I really hate drow elves. They just suck. Spider-demon worshiping freaks.
They’re armed with magical stuff that loses it’s dweomer if you bring it up into daylight. There will be no looting the drow. And they’re all ambidextrous just so they can get two attacks. And they are totally evil, and have a billion innate spell-like abilities. Oh, and I’ll go ahead and just say that anyone who ever played a drow elf character is an asshat, because you know, it’s true.
Doesn’t keep me from painting them, though. In fact, I know that painting a cohort of drow virtually assures we’ll get to kill some, in numbers, because my brother is the DM and painting a set of figures is one not-so-subtle way to remind him, “Oh yeah, I could use x”. Not that it always works.
Yeah, nice try.
So here we go!
Left to right, a Citadel witch elf, an early Citadel drow elf, a MageKnight elf, and a plastic Citadel dark elf.
Left, the Grenadier AD&D drow elf captain, and right, a Ral Partha AD&D character, painted as a drow.
A MageKnight elf and another plastic Citadel drow, this time converted to a swordsman.
Two more Citadel plastics, again conversions, and in front, two Dollar Tree spiders — I found a bag of 50 or so around Halloween, made of glow-in-the dark plastic.
Some giant spiders. The one in the middle is the Grenadier Tomb of Spells spider; the other two are from the game Descent, which is worth buying just for the figures, especially if you can get it used.
Shelob, by Mithril Miniatures. This is without doubt the best giant spider figure of its time. This figure is cast in old school lead, not the post-1994 tin/zinc pewters we see nowadays. Lead is freaking fragile and but this figure manages to hold together with epoxy and base. The base is 3 inches across. I should have taken a pic with an elf next to it for scale.
The Grenadier Drider, from the same set as the drow captain, I believe. His front-most right leg broke off long ago and I replaced it with some expoy putty. not a perfect match but if I hadn’t said anything, who would know?
Another Drider, made from a Descent spider and half of some Citadel figure I got in a bag of adds and ends at the Titan Games booth at Origins. They sell “used” figures, among other things, and their grab bags are awesome. This figure was already cut in half, so making her a Drider was a no-brainer.
So I’m hoping that if & when we pursue those evil elves that sold poor Sifl into slavery, they’ll be Drow.
Also, the title of this post is supposed to emphasize the correct pronunciation of “Drow”. Some people say “Drow” to rhyme with “Crow” but they are wrong. “Drow” should rhyme with “Cow” as a reminder that drow elves exist only be slaughtered.
Interesting – your Shelob looks like the M103/MC30 Giant Spiders (http://www.mithril.ie/Classics/mc30/index.html). The Shelob they’re selling now has an actual face: http://www.mithril.ie/Boxed%20Sets/mb396/index.html which is pretty damn scary.
They are at 32mm – does your Mithril spider seem overly large?
Yes — MC30 exactly. It is huge (at least twice as big across as the other spiders above) but that’s ok. I think Mithril’s original lines were a little taller than other figures but the proportions were not so exaggerated so they mixed well.
The rest of their old line might have been closer to 25mm-28mm now that look at their site. I vaguely remember that when Citadel got the rights to the movies, Mithril switched to the larger 32 and 54mm sets. Also, I had a different Beorn than any of the ones sold on the site now, different even than the “Classic”. I doubt they resculpted Shelob but I see they just call it a “Mirkwood spider” now.
@Mike – I like it too, and I always, always see my intelligent huge spiders and ancient spiders in the same light as the Mirkwood/Hobbit spiders. Nasty, cruel and sensitive to being called names.
I like the grenadier drider. A friend of mine had that. I always thought it was a cool figure and that was before the whole drow fetishization (thanks R.A. Salvatore)
[...] Monaco’s a bigot: he hates the Drow. He still gets a cookie, because of his awesome post riddled with pics of great miniatures. I still want that old Drider figure. The Shelob mini is breathtaking (be careful with Lead!) The [...]
there is a sucker born every minute, and that sucker is the drow. You don’t have to ask what that evil fairy is sucking cause that is why they call them fairies.
Frankie’s not an asshat. She’s just a goth.
That’s splitting hairs.
I guess I can give a pass to newbs, particularly if they are goths and/or erotic film performers. But I’ve known some serious asshats who played drow, especially in 2e, just for he extra powers. Sure, they say they like the misunderstood outsider archetype. I say, grow a pair and play a half-orc or even a half-elf then if you want to be an outsider. Grr.
nice minis and thanks for the point on pronunciation. Some people think just because it’s a word from an RPG or fantasy book they can say it however they want – there is still a correct pronunciation.
I like your insights on the drow, i have recently pupblished a series on the topic. I look foward to you comments. http://colossusofevil.wordpress.com/