Ancient Roman Gladiators by Kaustic Plastik

Found this at OSW...
not feeling it... I think ACI's Flamma looks a lot better,
seems like a new company...
Don't like the bodies, but the outfits and weapons are nice!

Ancient Rome: Gladiators - based on the original weapons and equipment found in Pompeii (Italy), come Retiarius, Thraex, Myrmillo, and many others, ready to do battle in the Coliseum.

The first two releases will be available late Summer 2011:

Celadus (Thraex) - Pompeii, Italy circa 79 A.D.
Astacius (Retiarius) - Rome, Italy circa 340 A.D.

Designed entirely in Italy, with the professional consultation of local archeologists, this is the first time that a 1:6 scale Thraex and a Retiarius are presented in a 100% historically accurate form.

Their armor and weapons are based on original artifacts discovered in the ancient city of Pompeii, Italy, and are outfitted on Kaustic Plastik’s new Realistic Muscle Body, which literally brings each Gladiator to life!

Celadus (Thraex)

Click to expand...

More pics...

Astacius (Retiarius)

New Realistik Muscle Body

Click to expand...

Depending on price point they aren't bad. If they are like $50 thats a good deal. The parts have promise but need a ton of weathering to look good.

Agree. Not bad if it is cheap.

do you have information about the price?

k4m2 said:

do you have information about the price?

Click to expand...

Given the speculative nature of the posts, I'd say no?

Item is available for preorder on Cotswold.

$99 - Retiarius
https://www.gijoeelite.com/f_itemPart.asp?strPart=GIKP-0002

$109 - Celadus
https://www.gijoeelite.com/f_itemPart.asp?strPart=GIKP-0001

Might pass on Retiarius but will buy Celadus for all diecast the parts.

A bit over-priced IMO...
might buy some loose parts...
with the new Muscular TT available now,
I see potential for a bunch of gladiators!!
!

Yeah, not nice enough for $100+.

Agreed... body would be useful; but not nice enough for the asking price.

Hey all,

Saw that a thread already started on the new Kaustic Plastik Gladiators.

Just a little backstory on the company. Kaustic Plastik was formed by former designers who worked for Twisting Toyz who wanted to do things other than WWII and WWI and who had an affinity for the really old stuff. Gladiatorial stuff naturally fell into their lap. They had been working on this project for some time and had planned to release the set some time ago with a male figure body that had a silicone "muscle" body sleeve, but after months of development, had to scrap the entire project and start fresh with an all plastic body that had better muscle definition (since they're wearing barely any clothes) than the current figures out there. They debated about doing a real muscular body, but instead decided to go with the more historically accurate toned body that you see in roman sculptures, etc.

Historical accuracy also goes for all the equipment that you see the figures wearing. The design team at Kaustic Plastik worked with museums in Italy to get the pieces done perfectly. In fact, you can find the Thraex helmet and leg greaves and the Retiarius galerus in museums on display over there.

The figure that you see is not the finished product - it is still a sample. I've since received news that the neck will be shortened, the skin toned darkened a little to better match the head sculpts, and the lower part of the breast section better formed to be "seamless" to the lower torso of the body. Once we get these changes made, pictures will be redistributed. Also note that this figure will be sold as a standalone item - albeit with a different head sculpt.

A lot of the armor pieces and weapons are die cast metal, which is a plus. They debated on making them out of plastic (which would have made the sets cost cheaper) but bit the bullet and had them made out of metal.

Don't get me wrong. I like the ACI Myrmillo too. I just think he'd look great fighting one of Kaustic Plastik's Thraex or Retiarius figures. ;-)

Thanks,

Greg Brown
Cotswold Collectibles, Inc.
N.A. Distributor for Kaustic Plastik

Love ancient Romam figs, look forward to seeing this. Really like to see Roman Army like ignite did

They have a Legionary planned down the road, and if the Retiarius and Thraex prove successful sellers, we plan on offering more Gladiators...

Greg

A lot of focus on the Gladiator lines recently. Should be getting my Flamma really soon.

Here are some updated pics of both Gladiators. The design team at Kaustic Plastik noted some things needed to be changed - leather reworked, skin tone changed, armor better detailed, bodies better detailed, the body torso refined, and the head sculpts improved in paint detail.

Astacius the Retiarius

















Greg

Celadus the Thraex













Kaustic Plastik will also be offering the Body as a standalone item...

Realistik Muscle Body









Thanks,

Greg

What's the price of the stand-alone body?

Decent looking bodies. A bit of overkill with the veins, but it looks good.

The Realistik Muscle Body will retail for $39.99.

Contact your favorite e-retailer/retailer for order details. If they currently don't have the items listed, bug em to carry em. We're happy to take on more retailers for this one.

BTW - when talking to a retailer last week about these sets, his response was "Well, I don't want to get these because aren't they just Ignite Toys under a different name?" This couldn't be farther from the truth. Kaustic Plastik was started by two former designers from Twisting Toyz who wanted to do figures that were as historically accurate as possible. They're working with a totally different factory and different sculptors, so these pieces are a BIG step above what was offered by their previous employer.

I also got samples of each figure set last week and would be more than happy to share pics taken at my office to show what they look like "out of the box". What's sad is pics can't describe the detail that goes into these figures. The head sculpts look better in person. The metal armor (yes, metal) armor, is nice and heavy and weathered to show the detail, and the leather looks more, like leather. ;-)

Thanks again.

Greg

How tight are the joints on the new bodies? I'm usually concerned with the first releases from a new company as the bodies tend to be buggy early on.