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 Warriors - Evil Humans

When Eternia's territory was divided between a Light and Dark hemisphere, some human tribes found themselves stuck on Skeletor's side. Most probably under his dark impulses, they gradually descended into barbarism and served him as evil human warriors, thus swelling his ranks...

To the best of my knowledge, these only appeared in a single minicomic, shown below, but they always appealed to my imagination.

The figures are from another limited run of private commissions. They are painted to match the comic reference, including using Foundry's oriental flesh triad to match the skin tone. You don't actually see their weapons in the comic, so using the standard MotU weapons on them makes sense. I decided to paint them in the dark red colour that these were also released in for the toy range to give some contrast as I didn't fancy adding even more grey.

Good human cannonfodder versus bad human cannonfodder

I figured it was time to do another group shot of my Evil Warrior faction. This does not include the variants I have done of Skeletor, Faker and Copy-Cat.

Heroic Warriors - Orko

Orko is He-Man and Prince Adam's diminutive sidekick-cum-wizard. A powerful wizard on his home planet Trolla, his spells don't seem to work right on Eternia and go wrong more often than not. As such, Orko's tragedy is that he is often seen as incompetent and the court's jester rather than its wizard.

The model was sculpted by Didier Fancagne. I only changed the eyes to make them more cartoon-accurate, which is merely a matter of personal preference. The base is a resin blank from Fenris Games, with my usual stone texture added and a clear flying stand from EM-4.

The main trio as they are often portrayed in the cartoon

The main heroic warriors from the Filmation cartoon, still missing the Sorceress

Skeletor and Evil-Lynn's magic pitched against Orko's. That'll end well...

Heroes of Sagar - Enchanted Blackstar Ice Sculpture

In the Filmation episode "Lightning City of the Clouds" Mara enchanted an ice sculpture of Blackstar and Warlorck that was made by one of the Throbbits to take the fight to Overlord, while Blackstar himself was engaged elsewhere. While he was ultimately destroyed, the enchanted ice sculpture bought our heroes some much needed time to secure victory and bring back spring.

This was a quick one to paint. Including the base it probably took about 10 minutes from start to finish, being essentially a thin wash over the white primer. Really effective for the look I was going for though.

The original inspiration:

At last, we meet again, Blackstar. I see you are pale from fright!

Flesh and blood Blackstar next to ice sculpture Blackstar

Heroic Warriors - Sy-Klone

A member of the Heroic Warriors, Sy-Klone was originally a blue-skinned cyborg with the ability to spin at super-speed and generate a whirlwind. He is also able to spin different parts of his body individually. A former acrobat, he was turned into a cyborg through Skeletor's doing. Later canon rewrote his background to be the guardian of Angkor Wat, and possibly a member of the dwindling Gar race, like the halfblood Keldor and the witch Shokoti.

The figure is another marvellous sculpt from the talented hands of Boris Woloszyn, before he turned to other things. Though I dreaded starting on the seemingly complex figure, it was a joy to paint and went like a breeze.

One of the characteristic elements of the toy was the light reflecting radar screen in the middle of his chest. I've seen some brave souls attempting to free hand this, with good results too, but I decided life was too short and the lead & resin pile too high to go that way. So I reduced an image of the radar to the appropriate size, printed it out in colour, varnished it, glued it on and painted the edges, followed by another cote of glossier varnish and the result looks good to me. Extreme close-up below, as well as the file with the resized radar (3 variants, I used the outer left one).

Extreme close-up, making it look worse than when viewed at actual size.

Tiny radars for your amusement.

Sy-Klone and He-Man, defending the gates of Grayskull, side by side.

Sy-Klone leading a pair of Eternos guards into battle

I've painted quite a good number of these and yet, my Heroic Warrior factions isn't very big. I blame the fact I tend to paint a lot of variants of the same character, which I haven't included in the group picture below:

Lightning League - Oon, the Eternal Squire

Oon is an Eternal Squire, created by Squiresmith Wixland. The best description of him is probably an enchanted suit of armour, come to life. He refers to his weapon as a magical lance, though what exactly it is supposed to do is unclear. Always seeming afraid, he finds his courage when it's needed. Oon originally served Audric, but has since been appointed to follow Jayce.

Another limited release from a private commission, Oon stands about 18mm tall, not counting the tip of the lance. The base is a 25mm lipped base blank from Fenris Games, which I textured to match Jayce's base. Some small roots are writhing on the base to refer to the arrival (or the defeat) of the Monster Minds. Being rather diminutive, this was a bit of a challenge to paint, but he's one of the most memorable characters of my childhood.

Jayce and Oon, together at last:

Lightning League - Jayce

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors is another 1980's animated series, chronicling the titular character's struggle to save the universe from the Monster Minds. The heroes are humans called the Lightning League who drive white and silver vehicles with assorted weaponry and are led by the teenager Jayce. The villains are organic plant-based creatures called the Monster Minds, who travel via large green organic vines, which can grow in and across interstellar space, and sprout seeds that grow rapidly into further Monster Minds. They are led by the very first of the Monster Minds, Saw Boss, who was inadvertently created by Jayce's father, the scientist Audric. The secret to defeating the Monster Minds lies in a magic root, of which Jayce and Audric each possess one half.

This one isn't really tied to the MotU universe (unlike Blackstar), but it holds that same mix of magic and technology and while there are no techno-barbarians in loincloths, some of the planets visited by Jayce and his friends and the villains they encounter wouldn't look out of place in MotU, so who knows, maybe at some point Jayce could have landed on Eternia, where the Monster Minds could have formed an alliance with Evil Seed. 

The model is from a small fan-created run of figures and I textured the base to feature some vines sprouting from the ground.

Jayce's first encounter with a Snake Man. Will the Legendary Ring of Light prevail?