Hi everyone,

Releases are coming from all angles ready for Euro 2015 and MJ miniatures are doing themselves proud again ....they told us of the release in August here:

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/mj-miniatures-new-release-of-aug-2015.72974/watch-confirm

Again we see a collaboration as in the previous release I reviewed with you dear reader here:

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/the-dark-marauder-from-mj-miniatures.72945/watch-confirm

The team from

worked their magic with

and released this Fantasy piece:

He's a rather good looking fellow eh ..bit like your reviewer !!!

So what is a Troll then well I was going to go to the Urban dictionary but reckon I would get thrown off PF !!!so we will go to the Oxford dictionary which states that in Scandinavian folklore its a creature that looks like an ugly person. Some trolls are very large and evil, others are small and friendly but like to trick people.

Of course in today's fast moving internet world trolling has taken on a completely different meaning!!!

Lets set the scene for you :

So from the depths of the dark and often slimey world of the forest , he lurks , coming out to hunt , to protect and to see off his foes , , he has few friends as we know them merely a toad his companion on many a dark time hid in the undergrowth , through the wet ferns and foilage we see his face searching for an opportunity to pounce .
He has been rewarded in the highest possible way by his unseen masters that dwell in the dark and wet caves of the underworld by being given the order of the padlock to wear around his neck , held in place by a chain ...or perhaps it their way of reminding him of his previous life shackled as a Troll slave and not able to roam freely as he does now .

This release is in the 1/9 scale range and is as with the other a complete departure to other releases being military ...adding another dimension to the products and the company.

Lets see what we are looking at in the Review:

Title: The Troll

Reference: MJ09-005

Scale: 1/9th

Material: Light Grey Resin

No of Pieces: 4 Resin and 1 wire

Sculptor: Antonio Fernandez or "Piqui"

Box Art: Man-Jin, Kim



As usual the box quality is very high with a colour picture of the subject on the top , just looking at this creates a flurry of anticipation and that's before you open the box , the resin was held in a clear bag which was then in bubble wrap ....protecting the contents with no issues .

The contents consist of the torso back with a base worked in , the head , a toad and a padlock , as well as a piece of easily worked wire to make the chain for the padlock.

Beginning with the Prep , as with the previous release from MJ the work needed is minimal to say the least , the underside of the base requires a bit of sanding , the head has casting plugs to remove ( 1 from each of the ears , and 3 from the back to allow smooth fitting , the toad and padlock has a tiny plug to take away and that is it , a simple job , 10 minutes at the most .

Looking at the Torso first , the first thing I must say is that the finish is totally smooth , not a blemish anywhere , no air holes , no casting line ..NOTHING

The torso has the base beautifully worked into the back of the resin , no need to worry about sorting the base out ...like this presentation lots.



Our Troll has great skin texture over which he wears clothing , perhaps cloth maybe leather made from an old shoe he has found!!! around his shoulder he has his pride and joy the latest from the fashion world of that doyen of the catwalk Jean Paul Trollieter , this garment is worked with a design of swirls , setting this off is a sash around his body.

The recess for the head is well formed and minimal filler will be needed when fitting this .

The sculpting is first class , with nice undercuts and edges seen in all areas , the shoulder garment is held in place by a strap which holds it in place by means of a ring attached to the skin ...Ouch!! you can almost feel the skin pulling.

Continued in next post
Nap

Lets put him together :

On to the final pieces firstly the Head well what can I say except its BRILLIANT work , the whole face groans with skill , its a painters dream IMO , superb skin textures , wrinkled , the remnants of teeth , one broken off in a previous fight maybe , these are nicely done and sharp !!! , the pose of the face has it protruding forward the protruding chin comes towards the viewer in a menacing way , the lower lip is wrinkled and being held up close to his bulbous nose , almost animal like , drooping down , on the top we have a boil , with skin spots on the top and side ( the top one needs medical attention!!)

The eyes are deep set and packed full of details , the brow furrowed and very sinister like , but oh those ears a better set I have not seen again the texture is great , they ate certainly a noticeable part of the piecs ...maybe in his world big ears are a sign of being a macho hunter !!

Around his neck we have a studded band held together by a bolt at the top.

Looking at the skin texture , its subtly wrinkled and with spots everywhere , on top of his head we have a bit of surgery in the way of "stitches" holding a would together ...the Troll NHS at its best !!

This piece is so full of character it screams at you saying "paint me or else" .

The Padlock is a nice bit of work , nice bit of surface decoration , the keyhole is there , you could add a key around his neck as well ...the sculpting is good enough to almost turn the key on the lock!!!

To our little amphibious friend the Toad ...I love this , cheeky chappie , almost smiling at you he sits nicely on top of the head , the sculpting is really good , the webbed feet spayed out , the skin is all as it should be ...again all this sculpting skill will translate to a lot of fun when painting ..let you brushes go wild.

Final Thoughts

So there you have it MJ Miniatures latest bust , a fun filled frolic of Fantasy , wonderful sculpting , well presented , MJ continues to excite us with every release and long may it continue , this is a painters piece and one which everyone will enjoy , if military are your normal thing then do a fantasy piece no restrictions !!!

Very highly recommended

For those at Euro , I believe we will see this actual painted version being brought over by MJ's friends ( unfortunately the paint guru can't make this years show .....hopefully in 2016 MJ )

Thanks to MJ Miniatures for the Review model its been fun and thanks to everyone for looking in


For more details :



Website details: www.mj-miniatures.co.kr
E mail: mjminiatures@gmail.com


Finally lets have some great pictures of the painted bust ( there is also a series on You Tube of MJ himself painting this , fascinating to watch)

Happy Modelling

Nap

No probs Ralph glad you enjoyed it

Thanks for looking in

Nap