When considering the popular perception of North American native peoples it is impossible to ignore the many Westerns that have been produced by Hollywood over the past decades, and the one tribe that seems to be mentioned more than any other is the Sioux. The Sioux were Plains Indians, and had a largely nomadic life after they adopted the horse. They were one of the major tribes, and frequently fought against the invasion of the white man, which must have made them an obvious subject for Atlantic.

The poses are split between mounted and dismounted figures, but all except one would seem to be in battle as they are holding weapons of one sort or another. These poses are reasonable enough, though it is the man holding a (very small) cloth over a (very small) fire, obviously making a smoke signal, that catches the eye. The task would be much better done with two holding the 'blanket', but this is actually quite a nice figure and certainly something a bit different.

Atlantic's adherence to historical accuracy has often been criticised, and we were none too keen on that aspect of this set. Warriors often went into battle very lightly clothed, though they would also often wear clothing that symbolised their status or renown, or which helped with their 'medicine' in battle. All the figures here are largely naked apart from a loincloth (breechclout), but this item takes the form of a long thin 'ribbon' when a more practical wider cloth was normal. A curious feature is the boots that several of them are wearing - they look much like those of the white man, whereas these men should be wearing moccasins.

The four horse poses in the set are not wildly dissimilar from each other, but all are quite small, such that a mounted man is little higher than when he was dismounted. Each horse has a fairly simple rein, but they all have bridles, which seem to have been very rare and only appeared very late in the period. The horse's tails should be tied up if they are prepared for war, but in general the horses are very poor for lots of reasons.

It would seem that the Sioux series from Atlantic were done by a different sculptor to the Apache series - certainly the style seems very different. We prefer the Sioux style, though the figures can still be described as quite thin, as can the horses/ponies. For some reason these are also missing the ugly mould marks found on so many Atlantic figures, and even the flash is pretty minimal. Why Sitting Bull was named in the title we cannot tell - there is no obvious reference to him in the set. Overall we would suggest this is one of the better sets of Indians from Atlantic, though it still leaves a lot to be desired.