per se), detail how non-hippie figures can be converted into hippies, the finer points of painting hippies (who makes the best tie-dye paint?) and so on.

I plan a major miniatures skirmish game creation for 2014 that is essentially a zombies variant but involves Hippies vs. Police. It's the Swinging Sixties, baby, and the cops are out to smash those dirty hippie Love-Ins and Happenings. For their part, the Flower Children want peace, beads, bells, and music and to turn you on, tune you in, and drop you out.

Cops I got in spades from Gangster games. What I must have now are about 80 to 100 hippies. All types. Both genders. Not armed, really, although makeshift clubs or bottles or rocks or ad hoc armaments of that sort is acceptable. This isn't a a post-apocalyptic scenario -- no huge firearms or blasters. The hippies' chief weapon is brawling, swarming, and overbearing in melee, not conventional weaponry. Also exposure to fumes from burning loco weed, ahem.

I think this would be a smashing convention game for players looking for something light and frivolous but also different (way different). Working title: "Die, Hippie, Die!" So where can I and anyone else find some hippies?
Let's all join hands, groove to the Lovin' Spoonful or Grateful Dead, and share our vibes.

Outtasight!

Hasselfree has the Scooby Gang, so that would gets you 4 (plus a dog).

Irregular has some things under their Religious/Rabble etc. line that could work, even the mysterious lesbian collection (for your streakers). I thought they had some bands too – ok, found them, under Personalities.

GZG might be another one to check out.

Looking at some archival photos, painting is probably most of the battle rather than the sculpt itself. Even when the sculpt isn't quite on, many reasonably modern sculpts can be likely painted into hippy-dom. I don;t know that you even need a lot of tie dye. My mental picture of hippy is as much native american accessories as tie dye, maybe more so.

With that in mind, Wargames Factory new "The Women" box probably has 2, maybe 3 candidates per sprue. "The Men" is a bit more of a stretch, but probably doable with a couple. I own both sets, so I'm not basing that simply on their pictures.

It's plastic, so ditching the weapons in favor of styrene "pipe" weapons and what not isn't all that difficult. There's also some improvised melee weapons ranging from baseball and cricket bats to a crow bars. The one thing you don't have is really long hair thanks to the needs of swappable heads.

And it sounds like you described hippies as zombies.. "loco weed", "Swarming" etc. Interesting cross genre possibilities!

I was thinking the old shadowrun (from iron wind) line may have some candidates especially among shamans, but those look very dated in terms of sculpt quality.

Go grab the Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors plastic box. Paint the trousers like jeans. Paint the tunics in tie dye. You'll be well on your way.

Check here.

Dude! This project is like SO Far Out, Man! Could like some of those cats wearing fatigue coats from the Nam and Like maybe some Native American Haeds for like headbands and stuff? Would fit the Groove? Not sure which manufacturers to like suggest but I am sure there are some killer figs out there!

Peace Out!

I agree that the colors and fabric patterns are going to be key. Rent Woodstock for inspiration.

"Die, Hippie, Die!" doesn't sound right, mainly because I can't recall anyone actually saying that "back then." I'd go with a more evocative quote from the era, or an appropriate line from a movie or TV show, or a song title. Some suggestions:

Get a Haircut, Hippie!
Fixin' to Die Rag
1, 2, 3, What Are We Fighting For?
Outside Agitators
The Center Cannot Hold
'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky
Sock It to Me
Teenage Wasteland
Paranoia Strikes Deep

RedSaber just reminded me, there's also the Dude himself, from Impact Miniatures. Some of the rest of the little urban achievers line could work too.
link

One set of miniatures you MUST get is West Wind's 28mm Nam pack NAM009 – Chopper Gunners and Press Set:

It includes a cameraman, a sound guy, a Geraldo Rivera look-alike, a photojournalist who is a dead ringer for Dennis Hopper's character in Apocalypse Now, and four different chopper gunners. (No, I have no idea why they mixed such uniquely posed chopper gunners in with members of the press).

Look for biker minis. Some of those are dressed similarly. Of course, you might just as well incorporate them into your game…. ;-)

Oh, and you might want to check out Underground comics Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers for inspiration…. ;-)

Peaches, biker chick, Reaper
link

You might find a number of Wild West civilian figures and Indians that could work -- dungarees and vests for the guys, prairie dresses for the chicks.

Also likely to find some Pirate crew and civillian range candidates.

Ancients & Medieval civilians in tunics.

Gangster molls that don't look too Flapper for minidresses.

Hmmm, I could do without the hippies, but the hot girls in miniskirts would work for my U.F.O. project.

Need some to be kidnapped by the aliens, and/or rescued by SHADO.

There are a couple of VW Type 2 models around as well; a die cast 1/76 (pricey) and a Hasegawa 1/24 (likely too big). Good luck with your project!

Ron

Black Tree Design has most if not all of Doctor Who's companions (or they used to, I don't know how many are still in production). Some of those are from the '60s and early '70s: link

Some of the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang minis by Copplestone ( link ) and Artizan ( link ) would work. The Soul Section in particular is very cool (the three minis on the right in this pic):

Was this inspired by the Get Smart episode with the Groovy Guru & the Sacred Cows singing "Kill, Kill, Kill"?

"When teenagers are turning into zombies, Max and 99 go after their idol the Groovy Guru."

YouTube link

Kill, kill, kill
Thrill, thrill, thrill
Make a scene
Bump off the Dean
Yeh, yeh, yeh
Knock off the squares
Take to the street
Kill everyone you meet
Just kill, kill, kill

Maybe Ancient ranges Druids, etc.

And there was that episode of the Simpsons with Grandpa Simpson.

Abe: "I want to hear the Glenn Miller Orchestra and see cops beating up hippies!"

Never trust anybody over 30.

Up yours, man!

Gimme an F!

If you don't mind a little work to get your hippies, plastic ancients are a good, cheap source.

I'd recommend the Warlord Games Celts over the Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors. The Wargames Factory Celts are even cheaper and may require less cutting, but are not quite as good.

Check them out, compare pics and see if any of those will work for you.

There's a Mystery Machine (VW van) in resin available from someone, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment.

boy wundyr x,
Is this the one you're thinking of? link

They are 25mm rather than 28mm, but GZG has a fair number of civilians that might do. For instance:

Young couple holding hands (comes as 2 minis) link

Woman with baby in papoose link

Teenagers
link

Folk eating junk food link

They also do a guy with a placard (no picture, but here's the link on their website) link

@Gokiburi – yes, thanks! I was drawing a complete blank, yet I own one of the vans! I'd like to think I'm too young for senior moments, but maybe not.

"I hope I die before I get Old!"
YouTube link

"Cut your hair and get a job, hippie !"

Yea, what Legion said! YouTube link

Try these figure lines:
recreationalconflict.com
link

These could work as well: link

Maybe also Ancient germans, trousers bare feet, spear. Nip the front off, glue a placard to the end "Make love, not wat or we'll kill you."

Part of the OP was for male AND female. I thought one of the problems/complaints by the fuzz(man) was you couldn't tell them apart.

Just wait til they turn sideways.

You might be able to do something with these…

link

Gary

I hate hippies….

Here's some music for ya….

YouTube link

YouTube link

YouTube link

Victory Force's Redd Redan "Savages" might work as hippies, most have pipes and bottles as weapons.

This reminds me of the game at the 1968 MFCA wargames convention. It consisted of hippies and peaceniks protesting a wargames convention being attacked by the police.

Did somebody mention that geezer figures see link. Cut off the weapons from these guys and you have lots of hippies.

link

I once had to defend a backstage against 5000 hippies at Grateful Dead concert…that was fun. No weapons were involved though…just attitude.

tom

As something of a hippy myself, I could always use some more hippy miniatures – for sci fi as well as modern games -sci fi civilian minis (the few that there are) can be a little bland – colonists and guys in jumpsuits for the most part. But the one thing we know about fashion is that it changes over time, so as wide a range of fashions in figures as possible is good (though not for our wallets).
oh yeah – and just 'cos someone's a hippy, doesn't mean that he's a pacifist!

darclegion got it right. You might recognise from my nomme de plume where lies my allegiance, but the idea of getting a bunch of deadheads organised to do anything, let alone take on the military…yer kidding. We have an expression in the UK….they could not organise a up in a brewery.

It was a very "Long Strange Trip" indeed. Oddest thing is that my two 18 year old lads just love the Grateful Dead and also follow me to every West Ham Utd away game. I must have done something right……..

Disney Cars "Fillmore" is a VW bus that comes pre painted in hippy colors, or he looks even better painted in white/orange factory colors. Painted one for a 7tv game.

"America--Love it or leave it!"

Actually there were some 'bad' hippies around in the late sixties, into blowing things up or worse; the Weather Underground, SLA, etc

Yat Ming has apparently gone out of business, but you can still find their VW micro buses in 1:43. I got one recently for 10$, but the company I got it through has since sold out.

I'd also reccommend Wargames Factory Apocalype survivors, with any appropriate hairy beard heads (the one below is from the WGF ancient German cavalry sprue). This middle guy is "homeless wino" rather than hippie, but you get the idea:

West Wind Games has a bunch of really nice Dark Age Saxon and British heads. Put 'em on a figure wearing more modern clothes and you got yerself a bunch of hippies.

Years ago when we were in Washington DC, we came across a stage full of brown-shirted neo-nazis spewing a lot of hateful crap into a loudspeaker. My mom (Who, although not a hippie, tended toward that end of the spectrum) talked a bunch of nearby hippies into throwing bottles, which soon started going in every direction, but effectively ended the Nazi Show. My dad was really angry. We got out of there fast. It was glorious.

I'm sensing that hippy minis will eventually be as popular as zombie minis ("You can never have enough!") Going to have to add them to my looong 'to do' sculpting list…. ;-)

Hippies hate Slayer…

I firmly believe that Hippies are outside the range of time traditionally covered by " Pulp". Surely what you want are " Bohemians".

I got one.

Hippies are protesting a new type of fracking for oil with the use of acid in California. Who knew hippies would be against acid?

Pulp 28's, a new caster, pulp28s.com is threatening to do a pack of hippies with not-Billy Jack.

The dangers of brown acid are legendary.

Gotta love them hippies:

YouTube link

YouTube link

Dan