Thunderbrats

Have I mentioned that some of Crooked Dice's 'beastmen' accidentally do a more than serviceable impression of the the Thundercats and their enemies? 

What are the chances? 

This week I finally got round to finishing off the characters I've not done. Namely, the Thunderkittens (which sounds like a 90s girl group) Wilykit and Wilykat, and Lion-O's nanny/pet Snarf.

These are all really nice sculpts, but a bit small, and since my magnifying lenses broke and I haven't replaced them yet, I had more of a struggle with these that I would have expected.

Wilykit is posed on her hoverboard. In the original cartoon they were actually referred to as spaceboards, and it makes for quite a dynamic model. However, due to her very pale skin, she's ended up looking a little ill, almost zombie-like, which I'm less keen on. 

I'm happier with her clothes and I really like to contrasting colours. It's also interesting to note that in comparison to the Masters of the Universe characters I've painted, this asymmetric design prevents the cost cutting flipping of cells that was done in the He-Man cartoons.

I feel like I've done a much better job on painting Wilykat, perhaps because his sculpt is a little less delicate and his skin colour is a bit more natural. I'm particularly pleased that, given the state of my eyesight, I haven't messed up the piping on his outfit.

Amusingly, although I'm happier with the painting, I'm less keen on the pose. I'd have preferred them to both be quite dynamic, and the flat hoverboard surface is a bit of a blank space. I suppose I could have put a central line in to indicate panels, as they did in the cartoons, and if it bothers me enough, I may still do it.

At least the different poses offer some differentiation between their characters, something that the cartons never really did.

The Snarf mini is a little bit more of  departure from the design of the original, specifically the whiskers don't cover the mouth. I think this might be because it's hard to get the necessary points of different on what is essentially a cat.

However, it is a very well defined miniature and was the easiest of the three to paint, with most of the mini being done in contrast paints.

I was never a massive fan of Snarf's whiny voice. I know they were putting him in the Cringer role from He-Man, but it wasn't endearing, just annoying. In the redone series in 2011 they took his voice away altogether and made him just a pet, which was an improvement.

However, this represents a project completed unless I decide to try to track down miniatures for some of the more obscure characters like Safari Joe, Hachiman or Ninja. They should be fairly easy to find something suitable for given that they are essentially a big game hunter, a samurai and...well...a ninja. I might also pick up a Thundertank as there are a couple of STLs knocking about on the internet.

I still need to think about putting together some 7TV profiles for the characters, although I will definitely need to think about getting more villains to balance things out. I also had a play with making some Pulp City cards for them, so I might see if I can root those out for a game.

Acquired: 81
Painted: 193
Lead Mountain: 489