Goldilocks

It's no secret that I have developed a certain degree of affection for the Owlbear. However, I think that maybe I need to try to rein it in a little. The enthusiasm part that is. You can't put reins on an Owlbear, they just bite through them.

Anyway, the point is I went shopping.

First up we have a Citadel Owlbear. Did you know that Citadel actually made D&D minis for a brief period? I didn't. What's more they did it far enough back in the day that they were actually pretty damn cool looking. Or at least as cool as you can get being an Owlbear. I think I lucked out on ebay, as of the variant heads this one is I think the better one. Whilst I went for a more naturalistic brown for the fur I decided to retain the crimson plumage from my previous effort for a little continuity. Actually, this was rather serendipitous. One of the defining traits of an Owlbear is, according to the Monster Manual, they're crazed red-rimmed eyes. So for my Owlbears I can give that feature a nod in the facial plumage. The eyes, I think, should always be the black soulless orbs of an owl rather than going for something bright with pupils. It's the big eyes I think that render a lot of the Owlbear models I've seen so utterly ridiculous looking.

An Asgard Owlbear. Long since extinct and out of print, referenced only on some obscure wiki. The only other thing I know about it's origin is how much I paid for it on ebay. But I don't wanna talk about that. I like this guy as he has a certain primitive charm. However I can't deny that the lack of detail on the head combined with my choice of colours does rather conjure the spectre of the Turkeybear. I suppose I could have gotten around this by not using red on him, but that's just not how I roll.

Grenadier Owlbear. Or possibly Owl Beast depending on where you look. Actually this is a pretty good Owlbear. Although I confess that something in the shape of the beak makes me think of doing him up more as a Parrotbear. Maybe if I find another one cheap enough. The funny thing with Owlbears is that really only some of them are actually owl like at all. Really it's more or a generic term for any homicidal fusion of ursine and avian forms. This is a path of thinking that I fell bares further investigation.

Finally we have the runt of the litter. A 15mm scale Owlbear which I obtained from Lone Gunman Games. I wanted something a little smaller that I could use for Owlbear cubs, and a 6 pack of 15mm Owlbears seemed just the ticket. I've only painted up 1 so far. Mainly because I'm grappling with the urge to do the others in adorable little hats. Anyway, again we have some morphological differences on display. Really these ones are more akin to Eaglebears or something. Having more of a wing/arm thing going on that the other Owlbears I've done so far they don't quite fit in as closely as one might like. But then I'm hardly out of Owlbears to paint yet am I?

Seriously, no matter what I've said previously about D&D, if you put in Owlbearmancer as a character class I will play the ever loving shit out of it.