Archive Miniature Mystery Solved

Maybe nobody else cares, or maybe everyone already knew this but for me a mystery has been solved.  Back in 2012, I painted an Archive Fuzzy  from their Star Rovers line of miniatures.

At the time I wondered: "It's interesting because if you know anything about these minis, you'll know that many of them are rip-offs of Star Wars characters.  For example, "Hans Self" instead of Han Solo etc etc.  I always assumed that this one was supposed to be an Ewok, but if I'm not mistaken this figure actually dates to around 1977 and as far as I know Ewok's did not appear until Return of the Jedi in 1983. So I guess not."

Then today I saw a book cover illustration that cleared it all up.  This miniature was clearly based on the following illustration of H. Beam Piper's book, Little Fuzzy.

I love revelations like this one and just thought I would share it in case anyone else would get a kick out of it too.

Howard the Duck Heroclix and Archive E'corcist Duck

Here is a repainted Howard the Duck Heroclix mini and one of the Duck figures from Archive Miniatures' E'corcist Duck pack (which apparently also included a priest duck) from the late 70s.

I was curious about Archive miniatures' duck figures.  They always seemed like an odd choice to me, but recently I have been reading the old Steve Gerber Howard the Duck comics (which are pretty great in their own wacky way) and it all made sense.  This "devil duck" that I've had in my collection for a while is clearly based on the comic.

So I grabbed a Howard the Duck Heroclix figure and painted the two of them up.

Here's what Howard looked like before I cut him off his base:

I painted him to match the colors of the original comics run.  The only major difference from the early issues is that he didn't have pants until Disney threatened to sue Marvel due to similarities with Donald Duck.

Here's a before shot of the Archive miniature:

I really struggled with this figure for some reason.  Part of it is likely the coarse sculpting.  The eyes for example are such deep holes that I couldn't do much but poke in some blue paint.

So this figure is actually Howard himself possessed by the demonic side of Daimon Hellstrom.  I tried to keep the colors faithful to the comic.  I did give him red horns which he only has on the cover.  I just thought he looked better that way.

I don't know what I'll be painting next but follow this blog and stay tuned, and you'll be sure to find out.

Archive Dracula Himself

This month's post is Archive Miniatures' "Dracula Himself."  This mini was apparently released in a few different ways.  He was released as a single miniature in the Dungeon Adventure line as number 719 and in a two pack with "Vampire Woman" as number 720.  He also appeared in their Fantasy Series as part of a three pack with "Wolfman" and "Franlcenstein," (aka Frankenstein's Monster).  Based on the picture featured on this website, it looks like he may have been re-released with a different head/face sculpt.  I'm not sure.  Enough with the history, here is the prince of darkness himself:

 

I had fun painting this guy, even though the sculpt is a bit rough in places.   I mixed purple and grey into the skin tones to give him a deathly pall but for some reason the camera didn't really quite capture it. 

Up next is something kind of wacky....or maybe tacky is a better word....stay tuned.

Doctor Who and an Ewok ?

I'm continuing to work on the FASA Doctor Who minis and I have completed the third doctor, Jon Pertwee.

The sculpt doesn't have a bow tie but it does have a cape, and based on that I felt like the Season Eight/Terror of the Autons costume would be most appropriate to base the colors on for this mini.

                                                       

This picture shows that costume and while the sculpt doesn't match it perfectly it seemed like the closest fit.  I have to admit I'm not as happy with this one as the last two.  Something about the face that I just couldn't get quite right.

I also painted one of the Fuzzies from Archive's Star Rovers Line.  It's interesting because if you know anything about these minis, you'll know that many of them are rip-offs of Star Wars characters.  For example, "Hans Self" instead of Han Solo etc etc.  I always assumed that this one was supposed to be an Ewok, but if I'm not mistaken this figure actually dates to around 1977 and as far as I know Ewok's did not appear until Return of the Jedi in 1983. So I guess not.

  I painted this guy up pretty quickly but I think he turned out okay.  He is very small.  I've painted 15mm miniatures bigger than he is.  You can get some idea of how small he is in this picture with the good doctor:

Should be lots more miniature goodness coming up this summer.  I've got an Asgard figure in progress, the remaining two FASA Doctor Who figures and I just picked up a bunch of Grenadier minis as well.  Stay Tuned.

Archive Wink Dog

So here is Archive's "Wink Dog" painted in some slightly wacky colors.

For reasons I can't explain, the first time I saw this mini I wanted to paint it purple and pink.  There's a lovable goofiness about this piece that just made me want to go with that color scheme.  

I painted it with these colors despite the fact that I'm assuming this was supposed to represent a Blink Dog from Dungeons and Dragons.  In fact, I didn't realize it at first but the pose is very similar to Tom Wham's illustration of the Blink Dog from the first edition Monster Manual.

I love that they added a horn and a row of spines on his back, turning this into another creature entirely.  I'm  more likely to use this in a game of Gamma World than D&D.  Even if I had gone for a naturalistic color scheme I probably would have shot for something reptilian rather than anything like a dog.  

Thanks for visiting.

Archive Goblin King

Finished painting that cranky little Goblin King:

Wasn't sure if I should use metallic paint on his crown but I think it turned out ok.  I do love this little bugger.  The Asgard minotaur is still in progress...

Work in Progress

As mentioned in my last post, up next on my painting table are Archive Miniatures Goblin King and Asgard Miniatures FM15 Minotaur.

This very naked Minotaur was painted when I got him, so I stripped him in Simple Green.  As you can see he was also missing his weapon, which from what I can see on the Lost Minis Wiki was a type of hammer.  I've added a Reaper Miniatures two-handed warhammer.  It's more finally detailed than he is so I hope it isn't too much of a mismatch.  It fit into his hand too perfectly not to use it.  He's based on a 40mm base.

I just love Archive's Goblin King miniature. This sculpt just has so much personality, that it's like I can hear his cackling little voice when I look at him.  I've been anxious to paint him for awhile and I hope I can do him justice.
 

 Stay Tuned!

Welcome to my new blog.  Sure, there are lots of miniatures blogs on the web but I enjoy looking at them, and hope that you'll enjoy seeing mine.  I'm particularly interested in vintage miniatures and the initial focus of this blog will be on my current obsession: collecting Archive and Asgard miniatures.  I'm sure there will be other old-school goodness like Grenadier and Ral Partha minis, as well as some more recent miniatures that catch my somewhat eclectic fancy as well.  I've not found a lot of miniatures painting blogs on the web focusing on vintage minis so I figured maybe I'd add my own to the mix.  Feel free to leave a comment suggesting any of which I might be unaware.

So what started my current obsession with Archive and Asgard?  Looking at some old Dragon magazine ads like this one:

I love the little illustrations of the miniatures and that fact that they even used illustrations rather than pictures of their actual products.  (See where I got the inspiration for the drawing in my header?)  Both of these lines were just a little before my time, so while my interest feels like nostalgia, technically it isn't.  Gaming as a kid, it was all about Grenadier and Ral Partha, and I was totally unaware of other manufacturers at the time.  Dave King recently mentioned a similar sort of "pseudonostalgia" on his blog.  Anyway, I find the oddness and clunkiness of a lot of these old miniatures very charismatic.

While I've got a small collection of them, I've only painted one of my Archive miniatures, RV86 aka Hardy Toot Toot:

Expect more and hopefully better painted minis to come, such as Archive's Goblin King, and an Asgard Minotaur.  In the meantime, feel free to check out other miniatures I've painted on my coolminiornot gallery. Thanks for stopping by. -Red Menace