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On a recent article of Bell of lost Souls, Mkerr posted a "test" Battle Report of the new Tyranids and indicated that his perfect stand in for the Spore Pod was the Mega Bloks - Plasma Hatcher series of Toys.



I was fortunate enough to have placed my order on Sunday, and I finally got the first one in!

First off let's talk about size:



As you can see, the egg is a perfect fit for a Carnifex, and is big enough to provide cover, but not so big as to dwarf other things on the table.

The plastic is a clearish blue (though others come in different colors), and like most clear plastics, doesn't take to super glue well. I had to let it dry a good half hour before it "set" enough to where I was comfortable with it.

It also comes with some glaring gaps:





There are two holes at the top and bottom (for the wire that keeps it secure in the package), and both halves do not fit exactly snug (which is understandable considering it's a toy meant to open continually).

I was able to correct it "easily" enough with small amounts of Greenstuff to fill in the gaps.

Another issue is the horrendous mold lines you will get on the things. Again, you have to remind yourself this is a cheaply produced toy, but it gets a little frustrating as the type of plastic doesn't lend itself to the traditional ways of clearing mold lines, and the darkness of the plastic makes it difficult to spot.

After some fighting and about a half hour worth of work I was able to prime it:



It's ready for the table and willing to go.

I have to say, of all the options available for this unit, this still seems to be the best option.

At least until 2020 when they release the actual model.

Happy Gaming!

I'm debating on getting some of these or not. I'm just not sure I want to use the Pods in my army is all. I think if I were to get these I'd model them open. Make a center column inside the thing that lifts the top half straight up from the bottom. Probably cut away some of the bottom half to represent it half burying itself in the ground on impact.

Wow original idea

Cool

I've seen a couple of threads on these things and overall I'm pretty impressed at how "right" they look.

I just can't help but wonder about the Megablocks sales folks sitting around scratching their heads at why all their plastic eggs are blowing out of stock.

Ta for the review.

Yes, as a non-embarrassing proxy/temporary model, these are the best I've seen. I keep thinking it should be possible to make a good spore pod out of a big polystyrene foam egg, but of course that only gives the basic shape, a whole lot of detailing would then be needed to make it look non-crap.

1-UP wrote:I've seen a couple of threads on these things and overall I'm pretty impressed at how "right" they look.

I just can't help but wonder about the Megablocks sales folks sitting around scratching their heads at why all their plastic eggs are blowing out of stock.

Nah, the real question is how long until GW sends a C&D letter to Mega Bloks for IM infringement.

I don't know, Aduro. If Megablox has managed to tiptoe around Lego (tm) for so many years, I doubt that it'll worry too much about GW legal.

Though, admittedly, when it comes to legal departments, GW is to lego as a Terrier is to a German Shepard.

(not just a size comparison. Terriers are insane!)

I think it was more of a joke... I dont think there is any possible way GW could get away with one of their C&D letters on this case... however lets NOT make this a IP infringement discussion and keep on topic

Those hatchers look to be a perfect fit for the job! I dont play tyranids but they definitely look tyranidy to meh!

That one looks like a good size and the appearance isn't to shabby...I kinda like it


//Edge

I know that I've heard some derisive comments about folks using the Plasma Hatchers, along the lines of "you can paint it, but it still looks like a painted toy." Which to a certain extent is true. But still, that looks a helluva lot better than the PVC and Coke can drop pods we saw for the SM armies early on.

Of all the news and rumors for upcoming figs for the various armies, there's been zero talk about any kind of potential `Nid second wave, so I rather doubt we'll see an official spore pod anytime soon. Wonder how wide spread and common these will get, and how cool the GW one would have to be to get people to replace them.

http://armorcast.com/store/popup_image.php?pID=146

Armorcast has this for $13 just pennies in comparison to a reg drop pod.

thehod wrote:http://armorcast.com/store/popup_image.php?pID=146

Armorcast has this for $13 just pennies in comparison to a reg drop pod.

That's legit, but it definitely says "plant" more than "space alien bug/dinosaur"

Any photos/thoughts on the creature itself?

Well nothing is perfect but its a good cheap alternative and with a bit of greenstuff work you can make something pretty good looking.

Awesome shot of it primed. I will be passing this on to the folks at my local shop, because as was said prior, they just look right!

As for the toy inside. No, just no. Think McDonald's Happy Meal on that one.

Hod puts up a great alternative, but I still believe that this is the best stand in until we have a real model from Games Worksop.

Like I said, it's a pain to get together correctly, and I hate toys in 40k, but this is just to appropriate looking and just the right size.

I have a bunch of these(mine are orange) that have been sitting around for a few years that I plan to use as alien/jungle terrain if I ever get around to working on them...

Orkestra wrote:I don't know, Aduro. If Megablox has managed to tiptoe around Lego (tm) for so many years, I doubt that it'll worry too much about GW legal.

Though, admittedly, when it comes to legal departments, GW is to lego as a Terrier is to a German Shepard.

(not just a size comparison. Terriers are insane!)

There's no patent on interlocking building blocks. Anyone can make them, so long as they don't use the name 'Lego.' Puch like paperclips.

Not sure about this one, it's a great stand-in, but seems a little 'cheat-y' if it's used closed...
A SM Drop Pod is just as large (there abouts) but is virtually hollow, with fairly little in the way of line-of-sight blocking ability, this thing however, well...
It's just a wall to stop Podded 'Fexes getting shot up!

I feel it should be open, but it looks like a Heck of a lot of work to convert it so.
As said above, it's a great stand-in, but still a ways from perfect...
and that's my £0.02, feel free to disagree!

Or pose it on its side with the two halves slightly open and a few tentacles/talons hanging out? The inside would be slightly visible, but just painting it black should suffice. Unfortunately I suspect that putting on its side would also expose the presumably undetailed base underside, but a bit of rubble should cover that?

I think having it be "open" with a bunch of ooze coming out would improve the look quite a bit. And if you could see through the "open" model, then fewer people would complain about instant terrain.

Drop an egg on something hard to get a sample.

Popular stand-in? Christ, guys, the codex isn't even out yet.

And?

well how about these then?

http://armorcast.com/store/popup_image.php?pID=267&osCsid=f3f691a2d0d8e91de9b237a9a30bc241

I picked up 7 of them on Amazon right after Christmas. They will work, but in my opinion they need some extensive conversion work to make them not look too much like a painted toy. I am working on one of mine at the moment and I'll put up some pics soon of it. I am adding the tentacles for the Lash Whips and I also drilled out one of the small openings at the bottom and I have converted a Termagant coming out of it. I am also going to base mine and use putty and rocks to simulate how it impacted into the ground.

They are a good starting point for the Spore pod, and with the extra work they should be great!

I like the armor cast ones but I have no idea on size since the website doesnt give any details. JHall could you post a pic with a fex next to it so we have an idea of size. Also anyone thought about taking the crater terrain and converting it. If i remeber correctly and spore pods in the APoc book give you cover for one turn because the pod is dissolving and falling apart. So something like the plasma pod may be incorrect modelling. The pod comes down for, stays for one turn and then dissolves away, no KP awarded but it doesnt have a gun like the SM one and wont block LOS after that. But of course none of use really know how these things are gonna work so we will have to wait a few more days.

I managed to pick some of these up the Zellers where I work (Canada). They were on clearance for $2.50 each. SO cheap...I've seen them on ebay for $14.99, so...naturally I bought 4, even if I don't end up using them all. Looking forward to doing some conversions. Does anyone know if it operates exactly like a SM drop pod in terms of where units exit from / where guns are mounted?

The small picture in the codex is no help, but logically the weapons would be on top of the spod, either because it lands upright and the weapons are on the non-impact end, or it lands on its side with the weapon side on top.

When I think of the weapons on a Spore Pod, I think of the guns on the old Forge World Drop Pods, where the doors open, and there they are. I've not seen a Spore Pod modded up yet where I liked the gun on it, they always just look tacked on. The pods themselves have been good, just never cared for the guns.