WK's Masters of the Universe in 30mm scale (1 Viewer)

[White Knight]

Like Queen Marlena, John Blackstar is an astronaut from Earth, stranded on the planet Sagar after being swept in his spacecraft through a black hole that took him to an ancient alien universe. On Sagar, John makes allies with the Trobbits, the shape-changing Klone, the dragon Warlock, and Mara the Enchantress. Armed with the Star Sword, which forms one half of the Powerstar, Blackstar and his allies oppose the evil Overlord who seeks to rule Sagar. While his ethnicity is never clarified, Blackstar is presumed to be of Native American decent.

The model was a private commission with a limited number of copies made. Aside from using too much black to outline the eyes, I think he came out rather well.

Blackstar as he appears in the Blackstar show

Blackstar was produced in 1981 by Filmation, who would go on, shortly after, to produce the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon. Both shows share a lot of similarities, both in used concepts and the general look and feel of the setting. Some monsters and animation sequences from Blackstar were later used in the MOTU cartoon, though the one thing that, above all of these, firmly puts the planet Sagar in the MOTU universe is the appearance of a Blackstar statue holding up the Starsword in a MOTU episode:

Blackstar statue to the left

Masters of the universe

Your magic wand is no use against my Star Sword, witch!

Who are you, one of the denizens of the Overlord?

 

[White Knight]

The Hover Robots are Skeletor's disposable minions, well...., most disposable minions. They are mindless automatons, which might be an early design for Hordak's horde troopers, as there is some resemblance. They are relatively small in stature, but can fly, shoot lasers and have whirling blades for hands. The figures are part of a private commission with a small run and they are spot on in my opinion.

I somewhat rushed the paintjob on these, not taking as much time as I should, but then I plan do plenty more of these, so some speed is of the essence. With hindsight, using dark grey instead of black for the recesses might have been better, but it still works OK. I think I waited too long removing the masking tape from the flying stands as some of the glue stuck to them and removing them left a somewhat matte finish. Still, they remain usable and I may try at some point to add a coat of gloss varnish to see if that resolves the issue.

Skeletor and his Hover Robots

He-Man is battling one of the Hover Robots and is unaware of the ambush coming from above...

Skeletor is urging on his minions... from a safe distance...

And finally, a look at the original inspiration:

 

[Louis Badolato]

I think your figures are really well done.^&cool^&cool^&cool^&cool Never watched the show, but I remember younger family members playing with the action figures.

 

[villagehorse]

Strange little dudes WK. I can see an army of these. Robin.

 

[White Knight]

They are indeed an armybuilder option. The arms are separate, so can be glued in different positions in order to make them all unique.

 

[White Knight]

Heroic Warriors - He-Man on Battlecat

As if He-Man and Battlecat weren't impressive enough on their own, the sight of He-Man riding on Battlecat's back is enough to strike terror in the hearts of the denizens of evil. The riding he-Man is a conversion of the Quest Miniatures He-Man, I cut off and reposed one leg and bent the other one slightly, some putty to cover the gap. Battlecat is of course another copy of the OOP Grenadier model. The base is a lipped base blank by Fenris Games and the tile texture was added with putty.

Foot and mounted version together

 

[White Knight]

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)

 

[White Knight]

Anti-Eternians - Anti-Man-At-Arms in Windraider

One of the elements in the original Anti-Eternia audioplay is that Anti-Man-At-Arms comes flying in in a windraider. Now I had converted a Quest Miniatures Man-At-Arms to fit into the old Grenadier windraider, but I didn't feel like doing yet another flying Man-At-Arms so soon after the skysled version. So in an unexpected turn of event, I ended up painting an Anti-Eternia windraider before doing a regular one. The Grenadier model is based on the toy version, so it's a one-person aircraft, unlike the Filmation cartoon 4-seater. All in all, the Quest Miniatures models work well enough with the much older model. I cut off about 3/4 of the legs for this one. There is no official colour design for the Anti-Eternia windraider, so I went with what seemed to make sense to carry on the theme.

Anti-Eternia Windraider

With the foot version of the same character

He-Man tries to use his shield to deflect Anti-Man-At-Arms' laserbeam

Death from above! Castle Grayskull under attack. Man-At-Arms takes to the skies in his skysled.

Men-At-Arms's battling in the sky!

 

[villagehorse]

All these would have sold a lot more originally if they looked like this. Another marvellous conversion. Robin.

 

[White Knight]

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:

 

[White Knight]

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

 

[White Knight]

Evil Warriors - Skelcon Footsoldiers
Introduced into MOTU continuity by the Ladybird books, the Skelcons are a race of horned demons who worship the bones of their ancestors until a summoning spell, cast by Skeletor, brought them to Eternia. For obvious reasons, they view Skeletor as their god and serve as his soldiers, wearing skull masks and wielding weapons built from the bones of their dead.

Skelcon warriors

Ironically, I am both happy and unhappy with how they came out. I hesitated longly whether to paint their faces as bone mask, like the MOTUC toy, or in the same colour as their skin, like in the original Ladybird books. I went with the former for more contrast and I think it was a good call. I also wanted their skin tone to be different from Skeletor's, so went with a darker, greener blue. The resulting colourscheme looks great, I think, but ironically, now I sort of wish I did paint them in Skeletor's skintone, like the Ladybird version. The bases are my usual recipe of sculpted on flagstone texture, painted in purple as they are part of the Evil Warriors.

The diverging inspirations: MOTUC figures vs Ladybird book

Teela and Man-At-Arms are attacked by some Skelcons

Skeletor flanked by his new honour guard

 

[villagehorse]

No doubt about it WK, you come up with some unusual one of kind figures and giving the excellent treatment to them makes them very special. Always a pleasure to see what you are working on. Robin.

 

[White Knight]

Thanks Robin,

I have some 60mm items on the table in different stages of conversion or painting as well, so more to come for different projects.

 

[White Knight]

I didn't expect to have another update so soon, but this one practically painted herself (I was just going to do the skin today).

Anti-Eternians - Anti-Sorceress

The Sorceress is a force to reckon with and since there is a Castle Hellskull on Anti-Eternia, there has to be an Anti-Sorceress to guard it as well. Her fiery red eyes and black skin give her an unwordly type of beauty, while her red garb evokes hints of a hellish world indeed.

Anti-Eternia Sorceress spreading her wings

The model is another Quest Miniatures figure sculpted by Boris Woloszyn and in an unusual turn of events, I painted her as the Anti-Eternia Sorceress before I tackle the regular one (because, seriously, who wouldn't put off painting white?). The colour scheme is made up, starting from the Anti-Eternia palette. As the regular sorceress has orange wings and a white bodice, the needed contrast dictated the Anti-Eternia version should have a red bodice and grey wings (or black wings, but that would make her too monotone, you need three colours to have nice contrast). The rest followed from there. The base is my usual sculpted on flagstone, with red painted in the grooves between tiles to simulate the hellscape that is Anti-Eternia.

Oo-Larr (minicomic He-Man from a few generations before Adam) dukes it out with Anti-He-Man while their respecitve guides and mentors look on.

The Anti-Eternians, so far (not including the Man-At-Arms in Windraider).

 

[villagehorse]

Some groove sorceress. Great sculpt. Robin.

 

[marco55]

Your painting is superb! {bravo}}
Mark

 

[White Knight]

Evil Warriors - Shadow Beasts

Shadow Beasts are great ape-like beasts who live in tribes throughout the dark hemisphere. They are named thus because they can only come out in the absence of light. Like most beasts, they are vulnerable to Beastman's powers and can be controlled by him to join the fight on Skeletor's side.

Shadow Beasts, the yeti's of Eternia
I went with the Filmation cartoon colour scheme on this. Other media have shown them in darker, more apelike colours, but I like how the purple shade emphasises the alien, retro pulp quality they have. I originally was going to do their bases in a neutral colour, as they can also be used independently, but ultimately settled for the Evil Warriors scheme, as that will be their main purpose.

Beastman takes controle of the Shadow Beasts

Teela getting surrounded by the Shadow Beasts

The Evil Warriors so far (not including my alternate Skeletor)

 

[villagehorse]

You should be a consultant for some of these manufacturers, they would sell a lot more products if you were involved. Amazing attention to detail. Robin.

 

[White Knight]

Thanks, I'm quite enjoying these. Here is the last one for a while, until I find another window to get some painting done.

Anti-Eternians - Anti-Goddess
If Anti-Eternia is the opposite of regular Eternia, then it stands to reason that its Goddess has also been tainted by the same evil. Being more brutal in nature, she fights with a mace, ready to bash in skulls, rather than to carry the snake staff.

Anti-Eternia Goddess

There isn't really any precedent for this character (that I'm aware of), so her colour scheme was made up, using the usual Anti-Eternia palette and trying to go by what makes sense and gives the best contrast. As the regular version already wears a (dark) red snake collar, I decided to do the collar in the grey colour and work out the rest from there. I think the end result is pretty good.

The model is another old Grenadier mini from the 1980s. It's interesting that Grenadier made multiple poses of the same characters and it helps to further differentiate between the good and bad Goddess, although having duplicate models in different colour schemes doesn't bother me in this project, since it's a nod to the heavy reuse of parts and recoloured characters in the MOTU universe and toy line.

Anti-Eternia and Eternia Goddess

What sorcery is this? You are not the Goddess!

The Anti-Eternians so far (not including Man-At-Arms in Windraider)