Small Scale Military Headquarters

I was wondering what the best brand/series of 1:18 Normandy (preferably 101st) paratroopers were. I am leaning towards Dragon but am hesitant because I have always loved the XD figs with moving joints and posability.
Please Help,

AJ

I buy both Dragon and 21st figures. I do this for Germans, and US troops of all kinds. I take the better parts (heads, hands, gear, weapons, sometimes even feet) from the Dragon stuff, and fit them to my 21st figures. This way, I get better poseability, and added detail, all in one.
I even take the torsos from the green uniformed Dragon US troops (Northwest Europe, I believe), and use the arms from the Unimax US troops, and combine them to make variations of the uniforms. I typically use 21st US legs on those.

by FAR the dragon guys! They are the BEST!!!

Yeah, the Dragon paratroopers are the best, but like all Dragon figures, they suffer from poor articulation. Really, all of their figures are the best. If they had articulation like the 21st guys, I'd sell blood to buy them.

I like the fact there are no joints. Makes them look 10x better.

If you have a knack for placing figures in life-like poses, and do it well, you can make it so joints aren't noticeable, and begin to blend with the pose. Since all of the Dragon figures are in combat poses, it's almost impossible to use them for much else. I like to build dioramas that display all kinds of scenes, not just fighthing. Having articulation is really important for that. But, it's all preference in the end

I'm an action figure guy at heart, and I require my action figures to be what I want them to be...within reason.

So we just have to collect them all!!!

They are each great in their own way. The dragon look the best, but of course have that limited posability (those two factors are often closely related - joints are always hard to hide). If you have the cash, get them for the gear if nothing else.

The six different 21C versions have a nice mix of different looks, and the gear/pouches are easily customizable/swappable between them. One of them has a rare neck joint which allows otherwise impossible poses. The joints are pretty pronounced on a number of them though.

The BBI versions to me have the best mix of looks + posability. Some nice weathering (not really there on 21C), joints that are not too noticeable, and the ones with the removable jump harnesses are just icing on the cake so that you can use them in jump or ground modes.

Yes, I'd be buying more BBI troops if their helmets just weren't so small and out-of-scale!

The Dragon paras are my favorite. Great headsclupts and really nice gear. The BBI would be my second favorite. The BBI weapons are kinda cheesy, but the figures have great detail and articulation. I would say the 21C paras are my least favorite. You can swap heads between all of these figures with very little work. Here are a few shots from a dio I did with 21C, BBI, and Dragon paratroopers.

That dio is sweet!!!!

Awesome! I love the hanging dead trooper! Great job.

AJ

Dragon has, by far, the best gear/guns. I mean, the magazines on the MP40s come out. The rifles actually have detailed wood grain too.

I love that dio, I wouldn't have much use for the Indian face paint heads on two of the Dragon Paras and I need different headsculpts for them. What should I do?

AJ

P.S. What brand is that jeep?

I can't do Ebay any more, (burn in hell PayPal!) is there a good site I can get Dragon figures from? Do they even still make them? I haven't collected WWII figures in a long time so I'm kinda out of the loop here.

If you have some BBI or 21c headsculpts that you like just swap them. The kneeling para in the last pic is a Dragon fig with a BBI pathfinder head. The jeep is 21c Willys Jeep. Gate also makes a very nice Willy's Jeep in die-cast. It has no .30 cal but is a much more solid piece (and usually cheaper).

Thanks for the info Trigger!

Rowsdower wrote:I can't do Ebay any more, (burn in hell PayPal!) is there a good site I can get Dragon figures from? Do they even still make them? I haven't collected WWII figures in a long time so I'm kinda out of the loop here.

Have you tried contacting Aviator Nut? I think he may have some

trigger1, that is a really nice diorama, can I ask what you used for your base?

Best weapons go to Dragon but BBI are really the best overall. And now that you can get them with removable harness you can cover the whole spectrum from flight ready to battle ready. They also have the best headsculpts - many of which are from Saving Private Ryan and can be swapped out easily to make a diverse group of paras. EDIT this should work to show all 3 brands side by side, all with bbi heads: