Masters of the Universe - She-Ra added (update 01/08)

[white knight]

Like we tend to do, I started a new project before completing any of the ongoing ones. This one is spurred on by the recent release of some Masters of the Universe themed figures by Quest Miniatures and others. More info about that on my preoject-related blog for those who are interested: https://motu-wargames.blogspot.be

Of course, the first miniature to get some paint had to be He-Man, or should I say He-Men, as I painted two at once. The base model is sculpted in 30mm by Boris Woloszyn for Quest Miniatures. It comes with sword and shield, an empty sword scabbard for the back and a loose axe, like the toy, but is based on He-Man's appearance in the Filmation cartoon.

I converted both of my models. They were glued to their plastic bases and then I sculpted some tile texture over it with putty. The first was a minor conversion to be armed just with the powersword, like in the Filmation cartoon, without the shield or the empty scabbard. In the cartoon, the scabbard tended to appear when it was needed and disappear when it wasn't.





The second conversion was slightly more extensive. The powersword was cut off, and the hand was drilled, so the axe could be pinned into it. A new pommel was added under the hand with putty. In order to keep the powersword, I cut a plastic sword grip and crossbar from a sheathed sword from a Fireforge medieval men-at-arms set and glued it to the top of the empty scabbard, so my He-Man was complete.





Starting these was a bit daunting as it's been over a year since I painted anything in this scale and even then I wasn't too happy with it. But they came out well enough, I can look at them and have that feeling of familiarity and recognising the toys of my youth, so that's something. I think those two will be the only regular He-Man variants I will do (unless Quest Miniatures brings out another pose), but there is a wealth of "evil" clones to bring to life in miniature, such as Anti-Eternia He-Man, Negative He-Man, Slimemonster He-Man,...

[white knight]

A few years ago, Icon Heroes brought out a polystone statue of Castle Grayskull that seemed to be in a scale that's close enough to work with 28mm figures. It cannot quite be considered a scale model as scalewise it's all over the place, with doorways going from very big to very small, so it's very much a stylised represantion, but it works well nonetheless. The original castle was released as a single piece model. Not long after, Icon Heroes expanded the set with an accessory set that increased the footprint of the castle by adding the ramp and putting it on a bony/rocky platform. The accessory set also includes Point Dread, the Flying Talon Fighter, a Heroic flag and the laser weapon. The top of Point Dread can be removed from it's base to sit on one of the castle towers, just like the old toy and the minicomics.

While I initially intended to use this with the 25/28mmGrenadier range of figures, it will work well enough with the newer, slightly larger 30mm ones as well. Short of converting your own incorporating bits of the toy castle, this is your best option.

A scale shot with the Quest Miniatures He-Man, showing the separate Point Dread and the configuration where it's mounted on the castle. As can be seen, the towers are the weakest point regarding figure placement as the tops are quite shallow. The Talon Fighter is in itself a useful addition as it works well enough with the scale of the figures.





He-Man doing some more posing on the rooftop. There is enough room there to place some figures:





The other sides of the model:







He-Man waving you off (or kicking you out...):

[JollyBob]

That's pretty damn excellent WK, like the figures they have a bit of a Kev White feel to me.

The castle works well as piece of scenery, and exactly how serious would you be taking a He-man game anyway...?

Got to admit though, for some reason the Fat Chicken Fighter is by far my favourite thing so far!

[meninobesta]

ace project, I've tried to find the quest miniatures site without success, do you have a link?

[Dr. Zombie]

I love everything about this!

[white knight]

Thanks guys, as you say, the concepts are so daft anything goes really.

ace project, I've tried to find the quest miniatures site without success, do you have a link?

For some reason he's selling them on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Qminis?ref=l2-shopheader-name

[James Holloway]

Great project -- the castle and figures really fit well together -- and as has been said, this is an anything-goes kind of setting. Or ... is it a setting? Maybe it's an aesthetic.

[BaronVonJ]

Me want. but he doesn't seem to be as ridiculously over muscled as the original He-Man.

[white knight]

The minis are based on the look of the characters in the Filmation cartoon, which is a bit less over the top than the toys. For a more musclebound version, look up RN Estudio's "The Man". 

[DeafNala]

OUTSTANDING! He-Man & Castle Grey Skull never looked better.  VERY WELL DONE!

[DS615]

Great project -- the castle and figures really fit well together -- and as has been said, this is an anything-goes kind of setting. Or ... is it a setting? Maybe it's an aesthetic.

I'd call it a setting for sure.
When you think on it, it's really the same setting as Star Wars, but reversed.
In Star Wars Hi-tech rules and mystical arts exist in a less visible place.  In MotU it's the mystical stuff in center stage, while the high tech takes a back seat.
But in both universes, magic and tech exist side by side.  It's really just a matter of which one you want to be at the forefront.

I love the figure, and the castle is amazing!

Netflix has a series called "The toys that made us".  One episode is on the He-Man figures and universe.  It was really very interesting how much of it developed.

[white knight]

I get what you're saying. I guess I see the MOTU setting as a type of postacpocalyptic one, where once there was abundant technology, but it is now a thing in the past and while there are still many artifacts to be found and some people who still know how to work the technology, the general world has fallen back into mysticism and rural life.

[BaronVonJ]

I always saw it as Sci-Fantasy like John Carter. Swords and Rayguns.

[white knight]

A close contender for the first figure to get paint was Skeletor. The most evil looking badass villain in the history of Saturday morning cartoons and 80s boys' toys, superbly rendered in 30mm by the talented hands of Boris Woloszyn for Quest Miniatures. To say I'm in love is an understatement. Painting this figure (or figures) was the single most enjoyable painting experience I had to date and possibly the best paintjob I have delivered so far and I thought I was passed my prime.

Like with He-Man I had to do two versions, one built out of the box and one converted to have his sword as per the toy version. Both figures were glued to their plastic bases and then I sculpted some tile texture over it with putty. As he is based on the Filmation cartoon version, I went with a bright colour scheme to match that, which was not a natural thing for me to do as I have a tendancy to go for muted colours even when I'm not trying to do so. I'm very happy with the end result, but I'll let you make up your own mind.


Both Skeletors, side by side.

The first is the original sculpt built as is. I do like the pose with the staff, it's quite dynamic I feel. As I said, I went with a bright Filmation colour scheme and I'm particularly pleased with Skeletor's yellowish face and his blue skin. For the base, I went with a more understated purple so it wouldn't look too much like his clothes are made of the same material as the flagstone tiles. I will keep this theme for the other Evil Warriors.





The second version is a bit of a mix of Filmation and toy references. In the cartoon, when Skeletor had a sword, it was a regular one, where in the toy version, he had his half of the powersword that looked like a purple version of He-Man's and that's what I went for here. The sword was left over after my conversion of the spare He-Man figure to hold his axe, so that was just drilled and pinned into place. The swordhand is another plastic bit from the aforementioned Fireforge men-at-arms set. I cut away the left hand from the staff, filed it down and glued it into his open right hand. Easy.





Here we have Skeletor and He-Man crossing swords:


And taking their battle to the rooftop of Castle Grayskull:




"It's over, He-Man. I have the high ground!"

[airbornegrove26]

These are brilliant!