Just a quick note since the images will be lost on Facebook after a few days, Mantic hosted their Spring Open Day and had a few preview images to show off. All images were from Mantic’s Facebook page.
I previewed the Governor’s gruesome “TV” display earlier when it was leaked on Facebook before but now we have this image to show more of what this set might include.
This looks to be a resin kit much like the “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe” diorama with Negan. Looks like it won’t contain a base (at least not shown so far) but will have a new Governor and Michonne sculpt along with some new furniture terrain, including the infamous walker head shelf display. It will be interesting to see if Mantic also releases new cards with the set like they did with the Negan diorama. Those cards will eventually make it into circulation in later sets but that seemed mostly because the events in that diorama hadn’t taken place yet in the game’s timeline.
Up next, we have a new Abraham figure and one of the no-name Marauders that attack Rick, Carl, and Abraham in the “What We Become” arc. I really like this Abraham sculpt. Loads of detail and character. The exclusive Abraham offered in the Kickstarter is okay but was a little too actionhero-y for me.
To round out Abraham’s crew, we have Rosita and Eugene. It might be the paintjob but they did a great job capturing Rosita and I like the relaxed AK-47 grip to show she’s a badass and doesn’t even need to threaten you with it. Eugene is, well, Eugene and at a point in the comics where he doesn’t do much except manipulate and get in the way.
With the final released image (that I found), we have badass Carl when he goes rogue to hunt Negan on his own. Pretty great sculpt and looks a lot like what players have tried to kitbash already. I’m glad he’s coming out in this pose as it saves me the trouble trying to kitbash it myself. Along with Carl is Father Gabriel, the disgraced church survivor the group comes across. Like Eugene, Gabriel is likely going to be another figure that doesn’t have a great role in the game yet but may have some fun campaign use.
All-in-all, it’s nice to see new figures coming. Hopefully more information can surface as more Wave 5 info is released. The normal pattern for the waves have been- large expansion set centering on a story arc, this one said to be “Fear The Hunters,” followed by 6 small expansions. From the way they’ve set the display up, it looks like these three sets (not including the diorama) make up half the small expansion packs. Notably missing are the walkers that will accompany each small pack. One of the greatest things about Mantic’s approach to this series is the sculpting of so many unique walkers. They could have easily skimped out of the development and made a single generic sculpt to represent all the walkers but creating a ton of individual sculpts really enhances the immersive experience the game offers. I hope they continue the trend.