Sunday 5 February 2012

Grenadier Monster Manuscripts Vol X MM81 Talos

In Greek mythology, Talos was a giant man of bronze who protected Europa in Crete from pirates and invaders, by circling the island's shores three times daily. This is the Grenadier take on him, circa mid-80's:

As with many of the Grenadier figures of the period, it's quite crude - the pose is slightly unnatural, but then I am guessing that was the intention of the sculptor.

The figure was fairly easy to paint - Citadel Tin Bits, then a black wash, then highlights of gold. Due to the height of the figure, the base was a one solid plinth of metal, which I've tried to disguise with stone blocks made out of Milliput, inked and highlighted.

From a gaming perspective, I think its a good figure - it makes an ideal metal guardian for stalking any number of dungeon corridors - but ultimately it suffers from comparison to the classic Ray Harryhausen animated Talos from the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts. Now a scale figure of that by Grenadier would have been something to behold!