Great Rebellion - She-Ra, Princess of Power

She-Ra is Prince Adam/He-Man's twin sister, who leads the group of freedom fighters known as the Great Rebellion in the fight to free Etheria from the rule of Hordak and the Evil Horde. Wielding the twin sword to He-Man's Sword of Power, the Sword of Protection, she is He-Man's female counterpart in every way.

Like her brother, she was born on the planet Eternia to King Randor and Queen Marlena, as Princess Adora. Unlike her brother, she was kidnapped at birth by Hordak and taken to Etheria, where she grew up and served as a mind-controlled Horde Force Captain before He-Man learned of her existence and brought the Sword of Protection to her. While she was briefly reunited with her parents on Eternia, She-Ra decided to return to Etheria and lead the Great Rebellion against Hordak.

Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic sword and said... By the power of Grayskull! 

It's been a while since I painted 30mm figures and I was struggling a lot. I'm afraid my painting didn't do justice to the excellent model, which is another limited run resin tribute figure. I also decided to switch my Great Rebellion base colour over to the standard Heroic Warriors green bases as they aren't really a separate faction in the strict sense like the various Evil factions that are just as likely to fight each other instead of the good guys. 

My very limited progress on the Great Rebellion so far. I need to paint up a few more figures for them:

Defending Castle Grayskull from Hordak and his Imp:

The twins. I do have another He-Man model waiting to be painted in the sword held aloft pose, which will be a better pairing for pictures:

Great Rebellion - Bright Moon Guards with Laserguns

 My second set of Bright Moon guards, this time armed with some firepower. I strongly considered painting these in the same blue uniform as the earlier ones, but my compulsion to stick to canon representation won out and I painted them in the orange and red uniform from the She-Ra cartoon, despite my misgivings about yet another troop type sporting mostly orange clothes. The orange and red doesn't offer much contrast with the skintone either, contrary to the light blue, so I did end up regretting my decision.

The two divisions of the Bright Moon guard, side by side:

Taking on some Horde Troopers

Great Rebellion - Bright Moon Guards with Staffweapon

While everyone remembers the orange and green Eternos Guard, Bright Moon Palace had its own elite guards, aptly named the Bright Moon Guard. Armed with sphere tipped energy weapons, they are ready to hold their own against the Evil Horde.

Having given a lot of thought to the representation of diversity in MotU off late, I decided to paint one of the guards in a darker skintone. This was my first try at the Foundry African flesh triad and while I initially had my reservations, the final result does look good. I did make a small mistake that I'll likely correct when I paint some reinforcements for them is that the rim underneath the sphere should be the colour of the staff. Oh well, it doesn't bother me too much (is what I tell myself).

The Bright Moon Guards as shown on the original She-Ra cartoon:

A couple of Bright Moon guards bravely try to hold off Hordak and his Horde Troopers until the heroes arrive:

Evil Horde - Imp

Imp is Hordak's spy, spying on both Horde and Rebellion members, making him disliked by all. His abilities include flight and shape shifting. He can shape shift into numerous different forms, seemingly without limitations. Most times he will retain his natural blue colouring, but has shown on occasion that he can assume different colouring when in another form. In addition, he also seems to possess the ability to take on the characteristics of whatever form he takes, as illustrated when he transformed into a working flamethrower, nearly burning down the Whispering Woods, or when he transforms into a laser blaster and can fire laser bolts while in this shape.

The model is a great sculpt done by Fancagne Didier. My main issue with it being that it's so tiny, around 12mm, that it was becoming hard to paint. As such, it's not my best paintjob, but it looks good enough to the naked eye when it's not blown up like in these pictures.

The Imp and his master:

The painted members of the Horde so far:

A comparison between Imp and Orko, that other flying sidekick:

Evil Horde - Horde Troopers

If Hordak has been able to conquer Etheria it is largely thanks to his vast army of robotic Horde troopers. Mindless machines, they don't tire and know mercy nor remorse.

I can't believe it's been 8 months since I was able to paint something new for this project and it shows. The painting skills are a bit rusty and my brushed were running on their last legs, so as a result, I'm not overly happy with how they came out, which is not to blame on the models as they are spot on. Hopefully, now that the painting muscles have been stretched, and with the help of some new brushes to be bought, the next ones will be better.

Hordak and some of his Horde troopers

Hordak is backed up by his troopers, but He-Man and Battlecat know no fear.

The current tally of painted Horde miniatures

Evil Horde - Hordak

Hordak is the evil tyrant ruling Etheria and main villain opposing She-Ra with his Evil Horde. Skeletor's erstwhile mentor, they are now bitter enemies and while temporary alliances are not unheard off, they invariably end in betrayal on one end or the other, usually both. He has the ability to transform his arms into a variety of mechanical weapons, the most famous being a cannon arm.

The model is a resin figure part of a limited release private commission and sculpted by the talented Boris Woloszyn. The pictures make the colours out to be slightly more dull than reality. The action shot with Slime Monster He-Man and Skeletor is a closer representation of the colours. The base texture was sculpted in putty over a plastic lipped base and painted in red as my default colour for Horde characters.

Hordak sending off a slime possessed He-Man to take out Skeletor once and for all...:

A closer look at the head:

Evil Horde - Slime Monsters

Both the Filmation cartoon and the mini-comics featured Slime Monsters. While their affiliation could vary, I decided to give mine the colour for my Horde bases, on account that since Hordak has a Slime Pit, it made the most sense. The models are Otherworld Miniatures mud monsters, which were perfect for the part.

With Slime Monster He-Man:

Get back, you slimy freaks!

Evil Horde - Slime Pit He-Man

Slime Pit He-Man (sometimes also referred to as Slime Monster He-Man) featured in one of the mini-comics that came with the toys. Hordak managed to trap He-Man in the slime pit, and had a toxic green slime poured over him that turned him into a mindless killing machine. Hordak then proceeded to send He-Man after Skeletor to eliminate his erstwhile apprentice. The mind controlled He-Man almost succeeded in this task, but with the telepathic help of the Sorceress, He-Man was able to shake off the effects of the slime right before delivering the killing blow.

The model is a converted Quest Miniatures He-Man, with the weapons removed and some slime sculpted over in places to suggest a thicker coat of it clinging to his body. The flagstone base was painted with a reddish tone this time, as that is the colour I reserved for the Evil Horde faction, and it adds some colour other than green to the figure.

Slime Pit He-Man about to crush Skeletor once and for all...

 A page from the mini-comic featuring the event: