I had a bit of a surprise this week, a package arrived from Hong Kong
addressed to me. I wasn't really expecting anything so opening it up
to find the resin Monkey King from Marrow Production had me going
through my kickstarters to remind myself what I'd actually ordered!
Why the distant memory? Well the kickstarter funded in November 2013
for estimated delivery in July 2014...
So it's a little late. More than a little late really. Considering I
pledged for one mini that had already been sculpted before the
campaign launched that is probably the worst kickstarter I've backed
for service! And to boot there is no exclusive booklet, "The Art
and Making of the Monkey King" that was also promised. Maybe it
will follow in another few years, who knows!
Lets move past that though and take a look at the mini, Sun Wukong or
'The Monkey King' is a character from Chinese mythology that has been
interpreted many times in film (for example The Forbidden Kingdom
featuring Jet Li as the king) and gaming (appears in multiple games
but the character 'Monkey' in Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is
strongly based on him) I've been a fan of the character across it's
multiple interpretations so although I wasn't backing the game I was
keen to pick this figure up.
Here's the blister pack, nice little card showing the painted mini on
one side (painted by Hon Ho) and the unpainted mini on the other side
(see next picture) The mini is sculpted by Ray Wong. Hon and Ray are
the co-creators of Marrow Production. Scale wise I don't think the scale is actually stated (or I couldn't find it) but the mini is from head to base around 50mm.
Taking the contents out we have a square base in separate packaging
from the mini itself.
The base comes in two parts, and features some decoration on the
outside rim and it looks good with the insert.
Here is a look at the miniature components. Most of the body is one
large piece with a second piece for the foot and half the rock he's
standing on. There are smaller bits for his loin cloth and a couple
of other cloth sections that...I'm not really sure where they go at
the moment!
Here is the back of the body.
Unfortunately there was some damage in transit, the staff was snapped
at the right end (in the picture above it's held together by the
resin plugs above his head), the largest bead on his necklace was
snapped off (but luckily still found in the packaging) and his crown
is missing a piece. A little glue has helped resolve the first two
but I'll just have to live with the third, it's not too bad.
Here is a look at the unpainted and painted versions we were shown in
the kickstarter for comparison.
It's a shame about the huge delays and the damage in transit (the mini came in a blister in a padded envelope, perhaps they should have used padded boxes) The final mini however is definitely a good sculpt and the quality seems fine.
