Tuesday 5 January 2016

"You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry..."

"That's my secret. I'm always angry."
These two bulky 38mm tall plastic “Wizkids” models of the Hulk are both miniature number 58 from the Marvel “Heroclix” Infinity Challenge range. The figures have been given different paint-jobs in order to represent Bruce Banner’s grey alter-ego when the scientist first transformed into an “unidentified creature”, and then the gamma-powered monster’s more recognisable colour scheme; green skin with purple pants.

First published in May 1962 the creature’s co-creator Stan Lee chose grey for the Hulk because he “wanted a colour that did not suggest any particular ethnic group.” Unfortunately colorist Stan Goldberg had problems with the grey and this resulted in the behemoth appearing throughout the publication in different shades of grey, as well as green. After seeing Issue One of “The Incredible Hulk” Lee chose to change the skin colour to green and for the next two decades whenever the monster’s origin was retold he was depicted as being green. Indeed even the reprints of the original comic were recoloured…
"Is he man or monster or... is he both?"
In December 1984 however Issue 302 of “The Incredible Hulk” reintroduced the grey Hulk in flashbacks and confirmed that when the scientist was first struck by the detonation of a gamma bomb, his transformation was grey-skinned. Since then the reprints of the first issue have reverted back to displaying the original grey colouring, and the official “Marvel Worldwide” fictional canon states that the Hulk was initially grey.

In order to cover up the grey Hulk’s pre-paint I initially painted the model with “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey and then pained his split trousers using a combination of Heavy Blue and “Citadel” Asurmen Blue. As Banner’s shirt during his first transformation is usually depicted as being a yellowy-orange in colour so I painted it using “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre. To dirty it up I gave it a wash of “Citadel” Nuln Oil. Finally I applied more of the Shade to the anti-hero’s skin.

For the green Hulk I used a very similar approach and just changed the paint colours. I therefore used “Vallejo” Heavy Grey and “Citadel” Thrakka Green for his ‘gamma-irradiated’ skin, “Vallejo” Heavy Green” and “Citadel” Nuln Oil for his hair, “Vallejo” Heavy Violet and “Citadel” Druchii Violet for his trousers, and finally “Vallejo” White with some watered-down “Citadel” Nuln Oil for his torn shirt.
Stormtrooper WIP - The buckethead's armour just needs to be properly picked out before a final grey wash
Having completed my miniatures for the Nostalgia Themed Bonus Round, I have already started painting the figures I want to use as my Epic Fail and Gambler/Risk Taker submissions. As a result I have begun progressing the "Star Wars" stormtroopers I based and primed just before the start of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. These three sculpts from the "Imperial Assault" boardgame by "Fantasy Flight Games" will hopefully form part of a number of models based upon Darth Vader's failed attempt to retrieve the plans to the Death Star from two droids...

For now I've just been concentrating on a test figure to try and work out how best to paint the bucketheads' distinctive white armour. To begin with I've heavily washed the white undercoat with a grey to help see all the figure's wonderful detail and then picked out all the black areas. Currently I'm tidying all these 'joints' up and 'whitening' some of the darker armoured areas before I apply a 'softer' grey wash over the miniature.
Star Wars WIPs - Darth Vader, Artoo-Deetoo and the Corellian Bounty Hunter known as Dengar
Obviously such a submission wouldn't be complete without the presence of the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, as well as the first of the Rebel Alliance's robots. I've already dry-brushed Darth Vader's costume with some charcoal, and undercoated his red lightsaber. But still have some metallic areas to 'pick out' as well as wash his attire before applying some shading to his cloak. Artoo-Detoo still has a long way to go as, having washed him to see the sculpt's detail, I've only just started to work on the undercoat for his chrome head.

Finally I thought I'd try and paint a small number of "Star Wars" Bounty Hunters for the Gambler/Risk Taker Themed Round, and perhaps one or two of their prey..? To begin with I've undercoated and washed my favourite of George Lucas' 'Scum & Villainy' creations, the Corellian mercenary Dengar...

24 comments:

  1. Nicely done, Simon. The differing paint schemes on your Hulks do make them look like two different figures. And whilst I'm tempted by the Imperial Assault game, it does seem a little pricey for what you get.
    On a slightly unrelated note, Ironclad Miniatures have 20% off until 10th January, so if you wanted to pick up a Dr How, now might be the time to do so.

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    1. Thanks Jez. I'm a bit disappointed with how the "Citadel" Nuln Oil wash turned out on the grey Hulk as its a bit darker/gloopier than I intended - probably as I was using a half-full pot. But he's still tabletop ready imho.

      "Imperial Assault" is rather expensive. But having shopped around on the web/shows I've found some tempting discounts.

      Many thanks for the heads up on the "Ironclad Miniatures" sale. There's quite a few of their minis I have my eye on tbh. But I own a number of their sculpts to paint up first :-)

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  2. I think you're being a bit hard on yourself, Simon, as I think both Hulks have turned out superb. The figure of Hulk you chose is my favourite depiction of Bruce Banner's alter ego.

    It is always a pleasure to see Star Wars figures on your blog. I don't have any of the Imperial Assault game sets or figures but I do own a huge amount of the old WOTC Star Wars collectible miniatures back from the days when I was heavily into those type of games.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. That "Heroclix" Hulk sculpt is also my fave one which "Wizkids" have produced. I too have a horde of "Wizards Of The Coast" Star Wars minis. But these ones are a little larger in scale and, like you, I don't like to use unpainted minis even for boardgames - hence I'm painting these up. I do though like to use the "WOTC" ones for larger mass battles ;-)

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  3. It was great to see the Hulks finally done, a great entry Simon. I do like the look of this Imperial Assault stuff, I may yet be tempted!

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    1. Many thanks Michael, though I felt your Nostalgia Themed Entry was just breathtaking :-) The larger scale of the "Imperial Assault" minis do make them a bit more attractive than the old "WOTC" ones imho. But of course, they're distracting me from my "Pulp Figures" and our side-challenge ;-)

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  4. Nice Hulks. I definitely favour the (comics) green colouring though, the grey just doesn't look right ... more like a zombie.

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    1. Cheers Roy, and I do see what you mean. Spookily I did breifly consider converting my third "Heroclix" Hulk into a "Marvel Zombies" variant... As the official version is unbelievably expensive. But I'm a bit 'hulked out' at present after painting all their torn pieces of clothing, and want to keep the last of my "Wizkids" sculpts intact. I might though buy a fourth at some point...

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  5. Of the two hulk figures I have that one is my favourite, your painting of them is spot on Simon don't worry.

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    1. Thanks Andy, much appreciated. My fave "Heroclix" Hulk too by far :-)

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  6. I like how you've painted the Hulks. What you call "Gloopy" wash, is more to me as them being more in line with the original old-print style comics images. (A zombie version would, indeed be pretty darn cool - I have the action figure and it'd be sweet to see your version.)

    Nice to see someone else likes Dengar! He's always been my fav of the Bounty Hunters. I think he even has a mention in one of the latest novels. Those Imperial Assault sculpts look a lot better than I was anticipating.

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    1. More good stuff. :)

      Also a fan of Dengar! I had two of the Palitoy figures, I am sure it was a mail in reward originally. :)

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    2. Cheers Dai. I'll certainly consider doing a zombie Hulk if I can get hold of another "Wizkids" model. For now though I have some robot Hulks on the painting table :-) The "Imperial Assault" sculpts are great, and having finished the first of my stormtroopers I'm even more delighted with them.

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    3. Cheers PulpCitizen. Spookily I like Dengar so much because he was the "Star Wars" mini I had to save all my toy tokens for, and then ordered through the post as a reward. When "Payback" arrived I was absolutely in awe of him; especially his huge gun (based upon a German WW2 LMG apparently). I'm certainly looking forward to getting him painted and on the tabletop.

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  7. Nice job on both versions of the Hulk and nice progress on the SW mini's Whites very tricky to do!

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    1. Thanks Simon. Glad to be finished with all the Hulks' torn clothing :-) And hopefully I'm finally getting the hang of all this white stormtrooper armour...

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  8. Those two Hulks are stunning in my opinion, and I'm saying that as a person who doesn't like the hulk! Really superb paint jobs on both of them, I think the grey one just edges it for me, but both are brill, same can be said for the Stormtrooper I would have been happy with the middle shot but the final one is again top notch, some of your best work in my opinion, very impressed (god stuff for this years Topten already!!!)

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers Roger. Quite a few "Heroclix" planned over the coming months and more than a few "Imperial Assault" and "Reaper Miniatures" too. Obviously though I have also ahve a few long-promised BatReps coming soon, including one which'll pit the gamma-giant against his 'grimmest' opponent ;-)

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    2. Hulk v's Thing, I'm almost optimistic about Ben's chances, but I have been disappointed before (so many times).

      Cheers Roger.

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    3. We'll see Roger ;-) Thought it'd be a nice simple slugfest to become reacquainted with the "7TV" rules.

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  9. Terrific job, Simon. It's interesting to see two examples of the same mini with totally different paintjobs.

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    1. Thanks Finch. it is amazing just how different the two Hulks look simply because of their colour schemes.

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  10. I love both of those Hulks. Great work!

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    1. Cheers Natholeon. They took a lot of time and effort, so I'm glad they're finished :-)

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