The Ice Lion is a three-piece figure representing a lion made of ice. This is another figure in the Penumbra Line, and is based on the Ice Lion from the Fantasy Bestiary. The figure’s three pieces include the main body, a tabbed metal base, and it’s tail. The tail has a rounded peg, which easily slots into the body of the lion with minimum wiggle room. A slight gap is left that can be filled with putty or even gap filling glue.
The lion is in rising position with his two back legs firmly on the ground and his torso raising in the air. His mouth is slightly open with his right paw as if it’s in the raking position and his left claw coming up.
The detail on the figure is hard to judge due to the way the figure is designed. Now on the face, the creature’s teeth, nose, and eyes all are done in a fashion that suggests a dangerous hunter. Since it’s an ice lion, it’s blocky. It would make a good representation of something from a plane of law where everything was angles and boxes as opposed to smooth flowing muscles. The furry parts, like the end of the tail of it’s main, are not designed as blocky, but rather, like hair and could be painted as snow as opposed to ice.
In terms of flash and flack, there was a bit that I was able to snap off with my fingers and didn’t have to break out a cutting knife. For mold lines, perhaps because of the way the creature is designed, all sharp edges, I don’t see any obvious ones. On the tail, in good light, I can make out parts of a mold line that’ll be more noticeable when primed, but for the most part, the figure is almost good to go from the opening of the box.
The price is also good on a larger figure like this. In an era where some companies are charging for the utility of the figure in some war game I’ll never play, I’m glad to see other companies step up to fill the gap.
The only problem with the creature, is that since it doesn’t come with any d20 stats, it’s an odd one to place in a game. If you don’t have anything like an ice lion or don’t want to make game stats up for a creature from another plane, about the only other use I could see for this monster is as an actual ice statue that becomes animated.
