An early post on the linked thread suggested chimera, which is what i did this week. And it did not work very well for me. 1 - I forgot they can't go prone and 2 - I forgot they are S1 (so the front guy didn't need to go prone for the back guy to a see an incoming S2 model) So I agree helperbot, crazy koala, tinbot, fast panda (whatever you are not also using in your list) are better for that.
You can try looking for 15mm or 6mm mecha. That'll get you stuff that is at that 15-20mm size for little Infinity ninja bots. But they're typically going to be more boxy, Battletech or Mechwarrior style. Still, it is worth a look. Here are a few links to stuff I pulled up with a cursory search. Shape ways SAW-44 Prowlers - A little tall. Khurasan "Pocket Mecha" (scroll down to find them) - Here's a link to a pic of the minis. Clear Horizon Covert Ops War Drones - Only one pose, but they look easy to convert. Some more searching around will undoubtedly turn up plenty of other reasonable candidates.
Pi-Well is a good start, I happen to have a spare of the old version I'd be willing to trade away (I used that Zoe as the basis of a converted Major, so don't need PiWell at all). Various Tinbots. If you want something different, I really like those SAW44 Prowlers that @MindwormGames suggested. Don't forget to check out the various Battle Armors from Iron Wind Metals classic Battletech range, the battle armors are all about 15mm tall.
23mm tall, I think. Tough to tell with Shapeways, since the models don't always print from head-to-toe. But they sure look cool! The various Battle Armors or even Protomechs from Ironwind Metals would probably be better.
Probably, to represent the puppet master and one puppet I'll use Zoe and Pi Well but I play them really often xD.
Maybe I'll use Hexxer (the witch skin... if there are still in my local shop XD) or the "puppet" Interventor (female, blister, old model) and a Karkata, a Staldron and maybe a fastpanda... Granted, it would be better to grab something from fantasy to use with Hexxer... but that would not be a legal proxy :( (else... I have some goblins from a Reaper kickstarter XD)
I'd say just wait for the box that we all know is coming....but we all know the way to summon a new sculpt is to convert and paint up proxies as sacrifices to the CB gods before they release the real deal :P
While true, we know CB is full of artists so their release schedule seems to be "I do what I want", as underlined by the new Joan model, for example :P
To be fair, we don't know the workflow behind that sculpt, do we? Assuming we don't have any behind the scenes info on that, it could very well be that an artist did that sculpt for the LOLs, showed it to CB, and there was a convenient spot to fit it into a production pipeline. But all the same, I want mah damn puppets. So I'll be converting up some proxies as a sacrifice.
The rest of us thank you for your sacrifice, but note that you may need to convert, paint, and even BatRep your Puppet proxies to trigger the sacrifice.
Nah, the truth is they recycle like MAD. Wanna know why tohaa and shas stuff takes so long? They can't just copy+paste the same human anatomical models, slap stuff on, and call it a day. Those require WORK. They are pragmatic artists, and I don't blame them for it. But as much as I hope they will try and accept that we don't want to wait more than 6-12 months for a profile to get a sculpt, I wouldn't get my hopes up.
I was going to use Malifaux's Coryphee dancers with gun-arms, but S1....so, I am going to get scale children models and sand their faces flat. Then paint them up realistically, even the now flat face. Add a thin wire antenna on each wrist and foot (puppet strings), and it should be suitably creepy.
If you're gonna dabble in Malifaux's models for them, you could just get some of Collodi's plastic Marionettes and arm them appropriately.
