A few weeks back, I posted up some 25mm Indiana Jones figures from 1984 that TSR had produced. I ran across a different range of six figures (from 1994) produced by West End Games and finally got a hold of them.
There were two, three-figure packs produced before the line went out of production and they used slotta bases (hexed, although I swapped in round).
The first pack had Indy, a reporter, and a student. The second included an older professor, Sulla, and a spy. These figures were a bit fine boned, lacked motion, and every hand is clenched into a fist. But, otherwise, they were nice figures. Oddly, no one is holding a gun.
Usually, the assumption we make about scale creep is things get larger over time. Below, you can see the slotta based figures from 1994 against the 1984 figures on washers. The older figures are clearly beefier and bigger (although they were also sold as 25mm).
I suspect that WEG kept using the old armatures they used to sculpt the Star Wars line into the 1990s while TSR had moved onto bigger ones in the mid 1980s. Leia, with a slightly lower base, is a good proxy for the student. On the left is a modern (Pulp Figures) 28mm woman.
We see something similar here with Ben Kenobi and the older professor (who I painted to look like Indy's dad). The modern Einstein is again from Pulp Figures.
I couldn't find a Star Wars proxy for the reporter but the two modern figures illustrate the thinner and shorter nature of the older sculpt.
The WEG figures do fit in well with the 1985 supers I painted recently from
Mayfair Games.
Up next: I'm not sure. I'm slowly winding down my painting for the summer and will likely take July and August off from posting.
