Back in 2015 we appeared fleetingly on the Gauntlet Legends pewter miniature giveaway. If you are not acquainted and cannot be bothered clicking this hyperlink to refresh your reminiscence, permit me to supply a fast recap on the scenario. Gauntlet Legends is a 3D polygonal sequel to the unique 2D Gauntlet and Gauntlet II titles launched by Atari within the mid Nineteen Eighties. Gauntlet Legends was subsequently launched into arcades in 1998 after which ported to a spread of residence methods in 1999 and 2000 – certainly one of which was the Sega Dreamcast.

The recreation obtained a reasonably constructive reception on launch for the Nintendo 64, PlayStation and eventually Dreamcast, providing a stable – if considerably repetitive – romp by means of varied fantasy phases, with the participant (accompanied by as much as 3 associates on N64 and Dreamcast) being required to knock the ever-loving crap out of hordes of senseless enemies as they progressed by means of the journey. The Dreamcast model of Gauntlet Legends was the ultimate residence port to be launched and featured a number of points of Gauntlet Dark Legacy, the comply with up title launched in arcades in 1999. 

This publish actually is not in regards to the precise recreation Gauntlet Legends although. It’s about one thing just a little bit extra attention-grabbing and esoteric – the fabled Gauntlet Legends pewter miniatures that got away at no cost to anyone who bought the NTSC-U model of the sport for both Dreamcast or PlayStation.

Gauntlet Legends NTSC-U field artwork exhibiting the Gauntlet Giveaway (supply)

As detailed in that 2015 publish, the covers of the NTSC-U version of Gauntlet Legends provided the chance to say a free set of those pewter figures based mostly on characters from the sport, and all that was required with a view to personal them was to ship in a equipped mailing slip and proof of buy to writer Midway Home Entertainment. 

This ‘Gauntlet Giveaway!’ was marketed each on the entrance of the handbook (which doubled up because the entrance cowl in most NTSC-U and NTSC-J Dreamcast video games), and on the rear cowl; whereas the mail order slip may very well be discovered contained in the handbook. As the Dreamcast port of Gauntlet Legends was launched in early June 2000, and the giveaway solely ran till the tip of December 2000, players solely had 7 months to stake a declare to their birthrights (properly, their little metallic fashions).

The Gauntlet Giveaway mail order slip

Close-up of the provide advert – particulars inside!

Until getting my arms on an American copy of Gauntlet Legends for Dreamcast, I had by no means heard of this promotion, however I later found {that a} related scheme had beforehand been run in reference to the Nintendo 64 model of the sport. The distinction being that within the case of the N64, a single miniature got here bundled within the field as a part of an unique Walmart promotion, and they’re now a number of the rarest Nintendo 64 particular editions out there.

Back in 2015, I lamented in regards to the mysterious nature of those minature fashions (properly, mysterious from a European perspective), and the seemingly nonexistent nature of any info surrounding them; specifically what number of variants had been manufactured and what number of units had been claimed. Back then there was valuable little information out there in regards to the promotion, and even now, in the event you do a cursory Google search you will invariably find yourself wanting on the similar 2015 weblog publish hosted right here the the Junkyard, the Gauntlet Wiki, or some discussion board posts from the early 2000s. 

What we do know although, is that the Gauntlet Legends pewter miniatures had been manufactured by Reaper – one of many greatest names within the miniatures and mannequin manufacturing sector. Why then, do I deliver up this relic from the mists of time? Because we solely went and obtained our arms on a set of the fabled Gauntlet Legends miniatures, that is why!

The Legends of Gauntlet in miniature kind

The method these items got here into my possession is definitely fairly weird in its personal proper, so indulge me and permit me to elucidate the entire sequence of occasions earlier than we take a better take a look at the miniatures themselves, and likewise an additional nugget of attention-grabbing element contained therein.

If you might be in any method within the Dreamcast English translation scene, you will little doubt be aware of a gentleman named Derek Pascarella. He is the driving power behind plenty of the interpretation initiatives at present ongoing, that are bringing Japan-only titles to a brand new English-speaking viewers. Now, throughout a uncommon break fom his impressively ardent quest to translate each single obscure Dreamcast relationship sim and visible novel into English, Derek discovered himself looking the US eBay website the place he stumbled throughout a slightly intriguing itemizing:

Somewhat bemused and puzzled, Derek despatched this to my Dreamcast Junkyard colleague Lewis Cox; and considering it was fairly humourous, Lewis naturally handed it on to me. As quickly as I noticed the itemizing although, I knew precisely what these figures had been and so the plot immediately thickened to the consistency of blancmange. 

Why was anyone within the US promoting a set of Gauntlet Legends miniatures for such a meagre sum, with the itemizing title ‘Dreamcast Junkyard’? I requested Lewis to ask Derek to purchase them instantly, and ship them from the States to me right here within the UK…and fortunately Derek obliged. Per week or so later, the miniatures arrived, together with the data that the vendor had no concept what they had been and had searched on-line for extra particulars, thus discovering my 2015 weblog publish…and had then merely titled them ‘Dreamcast Junkyard.’

What they appear like with the packaging (supply)

So far, so totally weird. Once once more, my thanks go to each Lewis and Derek for inadvertantly alerting me to this explicit (full however unboxed) assortment of a number of the rarest items of gaming merchadise on the planet. And for the worth of a few crates of beer, too (they value $40 shipped in complete, whereas some full boxed units have offered for upwards of $250). But what’s so particularly odd is that the vendor titled them ‘Dreamcast Junkyard’ having discovered that earlier publish, and now the exact same miniatures are being featured right here as a comply with up. Weird how issues work out, eh?

Enought about that although. What of the particular miniatures themselves? And what of the additional oddity I teased earlier on on this diatribe? Well, first – one other group shot and a few excessive close-ups of the person characters so you may see the extent of element lavished upon them:

N*Sync’s new tour was going properly

Valkyrie

Living Tree

Lizardman

Skorne

Yellow Wizard

From the small quantity of knowledge curently out there on-line, it seems that there had been round 12 particular person miniatures solid, and the choice obtained whenever you ordered them was considerably randomised. It seems to be like each set obtained the tall ‘Skorne‘ figurine, however the others had been virtually completely pot luck. From another photos out there on-line, it appears they shipped in a blister pack of 5, however that different miniatures had been sooner or later out there as particular person puchases, however from the place and through which period interval I’m not fully certain. There’s additionally some proof that a number of different charaters had been deliberate, however then later cancelled and by no means launched to the general public.

What’s particularly intriguing is that one of many figures I’ve – titled ‘Valkyrie‘ – seems to be of a barely completely different measurement and weight to the others, is marked with the identify ‘Ridolfi’ and is stamped with ‘©1998 Atari Games’ on the underside; whereas the remaining miniatures shouldn’t have their names on the entrance of their bases, however as a substitute have ‘J. Guthrie’ on the rear, together with ‘Midway ©2000’ on the bottom.

Valkyrie has ‘Ridolfi’ stamped on the rear of the bottom…

…and ‘©1998 Atari Games’ on the underside…

…whereas the others have ‘J. Guthrie’ on the bottom…

…and Midway ©2000 on the underside

A concept I’ve for that is that the Valkyrie determine is a leftover from an unique run of miniatures produced to market the 1998 arcade launch of Gauntlet Legends (after which subsequently bundled with the beforehand talked about N64 particular version), whereas the opposite figures are later and had been minted completely to market the Dreamcast and PlayStation console releases. When the Dreamcast and PlayStation giveaway was formulated, Midway simply chucked any leftover 1998 miniatures into the combo to save lots of prices.

After a bit of sunshine web digging, I found that J. Guthrie is definitely Julie Guthrie, a famend sculptor recognized for her work within the area of miniature creation and who has labored on many, many various initiatives within the area; and equally Ridolfi is Bob Ridolfi additionally a famend sculptor of miniatures. In essence, two completely different sculptors seem to have been commissioned by Reaper Miniatures, who in flip had been comissioned by both Atari or Midway relying on what they had been calling themselves at that individual time.

It’s most likely additionally price mentioning right here that the opposite characters I’ve in my possession (alongside Skorne and Valkyrie) seem like the ‘Yellow Wizard,’ a tree / Ent-like variant of the ‘Golem’ enemy (known as Living Tree), and a crocodile-themed varient of the frequent ‘Grunt’ enemy (generally known as Lizardman).

Thought it was solely proper to incorporate at the least one display from the precise recreation (supply)

So there we’re. This is a fairly area of interest subject to cowl, however that is what we’re all about at The Dreamcast Junkyard. The extra area of interest, the higher the truth is. And it would not get extra area of interest than running a blog about pewter miniatures from Gauntlet Legends that approximatley 7 individuals on all the planet know or care about.

Thanks as soon as once more to Derek, Lewis, the eBay vendor who thought these miniatures had been known as ‘Dreamcast Junkyard,’ the 2 people who commented on the 2015 weblog publish saying that they had them of their assortment (I solely noticed the feedback lately!), and naturally Atari, Midway, Reaper, Julie Guthrie and Bob Ridolfi for his or her involvement (hope I have not left anybody out).

Rest in peace

So, the query stays – do you even have any of those figures in your assortment? How do yours differ from those featured right here? How a lot of this have I obtained utterly and totally unsuitable? Have you any concept what number of instances I misspelled ‘minature’ ‘miniature’ whereas penning this guff? In the immortal phrases of The X Files: The fact is on the market. Or, y’know, within the feedback.