So my first entry since the free for all sees me doing a weird mix of size and manufacturer.
The Merchant of Venus XII is a wonderful sculpt from John Boyce and his Colony 87 line. I have more waiting in the wings, but just wanted to get something done. I rested on my laurels after week one and then got too busy once I got back home.
As you can see he has all sorts of odd gear. I tried to make his space suit look like a shuttle astronaut flight suit. I had all sorts of ideas for his poncho thing, in the end what stuck was the idea of a re-purposed tarp, you know the blue kind.
The bots are minion bots from Bombshell Miniatures Counterblast line. The robot menace. The aerial on the merchant's helmet and the bits heads made me think they needed to go together. I also channeled a little bit of Silent Running in coloring and naming the bots HU-E, DU-E and LU-E.
Those of you who read my blog may remember that the Merchant's staff arrived broken and had been unsuccessfully repaired at least twice. Well my vacation fix was not only ugly but was still weak. So I cut and bored a plastic tube to make a more solid join, it's the gold band above his had. I thought if it was a problem I should make it a feature.
As for points the Merchant is a straight up 28mm figure, although I didn't measure him. So he should be 5 points. The bots are perhaps a tad problematic. They are 28mm scale, but only about a half inch tall foot to head. I'm not counting the aerial. They are mounted on 20mm bases because I have a bunch and I thought they would look lost on a standard 25mm base. So if we assume their height is 12.5mm do we score them as 10mm or 15mm? Thus my total is either 8 or 11 points. Sorry for a tricky first entry Dave.
Oh and this is my first shot across the bow for the Sci-Fi duel. It's not looking good.
A grand start to your sci-fi duel. I have gone with 6 points for the bots - that Silent Running homage is just too cool. Personally I am always amazed at the range of sci-fi stuff that is out there - its not been an area of painting interest for me - so I always enjoy seeing what appears here. The Merchant certainly looks a character alright, and well done on the repair works its looks just fine - so frustrating when you get figures arrived damaged
Now this is nice work! Getting a distinctive "Forbidden Planet"/"Amazon Women on the Moon" vibe from these guys, very retro!
ReplyDeleteExcellent work, Sean!
Thanks Evan. I got the bots to bulk up my Sci-Fi collection for the duel and they turned out to be a perfect match for this figure.
DeleteNice work Sean :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Tamsin.
DeleteLovely but goofy. Cheers PD
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter, you ain't seen nothin' yet. ;)
DeleteNow this entry made me chuckle. nice scheme and especially well done on getting thin straight lines on the robots!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jamie, I feel like the lines could be a lot straighter. I noticed a strange twist to the dome of the head as I was trying to paint them, it affected me the most on the blue one. Sometimes I'm a perfectionist and sometimes I just go with what's done is done.
DeleteI love the Robots. For some strange reason I wish to hug them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Clint, unfortunately the lads have not been programmed to love. Hmm, do I need to source a pleasure bot?
DeleteSo 11 points all day, thanks Dave. I usually don't think about these things too much and it only occurred to me at the last minute that they weren't really 5 points each.
ReplyDeleteAstonishingly good stuff Sean. Absolutely love'em :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Blax.
DeleteOh those are great!Really nice paintwork and I love the minion-bots
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul, they are very neat little dudes.
DeleteThey look really great together, Sean! Kudos on the silent running tribute too, a very fine touch to these well painted fellows!
ReplyDeleteThanks DavidB, I couldn't remember where they were from initially, just a vague recollection in the back of my mind. Thank goodness for google.
DeleteThese are great - such character to the sculpts and a finely executed paint job.
ReplyDeleteThanks Phyllion.
DeleteVery well done Sean! You mini bots are fantastic!
ReplyDeleteThanks Anne. I had a lot of trouble with paint consistency. Hopefully I covered that up.
DeleteThese are very nice indeed, somehow they remind me of Tatooine and Jawa's...
ReplyDeleteThanks Sander, yeah I get that vibe too.
DeleteWhat a wonderful and quirky entry - I love it! You did a great job on the staff and I really like the orange visor. Very, very cool.
ReplyDeleteThanks Curt. The White and Orange combo are just very iconic space man to me, maybe it's all the shuttle missions when I was younger. I don't remember where the idea for a gold visor came from, I just wanted to stay away from silver for it.
DeleteGreat figures, very interesting, and very nice painting work. The blue and gold mix really well!
ReplyDeleteThanks Juan, I really didn't think about it so it was mostly a happy accident. I wanted to stay away from my natural desire to do the poncho in tans or ochres.
DeleteThese are really nice. Are they to be used in any specific games or just for display?
ReplyDeleteThanks Jonathan, the idea is to use them for Rogue Trader (40K), but since the majority of my gaming is theoretical we shall have to see. Perhaps a scenario involving everything I paint up for the Sci-Fi side duel.
DeleteSounds like a fun scenario. My painting has been theoretical for too long, but I am working on something - honest.
DeleteThey look great Sean!
ReplyDeleteChristopher
Thank you Christopher.
DeleteWow. I love those miniatures. Your paint scheme is brilliant. Very pulpy. I really like what you've done here.
ReplyDeleteThanks AHunt. I think the sculpts from both manufacturers do the heavy lifting. I'm just happy that my seed of an idea grew into a coherent group.
DeleteWell that came out a treat! You'd never know there was any repair work at all if you'd not mentioned it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Millsy. Yeah it was a royal pain to fix the staff. My "brilliant" ideas kept breaking.
DeleteVery nice work there! And some very characterful sculpts as well! Great choice of subject indeed
ReplyDeleteThanks Samuli.
DeleteLove it! Those bots are too cute.
ReplyDeleteThanks DavidL.
DeleteHow cool are the bots! And a clever fix- "it's not a bug, it's a feature!"
ReplyDeleteThanks Barks. Yeah, I got that saying from my neighbor. He works in high end audio and video system design.
DeleteLove these
ReplyDeleteIan
Thank you Ian.
DeleteReally cool. Very nice painting. Very unique figure selection. They look like they would fit in perfectly on a Star Wars world having just seen the Force Wakes Up. Cheers
ReplyDeleteThanks The Kiwi, I hadn't thought of it but you're right.
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