In a development that keeps the News Stand full, Spectre has shown off some new figures coming later this month as a metal release via the preview channel on their Discord.
As previously mentioned, this release is going to be a SWAT team, based on a discussion between Spectre and a Swat Officer in central Texas. The seven-man pack has two specialists in addition to the four assaulters – a shield operator to take point and a marksman with a HK 417 and all the fun attachments. There is an excellent level of detail to the figures, with the usual level of detail on the weapons we’ve learned to expect from Spectre. As for the officers themselves, they are laden down with all kinds of gear. It’s also cool to see two female officers among the ranks – figures 4 and 6 in the picture have different head sculpts and seemingly a slightly thinner build.
However, it was not only the SWAT team being shown off. There was also a preview of their opponents, the Criminal Element.
First up we have a large group of irregular criminals ready to cause havoc. There is a mix of gear among them, ranging from double barrel shotguns and Tec-9s up to an AR15 and some Galils. There is even a Sten gun, which is actually a pretty fun addition and a bit of a throwback. All of them are dressed in jeans and jackets, ideal for a wide variety of locations throughout Europe and the US.
Of course, not all the SWAT calls will be against gang activity – also it’s just not right to release some bank robbers too. These guys are pretty well equipped, with Desert Tech MDRs and SIG MPXs, combined with sharp suits and balaclavas.
It’s interesting to see in both previews, that Spectre is moving from a single puddle base into one for each foot. This should make it a bit easier for people who like to use them on clear bases.
Now, the important question for me.
Do I like them?
Okay, so first of all there is nothing wrong with them. If you buy them, you’ll get a good set of figures for SWAT vs Criminal games that are different enough from previous figures released elsewhere such as the SWAT from the Spectre Patreon or the original metal releases.
Me personally? I’m really not that impressed with them. And it is mostly down to the Recycling of Parts and the Poses.
Now listen, I firmly believe in working smart, not hard. 3D sculpting is fantastic because it means you can very easily build up the base mesh of the model and repose it (and then proceed to sculpt all the lovely, lovely clothing folds), or pull in from a library of reusable parts without needing to go through the process of printing and casting them separately before sculpting around them (as Spectre used to do). But I do feel that we have definitely seen across the more recent Spectre releases maybe more corners cut than they should have been, a pattern that’s only really been visible now we’ve had a few releases stacked up.
The largest culprits are heads. It’s a comment I’ve made over the last few times that all the Spectre figures in a set have the same heads. It happened with the Delta, it happened with Insurgent PMC, and all the Insurgents I have on my desk waiting to be painted have the same balaclava. To take it a step further, the core face sculpt we’ve seen on the SWAT guys looks incredibly similar to the same face used by Delta release. This just makes each of the sets feel a little rushed – in the original metal sculpts, every model felt like they had a unique face, even if they shared the same hard objects such as the helmet. Even if you didn’t change the actual face sculpt, even swapping out the glasses, adding a balaclava to the face or even building some varieties of the helmet with different positioning of the accessories (such as patches or wiring runs) would still add some visual variety and make them look less like clones, something which never felt like an issue previously.
Now, the poses. I commented in the Aftermath releases about how the Squad Leader had a very “I am Squad Leader” pose compared to his troops. I think the same thing is happening here with the SWAT Squad leader. Rifle held vertically, hand at his waist doing…. something? It’s very distinctive compared to the rest of the squad (good for being able to spot the figure in your group) but I don’t think it quite matches the visuals of a team of SWAT troopers going to work (it’s also a pose that is just asking for the suppressor on the rifle to get snapped off by a careless arm or shipping shenanigans). This is one case where a minor tweak (shifting the hand from the waist to the radio key on his shoulder) would improve the look of the figure and make them seem more like a freeze frame of professionals in the middle of an operation, rather than (as a friend of mine commented) a group of milsimmers at a photoshoot.
On a wider scale, the squad’s poses feel very disconnected. Weird thing to say but let me explain – when you buy a pack of figures the expectation is you’ll be using them together, right? This means that they should probably share a similar style of posing and that they are all involved in the same action. Together, they should be telling a story, especially in the case of a well-trained unit like a SWAT team, where you have the shield man just begging for the rest of the squad to either be stacked behind him or providing cover for part of the team. Instead, it looks like a more generic set, a gathering of cool poses – ideal for insurgents or a group spread out across the board but less good for a specific stack.
Now, of course, this is my personal opinion (hence why it’s at the bottom of the page). But it is a little disappointing to see these issues coming out of a sculptor that we know can do some excellent work, both from previous Spectre releases (the Local Forces release and Chinese Infiltrators from the Patreon are sets that think for the most part avoid many of the issues I’ve mentioned) and from taking a look at the previews of the figures from Dead Earth Miniatures that he is also working on, they are some fantastic sculpts. It would be nice to see that quality bar return for the wider range.
The target release date for these figures is by the end of the month, so stand by for more details!
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