Kryomek/Colonial Marine Figs ? (long-ish reply)

>Hello:
>	Last night I was at the game store looking for some Colonial
>Marine-type figs to go with my new Aliens figs.  At this game store,
>they have a rotating case filled with single minis from various mini
>lines.  They had several Kryomek Nexus figs that look JUST like
Colonial
>Marines right down to a weapon that looks a lot like a pluse rifle. 
Can
>anyone indentify these minis?	I want to try to find some more!

They are Nexus marines from the Kryomek line.  Over here Simtac makes
them.
The weapon VERY much like a pulse rifle is a Gauss rifle.  Simtac have
several variants on the Nexus marine line: the old figs were not very
colonial marine, they had (generaly) fatigues and a mix of advanced
M16-like combat rifles and Gauss rifles.  The second major variant of
marines had a full torso covering armour, but bare arms !.  They were
almost exclusively equiped with gauss rifles.

Teh firat release of Nexus marines were generally poorly sculpted, i
bought
a load but only to inmmediately cut off thier small arms (those nice
Gauss
rifles and hand flamers), i think i only have one figure which has not
been
chopped up by now (advancing with a combat rifle across his body).  I
bought some of the second release sight unseen, and to be honest I wish
I
hadn't.  The first thing I don't like is that all the figures are
approaching GW-esque proportions so they no longer fit with the older
figs
(and frankly, look ridiculous along side the already small vehicle
range),
the second thing I really dislike is the appauling range of poses that
these figures are cast in.  Rarely, outside of GW, have I seen so many
2D
poses and obvious concessions to the casters, out of about 18 figs I got
only ONE was actually firing a rifle, plus an additional fig who was
firing
a handgun, the rest were in a motely assortment of standing looking dumb
with gun in the air, or plainly silly poses.  I think Kryomek aimed
these
at the GW/Heartbreaker market, unfortunately fro tehm both of these
comapnies make much nicer figs than these marines.

Personally, I feel the best figs to represent colonial marines are
either
the Denizen (Stone Mountain) marines or the old Grenadier Future Warrior
troopers (now re-released by Nemo Miniatures of Italy).  The Denizen
figs
may be the best bet for use with the Leading Edge aliens as they are
true
25mm, thier armour and equipment is dead on for colonial marines,
however,
thier small arms and SAWs are not, they are close but not quite on. 
Look
for thier female SAW trooper and see if you can match her to a character
in
the movie !

The other alternative is the Greandier figs.  they are slightly bigger
than
true 25mm but nowhere near GW/heartbreaker 28mm size, I think they are
near
to the old Citadel size large 25mm.  My subjective opinion is that the
Grenadier figs are superior to the Denizen ones.  The Grandier figs are
very well cast and come in a good variety of 'action' and 'standing'
poses,
however, they manage not to fall into the trap of becomming 2D like so
many
other companies figs.  The armour and equipment of the FWs, while not
exactly lie the film is close enough.  One of my biggest gripes about
little soldiers is the lack of belt order kit, do troops in the future
not
need water and ammunition ?, in this respect the FWs again come up
trumps,
while not laden down with belt order they have a realistic and sensible
amount of kit.	The small srms of the FWs, liek the Denizen figs is not
exactly like the movie weapons, however, the FW SAW is the best smart
gun I
have ever seen on a fig (ask Tom Barclay or Jon Davies who used my figs
at
the ECGZG con, see what they think).  The other advantage of the FWs is
the
range of support weapons.  The 'Colonial Marine Technical Manual' list
RPGs
and PIGs among the support weapons of the CMC, the FW range has a
RPG/GMS
fig and a laser armed fig which is readily converted to a PIG gunner.  I
could go on more about these figs but its probably best not to, can you
tell thet they are my favourite line of figures ?  As an aside, if these
things matter, the whoile line was sculpted my Mark Copplestone, who IMO
makes beatiful figs whoever he works for (he is currently making the
Foundry's range of 'Wild West' figs I think).

If you would like more info on either the Kryomek, Denizen or Grenadier
figs then drop me a line.

Stuart.

P.S. A quick plug, I have a few pics (mostly b+w) of the Grenadier figs
up
on a web page if anyone is interested in seeing them:
http://steelhead.aecom.yu.edu/stuart/USCMC/USCMC-Pix/MarinePics.html
Unfortunately, my server is slow as f*** so it may take a while to load.

Stuart Murray

Department Of Molecular Genetics
Albert Einstein College Of Medicine
1300 Morris Park Avenue
Bronx
New York 10461

Tel: (718) 430 4289
smurray@aecom.yu.edu