Whips & Spikes

I've not painted anything Masters of the Universe related for some time. Partly this is due to me having done most of the models I wanted to complete as part of this project, and partly it's to do with official models hitting the market and sort of taking the shine off the whole thing.

It honestly just feels a bit less fun and exclusive now. I'm weird like that.

Anyway, I've had Whiplash and Spikor hanging around unpainted for over a year and Whiplash is the last of my 'must have' characters for the whole project, as it's the last of the He-Man toys my brother and I had.

Spikor, I'm less fussed about, but he was one of the characters who appeared in several episodes of the Filmation cartoon, so he's part of my sense of completeness.

Whiplash was one of my favourite villains. Not only was he among the cleverer of Skeletor's minions in the show, but the toy also had a rubber tail that flicked around when you twisted the spring-loaded torso. Cool.

I also really liked the lizard-man character design, something I've only just realised is a thing I thought was cool as a child. The Lizard and Killer Croc, enemies of Spider-Man and Batman respectively, are two of my favourite comic book villains, and I definitely had a soft spot for the Fighting Fantasy book Island of the Lizard King as one of my favourites of the range.

Painting was very straightforward. The body was done with Elysian Green and Loren Forest, washed with Agrax Earthshade and highlighted up. Kantor Blue was used for the 'boots' and trunks, with the metal done gold instead of the orange that appeared on the toy.

I've always felt Spikor was a bit lame. His 'power' is being covered in spikes he never uses (it's also unclear why his head is the same colour as his armour, and is only his head spiky?). He's the villainous version of Mekanek, but instead of having a neck that extended, his toy had a spring-loaded trident/fork in his wrist.

The design of Spikor is a bit all over the place, so I didn't feel too bad going off piste with him. Arguably, the Xereus purple I've used is too dark, and his belt and wrist were red rather than copper/brass, but I think he comes across a little more menacing with a darker palette.

I've still got a couple of MotU miniatures in the pile, but the project if definitely drawing to a close for me...unless, you know...it doesn't.

Getting these two painted balances the two miniatures that arrived this week to finish off the Heroes for the next Lurkers From The Deep scenario (more on that in the next post).

Acquired: 71
Painted: 175
Lead Mountain: 495