Coming as a surprise not long after their Series 8 figures, Warriors released The New Prophecy special edition mini figures on December 13th. The release includes gorgeous boxes that line up to be like the box set of The New Prophecy books with characters Crowfeather and Feathertail, Stormfur and Tawnypelt, and Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight.
Unlike the first time they did special edition minis, The Prophecies Begin ones, half of this release are new figures and half are remolds. The TPB one was all remolds of characters. Of this release, Crowfeather, Tawnypelt, and Squirrelflight are remolded, while Feathertail, Stormfur, and Brambleclaw are new.
All of the figures, whether new or remolded, are standard poses. Quality control also continues to take small steps back. Squirrelflight’s mini even had some kind of dirt or dust on her face; it can be cleaned off, but I still found it disheartening.
During my review, I will compare remolds to their originals and judge the new figures as usual. For consistency’s sake, I will talk about the new molds first and then the remolds for each pair.
This article may contain spoilers for The New Prophecy. The very end mentions the newest arc Changing Skies.
Crowfeather and Feathertail
Pros
Feathertail is my favorite mini figure of this release, though I have no strong feelings about most of them. I love the choice they made to give her black stripes to go along with her silver and gray fur, especially with the way they made the pattern. Silver tabbies with black stripes are one of my favorites. It also gives me a nostalgia kick because of the original cover of Moonrise from The New Prophecy. I wish they would’ve made the darker gray lighter, but overall I love her design.
She’s also a particularly sturdy figure, which is helpful when most of the new molds have steadiness issues. Testing some of the older models also proves to have this wobbliness.
As the remold of this pair, I love how they’ve changed Crowfeather’s posture to better show off how skinny he is in the series. They made his ears thinner and more elongated, which helped his overall appearance and matched his posture. The scars on his figure are also slimmer which fits better with his character and new mold.
One cute detail I noticed was how they both had bright blue eyes. While Crowfeather’s eye color didn’t change, I think it was the right decision to have Feathertail’s match his.
Cons
The only real complaint I have about Feathertail’s design is her white ear tufts and black tail. It would have been more balanced if her tail only had a black tail-tip; it simply adds too much darkness to her design. I don’t dislike her ear tufts for anything specific other than they don’t feel like they make sense for her character. Graystripe and Stormfur are fluffy but don’t have them, and Silverstream hopefully won’t have them if they ever make her mini.
If I could, I would switch Crowfeather’s old coloring into this new model. Although I’m constantly wondering why the Warriors team is allergic to only using two colors, since they use three colors for almost every design even if the cat is plain, I preferred his old combo of colors. In the old figure, a light blue color was used alongside the dark and light gray, but in this new figure, it’s a brownish gray (though since it’s on his cheeks more so, my pictures make it hard to see). Changing the color made him look much duller and less unique.
I also noted that they changed how his muzzle looks, making it flatter and longer. He looks more like a cat in his original figure mold. The design of his chest fur, like how they arranged the colors, also looked better in his old mold. This new position has made him very unsteady in comparison too.
Stormfur and Tawnypelt
Pros
It’s exciting and relieving to get Stormfur in the same release as his sister, Feathertail. Despite them not looking similar in coloring, they have similar broadness and flat faces. I love how bright and slightly orange Stormfur’s yellow eyes are, especially standing out against his gray coloring. A lot of characters in the books have “amber” eyes, but their figures don’t usually reflect that. This figure has a good balance by keeping a realistic yellow but leaning towards orange.
I’m happy they kept him solid-colored and didn’t give him tabby stripes either, like he’s pictured in the newest Ultimate Edition art with his mate, Brook. He looks scruffy and mountainous, fitting for a character who left the Clans for the Tribe of Rushing Water.
Since Tawnypelt is one of my most hated designs, it’s insane to me that they somehow improved it. The bright orange has been dulled to something less obnoxious, the brown is less purple-based, and more detail was added to make the fur look realistic. I suppose another positive is they kept her freckles.
Cons
Though I’m happy with him overall, I find the dark gray doesn’t fit very well with the two other blue-tinted grays they used for Stormfur. This is a common problem with the mini figures though; when they pick colors, the shades they choose sometimes clash. I feel neutral about him otherwise, though both of the figures expressions are plain.
Alongside those small improvements, parts of Tawnypelt’s awful design got even worse. Her nose is larger and more round, and she is missing the small nostril details that made it realistic. Like many of the other remolds and new figures, her face is flatter because of the muzzles being pushed back. It’s also even harder to call her a tortoiseshell and white cat because the old figure had more cream spots. Her figure doesn’t make sense. They should’ve taken this opportunity to change it completely.
Also, though this is the same as her old one, her bright pink inner ears still piss me off. The color doesn’t work well with any of the others.
Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight
Pros
Taking longer than I thought possible, Brambleclaw’s mini figure finally joins his family. With his mate, children (minus Alderheart and Sparkpelt), father, and siblings all receiving minis already, his release is a pro in of itself. I may not love his character, but I’m excited to be able to complete many sets of my other minis.
As for actual pros, I love how similar he is to the Tigerstar mini with the same or similar colors. Considering that’s lore relevant to the series, that already makes me happy. In particular, I love to see a cream-tan on a brown tabby, so I applaud that design choice for Brambleclaw. He also has freckles like Tawnypelt and Tigerstar, which is cute (though the uniqueness goes down when you realize Squirrelflight does too for some reason). They did a decent job making his yellow eyes stand out.
For the most part, I greatly prefer Squirrelflight’s older figure; however, a few things have improved. They included scars on her new figure and cuts in her ears. The shape of her body in general is more defined especially with the paws. Her front markings on the body are better too. I also prefer the new style of breaking up the color around the eyes, but that’s on all of the latest figures.
Cons
Unfortunately, I like this pairing the least of the others. Some of the colors are off, like Brambleclaw’s scars, and his stripes are basically purple. His back markings are also a little weird and disconnected from each other on either side of the seam. His markings in general look unfinished, with too much blank space.
The worst of the two though is Squirrelflight. The biggest disgrace of this new release is the lack of her white paw, which is her most defining feature in the series and official art. It feels like the biggest oversight to not do it when her older figure does have it. They also made her colorway brighter and lighter, which looks worse than her original. Her plumy tail looks better on her old figure, too. It might look fuller and fluffier on the new one, but the way it’s oriented is better on the other. Her thinner markings also look cleaner on the original.
Clearly, since they have released special edition figures for TPB and TNP, fans can expect to see them for the other 6 (almost 7) arcs. However, it becomes tricky when you consider the next two arcs, Power of Three and Omen of the Stars, considering they share protagonists. Also, all the protagonists of Po3 and OotS have molds. Even more ridiculous, Jayfeather–a protag for both of those arcs–has two figures already. Would they dare give him a third? Hollyleaf, Lionblaze, and Dovewing’s figures aren’t that old either.
I could see other important characters from those arcs getting molds instead, similar to how they handled TPB (except maybe not every character being a remold). For Po3 or OotS they could dip into some background characters like Berrynose, Cinderheart, Heathertail, Breezepelt, Willowshine, Bumblestripe, or Blossomfall.
They also only do these special editions once a year, while they usually do the regular mini figures series once or twice a year. How many protagonists will be molded and then remolded not soon after? As happy as I am to get some new molds in this special edition release, I am disappointed with how often they do remolds. It frankly feels like a waste of money when they barely change the characters in a remold.
Two of these figures are particularly funny given the most recent drama surrounding the first book of Changing Skies, The Elder’s Quest. With Tawnypelt as one of our POV characters, we’ll get more insight into her thoughts. Those include a paragraph that has leaked on social media about her daydreaming over Crowfeather. I won’t know the true depth of this until the book releases on January 7th, but I was amused to see their remolds in this set regardless.
Plus, originally Crowfeather was released with Leafpool and in this special edition release, he’s with his first love, Feathertail. How long until we add Nightcloud to that mix?
