Updated - Unboxing Hannah, Friekorps Archivist (Through the Breach version)

[GMort]

I've added comparison pictures of this version and the 'standard' version (courtesy of Sean from the Wyrd Place Facebook group) to the unboxing article for those who were asking about such things...

http://gmortschaotica.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/unboxing-malifaux-hannah-friekorps.html

[Loveless]

Maybe it's just the photos, but retail Hannah (actual Hannah, not the exo suit) seems to have a lot less (or a lot softer) detail.  That's really disappointing.

TtB Hannah just looks so much cleaner. 

I also realized what I really don't like about retail Hannah - the legs.  The suit and Hannah legs in the TtB version are joined in a suit look while the retail version just has Hannah's legs...hanging out.  Still obviously controlling the suit's movements, but awkward.

TtB Hannah: Integrated Oxfordian Librarian being an archivist

Retail Hannah: Giant Killer Robot with a woman tacked onto the front as an afterthought.

 

Ho hum.  Thanks for the pics!

[LunarSol]

 

Maybe it's just the photos, but retail Hannah (actual Hannah, not the exo suit) seems to have a lot less (or a lot softer) detail.  That's really disappointing.

 

 

The biggest problem from what I can see is that she's looking at her foot.

[Norken]

It looks like a bunch of simple geometric shapes slapped together very quickly.  Especially the back shot of the retail version.  It looks like the Michelin Man twerking.

 

Also, where is the ghost censer?  Was it too much :effort: to add the weapon the model is supposed to have?

 

I'm worried that the Tara crew may end up being phoned in at this point.

[EnternalVoid]

The biggest problem from what I can see is that she's looking at her foot.

 

She clearly just stepped on a small child and is hopping it was a crooligan or a woe *you get paid for killing those kids*

[rb_man]

The retail one just looks like a bigger strongarm suit and not and archivist.

[zFiend]

Maybe it's just the photos, but retail Hannah (actual Hannah, not the exo suit) seems to have a lot less (or a lot softer) detail. That's really disappointing.

TtB Hannah just looks so much cleaner.

I also realized what I really don't like about retail Hannah - the legs. The suit and Hannah legs in the TtB version are joined in a suit look while the retail version just has Hannah's legs...hanging out. Still obviously controlling the suit's movements, but awkward.

TtB Hannah: Integrated Oxfordian Librarian being an archivist

Retail Hannah: Giant Killer Robot with a woman tacked onto the front as an afterthought.

Ho hum. Thanks for the pics!

Really well put.

[solkan]

When I saw the regular sculpt Hannah at GenCon I was surprised because I thought there'd be more of a delay, then I saw the render on the box and I was like "Huh, I really like the TTB version and that doesn't compare at all."  And I felt kinda bad for the model.

 

Seeing pictures of it assembled, my big problem is that it doesn't look like there's anything keeping her in the chair.  She needs some straps, a harness, and maybe some locking clamps for the feet.  Otherwise, she's going to go flying as soon as a rail golem or something big comes up and wacks the suit around. 

 

 

That's a workplace safety incident waiting to happen. 

[Loveless]

That's not a spell book - that's a record of every time Hannah's fallen off of her poorly-envisioned mecha.

[Patzer]

Why should it be anything that keeps her in the chair?! I really do not get the thematic problem. She got the telekinetic or whatever power to swing the mechs arms and legs around, why shouldn't she have any spare energy left to keep herself attached to it?

 

I love the retail model. It is in my opinion, together with the plastic Taelor model, the best M2E models yet!

[Loveless]

Why should it be anything that keeps her in the chair?! I really do not get the thematic problem. She got the telekinetic or whatever power to swing the mechs arms and legs around, why shouldn't she have any spare energy left to keep herself attached to it?

 

Because that way if you get a sneak attack in on Hannah, catch her off-guard, or if she stumbles (ah, that's why she's looking at her foot!), then her concentration breaks and she goes flying out of the mecha anyway.  If she even had proper leg straps/locks on the supports, this wouldn't be an issue, but she's effectively just tacked on by...her waist, maybe?  Honestly, it looks like her physical legs were given some strappy-looking bits, but then they failed to actually integrate them with the suit, making her look tacked on.

 

Honestly it doesn't matter in the long run - this is what Wyrd released for the retail version.  It's a cool robot with a woman tacked to the front of it for some reason.  It's "close enough" to Hannah, though it has the wrong weapon loadout and looks like it should be doing as much damage in melee as Lady J and the only "magic" feel from it is the afterthought of the book in her left arm.

 

This will be the primary model we see on the table, the main one we face off against, and at first glance it makes for an impressive piece. Then you notice the soft detail, awkward design, and disconnect from the rules (her primary tricks involve her book for "Make a New Entry" and a 3  "Ghost Censer" which can  and is for some bizarre reason missing entirely from the retail model.  Then someone will notice the special edition model and go "Ohhh, so that's what the rules were made for..."

 

Best way to remedy the retail model is to strap her damn legs in with some epoxy, twist her head around, and take a Blazing Star from a Protectorate of Menoth Vanquisher and put it in the suit's fist.

 

Let's just say that I don't think it's the rarity of the TtB Hannah alone that's jacking her price up on eBay...

 

...but, if you like the retail model, good! More power to you! More money to Wyrd! XD

[SpiralngCadavr]

Yeah, retail Hannah looks okay except for the lack of straps, but the suit size, pose, and weird gear makes it not seem like it represents Hannah.

Also, it seems like Wyrd's plastics are starting to show a pretty consistent scale problem when not mostly vertical: action poses that involve leaning seem to often get too large (death marshal, samurai, hannah, the lacroix totems, etc.)

[Simbrian]

No competition. TtB Hannah looks much better in my opinion.

[Kogan Style]

Did the retail version of Hannah build her robot out of a Cross-Trainer?      

[zFiend]

Also, it seems like Wyrd's plastics are starting to show a pretty consistent scale problem when not mostly vertical: action poses that involve leaning seem to often get too large (death marshal, samurai, hannah, the lacroix totems, etc.)

Nah mate, it's just a coincidence. They were always supposed to be that big.

[Loveless]

Nah mate, it's just a coincidence. They were always supposed to be that big.

 

Wyrd's higher ups need to sit down with their best sculptor on staff and say "Okay, we need 4 generic dollies - male and female average human, male and female average gremlin" then reference those whenever they make a new model.

 

Initially the scale issues were quirky.  Now it just turns people off from the plastic kits (that and the weird choices of sprue layout).  Had a conversation this week (not the first time it's come up) where the person really wanted to get into Malifaux but has heard a lot of bad stories about the difficulties of the plastics and the lack of scale consistency.  I couldn't tell him otherwise in good conscience (though I believe I said the plastics were more "awkward" than "difficult" - then horrified him into a different subject by showing him the sprue of the Zombie Chihuahua).

[xGIxJOKERx]

It's really too bad that the the normal Hannah is so aggressively bad. It looks like an action figure from the mid- 90's. I'm also not sure what that big empty space behind her head is supposed to be. I want to add Hannah to my crew but the model is so bad I don't want to use it. I'm hoping that the limited edition one shows up somewhere down the line as a special for a black Friday sale or something like they did with Nightmare LCB and Tara.

[SpectreEliteGaming]

I think a lot of you are losing sight of the potential of the retail model due to consideration of immediate face value alone.

Consider:

1) "Looking at her foot": Base Hannah perched on some rocks/tall ruins and now she's looking pretty intimidating to the lowly models below her.

2) "Too plain/soft detail": Various paint effects (blood/battle dmg) tend to look better on simpler models - too much detail it just looks excessively busy. Not to mention those large pauldrons and bracer plating are both prime for some custom merc symbolism to tie her in as the centerpiece of a custom merc band.

3) "Retail model doesn't 'feel' like Hannah": Possibly, but the retail model looks like it is less super hi-tech and I kinda think she fits in better with the "battle ready and worn" look of most other Freikorps. Kind of like it was put together with some haste by a band of mercs, which it probably was

SE Hannah is pound for pound the superior sculpt but it is also very static looking - not much you can do with it (mostly because of the very specific action pose) - Retail Hannah has 3x the potential and looks more "beaty."

Got both? Run retail Hannah alongside a Strongarm/Lazarus as a melee beatstick and paint some battle dmg on her. Run TtB Hannah if she's going to be hanging back with the other Librarians the whole game.

Final consideration - look at the sculpts as a sort of progression - when Hannah first joined the mercs she might have just had a basic suit thrown together in a hurry to meet her immediate needs. As she grew more experienced and matured she became "specialized" and focused in her role.

Hopefully this broadened the views on this subject a little. Its all in the details.

[MasterDisaster]

TtB Hannah looks amazing, It's a crying shame the normal version is hideous in comparison. 

[Loveless]

1) "Looking at her foot": Base Hannah perched on some rocks/tall ruins and now she's looking pretty intimidating to the lowly models below her.

 

Luckily, that one's really just a minor complaint and easily remedied, as you mention

 

2) "Too plain/soft detail": Various paint effects (blood/battle dmg) tend to look better on simpler models - too much detail it just looks excessively busy. Not to mention those large pauldrons and bracer plating are both prime for some custom merc symbolism to tie her in as the centerpiece of a custom merc band.

 

Oh good, so now she can be NASCAR Hannah, Freikorps Marketing Vehicle

 

3) "Retail model doesn't 'feel' like Hannah": Possibly, but the retail model looks like it is less super hi-tech and I kinda think she fits in better with the "battle ready and worn" look of most other Freikorps. Kind of like it was put together with some haste by a band of mercs, which it probably was

 

I'd actually argue the other way - TtB Hannah is reminiscent of a less-sophisticated (i.e. bigger and maybe clunkier) version of Hoffman's gear fused with relatively bog-standard Malifaux-style construct bits.  It's further outfitted to accomodate a Caster, holding a massive book and wielding her weapon of choice, in this case some crazy censer of doom.

 

Retail Hannah actually has to require some increased sophistication as the legs are separate components - while TtB appears to perhaps simply enhance Hannah's natural movement capabilities (or enable leg function), Retail appears to, once again, be a giant robot with a woman glued on front.  Obviously there's something going on under the hood to make forward motion possible without hurling the poor girl unarmed into combat.

 

SE Hannah is pound for pound the superior sculpt but it is also very static looking - not much you can do with it (mostly because of the very specific action pose) - Retail Hannah has 3x the potential and looks more "beaty."

 

Hannah's Beatstickery (what there is of it) comes from an arcane instrument as opposed to a giant mechanical fist.  TtB has the former, Retail has the latter.  Obviously I agree TtB Hannah is superior in sculpt (and I just tracked one down for a reasonable price and she now adorns my desk).  It's a good thing there's heavy "potential" from the retail version, as it needs a lot of work to look like Hannah instead of a female proto-Iron Monger.

 

Final consideration - look at the sculpts as a sort of progression - when Hannah first joined the mercs she might have just had a basic suit thrown together in a hurry to meet her immediate needs. As she grew more experienced and matured she became "specialized" and focused in her role.

 

I'm assuming you mean that you start at Retail and work towards TtB?  That would explain the lack of sense in the construction (assuming it's not highly sophisticated, as I mumbled on earlier ) and the lack of any use of her actual tools.  However, that'd make more sense if Hannah had started as a knife-and-blade merc who slowly grew in arcane power - which she really isn't.  She came in as someone who'd stop in battle to make notes and bash things with a smoking metallic orb - she'll appear on most battlefields as an ill-advised modification from the movie Real Steel.

 

Retail's one of the newer instances of a model that barely matches the stats and abilities.  People still searching the card for Dashel's Breaching Axe will probably know what I mean.  It's a bit like giving Ramos a sniper rifle, Seamus an actual cannon to wheel around, or Zoraida a pair of punch daggers.  Yes, ultimately the effect would be the same (Ramos could fire into engagements with a fair bit of accuracy, Seamus would have an obsence 1/turn damage shot, and Zoraida could do a melee puncture), but that's not how those characters are presented in rules or description.  Just as Ramos isn't firing a highly accurate rifle into combat, Hannah isn't smashing things with mechanized fists.

 

It just bothers me, as I'm sure everyone's noticed People wait and wait for Malifaux releases and it always stings a little when they pull a "Okay! New artwork!" model - I'd also extend that to the Whiskey Golem, where the version everyone went on and on about also ended up being a limited edition.  Who knows what the retail Whiskey Golem is going to look like, though that should be easier to get right...it's just a robot made of barrels...though Hannah is just "female in exo suit wielding book and chain weapon, primary Caster, secondary Melee".

 

Alternate armament and impractical design should really be used for limited release items - by all means, make Limited Edition Electric Rifle Ramos or Special Edition Gucci Bag Pandora, just don't make that the "standard" form of them.  Honestly, had they swapped TtB Hannah and Retail Hannah, I'd have no issue at all.

[SpectreEliteGaming]

I see where a lot of your points come from but NASCAR, really? Lots of comadarie in showing colors and what else you gonna do with that wide open space?

I was simply offering helpful suggestions or ideas to a sculpt that made me go - "wait a sec... I can do something with this" whereas the TtB one just makes me say "yup, cool." Base it, done.

TtB, as you've said actually looks like what you'd think she'd look like - first time I saw the retail version I thought it kinda looked like it was fabricated in a pinch - like from a robot carcass after an ambush in Ampersand or something - just so that she has something to make due with until a proper replacement can be obtained and she should be painted as such Little Hannah pushing buttons might look funny running into battle alongside a Strongarm.

... then again my existing Freikorps are painted to look like Helghast and I really dig Death Korps of Krieg so I have a pretty strong bias here... complete with an "evil von Schill" haha

Could always use more giant robots - and nudey sculpts! Whatever happened to those nudey sculpts? >8)

[Loveless]

I see where a lot of your points come from but NASCAR, really? Lots of comadarie in showing colors and what else you gonna do with that wide open space?

 

The first thought I had at the mention of throwing a personal "brand" on the open space was race cars I just got an image of Hannah with the Freikorps logo in one spot and ads for Dr. McMourning's Miracle Elixir and Hamelin Pest Control on the other

 

Could always use more giant robots - and nudey sculpts! Whatever happened to those nudey sculpts? >8)

 

Have you considered looking into Kingdom Death? XD

[SpectreEliteGaming]

Well now I have - those look great. I was thinking more like Mierce Miniatures...

I have metal age justice, plastic justice, AND nightmare justice...

... and still use my Esyld mini from their range as a proxy 8D (otherwise she always comes sans head!)

http://www.mierce-miniatures.com/index.php?act=pro&pre=mrm_dkl_ysn_kys_inf_503_000