Tyron – Space Trooper

By Adrian Hopwood Full gallery at the end of the Article Company – Pizarro Miniatures Price – £25.50 Scale –54mm Material – White Metal Code – PZF006 Sculpted by – unknown Can there be any doubt that this is actually a figure inspired by the Gears of War video games ? My son plays GoW incessantly – if I sound brassed off, it’s only because I’m poo at it, and he constantly shoots me in the back, butt, head…..Well, let’s face it, I’m no good once you get beyond Space Invaders or Galaxian ! Anyway, that’s not what I’m looking at here; I’m supposed to be reviewing this model. Pizarro do have some rather nice fantasy offerings, and certainly their box art painter can turn a nice piece out. This one’s probably going to be a lot easier to make a good job of that that Female Assassin with the digital camo scheme, although I dare say that if you do you’re homework, you could have a go at rendering the intricate colouration on some of the armour from GoW – plus all the splattered blood ! Sculpting is good – not sure about the right leg, it seems to be a bloke with an almost double-jointed knee, but this could be sorted fairly easily with a bit of gentle pressure and a gradual bending back into a more normal position. However, you’ll probably then have to bin the base – not a problem, because most of us do – as changing the stance will then not allow the very positive locking blocks on the feet and base to line up properly. As I say, not a problem, just bin the base. The attachment points for the arms look good and solid, but some adjustment will be needed to make them fit. Basically the pins are too large, or the recesses fro them are not deep enough, so trimming down the pins is the easiest fix for this. One alternative I thought of was to cut off the hand holding the helmet. Cut the head off, and place the helmet on his shoulders, and you’ve altered the kit quite a lot, all you’ve got to do then is find a 54mm left hand and marry that up to the forearm that you saved from the helmet. You’d have to do remedial work to the left thigh too as there’s a block for the helmet there to join onto. Moulding is quite good – there are part lines to clean up, but they’re easy to find and not much of a problem to deal with. The metal seems quite easy to work with, so the use of a scalpel or a fine file will do the trick. There is some very fine detail on the figure, all those plates of armour and padding will take some painting, but I think the effort will be worth it. If there’s one thing I’d advise though it’s that if you like this figure, buy it quickly. The likeness is perhaps not definitive to any particular character in GoW, but it’s definitely not a model of anything else. So Pizarro might just find themselves on the end of a letter saying “Cease and Desist”. If so, they’ll have to pull the model from circulation, and there’s where getting one quick is advisable. Otherwise, this is a good little piece, instantly recognisable to any gamer worth his or her salt, and all we need now is Pizarro to have the time to get an enemy trooper out to go with him. Thanks to Matt and Celine at El Greco Miniatures for sending this along for review, the model is available from them at the address below, or by visiting their website. Adrian. El Greco Miniatures 63 Glebe Drive Brackley NN13 7BX United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0)1280 840364 Email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Home Page: http://www.elgrecominiatures.co.uk