Today we have yet another pair of Zombicide survivors – I figured that since I was on a roll of getting one of these characters painted each day I should most definitely ride that wave of paint enthusiasm as long as I could get it to last, especially as I was able to get models painted that I’d otherwise been avoiding.
First up, I plucked out the model based on Beyonce Knowles’ performance in Austin Powers in Goldmember, a movie I still haven’t gotten around to watching. I really should, but such a backlog, and I spend most of my free time painting or sometimes vidya-gaming. As with Belle, I emphasised Beyonce’s abs after one of the images I found from Goldmember really showed the work she put in there (much more than in the below image of the outfit).
It did take a little bit of googling, but I eventually found the exact outfit in question. And boy I was chuffed to need to paint a bright yellow!
In the end, I was pretty happy with how well I was able to replicate that bright-as-fuck yellow from her movie outfit on the model.
Lea is a model based on Emma Stone’s “Wichita” character from Zombieland – which if you haven’t seen it – is quite a fun movie about a Zombie Apocalypse and one I do recommend catching if you have a chance. The second one’s not as good, but the first one is a real fun film. Guillotine Studios took a few extra liberties with Wichita’s design when they ripped it off for Zombicide and put Emma into a sexy nightclubbing version of her movie outfit, complete with barely-there skirt and whoops! It’s been ripped right off her arse so you can see her panties! in the Zombvivor version.
I mentioned when I showed off “Maki” the other day that the whole “bra-less” and “open shirt” Pin-Up thing doesn’t work for me with these models. I’m not going to use the term “problematic” because fuck people who love to throw that word around on the internet as though using it makes them better humans. That’s also not to say that I have an overwhelming problem with models that are skimily dressed, or even bare-chested – it all just depends on the context – for example, Witch Elves, or Ancient Greeks or Romans (or even some Norse figures). Or or even some of the skimpy outfits that many of the Zombicide “tribute” figures that specifically attempt to pay “Tribute” to specific characters or performers from Pop culture in specific outfits from specific movies or scenes.
Abigail Breslin and Emma Stone star in Columbia Pictures’ comedy ZOMBIELAND.
I have to say I have a much bigger issue with “Lea” here than with “Adriana” because I don’t recall Emma Stone wearing a tiny skirt and crop top in Zombieland – that outfit involved a regular white t-shirt and jeans. I don’t even mind a bit of artistic licence taken to modify an outfit somewhat, but then when you just take an existing character and make them a sexy version of that character that’s not from the media (in your Zombie-killing game!) you’re basically headed somewhere else….
Like, I’m fine with this outfit in *some* situations, but it might not work best in a more “serious” cosplay.
I mean, I’m not going to pretend to speak for women or pretend that “women” are some sort of monolithic entity that all have the same opinion, but I am pretty comfortable speaking for myself. And in that, I’m ok with the outfit that Adriana wears (or “Cat”, who will be up shortly) since it’s taken directly from the movie, but I am annoyed with “Lea”. Not so annoyed that I wasn’t going to paint the model, or that we won’t use the model and character in our games, but annoyed enough to write this up and make unimpressed face (google it!)
Anyway, that’s all I need to say on that for now. Stay tuned for more exciting Zombicide Survivor models wearing skimpy outfits, and even a couple who aren’t (because they’re blokes!)
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Nice job again mate. You know roughly where I stand on the whole gratuitous skimpy thing I think – seems rather pointless that Wichita turned out the way she did, but not actually a bad mini & another cracking paint job. Well done on that bright foxy yeller too! 👍
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Yeah, I think we have pretty similar opinions on that – being that context should be the main thing. As you said, it’s not a bad model, otherwise. 🙂
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Another excellently painted set mate, and really shows your skills.
As for the lack of outfits or changes, some people seem to think that all model painters want their female models to be 10’s and the less clothing the better, for me personally, a bit of realism is important.
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Thanks Dave. I think just giving models context-approriate clothing is the main thing – the two things that stand out the most to me about these Zombicide models is that so many of their original characters have a but more boob and arse showing than makes sense, and then a lot of the homage characters have the amount of boob and arse cranked up just a little too much. But the guys are pretty much all dressed appropriately as survivors or combatants, regardless of whether they’re originals or homage characters…
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I remember from personal experience with CMON and their affiliates years ago that there was an attitude that if a female miniature didn’t look like a stripper then people wouldn’t buy it. Of course I think that said a lot more about them than it did about their customers. Like you say it’s all about context, it makes no more sense than the people who wanted to see the new Escher gangers dressed like nuns. Not everything needs to be a political statement, but aesthetics are important in creating an immersive visual experience – which at the end of the day is what this hobby is all about.
As for the word “problematic” I have a simple rule now; if I see written somewhere it I close the website immediately and never return. To misquote Theoden for the modern age “So much woke! What can men do against such reckless hate?” Well Theoden we can start by denying them the attention they crave! 😀
Ahem, I’ll get down off my high horse before it kicks me. Great work on both of these, that yellow is particularly nice!
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That seems to make sense about CMoN. Their newer models aren’t as bad, it seems – or perhaps a better way to put it is that there’s more variety beyond “sexy and barely dressed” with them more recently. My next post (just written) has a mild political rant inside it based on my recent experience looking up a model’s name, so I hope you enjoy that! 😉 And then the follow-up post involves another Paolo Parente design…
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Nicely done on the minis! 🙂 Good to see that zombies can still look after their hair! 😉
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Thanks John – priorities, right? 😀
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These came out well and it is funny how the Zombicide minis kind of become a snapshot in time. I had totally forgotten about Beyoncé being in Austin Powers, though I was never into Austin Powers to begin with so there’s that. Regardless, I think these minis look great and will be fun to use in-game.
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Haha thanks Kuribo! Their “homage” models over so many Kickstarter campaigns do cover quite a few decades worth of pop culture, so you can have Magnum PI fighting alongside Basil Fawlty, Austin Powers and John Cena…
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Very nice painting- great job to get the yellow so bright.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Thanks Pete! 🙂
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Great job Az. Agree with the comments as well and absolutely not needed to sell the damn things so cannot understand the rationale!
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Yeah, it’s a bit odd to feel that you need to sexy-up everything in sight. They have at least changed a bit with the times over the years, so we now have more variety in outfits.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cmon/zombicide-2nd-edition/description
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Damn that yellow did turn out quite nice. I only hope one of these days I can paint some nice yellow. Someday!
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Thanks Faust! Vallejo Model Colour to the rescue there! 😀
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Really? Wow! Did you put a base color underneath the yellow?
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Starting with a light grey undercoat, I painted the “yellow” areas with (a couple of thin coats of) VMC Ivory before moving to the Yellows.
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Good work, especially on the yellow costume.
Thanks for writing out so eloquently about the use of the incongruously skimpy costumes too. It’s not easy to present a balanced view on this, especially on the internet where most discussions are immediately centrifuged into the most extreme version possible.
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Thanks AB! I guess it’ll stand me in good stead for when I have to paint Wasp or Wolverine down the line (if I can ever get the three on my desk painted!)
Not a problem on the write-up either. The concepts of nuance and context have been lost on too many people with the advent of groupthink social media politics…
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