Ulysses Bloodstone

Another conversion that grew from "the Barbarian" Conan-like metal figure was the early version of Bloodstone. As Marvel Comics tells it during the Hyborean Age that spawned Conan a meteorite crashed to earth in Northern Vanaheim on the European continent under the direction of an alien entity. An agent of the entity named Ullux'l Kwan Tae Syn (repeat that one five times fast) discovered that one of the locals had found the meteorite first and the two of them battled over possession. The meteorite was smashed, there was an explosion that killed the native's tribe and a shard (called the bloodgem) became embedded in the native's chest. It had the effect of making this fellow immortal and probably giving him a number of other attributes. For the next 10,000 years the native, now calling himself Ulysses Bloodstone, searches out Ullux'l Kwan Tae Syn seeking revenge for the death of his tribe, which seems a little single minded of purpose to me, but very loyal. Along the way he learns most of the languages on the planet and amasses a vast fortune with which he establishes support cells around the world as he searches for Ullux'l Kwan Tae Syn and battles every other monster he runs into along the way. This is another one of those immortal characters that roams the world in the present day similar to DC's Immortal Man and Street & Smith's Chuck Magnon, about whom I've already posted. Bloodstone seems to have eventually been killed because his skeleton with the hole where the bloodgem fit still in his sternum shows up in a series of Captain America comics, but his appearances were generally rather spotty. I did the primitive version from a Barbarian figure by Superior Models and the modern version from the head of a Ken Masters figure and the body from a Destro. The bloodgems were red crystals.

Pearl Harbor - 70 Years Later

Today, December 7th, 2011, a date which has lived in infamy - or at least 70 years after that date. I didn't want the 70th anniversary to go by with saying something about it. I wasn't alive for it but it was a pivotal historical event in the nation's lifetime. I thought I would say a few words about the battleships that were there and what became of them. If you look at the top picture on the right hand side is the Nevada, then next left is Arizona, then Tennessee with the West Virginia outboard, then Maryland with the Oklahoma outboard and then California. Forward left is the Pennsylvania which was actually in a dry dock and not along battleship row. Most people probably know that Arizona blew up and that most of the hull remains on the bottom at Pearl with a large white memorial over it. Nevada got underway but was damaged so bad it had to be grounded. Oklahoma was torpedoed and rolled over and sank with only its hull remaining above water. It was later raised and was being towed back to the states for scrapping when the tow broke and the ship sank somewhere in the northeast Pacific in bad weather. All of the rest were raised and/or repaired and returned to service. In the bottom picture we have from right the Maryland behind, which only received two bomb hits and was back in action in early 1942 along with its sister ship Colorado, which had not been at Pearl Harbor on December 7th. West Virginia is in front on the right and it received an extensive rebuild, it's beam being increased from 106' to 114' to accommodate additional anti-aircraft armament. Behind are the Tennessee and California, sister ships that were rebuilt as West Virginia. Then there's the Pennsylvania and Nevada, which both were repaired and modernized. So of the seven battleships at Pearl Harbor on the day of infamy, all but two returned to active duty and gave good service for the rest of the war. West Virginia even had the honor to be one of the allied ships in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945 at the surrender of Japan.

From Conan to Ka-Zar

In the early days that I was collecting superhero action figures there wasn't a lot of figures to work with. In the late 1970's and early 1980's there were DC Pocket Superheroes from Mego that stood about 4" tall and the slightly larger Mattel Marvel Comics Secret Wars figures and then of course the about 5" tall DC Superpowers Collection line. There weren't that many figures and only one female figure - Wonder Woman. So when I started to get restless and wanted to add more figures to my collection I started working with some of the metal figures I had access to. A few days ago I featured Conan and showed the Superior Models Barbarian figure. When I wanted to do the jungle lord Ka-Zar I decided the Barbarian was a good place to start. Ka-Zar started as one of those Tarzan-like characters - mother dead, scientist father harboring a secret and killed, abandoning the young Kevin Plunder in the mysterious Savage Land. This is a place within Antarctica where there exists a primeval land of jungles. Dwelling there are denizens of many epochs of history and prehistory, including dinosaurs and cave men and one sabre tooth tiger - the last of his kind, who "adopts" the orphaned Kevin and who he names Zabu. The boy and the cat forge a bond that remains powerful into Kevin's adulthood, when he takes on the name Ka-Zar. He eventually comes to understand his heritage and sort of commutes between the Savage Land and the outside world, always with the faithful Zabu at his side. I like the Savage Land because it mixes dinosaurs, aliens and everything else into one setting and there's always some superpowered bad guys showing up to keep things interesting. Ka-Zar was made from a Barbarian figure, but I replaced the sword with a knife and filled in the sandals to make boots. I also took the large belt around his waist off. The sabre-toothed tiger I found among some prehistoric animal figures.

Red Sonja - She-Devil With a Sword

Another character spawned out of the writings of Robert E. Howard, Red Sonja was a simple village girl of 17 when a band of mercenaries burned her home, killed her family and the leader brutally raped her. When she cries out for revenge the red goddess Scáthach appeared to her and granted her incredible prowess with a blade and other weapons so long as she did not lay with a man who had not defeated her in fair combat. (Remember, I don't make this stuff up.) She began appearing in Marvel Comics Conan series in the 1970's, getting her own title for a while. She's even appeared in a rather lackluster movie version and been revived in the comics since then. In the sword and sorcery genre she's sort of the archetypical female with a blade who can best most of the men she comes in contact with. She had a sort of running combat with Conan over the years. The figure is from Superior Models, which is called The Girl Sonya, which I have painted up to resemble Red herself. However, instead of the scale mail bikini she is normally depicted with in the comics the figure has a chain mail bikini. I can't think either of them on bare flesh would be very comfortable, but it looks pretty good so I guess that's what matters.

Midway Class Aircraft Carriers

The Midway class carriers were commissioned right at the end of WWII. They were the Midway (CVB 41), Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB 42) and Coral Sea (CVB 43), with the "B" after CV standing for large. The first company to do a 1:2400 model of them a number of years ago was Seabattle of Austria. Recently GHQ released their own version of the Midway class so they make a nice comparison. The Seabattle model in the rear always bothered me a little because it stood so high out of the water. The Midway's were the first U.S. carriers with armored flight decks, a valuable lesson from WWII, and as such they rode lower in the water than the previous Essex class. The GHQ version in front seems to capture that better than Seabattle did. Additionally, the GHQ model is based on the Midway as she appeared right at the end of the war with 5"/54 guns and 40mm anti-aircraft (AA) armament. The Seabattle version is from the 1950's when the 40mm were replaced by 3" AA. You may also be asking why the GHQ version has planes on the deck and the Seabattle doesn't. That's simply because no one manufactures 1:2400 jets from the 1950's period - the GHQ is carrying the F4U/Corsair, which was its primary compliment when commissioned. I thought these two models were a good example of how different companies can do quite different versions of the same ship.

Belit - Queen of the Black Coast

In my last post I featured Conan the Barbarian. In his Hyborean Age adventures Conan took up with a veritable multitude of women. Some of these were shrinking wallflowers and some of them were nearly as tough as Conan himself. One of the latter was Belit, Queen of the Black Coast. A white woman with a crew of black pirate men who worship her as a Goddess, Belit is the terror of the Black Coast, raiding and pillaging and taking many a hapless merchant ship by storm. Her ship, the Tigress, is known and feared along the Black Coast. Conan is passenger on a small merchant ship when they sight the Tigress on the horizon. The ship's captain tries to make a run for it but in vain, as they are quickly overtaken by the Tigress. Conan battles the pirates and distinguishes himself in the eyes of both the pirates and their female captain. After the battle Conan is offered a position in Belit's crew and, after a test of strength with her largest crewman, Conan succeeds in winning his life, a position on the ship and a warm spot in Belit's bed. What a guy!!! I had been looking around for a figure I could use for Belit and found this one produced by Jerry Worcester, who made and sold his own line of miniatures. I haven't seen him or them in many years (this figure is dated 1992) and suspect they are no longer available. It was the closest I could come to a figure to represent the Queen of the Black Coast.

Hither Came Conan

...the Cimmerian, created by Robert E. Howard in the Early 1930's for the pulps has proven a very popular and enduring character, as evidenced by another recent movie. I first became interested in the character in the 1970's while reading the Marvel Comics series of stories. Conan came from the fictional Hyborean Age, populated by a mix of influences from barbarian tribes, which spawned Conan himself, to lands of Arthurian-type legend, black Africans, Arab traders, Mongul-type warriors and various other elements spanning thousands of years of history and technology all sort of rubbing elbows in one world. Conan is a thief and a pirate who ends up ruling his own kingdom. Along the way he romances a considerable legion of comely young lasses, who are either frightened debutantes or adept warriors like himself and slays a lot of men and monsters. As for the figure presented, he was sculpted by Ray Lamb and produced by Superior Models as "The Barbarian," and was never called Conan, although he certainly seems to resemble the John Buscema drawing. In the picture his sword is hard to see but it got bent during the earthquake and a tumble from the shelf.