Miniaturizing Legends of Oz and Oz: The Great and Powerful

I can't imagine it's almost been two years since I started my research on miniatures for The Wizard of Oz.  Little has been done on the purchasing front, save the fact that I finally put my choice of figures for the Winkies on my Want List.

To help celebrate my daughter Maja's fifth birthday, we all went out to see Legends of Oz: Dorothy Returns.  The movie is stuck in the middle somewhere between a horrible direct-to-DVD one and a Disney mega-picture.  Despite a huge cast of well-known actors doing the voices, the animation varies wildly, the plot is too cheesy even for a kid's movie, and it severely deviates from the source material of Dorothy of Oz, the kids loved it.  I, however, have learned to hate any and all Martin Short performances after The Three Amigos.  You can read an Oz-o-philes review of it here.

We also got Maja a copy of Oz: The Great and Powerful.  Definitely PG-material, but the girls enjoyed a few shocks and screams, and no one woke up with nightmares.

Now that we're back on track with a property that could dim the shining status of Frozen in my household, the question then turns to, "How can we game with this in miniatures?"

Let's start with Legends of Oz, where I'll try to combine the book with the movie.  I ask you to reference the first link in the post to reference characters in the original movie and either or both of the newer movies.

Candy County -  While Marshall Mallow is a character made up for the movie, I like the concept, and it can easily be replicated using Eureka's Toy Town figures, perhaps using from green stuff to sculpt a squarer face.

Stolen from One More Gaming Project

The chocolate soldiers are perhaps the easiest to represent on mass.  The appear to be a bit smaller than Dorothy, so it's safe to buy a bag of 15mm Napoleonics, paint them up in milk chocolate brown with some highlights and shading, and BOOM instant army.

Dainty China Country - There appears to be two troop types in Dainty China Country:  Those defending the walls have a medieval feel to them, while the ones in the final battle look Napoleonic.  Due their short stature, I would go with 10mm figures for effect, although I can easily see 6mm.  Lots of pastels are in their color palette and I definitely recommend a super-shiny sealer for the porcelain effect.  If one can find 10mm civilians, you can use them for citizens/traveling companions.

Jester: Good God, with the dozens of manufacturers making thousands of medieval or fantasy figures, you would think there would be an honest to God normal jester that isn't a bloated lout or finishing his apprenticeship in necromancy.  Need some help here, people!

Mice Queen:  While there is a princess mousling coming out with the next batch of Bones, her subjects/bodyguards fit the Mice Warrior line from Eureka.

Wiser:  I'm going to slightly cheat here, like I have with previous characters.  Giant (read: FAT) owls are more common in children's toys than miniatures.  If you want an adventurous owl with some heft, I might recommended one of the more humanoid owlbear figures from Reaper:

Oz: The Great and Powerful

Oz Troops  In Great and Powerful, the Winkies are noted as being the guards to Oz AND the land-based shock troops to the wicked wicked witch. They also aren't green-skinned (yet?) and dressed like Vlad the Impalers shock troops.  For this I may need the help from the internet in love with Napoleonics.  I can't figure out what nationality to use for the troops.  Greatcoats are also usually worn, plus big feathers or furry hats. 

Here's Bruce Campbell to help you out with your thinking caps.

The Wizard: Finding a pure sideshow charlatan/barker is proving harder than I thought.  Not that the Wizard should be in combat (and his other form is a bit unwieldy for a gaming table), but with a little modeling this Deadlands Huckster might fit the bill:

Stolen from Bandit86

Quadlings/Tinkers:  Outside of trickery and collateral damage, the Quadlings couldn't call shotgun for a car seat, much less harm anyone else.  A mixture of Medieval, Renaissance, and even up through western townsfolk to randomly flee across the table should do.

Flying Monkeys:  There looks to be three different types of flying monkeys in Oz, the witch's monkeys from the Wizard of Oz, the far-more violent flying baboons of the wicked witch in this movie, plus the smaller, friendlier version like Finley.  I can't find any flying baboons or bellhop monkeys, so I recommend using either Eureka and Alien Dungeons versions. 

Evanora:  I'm going to be lazy here.  Any Reaper female wizard with an amulet will fill her role as King's Advisor, pre-Wizard.  I found a dozen different hag figures for post-hag Evanora.