BEASTMAN – the PRELUDE

Beastman by Terrible Kids Stuff is, I think the 7th offering in 75mm of their Nether Kingdom range. So it is a little bit older, but there are still a few available. As the other kits in this range, this is a limited release of 100 copies. We have other TKS reviews here and here to name but a few.

It is designed by the dream team of Karl Kopinski and Allan Carrasco. Beastman is just that, quite a beast! A classic beastman of the kind you would expect from Warhammer and such, but here you get it in a larger scale and useful for collection and exhibition, as we are used to from TKS.

They have a nice powerful box art paint job by Marc Masclans in an interesting 2-tone colour scheme. It has a compelling and inspiring quality to it. Very sharp and articulated as well, I think Marc has a way to paint that fits well with Kopinski’s art and Carrasco’s sculpts.

The figure is based on a concept drawing by Karl Kopinski, that depicts a brutish, slightly diabolical beastman. He is big and full of scars, full of violent energy. His animal aspect comes close to that of a bull, he even sports a ring in the nose! This effectively turns him into a minotaur, though he has no ancient greek attributes as far as I can see. He has these funny horns that angle down from the head and then sweep up in front of the face, quite aggressive and making for an outlandish appearance, that adds to the fantasy aspect of this figure. Beastman is armed to the teeth, he carries a big axe in one hand, I think lesser beings would need two hands, he also has two sheathed swords. Around his neck hangs a human skull as an ornament, it adds to his feral appearance and kind of puts him in scale, the skull is quite small compared to the beastman himself. He has a very brutal and strong attitude, a perfect beastman chieftain or champion. Yet another fantastically creepy example of why you should not venture too deep into the wild parts of the forest.

UNBOXING

Beastman comes in the classic, sturdy small cardboard box we’ve come to know and love from Terrible Kids stuff. This time there is a print of Karl Kopinski’s concept drawing on the front, held in place by the card strips, that hold everything together. The back of the print shows the cast number, I’ve got no 87.

Beastman comes in 16 resin parts and a base topper as well. The bigger parts are securely sandwiched between two pieces of foam and all the small parts are squeezed in between the bottom of the box and the foam. All nicely fixed and everything intact.

SCULPT AND CAST

The sculpt is very sharp and the beastman has a very convincing anatomy, but this is what can expect from a master like Carrasco and here he delivers yet again. Beastman is very lean and muscular, lots of veins protruding all over the musculature, he looks really powerful. He has a very fine fur texture all over the body and here Carrasco really shows off as the master of fur texture and hair, that he is. The fur becomes gradually more coarse down towards the hoofs, which are covered in actual hair at their tops. The Beastman has some fine braided hair on the head as well. I think the fine fur texture on the body will respond quite well to a paint technique of highlighting the volumes of the muscles followed by a few washes, it is a very fine texture.

Beastman has a fine string with some very tiny bone ornaments, a leather belt and a nicely worn out and tattered loincloth. He holds an axe in one hand and the other is free, the free hand has sharp and pointy nails.

As always a convincing and interesting sculpt from Allan Carrasco, full of tiny and sharp details, executed to a very high standard. The cuts of the parts are done in the precise and staggered way we know from Carrasco and the fit of the parts is very good.

The figure is posed in an active way, leaning forward as he steps a hoof up on the rock, that serves as a base topper. He stands at 78 mm from the left hoof to eye level. Bear in mind that his head hangs quite low between the shoulders because of his bestial physique compared to a human, so he is a bit taller than a man of the same scale. He measures at just about 81mm of total height.

This beautiful sculpt is precisely cast in polyurethane resin. There are no bubbles here. All those fine details stand out sharply, perfectly reproduced in the cast. There are a few mould lines to be cleaned, only one of them looks like trouble; it goes down the middle of the left thigh, removing it may cost a bit of that fine fur texture. There is a tiny amount of flash as well, that can be cleaned of easily. All in all a good cast.

DESIGN AND ORIGINALITY

This is a very strong figure, he has a good sense of flow to him. The concept of beastman/minotaur is nothing new, yet it is refreshing to find one in this size and quality. Most of us know the goat headed beastmen of Warhammer fantasy and their minotaur Big brothers. I personally like the older ones, where they could have the aspects of many different animals better though. The Beastman concept harks back to earlier art and legends from Christianity about the devil, he certainly has something slightly diabolical about him. But the early Christians were not even the first, the image of the beastman is older still, resembling the fauns and satyrs of ancient greek mythology. One can say that the image of the joining of the male body and that of an animal is universal and has always been there, it is something we associate with warlike, violent, masculine and sexual strength.

The concept drawing resembles a very stocky, strong-looking, old, scared beastman. This is a typical Kopinski drawing, full of life, slightly exaggerated and sort of larger than life, yet gritty and down to earth at the same time.

I think Carrasco has followed the concept of the drawing a little bit more loosely, this time. The basic expression is there, the bull head, the funny down angled horns with their forward sweep. But there are differences as well. The body is a lot more slender than on the drawing, the beastman stands in a more active pose, moving forwards, upwards. In that way I think Allan Carrasco has adapted the image to fit his sculpting style a bit more and it certainly comes to life in 3-d. I think the sculpt is a great interpretation of Kopinski’s drawing if not an exact copy. It has great atmosphere and attitude.

DESIRABILITY

It is a high quality kit, that promises a lot of entertainment assembling and painting it. It  will not fall into everybody’s taste, but that is not important. It represents a rare opportunity to make a large-scale rendition of this classical beastman theme. It has great expression and good possibilities for storytelling in miniature, if that is your desire, this figure might be just the thing for you.

AFFORDABILITY

I think 35€ is a fair price for a kit like this. The Price is fairly normal for this kind of kit and you get a High quality model with lots of possibilities and a powerful expression. Many parts and good casting too.

Dates, Figures and Stuff

Cost                              35€

Material                       Polyurethane Resin

No of Pieces                16 plus base topper

Release Date               Available now

Where can I get It?    http://www.terriblekidsstuff.com/

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