Heroic Warriors - Baracus, Heroic Pitier of Fools

Baracus is a former Eternos Guard turned mercenary after getting falsely accused of a crime he didn't commit. With his record for insubordination and starting (and finishing) tavern brawls, he didn't stick around to try and prove his innocence. His heroic nature prevailed though and in time, he crossed path with the Heroic Warriors and joined them on more than one occasion. Baracus goes into battle with his battle armour, golden fist glove and Etherian lasergun. Being the flamboyant character that he is, it is often said he has more bling on him than even King Randor. Only a fool would say that to his face though, as most sensible people know he does not suffer fools lightly...

Baracus, the Heroic Pitier of Fools

I based the character on the Mr. T MotU & WWe crossover figure, with some changes to accomodate what I had at my disposal. I opted to include some influences from his A-Team alter ago, notably the golden chains and the gun. I also took his name from there, after considering other options like Pitior or Warrior T. The figure is a conversion using parts from a Jitsu (body), a Fisto (fist), a Brightmoon Guard (gun) and a head from a Hardcore Miniatures figure. I'm relatively happy with how he came out.

The inspiration for the figure

Twin Fists of Power!

I pity the fool who works for Skeletor!

I pity the fool who gives black people a bad name!

I pity the tin can that's about to feel the crunch of my fist!

I pity the fool who works for a pitance!

I pity the fool who goes up against He-Man!

Heroic Warriors - Fisto

One of the classic Heroic Warriors, Fisto is a large and muscular warrior with reddish-brown hair and a manly beard, armed with a large metal fist and a sword. The large fist seems to be a prosthetic attachment after a sustained injury in his youth and is able to smash through rock and other hard surfaces. It has been suggested in some continuities that he is the brother of Man-At-Arms and the biological father of Teela.

The figure combines elements from his Filmation design (armour, belt, fist) and from the toy design (sword, presence of a wrist-protection, although rendered in the Filmation style).

Prepare to feel my fist, tin man!

You're not leaving here until you tell me who is my real father!

Heroic Warriors - Prince Adam

The lazy, cowardly and foppish Prince Adam seems a constant disappointment to his parents and his childhood friend Teela. Few people would suspect this persona is designed to hide the fact that he turns into Eternia's mightiest hero, He-Man, when he holds aloft his sword and mutters those powerful words... "By the power of Grayskull..."

Prince Adam is depicted here in the midst of raising his sword, about to utter the famous words that will turn him into He-Man. While the figure is an excellent sculpt, I seem to always struggle with Adam/He-Man's face, so I don't consider this one of my better paintjobs. Still, he'll work well enough for a character who's only supposed to remain on the table long enough to find some cover so he can transform into the real hero of the game.

Prince Adam flanked by some Eternos Guards for protection (or so they think)

Heroic Warriors - Moss-Man

Moss-Man is a man, made of moss. He lives in the Evergreen Forest in harmony among the animals and plants. His power is to camouflage into foliage and other green areas, as well as control all plant life. He's not exactly a favourite, but kind of has to be there. 

The model is made by Quest Miniatures and was one of the first models that wasn't done by Boris Woloszyn. While not bad per se, the model turned out a bit small and lacking much detail. In the Filmation cartoon, Moss-Man was rather bulky, so I decided to experiment a bit with it and try to add some bulk by emulating the main feature of the toy figure: flock. It's not quite the result I was going for, and I wouldn't have done this if the figure had held a bit more interest, but he'll do. I think. Whatever, it's a walking moss patch.

Hanging out with his pal He-Man.

About to unleash nature's fury on some of Skeletor's goons

Heroic Warriors - The Sorceress

The Sorceress, mystical guardian of the secrets of Castle Grayskull and one of my favourite character designs coming out of the Filmation cartoon. With a vast knowledge of magic and history, she is among the wisest beings on Eternia. He-Man often seeks her counsel. The Sorceress demonstrates saintly qualities such as humility and often appears to other characters who are in need of guidance. While powerful in her own rights, her powers are tied to Castle Grayskull and weaken when she leaves its walls. When she does need to travel, though, she generally assumes the form of the falcon  Zoar. Her real name is Teela-Na and she is secretly the mother of Teela.

The model is another Quest Miniature and one of the last of that range to have been sculpted by Boris Woloszyn. The base is my usual flagstone sculpting over a blank lipped base.

Keeping watch on top of the walls of Grayskull

With her evil Anti-Eternia counterpart

With her minicomic counterpart (left) and secret daughter (right)

Protecting Grayskull from the forces of evil

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...

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:

Heroic Warriors - Eternos Palace Guards with Tridents

The capital of Eternia, the city of Eternos, is also the location of the Royal Palace, seat of the planetary government led by King Randor. The city has its own standing army in the form of the Eternos Guards. Sporting green skinsuits and orange armor, they are hardly inconspicuous, but then neither are the villains. Perhaps somewhat unusual, their formal weapon when performing their guard duties is the trident.

Eternos Guards

They may be no match for Skeletor's Evil Warriors, but they can certainly hold their own against his minions.

The Eternos Guard is lead by Teela, who holds the rank of Captain ...

... though her father Man-At-Arms also seems to hold some formal position within the guard, as his outfit can testify.

Heroic Warriors - Gender-swapped He-Man on Battlecat

A while ago I converted a Hasslefree Daphne figure into a gender-swapped version of He-Man. The idea being that He-Man (or Prince Adam) was temporarily turned into a young girl through some ancient artefact or magic spell (possibly one of Orko's spells gone wrong). This is the mounted version of that character. I'll leave it up to you to imagine whether Battlecat also had a sex change or not if you're into that kind of thing.

Mounted and Unmounted version

I used the same base figure for the mounted version, with reposed legs and the addition of fur panties and boots and a swap for another spare Quest Miniatures power sword. Battlecat is yet another of the Grenadier OOP Battlecats, which I've collected over the years. The base is a blank lipped base from Fenris (the closest match I could find to the large Battlecat mini), with added tile texture with putty.

Fighting Skeletor's minions

All my (good) He-Man versions so far...

Battlecat(s)