Miniatures Monday - The Mind Flayer

I'm sure that everyone enjoys reading Dungeonmum's Portworld stories and of course, they feature the struggle against the tentacle-faced ones. I knew that I had a Mind Flayer figure somewhere in the box and here it is.

For sheer malevolence, this figure is hard to beat. The imperious stance says that this is a guy who is used to giving orders and expects them to be carried out. The yellow eyes, although featureless, send the message that he wants your brain and he's going to get it. The head and hands have a look of burnt skin about them, blotchy and entirely unearthly. I like the finish that Andy has given the skirts of his robe - the blue really does have the look of a satin material. I really get the feeling of alien decadence about this figure. The choice of a cream for the top half of his robes really sets off the skin colour and the Ming the Merciless collar adds to the image of Uber-villain that these guys play so well.

Not many people use psionics nowadays for obvious reasons but the concept of the Mind Flayer is still a chilling one. Recent Portworld posts have shown in gruesome detail just how they go about getting to their favourite meal. In my garden, we have thrushes who crack open snail shells to get to the meat inside. I've seen it happen a couple of times, and have found the empty shells more often. There is a great degree of foreshadowing in having a party find corpses with their skulls cracked open and empty. Lets them know who's waiting for them in the depths.

And there's worse to come - just Google Ceremorphosis for the grisly details. For sheer horror value, I reckon it gives Cyberconversion and assimilation by the Borg a run for their money.